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A review by not_another_ana
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
challenging
funny
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
And maybe that was what real, adult love was. Being fearless enough to hold each other close no matter how catastrophic the world became. Loving each other with enough ferocity to quell the fears of the past. Just fucking being there.
When Eva was a teenager, she had a wild and passionate week with Shane. It was wild, drug fueled, and life changing. But that's all in the past, and she is now the successful author of an erotic book series and the mother of a precocious daughter. However, when Shane returns, now also a famous award winning author, and they cross paths for another seven days Eva will have to reckon with her past and consider if maybe this time is the right time for the two of them.
I knew I was doomed to dislike this from the moment I read the opening lines, but I persevered since this was a book club read. There's just something about the way this is written that never clicked with me. The writing is too reference heavy in a way that already makes it dated and lackluster. Tia Williams has this odd habit of describing everything with brand names that was distracting and embarrassing. Here's an example: "... when his phone vibrated on his arm (where it was slotted in his Nathan iPhone armband, rated Best Accessory of 2019 by RunnersWorld.com).", like am I reading a novel or is this Vogue magazine trying to sell me overpriced shit I don't need.
Then there's the characters. Eva and Shane are the only ones who seem realistic, and sure they're the protagonists and we get to see their pasts and inhabit their minds, so the contrast with everybody else in this book is huge. Everyone else was caricaturesque, the closet to a stereotype the author could get her hands on. You have these two broken people trying to reconnect and be emotionally honest only for a side character to pop and talk about wacky shit regarding vaginas or something else wildly out of place. And what was up with the mega cringe fans and NPCs being full on tiktok braindead? Excruciating to read. Speaking of which... AUDRE. I have a personal beef with that fictional child. She was supposedly twelve years old but read like a much younger kid, she was not funny nor endearing but closer to a conservative parody of gen z kids. In fact I was CONVINCED that the author was childless and had never interacted with a small human being and was flabbergasted when I read her thank you at the end to her actual in real life daughter.
That's what haunted me while reading this book, the tone. It swung wildly like a turnstile, and the discrepancy soured me on the whole matter. The opening lines have a funny jokey tone, they're light and cheeky, only to grow dark when we revisit the past and then back to the jokes and the caricatures and raunchyness. I wish the author had just focused on the main couple and deleted all the extra povs from side characters, the brand mentions, the annoying child, because the core relationship could have been good. Then there's the seven days gimmick that didn't come across all that well to me, I feel like it was a mistake to gloss over the seven days in the past even if you can excuse the narration growing hazy due to the drug use and trauma.
And my last big complaint has to do with the ending.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Sexual content
Moderate: Gun violence