Many thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and Francesca Hornak for the opportunity to read her debut novel - loved it!

This is the story of the Birch family - a stereotypical British family, not great at communication, each family member with lots of secrets and inner feelings that aren't shared. But Hornak writes each section of this book from the viewpoint of a different family member, so that we get to learn all those innermost feelings.

There is Andrew, the patriarch, a food critic for the newspaper, silently mourning his days as a war correspondent. Emma, the mom, fills her days worrying about her two daughters, slipping away from her husband. Eldest daughter, Olivia, a physician, is home from Africa after treating the Haag epidemic. Phoebe, the baby of the family, is doted on by her father and spends her time preparing for her wedding.

Olivia comes home at Christmas, forced into a 7-day quarantine period that includes her family. Being in close quarters for that time, this family must learn to deal with each other and some of those long-kept secrets.

At its heart, this is just a great family character study. How much of ourselves do we hold back from those we love? And why? Even the characters you may not like will grow on you. I was sad to see my time with the Birch family come to an end along with the quarantine!

This is an interesting story of a family that had to endure a week of quarantine together while all keeping some major secrets from each other. The characters were well developed and believable.

I will definitely watch for future books from Hornak.

I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

In this first novel by Francesca Hornak, she introduces us to the Birch family. When eldest daughter, foreign aid doctor Olivia returns home from Liberia where she treated victims of the deadly Haag epidemic, she and her family are quarantined for 7 days. Clearly, Olivia’s heart and mind are elsewhere and she struggles to tolerate her family’s frivolous behavior and elitist lifestyle.

The Birch family relationships are a bit tattered and priorities askew. When an unexpected guest shows up, I felt this extra oomph is just what the story needed. The Birches’ world is turned upside down and the drama ratchets up as the guest is now also quarantined with them. Secrets are exposed over the course of ‘Groundhaag Week”, in chapters written from alternating perspectives. The characters and their situations were well formed by the author, although in the beginning, the story was a bit slow and I found none of these people likable except for Phoebe, a textbook millennial with a sparkling personality. As time passed, I warmed to the others and felt empathy as they faced life-changing issues head on.

Learning factual bits about this virus and those who dedicate themselves to victims despite the high risk of their own health was an added bonus and eye opening.

I enjoyed reading this book and seeing the family grow and connect over the course of 7 days. I liked the setting and each of the characters as well as their personal struggles. Like I mentioned, this book would be great as a book club book. There are some wonderful discussion points and I think that it would be a good crowd pleaser book. I look forward to checking out more by Hornak in the future.

SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak is a novel of secrets and family that takes holiday chaos to a whole new level. Andrew and Emma have two daughters. Phoebe, their youngest, is recently engaged and Olivia has just come home from Liberia where she was a doctor battling the Haag virus. They are all put into a house into the country for a quarantine period of seven days. What happens puts your ideas of a stressful family holiday to shame. This novel has twists and turns, has laughs and drama, and has a cast of really well developed characters that all provide clear narration to the story line. At the end of the day, we all keep secrets. But we have to ask ourselves why we are keeping them and who we are really trying to protect. I really enjoyed this novel and think it's a great read for any time of the year.

I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

While the final chapters have a number redeeming qualities to them, the rest of this was difficult to push through for the most part. The only saving character in the Birch bunch was Olivia (and her partner in Liberia, Sean). The rest were self-absorbed, whiny and selfish people with their stories on an endless loop of repetition, that didn't make for enjoyable reading.
Sorry I'm not sharing more positive thoughts on this. :-(

Three and a half stars: A book with heart and humor but it plays out like a soap opera.

For the Birch family, this will be a holiday to remember. For the first time in years, they will all be together under one roof celebrating Christmas. What makes the situation even more memorable is that will be dealing with a week long quarantine since Olivia, the oldest daughter, has just returned from Liberia, as part of a humanitarian effort dealing with the Haag virus. As the week progresses, the family will be forced to examine themselves, share secrets, as they try and get along. What they don’t expect is a couple of crashers, one who just happens to be their dad’s long lost son. Will the family survive the quarantine?
What I Liked:
*Seven Days of Us is an entertaining read that brings the reader the best and worst of family. I think we can all relate to the chaos and turmoil that often occur when the family gets together to spend time during the holidays. In this book, things are far worse as the family is forced into isolation, and they have some issues and secrets that are about to burst forth. What follows is hilarity, mayhem, growth and turmoil. This book will make you laugh and shake your head.
*I liked the eclectic cast of characters. You have Andrew, the head of the family. A man who is miserable with his career. His way of dealing with life’s problems is avoidance. Emma, the mother, is the typical bubbly caregiver who overshares and serves food as a way of dealing with her issues. Olivia, the oldest daughter, is a doctor and she is fed up with the gross overindulgence of the holiday season. Phoebe, the youngest daughter, recently engaged is frivolous, self centered and materialistic. *Then there is Jesse, the American in search of his birth father. These characters are all so different, and when they collide, mayhem happens. They aren’t always likable and they have plenty of flaws, but it is still fun to watch them mature and grow.
*Secrets and mayhem abound in this book. The reader is aware of many of the things that come out long before the cast is, which makes it fun. When certain characters end up crashing the quarantine, you know that chaos will erupt and it does. This plays out like a soap opera, it is funny and a train wreck at the same time.
*After all the turmoil and secrets, I liked the way things settled out. The family grew closer, made some changes and ended up in a better place. This is a book that is all about growth and maturation.
And The Not So Much:
*The ending was abrupt. I didn’t like that it just concluded, leaving too many things up in the air. I wanted to see what happened to Emma, how Olivia made it through, what happened with Jesse, and how Andrew’s career changed and what happened with Phoebe.There is a two line epilogue that left too many things unfinished. A bit frustrating.
*There is a lot going on, and it began to feel like a soap opera with all the mayhem and drama. I wish it was more heartwarming.
*After all the turmoil, things were moving toward the end, and I was expecting a heartfelt ending, then there is this ugly wrench thrown in that ruined the feel good vibe that was going on. I did not like what happened to Olivia at the end. Total downer for the end of the book.

Seven Days of Us was a book with a lot of potential. You know that when a family is cooped up together for a week in isolation that mayhem will result and it does. I enjoyed watching the characters navigate the minefield of secrets, and seeing their growth. However, the abrupt ending and the sad event at the end ruin the feel good vibe. This is a book for those who like books that read like a soap opera. If you are looking for heartwarming and feel good, this won’t work for you.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I was not compensated for this review.
Posted@Rainy Day Ramblings.

Seven Days of Us is a binge read, no doubt. Light to read and heavy on the feels, Hornak writes sibling rivalry, stale marriage, and sarcasm like a pro. Trapped inside for 7 days can’t be easy. Trapped inside with your entire family for those 7 days seems downright impossible. Throw in the holidays and you’ve got yourself a personal hell within four walls.

The Birch family is trapped this way because eldest daughter Olivia was off saving the third world from disease and needs to be quarantined, so quarantined together they shall be. Matriarch Emma is hell bent on keeping it positive, while patriarch Andrew is the same old curmudgeon he’s been for decades, writing his reviews. Phoebe is the materialistic younger sister focused solely on her upcoming nuptials, while Olivia struggles to adjust to all of their first world problems. Throw in a musty English manor and secrets galore and you have yourself a salacious read.

Thank you to the Great Thoughts Ninja Review Team and Berkley Books for a copy this wonderful book. All opinions are my own.

What would you do if you were quarantined with your family for a week? I don't know how my family and I would handle it. This book was hysterical in some places and sad in others. The secrets of each individual family member added to the strong story line. I enjoyed how the chapters were told as you found out so very much about each character. I received an advance review copy of this book from the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team. All opinions are my own.

3.5 Stars

I often pick up books because I read an excerpt from them in a Buzz Books sampler. This is one of those. I never would have picked this book up if it weren’t for that little glimpse into its contents.

I mostly enjoyed this book, that’s why it got a positive rating. I wanted to know how things were going to work out the entire way through and I was interested in these people’s lives. The ending was not my favorite, though I think its common enough in this genre. I think that’s why I don’t read this genre very often is that I don’t enjoy an open ending. I prefer the neatly wrapped up happily ever after ending that I get in romances.

That being said, I really enjoyed the idea of everyone in the family having secrets and how they all got revealed in the end. All of the secrets were difficult in their own way and each person struggled with what they should do. And I loved that every secret was entwined with Jesse in one way or another.

I received an advance reader copy of this book that I have chosen to review.

Despite all the buzz and glowing recommendations, this book did not work for me. I think it all boils down to the fact that I disliked the majority of the characters, with the exception of Jesse and Emma, although even they grated on my nerves a few times too many. Olivia's character, in particular, irritated me a great deal. Not only was she extremely pompous and arrogant, but her decision to completely IGNORE her Haag-like symptoms and endanger her entire family, especially her cancer-stricken mother, to the point where she physically vomited on another character, made no sense to me. Was it out of selfishness? Stupidity? Denial? Whatever the reason, it was entirely out of character for her as a self-proclaimed highly professional and important doctor. The entire family's decision to come together and appreciate one another came at the very end of the novel; while it was heartwarming it also felt forced and a bit rushed. I would have liked to have seen the character development that made this reconciliation possible begin much earlier in the novel.

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Stevie‘s review of Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak
Women’s Fiction published by Berkley 17 Oct 17

Much as I love my family, I struggle to spend more than a couple of days with them without being driven up the wall. At least I can usually escape to the village pub (and being a community shareholder, I have the excuse of checking on my investment). With that in mind, I was distinctly intrigued by the concept of a dysfunctional family forced to spend the week from Christmas to New Year in each other’s company and with no escape or respite in the form of casual visitors (so they think…). Three family members carry secrets that could impact on everyone’s ‘enjoyment’ of the secluded festivities, while the fourth is starting to harbour doubts about her recent engagement, even as she begins planning the engagement of the decade.

Overindulged twenty-something Phoebe gets engaged to her obnoxious Hooray Henry boyfriend in the run-up to Christmas. She’s unhappy with the ring he bought her in that it was part of an expensive hotel’s ‘proposal package,’ but is certain that he’ll do better at buying the earrings she wants for Christmas. They’ll be spending the season at their respective families’ country homes a few miles apart, since Phoebe’s older sister Olivia is returning from treating victims of a new virus in Liberia and must spend her first seven days at home in strict quarantine.

Olivia, meanwhile, has just begun a new relationship with a fellow aid worker, but is unable to tell anyone about it due to the strict no-contact rules they’ve been working under. She isn’t looking forward to spending her quarantine with her over-privileged family, and is keen to see her boyfriend again as soon as the New Year celebrations are over.

Olivia and Phoebe’s parents also want the quarantine over as quickly and smoothly as possible. Emma has decided not to tell any of her family about her recent cancer diagnosis until after the Festivities, though her best friend has heard all about it, while Andrew has yet to reply to emails received from a son conceived as a result of a one-night stand he had early in his relationship with Emma. That son is actually closer than he thinks, having journeyed from the US to Norfolk in the hope of receiving a favourable reply to his request that he and Andrew meet up.

I wish I could say that at least one of these characters has some sort of redeeming feature, but they don’t. Andrew’s son is possibly the least dislikable of a bad lot, and while Olivia’s boyfriend seems a nice enough bloke, other than his reckless ignoring of protocols along with Olivia, we barely get to meet him before he disappears off to become a statistic in the news reports. As for the rest, I was hoping they’d all be struck down by plague after the first ten or so pages, but it’s not one of those books. Nor do they trigger a major apocalypse through their disregard for the meaning of total isolation, or die only to come back as zombies. Either plot possibility has distinct merits, but this book is firmly in the AGA and butler-sink drama category. Not an author I plan to explore further, although the writing itself wasn’t that bad.

Grade: C

Olivia Birch is a doctor who is returning to England to spend the holidays with her family. Because she was treating an epidemic in Liberia, her entire family will be quarantined during her visit. Her mother Emma is looking forward to the week together since it is rare for everyone to be in the same location. The siblings are less enthused since they will be forced together and can't leave the house. Phoebe, the youngest daughter, is the only child living at home but that will change shortly as the family prepares for her upcoming wedding.

Olivias father Andrew recently learned that his illegitimate son wants to meet him. This news weighs on him since he never told his wife about his illegitimate child who was conceived during a brief affair. Living in close proximity starts to wear on the family and life deteriorates further as the week progresses. The lack of privacy affects everyone pushing them outside of their comfort zone. Secrets are revealed causing friction among the family members. Soon extra house guests arrive adding to the intrigue and mystery.

This is a debut novel by Francesca Hornak. Each chapter is a day in their week and is presented from each family member's point of view. The author does a wonderful job of reflecting the complications of family relationships.

A Family Quarantined for Seven Days in an Old Manor House

It’s Christmas and a very special Christmas for the Birch Family. The oldest daughter, Olivia, is coming home from an assignment in Monrovia, Liberia taking care of victims of the highly contagious Haag Virus. Because of the contagious nature of the virus, Olivia and her family must be quarantined for seven days after she arrives.

As usual, they elect to spend Christmas at Weyfield Hall, the old Manor House passed down through Emma, the mother’s family. Each family member is dealing with secrets: love, a fraught engagement, a cancer diagnosis and the appearance of an illegitimate child. As the family members struggle with their demons, they begin to come together as a supportive family, gaining understanding of each other.

The novel starts slowly with Olivia’s romance in Monrovia. At first I found the characters not likable. They were all steeped in their own problems. Andrew, the father, was rude; Emma, clingy; and the younger daughter, Phoebe, totally self centered. However, as the week progressed they began to come out of their isolated personas and become attuned to eachother’s needs.

By the end of the novel, I enjoyed the family’s interactions. I can’t say this is a humorous book. The problems and interactions are rather sad than amusing. However, the characters are well developed and the story line has twists. If you enjoy family dramas, you may like this book.

I received this book from Penguin Random House for the review.

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak is a dysfunctional family drama, so-so for me, but recommended for the right reader.

The Birch family is going to spend Christmas together - in quarantine. Emma and Andrew Birch will be spending seven days at Weyfield Hall, their country estate, with their two daughters. Their oldest daughter, Olivia, is a doctor who is returning from treating an epidemic in Liberia, the Haag virus. She has to stay in quarantine for a week, and so must her family if she is with them. Olivia views her family as rather superficial and foolish. Youngest daughter Phoebe is shallow, self-centered, and focused on her upcoming wedding. Andrew, a restaurant reviewer, has received an email from an illegitimate son he knew nothing about, and Emma is keeping an even bigger secret from them in hopes of having a wonderful family Christmas.

Each chapter in Seven Days of Us is written from a different character's point of view. They are short, quick chapters. This does help move a very s-l-o-w start along any quicker, but at least you get to read about what another character is thinking/doing. Everyone has a secret, but the secrets are all out and running rampant for the reader. The novel then sets up a series of unbelievable coincidences that all collide and help expose all the secrets. Did I mention that it starts out very s-l-o-w. Extremely s-l-o-w. Add to this the host of unlikable characters and it was difficult for me to make myself continue to read because it all seemed so pointless to spend that much time with characters that I didn't remotely care about.

I also had a very difficult time with the big set-up, that the family was all to be under quarantine. A quarantine for a doctor returning from working in an area with an epidemic (called the Haag virus here, think Ebola or Marburg virus for comparison purposes) does not consist of being locked up with your family for Christmas and relying on them to stay isolated and others to read the notice and stay away. Period. And the family members were all ignoring the seriousness of that premise anyway - going out, inviting people in. They sort of proved themselves to be foolish, again and again. They are, however, more caricatures than real characters, so it just comes off as farcical.

Obviously many readers liked this one more than me. There are some amusing scenes, but I never found anything "laugh-out-loud funny." The quality of the writing is good. If you like The Family Stone -type dramas this might fit the bill. The actual drama and humor is more low-key, though. It might, dare I say, make a better movie than a book because you could pick up the pace, add a bit more real humor, and make all the coincidences seem likely. (2 for me, 3 for the right audience)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2017/10/seven-days-of-us.html
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Overall a fun/easy/Christmasy read, but sometimes the characters could be irritating. I would recommend this book, but only to someone who liked chick lit or a big Christmas fan (such as myself).

A sweet book of a drifting-apart British family bound together at Christmas due to a temporary quarantine after the eldest daughter comes back from treating the "Haag" outbreak in Africa. Each of the four main family members are well-drawn and flawed. Even if the story is soap operatic in its twists and turns, it manages to sweep you along with it, rooting for everyone's personal growth in the way. This one's the literary equivalent of a Sunday Roast by a crackling fire. Sometimes a bit uncomfortable, but satisfying.

3.5 stars.
This novel begs the question of how well do we really know our family? Secrets of a dysfunctional family come to light to the reader in these short chapters of alternating narratives by each of the characters and this made for a quick read. I really liked the structure because we got to know the characters from their point of view as well as what they were thinking about each other. I nearly put this aside because I was tiring of their self absorption and I just didn't like them very much. Quarantined for seven days - I shuttered when I Imagined how it would be with my own family! I found this story to be melodramatic and predictable in some ways, but something kept me reading. Maybe I just wanted to know if this family would still be a family when all of the secrets that the reader knows became known to them. Maybe it's because there's probably a little dysfunction in all families so I felt for them. By the end I came to understand and like them a little more.

The Birch family: Andrew, the father, a war correspondent as a young man is now a snarky restaurant critic and is in for a big surprise stemming from his past. Emma, his wife, sweet but harboring resentment is keeping a secret from her family to get through Christmas. Olivia, the oldest daughter is a doctor and has been in Africa treating people during a deadly virus outbreak. Her exposure to the virus is the reason for the quarantine. She keeps her own secrets. Phoebe, the younger sister, perhaps the most self absorbed is planning her wedding and is also in for some surprises. Jesse, the young American who comes to England seeking out his birth father was the one I liked the most.

Coincidences occur which seem a little contrived but there are some serious things going on - a secret cancer diagnosis, a secret son, a secret love affair, perhaps two and a contagious disease. It reminded me in a way of This is Where I Leave You - about another dysfunctional family not quite quarantined together for seven days but forced to spend days together sitting shiva for their dead father . That was also a funny, sad and secret filled family story. In the end, I'm glad I didn't put it aside, a good story, an entertaining quick read.


I received an advanced copy of this book from Berkeley Publishing Group through NetGalley.

This book gives a wonderful balance of humor with serious matters like cancer and infidelity. A family is put into voluntary quarantine for one week after their eldest daughter comes back from fighting disease in Africa. This forces the family to actually deal with each other and secrets are revealed. The story is told from different points of view and helps figure out how each family member ticks.

The Birch family is going to spend Christmas all together for the first time in several years. Older daughter Olivia, a doctor, is coming home from Liberia after working on relief for the Haag epidemic. Haag sounds a great deal like Ebola, except that being fictional, it has an incubation period of just seven days, making it more convenient for a a contained family drama.

The Birch family will have to share Olivia's quarantine, starting December 23, and ending December 30. Emma, mother of Olivia and her younger sister, Phoebe, is thrilled that they will all be together. Quite determinedly thrilled.

Emma gave up her intended catering career when the second baby, Phoebe, was born. With two children, she pushed husband Andrew to give up his war correspondent career. He's now a restaurant critic. He's always doted on Phoebe, who is bright, cheerful, goes with him to restaurants he's reviewing, and pursuing a tv career. Phoebe and Emma are close in other ways, but perhaps not as close as Phoebe and Andrew.

Olivia seems distant to all of them. This is the first time in years she's come home for Christmas.

Andrew and Emma each conceal the fact of their resentment of the loss of their preferred careers--directed at each other, not at the girls.

They're all going to spend seven days locked up in Weyfield, Emma's inherited family home in Norfolk, rather than the family flat in London. Emma is the only one who really likes the big, drafty, unmodernized house.

Phoebe has just gotten engaged to George, her boyfriend since university. That she has told everyone makes her a bit unusual in this family. Emma has found a lump under her arm, and has just been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She hs told her friend Nicola, but not her family. Olivia has been secretly having a romance with a fellow doctor while in Liberia. That it has progressed beyond mere words is against the Haag containment rules, and neither she nor Sean has told anyone.

What Andrew hasn't told anyone is that eighteen months ago, he got a letter from Leila Deeba, a woman he had a one-night-stand with in Lebanon in 1980. In the letter she has told him that she had a son from that one-night-stand, and had him adopted. He's never contacted her, but she's dying now, and if her son ever tracks her down, or Andrew, she wants Andrew to know, and be prepared.

And just a few weeks ago, he got an email from that son, Jesse, who has grown up in America. He didn't find his birth mother until after she died, but he's found Andrew now, and wants to meet him.

Sean collapses at Heathrow Airport, just after he's parted from Olivia.

George crashes the quarantine the day after Christmas.

Jesse crashes it a day later, having gotten no response from Andrew.

I had my doubts at first, but this turns into a fascinating look at a complicated family, whose members are each interesting in their own ways, and who make an interesting whole.

Well worth some of your reading time.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.