Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Seven Days in June

Eva and Shane really got me in my feels. I don't know if it's because it has been a while since I've read a romance or because Williams just created such raw and touching moments but I felt it in my gut. I loved the growth and pacing of their relationship, but also their own personal journeys. Just a wonderful sultry read for the summer.

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sheriffrockyraccoon's review against another edition

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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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alfalky's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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stellahadz's review against another edition

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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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hannahelaine's review against another edition

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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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redefiningrachel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective slow-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

2.0

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