Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

116 reviews

umsriracha's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.25

I would warn that the description on the back is mildly misleading concerning how intense the book can get. There are some seriously triggering/dark themes explored at times. It’s not the whole book, but it’s definitely there. The book itself definitely had the push and pull reflected in Shane and Eva’s relationship, as a reader. There were times when I felt like it lost me, but I always picked it back up and was glad when I did. It was a notably fulfilling read. There is praise due when an author can perfectly capture a niche and/or cultural experience without the reader being left clueless to the references, or over explaining to an uncomfortable degree. Tia Williams finds a lovely balance to make an enjoyable book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Child death, Blood, and Death of parent

strixy16's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Gore, Rape, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Car accident, and Death of parent

zelle10orio's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Toxicas

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Sexual content

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Car accident, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

sweetcass20's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Grief

emilyswiggle'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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Alcohol

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

alexasolis98's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing 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

2.5

Eva and Shane. What to say? They have a beautiful, complicated, heartbreaking love story. Audre was adorable and wise for her age. I loved Audre's and Shane's relationship. 
My issues were the number of pop culture references. I also felt that Eva and Shane's relationship should have been shown a bit more after the epilogue. Both of them have traumas and issues of their own that I don't feel like were fully resolved. But I guess the author implies that they will be doing it together?
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9.1.24 
I can't stop thinking about this book. I cannot definitely say that Shane and Eva loved each other. They spent a week together while teenagers and during that time they were drinking/using drugs. Can you truly say you loved that person, if you never spent enough time with them outside the influence? ...brb

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

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

wowsmeows's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

"Girls are given the weight of the world, but nowhere to put it down. The power and magic born in that struggle? It’s so terrifying to men that we invented reasons to burn y’all at the stake, just to keep our dicks hard."

 

Seven Days In June is about two writers. They had an intense week-long relationship in their teens, and have been using each other as muses for their writing ever since. 

I absolutely loved this book. I thought it was written beautifully and I truly felt the intensity of their relationship. I really liked how the story was revealed one a day at a time, flicking between past and present.

It also raised some interesting topics such as disability, generational trauma, positive co-parenting, and online fan culture. 

The only reason that this wasn't a 5* for me was just because I felt the ending was a little rushed. Minor spoilers:

I wish we had a bigger reconciliation for Eva and Shane than just the epilogue. It felt a bit too fast. 

I'd really recommend this one, but maybe check out content warnings first. 

 "I had to teach myself how to breathe again, in a world without you in it."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

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