Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Seven Year Slip

This book took me little bit of time to get into. I decided to begin it as an audiobook, and that made all the difference. Ms. Poston uses beautiful imagery and sweet, sassy banter to tell her story, and that all comes alive in the audiobook. I finished the book as a hybrid read of listening and physically reading, and it made the experience so much richer. Dealing with two unexpected losses recently myself, some of my grief was recognized and even worked on by reading this book. This book is magical, poignant, and lovely. I would highly recommend.

Content Warnings

rachelkreadsbookz's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful 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

Content Warnings

racheln23's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted 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? It's complicated

4.0

This book is cute, and if you have read the author's other book, The Dead Romantics, I think you will like this as well.

First, I adore Clementine's name, and her nickname in the book.

The book started out slowly, and it took too long to meet the boy we knew would be appearing in Clementine's apartment.

There seemed to be some inconsistencies in the book, along with lots of repetitions, while I think could have possibly been some editing overlooks. For example, we get the idea that Clementine is so much like her aunt, then at some point we hear Clem's internal dialogue that she is NOT adventurous like her aunt, then we are made to think they were two peas in a pod, then we see that she is "her parents' daughter," and a few pages later that she didn't quite ever fit with her parents and Analea jived with her more. It was just a little bit weird, but at the same time, I guess it gives the vibe that Clem is learning about herself, that we as people are always changing minutely here and there.

I think there were a lot of highlights of how wonderful Analea was, and how extremely vivacious she was, but then we learn she died by suicide. It made me angry at Analea, and also makes me think we didn't quite get the correct picture of who Analea was. I 100% appreciate the author diving into this topic authentically and I am not criticizing her at all. I am moreso criticizing Analea...however unfait that may be. I think what I most loved about the entire book was the author's note at the end. How true it is that when we write something and then read it a few months or few years down the road, we are NOT the same people we were when we read it. I love how she authentically shared her experience with living through suicide of a loved one, and that she stated she wrote about it in an authentic manner. I think the realness of loving someone who dies by suicide and carrying the grief and the anger are all so authentic. It is a horrible thing to live through.

Moving on to less dark things, with the time traveling, my brain definitely wanted to make things more complicated. Could Iwan NOT remember something because it hadn't happened yet with future Clem going back in the past? If he had access to all the things in the past, then why did he behave the way he did during their first reunion? We never really dive into those complicated time traveling questions lol.

I did not initially buy into Clem & Iwan's relationship, and then at some point I realized I was totally invested. I think it was a bit after they met in the present. I just wish Iwan had been more in turmoil more frequently from the reader's perspective.

I also loved how the reader discovers that Iwan has been absolutely obsessed with Clem for seven years. I just, once again, wish we had gotten better glimpses of that earlier in the book. And of course, I absolutley adored Iwan's nickname for Clem, Lemon. I haven't loved a character's name(/a name in general) this much since I read Francine Rivers' book and El Canto del Mio Cid and named both my daughters after character names. If I had another daughter, Clementine would 99.9% be her name!

Lastly, I appreciate the intricacy of the obsession with food and culinary art. I loved the mini series Salt, fat, acid, heat and loved the name drop.

Content Warnings

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

saskiarodenburg's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-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

4.0

It’s pretty rare these days to find a romance that actually makes you feel things, has characters who aren’t cardboard and a plot that isn’t too predictable, but this book was all of those things. I really enjoyed it.

Content Warnings

jlblumenfeld's review

Go to review page

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I think I may like Ashley Poston's stuff a ittle better than Emily Henry's 😯

Content Warnings

katherinet's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A beautiful heartwarming story so elegantly written. These characters will live in my heart rent free, and Ashley Poston has done a fantastic job with the grief the FMC is going through.
The little twist that was thrown in there was beautiful and unexpected.

Ashley Poston has now become a must buy author for me.

Content Warnings

bookishgal71's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

More...