Reviews

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

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shelflife20's review against another edition

5.0

What a treat to read this book during Black History Month and right before Valentine’s Day. A beautiful, thoughtful tale exploring what it takes to love another person, and more importantly, to love yourself. I laughed and cried at the highs and lows these characters experience on their intertwining paths.

I want to retweet to high heaven these lines from the author’s note: “Dramatic, glorious, everyday slices of life never starred Black characters. It always seemed that we had to suffer in art. It’s exhausting, and it’s not the only Black experience. We’re dazzling, and I wanted to show that.” I am thoroughly dazzled.

Thanks to my friend Sam for choosing this for me for my 2023 challenge, “12 Favorite Books from 12 Friends.”

sbernardin's review against another edition

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2.0

2.75
they had me in the first half not gonna lie. Had me interested.
"stop writing about me" "you first" - Yeah she had me there. I was hooked.
later it felt like I was watching a bad episode of euphoria. like if these kids went to my school I would think they were crazy

mariana_reads_'s review

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emotional hopeful 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

riareadsromance's review against another edition

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4.0

Really not sure where to begin with this book but I guess I’ll start with the end because I’ve literally just finished it.

My immediate reaction is that a 13 year old boy being shot and killed being the reason for the third act break up and then it being completely glossed over and quite quickly resolved felt really distasteful to me?
I was enjoying this book, I was somewhat confused by the marketing around it because it seemed to have leaked into the ‘mainstream’ fiction genre more than usual so I was expecting a lot more angst and lofty plot points I guess so when I started reading it and it generally felt like any normal romance novel I’ve read I was confused but happy. I enjoyed the format of it being divided into days and the writing is good but I do just feel like this book didn’t know what it was.
It is definitely by and large a romance but with the backstories of both MCs it felt like it was trying to be deeper or edgier or something but everything was spoken about so matter of fact my rather than feeling emotionally charged.
Like Shane’s ‘issues’ were actually all off page/in the past so when we meet him in the present day, okay he’s a recovering alcoholic but other than that he seems largely very chill? He’s not self destructive any more apart from a compulsion to run fast and hard, he doesn’t have a temper, he’s not mad at the world or at Eva, he’s just kind of a nomad who’s always been longing for her? And suddenly decides to find her again? I would have liked to know more about what made him get sober because that seems like it would have an emotional pinpoint but it’s never really mentioned? TBC