SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by Tia Williams – double review!

Seven days to fall in love, fifteen years to forget and seven days to get it all back again… From the author of The Perfect Find, this is a witty, romantic, and sexy-as-hell new novel of two writers and their second chance at love.

Brooklynite Eva Mercy is a single mom and bestselling erotica writer, who is feeling pressed from all sides. Shane Hall is a reclusive, enigmatic, award-winning literary author who, to everyone’s surprise, shows up in New York.

When Shane and Eva meet unexpectedly at a literary event, sparks fly, raising not only their past buried traumas, but the eyebrows of New York’s Black literati. What no one knows is that twenty years earlier, teenage Eva and Shane spent one crazy, torrid week madly in love. They may be pretending that everything is fine now, but they can’t deny their chemistry-or the fact that they’ve been secretly writing to each other in their books ever since.

Over the next seven days in the middle of a steamy Brooklyn summer, Eva and Shane reconnect, but Eva’s not sure how she can trust the man who broke her heart, and she needs to get him out of New York so that her life can return to normal. But before Shane disappears again, there are a few questions she needs answered. . .

With its keen observations of Black life and the condition of modern motherhood, as well as the consequences of motherless-ness, Seven Days in June is by turns humorous, warm and deeply sensual. 

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Title : Seven Days in June
Author : Tia Williams
Format : e-ARC / eBook (overdrive)
Page Count :337
Genre : Contemporary Romance
Publisher : Quercus
Release Date : June 2, 2021

Reviewer : Micky / Hollis
Rating : ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / ★ ★ ★ ★ .5

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Micky’s 5 star review

Headlines:
Swept away by second chances
Dialogue dream
Epic summer read

This wasn’t my first Tia Williams book, but it had a completely different vibe. It was deeper, more desperate with the kind of longing that makes you feel. This was a second chance story that was full of emotion but also delightfully light in the moment.

Eva (Genevieve) was a mother, a writer and a women who had shelved her own life to some extent. She had a hidden disability and got through the days. She had some friends that were the family she’d never really had.

When Shane entered the story, everything froze. The connection, my word, the connection was magnetised. There was a huge story to tell with these two that was mostly in the contemporary but it did have some past chapters that were woven cleverly and not over-used.

“I idealize you in fiction because I idealized you in real life.”

What I loved about this story and the writing was the dialogue. I have so many highlights on my kindle that just tickled me or made me feel. I lived for this story in the 24 hours that I read it and I truly didn’t want it to end. The cover is glorious and really just captures these two.

I would challenge anyone not to need this couple together. I loved the humility of Shane, the hope of Eva despite her life and the ebb and flow of life getting in the damn way.

Shane was her lighthouse. If he went dark, she’d be lost, treading black water forever.

This was the kind of sweeping romance that just made my summer and I recommend this to all my romance-reading friends.

Please note there are a number of triggers in this book – please look on other reviews or DM me if you want more info.

Thank you to Quercus for the early review copy.

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Hollis’ 4.5 star review

Based on the cover of this book, I had no idea what was waiting for me. I knew Micky had raved about this earlier in the year and so I’d added it to my TBR but otherwise? I had no expectations, no concept, and no real urge to pick it up and devour it. And wow what a mistake that was.

“You can’t imagine what you were like then.“
“I know what I was like.”
“You don’t. You burst into my solitude, demanding to be seen. You were overwhelming. Just wild and weird and brilliant, and I never had a choice. I liked everything about you. Even the scary parts. I wanted to drown in your fucking bathwater.“

While I didn’t get the same easy five-star feelings from this one, it’s so close. Because this story was beautiful, compelling, raw, emotional, and just utterly captivating. I started this late last night and was so mad at myself for doing so because I couldn’t stay up to finish it and had to be pulled away. Which makes for a complete change from my only other experience with this author (a very very early DNF of The Perfect Find).

“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.“

It’s so hard, after the magic of this read, to try and sum up or quantify or pitch this book to others because I won’t do it justice. But this is a story of second chances, drama, family, grief, pain, addiction, laughter, and passion. The chemistry is electric, the insider book community commentary is hysterical, the inclusion of chronic illness, particularly one of the invisible disabilities, was so well done, and every single character had presence.

“Shane Hall, you’re not scary anymore.”
“I know. I put the ‘hug’ in thug.”

As annoyed as I am for waiting so long to read this, I’m also kind of pleased this was an end of the year read because I want all my next few reads to be like this one. Close 2021 with a bang.

She wanted to figure out who she was – and then be her, delight in her. Delight in everything! Have an actual life and live it! She vowed to herself to be honest – with herself and with others. In pain? Admit it. In love? Claim it. Life was too short to be anything but herself.

Pick this book up. You won’t regret it.