Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Seven Days in June, by Tia Williams

33 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

A little spicy, a little sweet, this book is a brilliant love story. It focuses on two broken people and their journey to loving themselves and one another completely. I loved the characters, I loved the way the author including many present-day pop culture references and allusions, I loved the ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Abandonment, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Death, Drug use, Racism, and Rape

zjo_98's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Chronic illness, Self harm, Drug abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Grief, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Rape, Gun violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Car accident and Body shaming

alyssasaurus's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Chronic illness, Racism, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Car accident, Cursing, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Bullying, Self harm, Drug use, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

haley49's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-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

4.5

This book was a masterpiece of fiction…aside from a rushed final act this book had everything I wanted: the emotions, the complicated family dynamics, the questions of self, and the angst in love found between two complicated leads. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Drug use, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Grief, Emotional abuse, Racism, Death, Sexual assault, Medical content, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Rape

runitsthepopo's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Car accident, Death, Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Child death, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

queenmudds's review

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-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

Just wow read it but check tw

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Rape, and Self harm

nounoureads's review

emotional funny reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved Tia Williams’ writing style. The book is well-paced and there is a good balance between flashbacks and present day. The characters were funny and mostly pretty realistic, and the attraction between Eva and Shane (as adults) was undeniable. I loved the relationship between Eva and Audre, how protective of each other they are and how Eva would do anything to be the parent she didn’t have. It was interesting to see how Eva tackled life with an invisible disability because she is not public about it and has to pretend to be fine most of the time. The peek into the Black literati community was also refreshing. 

While being so passionately “in love” within 7 days as teenagers could make sense, the same feelings and intensity after 15 years with no contact and within the same timeframe seemed a little much and felt very rushed especially given how things ended. “In love” because that week when they were teenagers felt more like co-dependency and them encouraging each other's destructive behaviours. I don’t think the author glamorized that week, but there’s something I can’t quite pinpoint that made me feel like it was still a little romanticized. Maybe it was because it was written from a limited third-person POV and they thought they were in love. My issue was not feeling the stance “this is not love.” 

I didn’t appreciate how Ty was treated as a plot device for the (unnecessary) conflict and Audre had a few unrealistic traits

Spoiler

e.g. she’s read Freud, watched Midsommar and offers therapy sessions at 12

(though this might come from Eva’s parenting because sometimes they’re more friends than mother/daughter). 

Overall I really liked the book, but I recommend checking content/trigger warnings before reading if it’s something you need. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Self harm, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Rape

bookrecsbyjess's review

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Death, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Cursing, Child abuse, Chronic illness, and Child death

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, Racism, Rape, Injury/injury detail, Grief, Gun violence, Suicide, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

Minor: Car accident and Vomit

thenovelsphere's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Seven Days in June is a beautifully written second-chance romance book that explores trauma and how it impacts relationships. Williams has a way with words in this book, and I love it.

The plot
Seven Days in June follows author and single mum, Eva and another author, Shane, with who she had a relationship in the past when they were young. They meet again for the first time since their breakup and there are a lot of unanswered questions that they need to face, mainly their breakup. 

The reason for Shane ending their relationship hints at a pretty significant event outside of the common reasons why people break up, such as cheating. This gives a kind of mystery element to the plot where you're constantly guessing what could have happened for Shane to leave Eva so abruptly. I love how as you read on, the story of their relationship unravels little by little. You're given just enough information to know about Shane and Eva's past but not too much, which entices you to carry on reading. 

I also love how every chapter has a title too! I don't know if it's just me, but I barely see chapter titles in books nowadays! But the titles in Seven Days in June always got me excited about what was going to happen next!

The Characters
One thing about Seven Days in June is that not one character is one-dimensional. Each character is complex, with their own demons they had to face. And of course, with multi-dimensional characters, there was great character development, which was heartwarming to see with Eva and Shane. 

Eva and Shane are both characters who you just want to root for. Both as individuals and as a couple. We see them go through intense struggles and suffering in their younger years to now being successful authors. But the one thing missing with both of them was that closure from their breakup. So them both having a second chance at being together and unravelling everything that went down was bittersweet yet beautiful. 

I've got to make an honourable mention to one of my favourite characters in Seven Days in June. Eva's daughter, Audre is smart and witty for a 12-year-old and I love that she brought a bit of comedy to this heavy story! 

The Writing Style
Williams has a way with words for sure! I had to go back and reread some sentences to soak in how beautifully she described the emotions of her characters. I also love how the different character perspectives in the chapters weren't just confined to Ava and Shane. For example, there were chapters dedicated to Eva's mum's perspective, which gave a more holistic understanding of everyone involved in Eva and Shane's story. 
The only thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars was the pop culture references! I don't know what it is about them, but I'm just not a fan of pop culture references in books. It wasn't too much at the beginning but I felt like in the last quarter of the book, the pop culture references got turned up to 80%. 

Overall, this book was an amazing read and so beautifully written. I'm excited to read more of Tia Williams's books that she decides to release in the future! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Car accident, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

lostcupofstars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Look, the first 50 pages, I was convinced I wasn’t gonna like this book. It was slow, and I saw the MC’s daughter’s full name and was concerned that it was another one of those books with far too many woke and pop culture references. 

Then Shane was introduced and I forgot all about that stuff.

The heart of this book is where it truly shines. The pacing is spot on and the plot develops well between past and present. There are so many issues covered here (check the tw if you need to before reading!) and their relationship was far from perfect (I deffo think there’s a lot to be said re codependency and their relationship as teens) but they did have good chemistry and I really wanted them to work it out.

The last 50 pages were quietly chaotic; this section really could have done with more. Pages of text convo always leaves me feeling cheated. There was too much happening in such a short space of time and I still don’t really understand why

Spoiler

Ty needed to die? Shane has been through enough already, this seemed unnecessary to me

You lot know by now I’m an honest reviewer! I didn’t expect to enjoy this book at all based on all the hype, but the characters felt real and that’s something I truly appreciate. I think if the beginning had been more concise and the end had been more fleshed out, this would have been an easy 4 or 5 star read for me. That being said, I enjoyed it and I’m glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Self harm, and Drug use

Moderate: Abandonment and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide attempt, Forced institutionalization, and Rape