A review by michellechien930
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

3.0

Seven Days in June was a really quick read, I went in thinking that it was supposedly a more nuanced type of novel, but I liked the characters and their respective viewpoints; the fact that they both are writers and write opposite genres (kinda ~Emily Henry~esqe), with secret love letters to each other coded in their own language. I really liked how the book was structured in a span of 7 days, with the present and past swapping back and forth. I originally thought that the 7 days from 15 years ago would mean that they were also limited to 7 days in the present (literally thought the mmc was terminally ill and that's why he chose to see the fmc now), but was surprised to see that there was a lengthy epilogue that noted on a happy ending. Also really appreciated the book's conversations on Black literati, whitewashing of films, etc. Somethings I didn't really like was the "wokeness" of the novel, it felt like the pop culture references were dated (there was a bit where the author referenced Chrissy Teigen as the funniest woman on Twitter, who is really insufferable now vs. when the author wrote the book), the way the child of the story (fmc's daughter) speaks like an adult (she is twelve or thirteen, right!?), the misunderstanding at the end that could really have been solved by a text. Also didn't really like that the book (romance itself) kinda implied romance erotica as fluff and ~non-substantial~ (the fmc reinstates over and over again that she only writes erotica to raise her daughter), romance is a genre that should be taken seriously, not secondary to other "normal" genre books (but can respect that the fmc would want to write what she likes, historical fiction etc.). Still liked the book however, the cover is fire >__<