A review by marstone
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

dark emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow. 
I don’t read romance books, its not a genre I'm very interested in because I find it predictable, but if I were to read any romance, I am so happy it was this. It was not what I was expecting it to be at all and I almost didn’t commit to continuing it, but I cannot stop thinking about this book now. 
This is about 2 writers who shared an intimate romance in high school which was very brief. Now, years later as adults they have been reconnected and the main character wants to know why their relationship ended so soon and is trying to navigate trauma, chronic illness, and adult responsibilities while also grappling with her feelings towards him and the past that is being brought up again. As authors of different genres, they have been writing their characters based off of each other, in a way sending each other messages that they are still a part of each other’s lives. 
I’m not a fan of stories that include real life social media references or current slang (since I mostly read fantasy) because I feel like it takes me out of the story, but it’s not too over the top in this book and ultimately added a bit of lightheartedness to it. 
This was much darker than I anticipated with the themes it explored and the characters backstory and how broken they were but just trying to keep themselves together now yet there is agony and yearning gnawing at them with the intensity of their intimacy of just seven days and how they are forced to face that again and figure out how they fit into each other’s lives now as adults. 
This was absolutely beautiful and heart wrenching to see the trauma and sense of abandonment (a lot of trigger warnings listed) and figuring out why everything happened the way it did. I was so invested in their story and cried 5 times. I love it i love it i love it. 

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