This was much darker and deeper than just a "romance" and while it has romance themes, shelving it there sells it short. This reminded me of a grittier version of list year's Beach Read by Emily Henry.

This book broke my heart and then put it back together again. Eva and Shane are damaged people. They hold a place in my heart. This book was funny, smart and at times heartbreaking. I love these people and will forever be rooting for them. Loved the equal parts of humor and human suffering that seemed all too real. Well written and a pleasure to read. 4.5 stars!

I am generally not much of a romance reader. I saw Seven Days in June on Oprah's list of most anticipated books of 2020 and immediately requested it from NetGalley. I mistakenly assumed from the cover that it was literary fiction with some romance. (Do not throw shade. I know I am not the only person who partially judges a book by its cover.) I am so happy I did, because I may have otherwise skipped this book and that would have been a tragedy.

Seven Days in June is an #ownvoices contemporary romance about second chances, finding yourself, and black joy. This book is so poignant and covers so many important topics, including invisible disabilities.

Let me start with Tia Williams's writing. Seven Days in June is witty, funny, and powerful thanks to Williams's writing. The characters jump from the page and settle into your soul. I loved that she was able to do this without a ton of internal dialogue. The conversations in this novel are so rich and deep - think a more currently relevant and smart Gilmore Girls. I desperately want to be part of their world.

I commend Williams for her depiction of an invisible disability. It was refreshing and raw. I related so much and felt seen. I cannot emphasize how amazing this is. Williams did not use Eva's disability as a crutch or plot device as is so often done. I cannot really put it to words, so just trust me and read it.

I often find romance novels annoying because they are all romance without context, plot, or other things occurring in the characters' lives. Seven Days in June was none of these things. I was completely absorbed in the story. I stopped reading to go pee and was so surprised to find that 2 hours had passed. I became totally invested in Eva's story. I laughed, I cried, and I loved.

My only real criticism is that the whole seven days concept could have been stronger. It was easy to breeze over, and it was not fully carried out in parallel which made it further lose its effect. It also made for a weirdly long epilogue.

Overall, I loved Seven Days in June and thought it was brilliant. That is not a word I would have thought I would ever use to describe a romance, but here we are. If you are not a fan of steam, you may want to tread lightly, but I thought it was exceptionally tasteful and not too graphic.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an e-ARC in exchange for my fair and honest review.

Ok, this swoony romance was SO FUN. The hook drew me in at first: two Black authors who had a whirlwind romance in high school have been sending each other message through their books for almost 20 years before reuniting as adults at a literary event. Doesn't that sound fantastic? And it was! I didn't know what else to expect with this book, but it's so modern and cute and heart-wrenching. We have Eva, a single mother living in Brooklyn who has made a name for herself as a writer of Black vampires in a Twlight-esque saga spanning 14 books. Shane is a literary superstar, a reclusive recovering alcoholic who rarely makes public appearances. As you can imagine, this book is full of juicy literary gossip and name-drops, and an insider look at the publishing world through a Black lens. It was fascinating, and I fell in love with these troubled characters who find their way back to each other after years apart.

It was also interesting to have the main character suffer from chronic pain and debilitating migraines, and I think the author did a good job depicting what living with that is like, and how it affects her daughter and her love life. There are certainly hard moments in this light book as well, especially when we flash back to Eva and Shane's high school years as they were both drug addicts at such a young age. But it still seems true to life, and understandable when you see where life takes them and what brings them back together. I have to recommend this book for anyone, especially if the synopsis intrigues you and you're looking for a romance that isn't too fluffy!

CW: self harm, addiction, fractured family relationships.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and I am so thankful because this was such a wonderful read. I fell in love with THE PERFECT FIND in chapter 1 and have been looking forward to Tia's next novel ever since. Seven Days was well worth the wait. Tia is LOL funny- witty without being zany and so thoughtfully, insightfully deep without feeling like the book is full of faux wokeness.

So many times, i avoid books about writers because they're incredibly cliche. It's like writing an attorney by watching Law & Order (my goodness, WHO would EVEN??? Not me, haha *looks away), but this book about lovers who work out their angst about their young troubled love between the pages of best selling novels and series?

*fans self*

It's... Words, I don't have them.

GET THIS BOOK AND PUT IT IN YOUR FACE.

Also I am extremely interested in seeing the Perfect Find on the big screen (in my bedroom). CANNOT WAIT.

A smart and sexy book about two characters whose hearts have been broken but come together for Seven Days in June to grow & heal. The swoon factor for this one was off the charts!

Tia Williams beautifully weaves together the two weeks in June, fifteen years apart so masterfully. It takes you in as soon as you start reading and having finished it I am still not sure it's let go. Eva and Shane are so clearly made for each other and that is never put into question. The questions raised instead are incredibly mature and important - Can two people who were very not good for each other in the past have a functioning, healthy relationship years later? Is love (regardless of how undeniable and irresistible) really enough? Can it actually conquer all as the fairy tales, and the romance novels, lead us to believe?
On top of all that, for me, the discussion of invisible illnesses, chronic pain, mental illness and addiction all struck such a deep and personal cord. It is so important and meaningful, and I am eternally grateful to Tia Williams for including it in her book.

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams was one of my most anticipated summer reads, and I am happy to say it lived up to my expectations. I loved it! I loved Tia Williams' refreshing and wry writing style, and I adored Eva's and Shane's second chance romance. I also loved Eva's twelve-year-old daughter, Audre. She was my favorite secondary character.

Eva and Shane spent a wild week together and fell madly in love when they were both seventeen. More than a decade later, both are successful writers, they get a chance to reconnect and rekindle their relationship while attending Black Literary Excellence Awards in NYC. They get to spend a week together and discover if their connection is as strong as it was the first time around. Will they be able to overcome past hurts and traumas that tore them apart when they were seventeen?

If you are looking for an exceptional, emotional romance that celebrates Black love and Black success, make sure to pick up Seven Days in June!
Note: this book has a lot of trigger warnings including child neglect, drug/alcohol abuse, self-harm. It also has a chronic illness rep (migraines).

Eva and Shane spent a week together fifteen years ago as lost, broken teenagers. Each of them was looking to numb their pain - both physical and emotional - and they had a whirlwind romance that changed their lives and set them on very different paths. Those paths cross again years later, and while much of the week they spent together is an alcohol-and-drug-hazed blur, they remember everything they felt for each other - including all the pain they ultimately caused one another. In the last fifteen years, they’ve both become bestselling authors. They’re the only ones who know they’ve been writing about each other all this time.

Seven Days in June is an intense read. It’s full of emotion and deals with weighty subjects like chronic pain, addiction (and overcoming addiction), family issues, and more. Eva and Shane burned hot and bright during their week together as teens; they were on a path of self-destruction, but they saved each other in a way. As adults, the pair continue to have a magnetic pull to each other, and they have to see if they can overcome their past while trying to figure out if it’s possible to have a future together. The heavy themes are balanced by humour (Eva’s 12-year-old daughter Audre is a trip) and sensuality, making for a truly compelling read. I’ve seen so many people, especially over the last year, talking about how necessary it is to see Black joy in books and not just pain and suffering, since that’s what so many books about POC tend to focus on - Shane and Eva even say that themselves within the book - so I really appreciated the focus on Black excellent and triumph, and I rooted for Eva and Shane separately and together throughout the book.

Romance fans, make sure Seven Days in June is on your summer TBR!

Wow, I was not expecting this. I read and really liked Tia Williams' debut, The Perfect Find, but this book just blew me out of the water from its first page! The longing, the past to present written seamlessly, the storytelling, the romance .... I wouldn't change one thing about this book! I read it in one day and I definitely suggest you do the same -- this was the perfect second chance romance wrapped in struggle, beauty, and literature. You will love these characters and their story!

Seven Days in June comes out next week on June 1, 2021, you can purchase HERE! I loved this book so much and it reminded me of some of my absolute favorites The Opportunist and I Almost Forgot About You!

Instead, he watched her from the window as she stormed down the sidewalk lining Eastern Parkway, getting smaller and smaller, until she turned a corner and disappeared. With every step she took, the years melted away. Shane was hurtling backward into his teenage self, before the books, the success, the travel. Back in the dark ages, when his loneliness was like quicksand, when he'd ruin himself to make it stop-- and the only bright spot in all of this was loving a beautiful girl with demons ferocious enough to slay his own.

Seven Days in June is a second chance love story that has you routing for Eva and Shane’s romance together and their individual personal development.

Eva is a single mom and author of a best-selling erotic romance series. Her success in the publishing field is solely based on this series and she’s eager to be viewed as a serious player by her peers. Shane is also an award winning author who has published four best-selling titles. His fame in the field continues to grow despite his elusiveness, secrecy and disregard for any publicity. What the book community doesn’t know is that Eva and Shane knew each other very well in high school and have some unfinished business together. When they are reunited at a publicity event the sparks start to fly and the whole audience can tell there is more behind their book plots than just fiction.

By alternating between their past days together and their current reunion, Tia Williams fluidly tells the story of their troubled pasts and love affair. As the story proceeds, the reader begins to understand the strength of their ties and the love that cannot be ignored. The characters are written with such detail and the chemistry is undeniable. Eva’s precocious teenage daughter is both hilarious and sweet. A fun, fast and steamy five star read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to review this book before the release on May 25.

Compelling characters make this a romance the readers are emotionally invested in. The chemistry between Eva and Shane was palpable, both in the 2004 and the 2019 sections.

I read this book straight through because I was so immersed in the story. The shifts back and forth between present day and Shane and Eva's teen years worked really well and helped explain how they each developed as people. It also shows the reader how each character has an incomplete and different view of what happened with the other. It's also a super steamy romance, but far more authentic than most stories. While Shane and Eva are impossibly gorgeous, they still feel like real people.

Seven Days in June attracted me from the cover and blurb alone. I knew nothing about this author or her previous work, so it was a bonus that I loved the story as well. As a veracious reader, I enjoy and appreciate many genres, so that fact that this book, a rom-com, stars a Black author who writes erotic vampire novels was a win for me.

Eva Mercy is a complicated character. Not only is she a divorced, single-mom and mega-famous author, but she’s also plagued by horrific migraines and emotionally crippled because deep down, she’s still in love with her first love from fifteen years ago. It was brilliant to add migraines into the mix because so many people suffer from headaches of all kinds. It really added a realistic dimension to the character.

Audre, Eva’s daughter, was an important character and was portrayed well as a precocious young teen. Mother/daughter relationships, so complicated by nature, was a theme throughout the book. We learn about Eva and her mother and grandmother though flashbacks into the past. The past is so important to the book as it is the seven days in June, as the title states that Eva and Shane first meet and fall truly, madly, deeply in love. As far as second chance romances, I’m a fan! I love love, so let the characters find their true love! As the old adage goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Scheduled on instagram!

I absolutely loved this book and it was so much more than expected. This read went way beyond romance (though that part was amazing), diving into a myriad of topics, including racism, parenting, living with chronic pain, mental illness, addiction, and so much more. I also loved that both our main characters were authors, as the peek into the life of a writer was fun and unique to read about.

While it wasn't a book of unexpected twists, it was thoroughly engaging and I was sad to see it end. It's one of those books I don't want to give too much away about- it's highly worth reading for yourself!

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for my gifted copy.

Eva Mercy is a bestselling Black author who is secretly sick of writing her famous erotica series. She’s also secretly sick – she suffers from debilitating migraines – and she is trying to juggle her chronic pain and her career with being the single mom of a precocious tween daughter. Suddenly, Shane Hall walks back into her life – Shane Hall, the famous literary author, with whom she had one tumultuous and life-changing week back in high school. Who disappeared out of her life without a trace, and whom she hasn’t spoken to since.

This book is funny and fantastically detailed, and full of likeable, flawed, vivid characters. The author has a real talent for developing characters, especially through realistic and enjoyable dialogue. The romance, both in the present and in flashbacks, is sweet, sexy, and heartbreaking all at once. The flashbacks also contain some pretty dark content (TW: drug use, self harm, sexual abuse, child abuse) but this serves to deepen the characters’ backgrounds and illustrate how much they have grown and thrived since their struggles in their early years. I loved the way the book unapologetically portrayed black success and excellence, as well as providing disability rep in the form of Eva, who is a fully formed, well-rounded protagonist. We see her managing her condition, and her struggle is an intrinsic part of her character and her journey, but she is never defined by it, and her story is not reduced to revolving around it.

This was an excellent read, and I’m definitely going to look for more from Tia Williams.

One technical glitch with the E-arc - it skips most of chapter 22 (skips from page 222 to page 232). Thankfully, I don’t think I missed anything too vital. I trust that this will be fixed before publication.

Seven Days in June is about two writers and their second chance at love. Eva is a single mom with a huge fanbase for her bestselling erotica romance series. Shane is an award-winning author who shies away from the limelight. Everyone is surprised when he shows up in New York, especially Eva. Twenty years ago, Eva and Shane spent a crazy week falling madly in teenage love. The chemistry is still there!

Told in daily accounts, Eva and Shane reconnect in a sexy novel. Tia Williams did a good job of writing witty compatible characters. Even though the story span is one week, it moved too slow for my liking. I love a romance centered around characters of color. However, the slow pace made the tale less interesting. Seven Days in June is recommended for readers that like a slow and steady story.

Happy Early Pub Day, Tia Williams! Seven Days in June will be available Tuesday, June 1.

~LiteraryMarie

This novel really packed a punch. I was expecting a light, maybe steamy, romance. But, this is full on literary fiction in romance clothes. Wonderful.

I read an excerpt of Seven Days in Buzz Books and thought the story sounded promising.

The pros:
Some of the turns of phrase were delicious, to wit: a tweenager as an eye roll in human form.

The cons:
It started out as a good story that devolved into a platform for the Black Agenda. The dealbreaker for me was when one of the main characters, Shane, said that the national anthem was "just white bullshit." What? I showed it to my husband (a veteran) and said, "Is it me or is that offensive?" He said, "That is ABSOLUTELY offensive. And why are you reading that trash?" Earlier in the book, several characters were wondering why they couldn't just write novels about everyday people in everyday situations who just happened to be black. Irony much?

A DNF for me.

I received an ARC from Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley.com. Opinions expressed are my own. FTC 16 CFR, Pt 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements &Testimonials in Advertising.

SEVEN DAYS IN JUNE by @tiawilliamswrites is one of the most wonderful stories I've read in recent memory. Ok. So you have Eva, who's a single mother in Brooklyn who's a bestselling erotica writer with chronic pain who's made a name for herself despite her difficult upbringing. Shane is a groundbreaking enigmatic literary genius, who's struggling to find the magic he one had now that he's sober.

The two know each other, but never expected to see each other again after the explosive seven days they spent together as teens. Until by accident, they meet again at a who's who literary event, and sparks fly.

This is a POWERFUL, complicated, messy, and unique love story (that wasn't at all cheesy). It's about overcoming your trauma, facing your demons, and finding a way to choose joy. Eva and Shane are A+ characters with such intense chemistry, I had a hard time looking away. Eva's daughter, Audra, is a precocious wannabe therapist in training who is hilarious and adds so much to the story. In fact, I LOL'ed for real at a lot of the dialogue in the story, which honestly rarely happens to me when Im reading. Though there are grittier parts (TW for self harm, alcoholism, death, sexual abuse)... These weren't exploitative and felt organic to the narrative. There is so much Black joy in this book and I so appreciated the author gave a realistic picture of a character with chronic pain.

Clearly, this gets all of the stars. Get this on your radar now- it's out June 1st! @grandcentralpub