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A review by nicolemhewitt
Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse
5.0
This review and many more can be found on my blog: Feed Your Fiction Addiction
This book is a super cute read that tugs at your heartstrings and digs into some deeper issues without getting too heavy. It features friendships and family relationships and romance all set against the backdrop of Tokyo.
What Fed My Addiction:
Japan!
Like I said, I’m fascinated, so I kind of loved this little peek into an ex-pat’s life in Japan. We got seven days and nights of karaoke, train rides, Japanese food, and more—it was a fun glimpse at life in Tokyo. I also enjoyed learning a bit about how the school system works for foreigners in Japan and how an ex pat teenager’s life might look (and since Vinesse actually was one, I feel like we probably got a pretty realistic POV). I pretty much loved the setting for this book!
Evolving friendships.
Sophia feels like she knows where she stands with her two best friends. She and Mika and David have known each other forever, and they have their own unique dynamic—and the fact that Sophia’s been crushing on David forever is just a part of it. But as the book goes on, Sophia begins to realize that not everything about her relationships has been perfect or even healthy. She realizes that it’s possible she’s been fooling herself, and others have been stringing her along. The question is, how broken are the relationships really, and are they worth salvaging or are some people better off being left behind? I like that the book explored this because I think this is a typical issue that many teens deal with—as they grow up, they might also grow apart from the friends they’ve counted on. They might realize that parts of their friendship were not healthy—that felt real to me.
Family matters.
Sophia also had to deal with her complicated relationships with her parents (who are divorced and live in completely different countries) and her sister. Navigating this territory sometimes gets difficult!
Jamie.
I kind of fell for Jamie right along with Sophia. He was sort of nerdy adorable, and I could see why Sophia had a hard time getting him out of her mind once he returned to her life. I also really felt the awkwardness that was created by the way that Jamie and Sophia had left things before Jamie moved. It was sort of fun to see Sophia’s dread turn to fascination turn to romantic feelings.
What Left Me Hungry for More:
Just seven days?
So, the whole premise of the book is that Sophia only has seven days to reconnect with Jamie. This is a little quick to build up a believable romance, even given Sophia and Jamie’s history (it’s not like they were dating). About three days in, I was starting to wonder how we were going to get to romance at all—so I had to suspend disbelief a little bit when it came to the timeline. This could have been a recipe for instalove disaster, but somehow Vinesse managed to convince me to be invested in Sophia and Jamie as a couple anyway—which is quite a feat. So, while the unrealistic timeline was definitely a drawback, it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as it could have been.
Overall, I thought this book was a really cute read. I do have to say that some people might not appreciate the ending, but I thought it was fitting considering how everything played out. (Of course, I don’t want to say much more than this, but if you want a tiny hint of a spoiler, check out the review on my blog.) I give this book 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via #BEA16 in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***
This book is a super cute read that tugs at your heartstrings and digs into some deeper issues without getting too heavy. It features friendships and family relationships and romance all set against the backdrop of Tokyo.
What Fed My Addiction:
Japan!
Like I said, I’m fascinated, so I kind of loved this little peek into an ex-pat’s life in Japan. We got seven days and nights of karaoke, train rides, Japanese food, and more—it was a fun glimpse at life in Tokyo. I also enjoyed learning a bit about how the school system works for foreigners in Japan and how an ex pat teenager’s life might look (and since Vinesse actually was one, I feel like we probably got a pretty realistic POV). I pretty much loved the setting for this book!
Evolving friendships.
Sophia feels like she knows where she stands with her two best friends. She and Mika and David have known each other forever, and they have their own unique dynamic—and the fact that Sophia’s been crushing on David forever is just a part of it. But as the book goes on, Sophia begins to realize that not everything about her relationships has been perfect or even healthy. She realizes that it’s possible she’s been fooling herself, and others have been stringing her along. The question is, how broken are the relationships really, and are they worth salvaging or are some people better off being left behind? I like that the book explored this because I think this is a typical issue that many teens deal with—as they grow up, they might also grow apart from the friends they’ve counted on. They might realize that parts of their friendship were not healthy—that felt real to me.
Family matters.
Sophia also had to deal with her complicated relationships with her parents (who are divorced and live in completely different countries) and her sister. Navigating this territory sometimes gets difficult!
Jamie.
I kind of fell for Jamie right along with Sophia. He was sort of nerdy adorable, and I could see why Sophia had a hard time getting him out of her mind once he returned to her life. I also really felt the awkwardness that was created by the way that Jamie and Sophia had left things before Jamie moved. It was sort of fun to see Sophia’s dread turn to fascination turn to romantic feelings.
What Left Me Hungry for More:
Just seven days?
So, the whole premise of the book is that Sophia only has seven days to reconnect with Jamie. This is a little quick to build up a believable romance, even given Sophia and Jamie’s history (it’s not like they were dating). About three days in, I was starting to wonder how we were going to get to romance at all—so I had to suspend disbelief a little bit when it came to the timeline. This could have been a recipe for instalove disaster, but somehow Vinesse managed to convince me to be invested in Sophia and Jamie as a couple anyway—which is quite a feat. So, while the unrealistic timeline was definitely a drawback, it wasn’t nearly as frustrating as it could have been.
Overall, I thought this book was a really cute read. I do have to say that some people might not appreciate the ending, but I thought it was fitting considering how everything played out. (Of course, I don’t want to say much more than this, but if you want a tiny hint of a spoiler, check out the review on my blog.) I give this book 4/5 stars.
***Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher via #BEA16 in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was given and all opinions are my own.***