Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

50 reviews

sheriffrockyraccoon's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.0

I am not normally a contemporary romance person, but I was looking for something light and this book has been recommended over and over by everyone I know! Tia Williams creates such a fun story, it’s a little corny and a little silly but it makes up for that in heart.

I was reading a book club edition of the book, which included a small interview from Williams that explained how much she loves putting pop culture references in her writing. Personally, for me, it takes me a bit out of it. While I thought it was done well in the 2004 chapters, the dialogue between Eva and Audre sometimes made me cringe only because I’ve totally missed both generations at the time this was written. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed this book and felt so strongly for the characters. 

I’d recommend this book to any fans of contemporary romance. It was a lot darker than I expected, so I think there might be a little bit of something for dark romance fans (but nothing too extreme). 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

maireadryan's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful 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

3.75

I had complicated feelings about this book. I thought Tia Williams did an incredible job portraying pain and what it’s like to live with a disability, addiction, recovery, depression, self harm, and the toll of poverty on a person. I enjoyed seeing Eva and Shane’s growth throughout the story and their deep connection felt palpable. However, the side characters were all so extreme in their personalities that they seemed more like caricatures of people rather than supporting characters with substance. Additionally, the languages and pop culture references really date the story and things like the use of social media (twitter, instagram, etc) seem exaggerated. Every time it was mentioned it took me out of the story. I wish we got more of a conclusive ending and saw more of Shane and Eva as an adult couple. The ending left me dissatisfied and wanting more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Classism

stellahadz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• 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

I really liked the premise of this book, but I went in expecting a much lighter romance than what it actually was. The characters' backstories are VERY dark (check trigger warnings), and the tonal shifts between the romance and the flashbacks to their traumatic teenage years were extremely jarring. In some parts of the book, I felt like I was getting whiplash every time I started a new chapter. It felt like there was so much going on all the time - from Eva's disability to her family issues to Shane's mental health to his desire to mentor kids from underserved communities to the upsetting connection that the two of them shared, it felt like we didn't get to know the characters nearly well enough, and as a result I didn't totally buy their love story. I wish the tone and pacing had been more consistent, that the characters had been a little more fleshed-out, and that

Eva's book about her family in Louisiana

was a bigger part of the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, and Medical content

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

hannahelaine's review against another edition

DNF @ 36%. I honestly am just getting a lot of cognitive dissonance from this book? It literally has a “The State of the Black Author” panel in the book that condemns blaxploitation in media, and how there needs to be more black joy and showing black people as literally just any other person instead of deeply and always traumatized. And then it seems (to me, who is a white person) to do exactly the opposite and be the paragon of blaxploitation.  Maybe I’m missing something since this book isn’t written for me specifically and I don’t have the cultural context for it. I don’t know. But it seems very dissonant in what it’s saying and doing. It feels icky. I may be misinterpreting the author— I certainly haven’t stumbled on any black reviewers saying the same thing, so I may be totally getting it wrong. But it feels icky for me, so I’m just going to leave it. 

I honestly don’t even have thoughts on the romance or even the plot because that has overshadowed everything else for me.  I feel weird about it and I’m just not going to continue. 

Finally, this is a little more a nitpick than criticism on the book, but some content warnings would be good to put in this one. There’s a lot of extremely dangerous self-harming situations. I didn’t know this going in, and recently have been having pretty bad mental health issues requiring partial hospitalization. Luckily It didn’t throw my mood or thoughts in a bad direction, but it could have. A little warning ahead of time would have been nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

carlomartinez__'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad 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: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racism, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

garrettcz's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

oriana095's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, and Alcohol

gwenswoons's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad 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

5.0

Loved this beyond, beyond. Every word miraculous and just what it needs to be. Such gorgeously drawn characters, from the smallest side folks to the incredible MCs, each with powerful and deeply human challenges, layers, and growth. I adored the audio and can’t wait to have my hands on a physical copy - I will read it again. I loved it more than I have loved anything in a long time and it will stay with me forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cemmalyn12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

rickireadss's review against another edition

3.0

i went into this one with such high hopes, and i honestly think that was what ruined it for me. i loved the chronic migraines rep. i somewhat tolerated the fact that both mcs were writers - i feel like this is hit or miss with me, but usually a miss. i did not check the CW before reading, and that was definitely my bad, but most of the reviews i had seen on tiktok or insta hadn't mentioned it being a "heavy" book -- this one most defintitely was, and it was much heavier than i could have anticipated. i ended up soft-DNFing this like 50% in and left in untouched for almost a month, but i pushed through hoping it would magically get better (spoiler alert: it did not) this was just not my favorite, and one of my disappointments of the year.

⚠️: self harm, drug abuse, alcoholism, drug use, addiction, chronic illness, suicidal thoughts, mental illness, suicidal attempt, abandonment, gun violence, death, grief, injury/injury detail, child abuse, child death, violence, sexual assault, toxic relationship, blood, sexual harassment, emotional abuse, racism, medical content, car accident, medical trauma, death of parent, domestic abuse, physical abuse, bullying, panic attacks/disorders, murder, forced institutionalization, pedophilia, vomit, ableism, sexism, adult/minor relationship

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Murder