Seven Days in June

I LOVED this book, and I don't usually like romance novels. This was so much more. I felt transported into these people's minds and lives. I just loved the whole thing. So smart and real.

4.5⭐️ i love these characters so much

I was so invested in these characters! First book in my adult life to make me shed a tear. I loved it!!!

Seven Days in June is a second chance romance story that touches several difficult topics (e.g alcoholism, chronic pain, drug abuse, racism, difficult childhood)

“I remember that I'm not lonely. I'm alone. When I'm comatose from writing and mothering, when I'm hurting too badly to cook, talk, or smile, I curl up with ‘alone' like a security blanket...Alone never gets disappointed by me.”

The book follows the story of Eva and Shane, who met 15 years ago at a difficult time in their lives, and meet again at litherary panel.
Both characters are damaged and broken and I found them exceptionally well written.

Pros:
- I liked all book characters
- I enjoyed the literary panel discussion, especially when it is mentioned that the publishing industry has a hard time processing Black characters unless they are suffering, as if other human feelings are denied to them. This feels very true and I think it can also be applied to movies.
- I enjoyed the love story and was completelly invested in the outcome.

“We're expected to write about trauma, opression, or slavery, because those are easily marketable Black tropes. Publishers struggle to see us having the same banal, funny, whimsical experiences that every human has”

Cons:
- The book includes several pop references with which I am not familiar with.
- I found the descriptions of clothing to be excessive, adding no value to the story.
- Personally, I dislike books that make characters suffer too much and unnecessarily. I would have preferred that, instead of the final conflict (which seemed forced and unlikely in this day and age), the story of Eva's family was explored in greater detail and with Shane by her side.

Litereary value: 3 stars
Entertainment value: 5 stars

Let me preface this with, these are just my opinions and I am a nobody. I had too high of expectations going into this one. The constant name dropping, the technical language during the spicy bits, just all of it was trying too hard. It read like satire and I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to. Most of the characters felt unreal to me because of the lack of descriptive language. It was inadequate overall. The bare bones of the story had so much potential. The independent single black mother with an invisible disability who is raising her daughter with mindfulness of her mental well-being, rekindles the love she had with the first person to truly see her. Said person is also broken from traumatic life experiences. Ughhhh. All of the potential. So frustrated that this wasn't written better!!! The only character I genuinely liked was Audre. She was one of the only characters not spouting pop culture allusions in every dialogue. You'd think the 12 year old would be the one who would. I feel like this story would have been better if it was written by someone else.

4.5*

There were a lot of great aspects to this book, but what hung me up most were the character arcs. I really wanted to believe in the authenticity of Shane and Eva, and maybe a little more detail might have helped me? Some of the cultural references were so beyond me that at points I didn't know what was going on.

Wow, this was the best contemporary r0mance I've read in years. Tia Williams has a distinctive voice, and her “second chance at love” plot is funny, dark, romantic, gritty, sexy and memorable. Eva and Shane spent one week together in high school when both were at low points in their lives, and 20 years later they have the chance to see if the magic is still there now that they are both successful and (at least nominally) stable. Spoiler alert: it is, but they still have a lot of work to do before they can really be together again. I loved the way they communicate throughout the novel, and how Eva's disability (chronic, debilitating migraines) is portrayed as limiting but not defining. The secondary characters are essential to the plot, especially editor/fairy godmother Cece; Williams has a way of telling everything about her characters in quasi-info dumps, but her descriptions are so sharp and hilarious that you don't mind.

I'm a little hesitant to read the author's backlist because I can't imagine her previous books could have been this good, but I'm willing to try. I had read rapturous reviews of Seven Days in June and for once, a book lived up to its hype.

One sentence synopsis... Two tragic teenage loves reunite after a decade apart - both are successful authors and have spent years writing their way back to each other.

Read it if you like... toxic codependent relationships. The main characters, Eva and Shane, are self-destructive and have zero character development even though we follow them from high schoolers to 30 year olds. Also if you like extremely of-the-moment pop culture references that are sure to be dated in a year. My personal pet peeve in books is when they make references to celebrity gossip or a current hit TV show, etc. It makes the book feel dated and disposable. Despite all this criticism I still read the book in a day so it gets two stars for being page-turning. If you want a better fun, Black romance try anything Jasmine Guillory or Talia Hibbert.

Dream casting... Logan Browning as romance writer Eva Mercy and Regé-Jean Page as Serious Author TM Shane Hall.