I loved this YA spinoff of Seven days in June that sees Eva's anxious, type A daughter Audre trying to have a fun summer and live a little with the help of the cool boy, Bash. There was great mental health rep (Audre likes to think of herself as a teen therapist but also suffers from panic attacks and Bash has a lot of childhood trauma and abuse to work through). The balance between light hearted and heavy was well done and it was fun to revisit Eva and Shane seeing them through Audre's eyes. Great on audio and perfect for fans of authors like Nic Stone or Talia Hibbert. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

OH MY GOD I LOVED THIS!!!!! soooooo freakin’ cute!!!

Audre was, by far, my favorite character in Seven Days in June, so I love that she gets her own story—but a few years into the future.

Her and Bash are sooo cute and I just loved everything about this book. It was so sweet and really encompasses the feeling of first love as a teen 😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

and I loved that we got snippets of Eva and Shane’s new (and happy!) life 🫶

(Thank you, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette Audio, and NetGalley, for the ARC and audiobook ARC, respectively, in exchange for my honest review.)

When I read Seven Days in June, I had high hopes for Audre's future! I loved Eva and Shane's second- chance romance. However, this YA story featuring Eva's daughter, Audre Mercy-Moore and the newly Californian transplant Dash Henry is better than I could have imagined! Audre typically spends her summers in Dad-ifornia, but is forced to stay in Brooklin for the summer. She and a friend craft an adventure bucket-list to spend Audre's summer having more relaxed fun. She invites along a wild playboy, Dash, to keep her accountable. Their relationship has a quiet unfolding of care, respect, and mutual admiration! Both characters felt well-crafted. I enjoyed the surprises and intrigue throughout! YA fiction has a way of being cringy, but I never felt that way. Please give it a shot if you're curious!

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for this ARC!

This book explored a lot of levels of teen plights today. From different ways of feeling abandoned at home to balancing feeling love and acknowledging the youth of that love, I love how this book crossed the spectrum of teen feelings and expectations. This is an amazing follow up to 7 Days in June and even has similar themes of parental distance, struggling with internal confidence and overall communication.

Audre & Bash Are Just Friends was a cute, sweet and angsty read on the surface. Beneath that it delved into and dealt with mental health issues, family dynamics, drama, secrets and so much more. I loved that it tackled relationships and explored how they changed over time and the toll those changes took on the characters.

One of my fave things was the development of the romance between Audre and Bash. It was new territory for them and I loved watching them navigate it and go from hesitant to all in. It was an awesome sight to behold.

The narrators captured the essence of the characters to a T. They also did a great job with the accents, personalities and nuances of each. I loved the way they brought these characters and their to stories to vivid life. I enjoyed listening to them, they made it so easy to just fly through this book.

I enjoyed this story and definitely look forward to reading more by this author.

When I started this book, I immediately felt like I had read a book with this character before (clearly a well developed character). I grabbed my copy of Seven Days in June and confirmed it is about the daughter in that book Audre. It was so enjoyable to read this story about Adure growing up a few years later. Tia Williams has so many funny quips that she adds in the story making a coming of age/emotional story well balanced with humor and heart. This reads as an older, high school YA and teens would enjoy this without knowing anything about Seven Days in June. As an adult reader, I really loved reading it knowing both stories. Definitely pick this up when it is out in May.
The narration was done really well. It has two narrators for the dual POV and they also insert their voices of the characters in the chapters as well. Accents for the side characters were done well and sound effects such as text notifications helped create a realistic story.

I tried reading the first chapter and realized this isn’t for me. I found all the characters to be annoying and pretentious. I wasn’t able to continue on with the book. I won’t leave reviews

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, and Hachette Audio for this advanced copy! You can pick up Audre & Bash Are Just Friends on May 6, 2025.

Thank you, Tia Williams, for reminding us why you're the queen of romance AND emotional devastation. Her YA debut contains the perfect balance of teenage angst/drama, heartfelt love, and intense character growth.

Not only do we see an adorable, flourishing relationship between Audre and Bash, but I also loved how much of this was Eva and Audre's story. We see the continuation of Eva's character growth post-marrying Shane and having a baby and writing a book about her family's history. We understand Eva's pain and instinct to protect Audre but also Audre's confusion and anger because she's spent her whole life on a pedestal as the "perfect" child. As mother and daughter try to understand the others' changing circumstances, they hurt and heal each other in equal measure, much like many real-life mothers and daughters do.

Amidst all that, enter Bash Henry. Bash is one of my favorite characters for many reasons, but mainly because he leads his life with kindness and compassion. At Audre's school, he's seen as this mysterious bad boy and constant player, when really people are reading into his interactions when he's kind to them. Bash just wants to get through his last day of high school and summer break before moving out of Brooklyn to pursue his dream as a tattoo artist, but his plans upend when he meets Audre Mercy-Moore.

Audre, who plans to write a teenage self-help book to improve her Stanford application, needs Bash's help to have more "fun" this summer and flesh out her teen experience as she writes her book. What follows is a truly adorable summer romance that works up from business associates to friends to lovers. These two truly open up to one another and express vulnerabilities they haven't shared with anyone else (my fave kinda romance tbh).

There's also an adorable sapphic side romance in this book, and again, I just love the way Tia Williams writes her characters and their struggles!  

If you love sweet summer romances and a dash of emotional damage, then this is 100% your book!

What a joy to be back in a Tia Williams world.

I was only just introduced to Audre when I *finally* read Seven Days in June a couple days ago and immediately felt enamored by her. It was easy to forget that she was a teenager. This book centered on her was a swift, deep reminder that she may have an old soul, but she IS a teenager at heart. And whew, can teens be Brats with a capital B. Audre absolutely showed her teen side, and honestly, it was such a discovery to get to know her on such a level. I felt her reactions and emotions were so true to the experience of that age, especially when facing major upheavals and change in life. Reading through my adult lens, it was easy to get frustrated with Audre at times, but gosh it was such a reminder of how big and important everything feels when you’re a teenager. Tia Williams did such a great job conveying all of that.

Bash was such a tender-hearted character. He’s had his own life upheavals even larger than Audre’s, and he’s struggled to cope. He was such a nice boy though, even as he made rebellious and at times destructive choices. I felt like I could genuinely see to his soul before his reason for ending up in New York was revealed, and then after it was, I had an even softer spot for him. It have have felt like he was leading Audre astray sometimes, but he had a protective edge that reframed it for me as he was helping her experience life while watching over her and keeping her as safe as he could. Their slow fall into love was very sweet.

My only disconnect was that I didn’t love the random chapters from Audre’s friend’s POV (I read via audio and don’t want to misspell her name — I’ll come back and edit later once I see it). It was jarring the first time the a chapter jumped to someone other than Audre or Bash, and I don’t think it was really needed.

I thought the audio performances were overall well done. I definitely appreciate the duet narration and when little additional sound effects were thrown into the mix. Though I enjoyed both narrators, I was more drawn to Torian Brackett as Bash. I felt like his voice really fit the character perfectly.

Thank you to Hachette Audio via NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

I was sooo happy when this hit my NetGalley shelf! This was such a fun quick listen! The only thing is that It made me sad that the mother/daughter relationship from seven nights in June was basically tarnished. Eva putting her daughter at the sidelines was frustrating and annoying to see. Guess she made up for it in the end…I didn’t care for her friend’s random chapters either…it kinda threw me off. Also, I know this is a romance but it’s kinda crazy for a character to drop a dream job for someone they just met but maybe that’s just me! Overall, really great topics touched here and apart from those little things, I really did enjoy! The narrators were great as well!

⭐️: 4.5/5

- Well that was just the cutest story ever! Omg very much enjoyed this one! Why weren’t there cutesy books like this when I was a teen growing up and craving acceptance? Anyway, I’m glad it’s been written now!

- I can always count on Tia Williams to write a New York love story! She always delivers!!!!

- Firstly, I did not know how I was going to feel about this book because it was a YA romance and spin off of Seven Days in June, & while I loved that book when I read it so long ago, I was skeptical.

- But imagine being pleasantly surprised by a blurb that was engaging & a story that was even better.

- I loved the themes of self discovery, open lines of communication & getting closure from a difficult past but always looking forward to a bright future.

- The only part that infuriated me was Audre’s mom, she was so VERY hypocritical & toward the end I felt like she got off a bit Scot-free from her preserved prejudices. But I suppose it wrapped up nicely. Also, the random shift in POVs is always jarring to me in Tia Williams books lol but regardless I did enjoy the random plot twist.

- Overall, definitely enjoyed this & would for sure recommend.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for a chance read this early in exchange for an honest review.