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A review by downsophialane
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams is a masterclass in second chance romance that has catapulted its way into my top romances of all time. โค
This book may not be for everyone - the romance is inextricably interlaced with the characters' trauma, and the hero and heroineโs initial teenage tryst is characterised by risk-taking and enabling behaviour. There is drug use and abuse, alcohol dependence and self harm on the page (never romanticised, I would argue.) Tia Williams refuses to lean on convenient plot machinations that could be "cleared up with a conversation" (the argument often - and sometimes rightly - levelled against second chance romances) to break these contemporary โfated matesโ up before they are emotionally capable of being good partners to each other.
Both fiction writers, Eva and Shane have found literary success in writing the fictionalised version of each other - a deliciously romantic premise. By the time they reconnect as functional, successful, sober adults, they do have that relational capacity, and the result is a well deserved HEA.
Seven Days in June is an engrossing, sumptuous romance that celebrates Black joy and love without shying away from the complexities of modern relationships, intersecting with issues of poverty, addiction and chronic pain.
๐๐๐๐๐ 5 stars
๐ TO TEACH?
Certainly not in high school, which is where I teach! ๐ But I would recommend it for anyone hoping to craft their own second chance romance story. Seven Days in June is now firmly in my romance canon.
This book may not be for everyone - the romance is inextricably interlaced with the characters' trauma, and the hero and heroineโs initial teenage tryst is characterised by risk-taking and enabling behaviour. There is drug use and abuse, alcohol dependence and self harm on the page (never romanticised, I would argue.) Tia Williams refuses to lean on convenient plot machinations that could be "cleared up with a conversation" (the argument often - and sometimes rightly - levelled against second chance romances) to break these contemporary โfated matesโ up before they are emotionally capable of being good partners to each other.
Both fiction writers, Eva and Shane have found literary success in writing the fictionalised version of each other - a deliciously romantic premise. By the time they reconnect as functional, successful, sober adults, they do have that relational capacity, and the result is a well deserved HEA.
Seven Days in June is an engrossing, sumptuous romance that celebrates Black joy and love without shying away from the complexities of modern relationships, intersecting with issues of poverty, addiction and chronic pain.
๐๐๐๐๐ 5 stars
๐ TO TEACH?
Certainly not in high school, which is where I teach! ๐ But I would recommend it for anyone hoping to craft their own second chance romance story. Seven Days in June is now firmly in my romance canon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Self harm, and Alcohol