Seven Days in June

This book was such a delight. It's rare to see a book that not only has a creative and perfectly woven plot but is ALSO well written. The dialogue is perfection. The characters stay with you. This is truly an original love story. I'm still giggling about the first line "In the year of our Lord 2019. . . " I immediately ordered another of her books as soon as I finished Seven Days. I'll be a lifelong fan of this writer for sure. I read 3 or 4 books a week and this one blew me away.

I initially bought this book simply because I'm an author with a women's fiction book coming out soon, and I wanted to read another women's fiction book by a fellow UVA alum! At first, since the book is about an erotica author and contains pop references out the wazoo, I was tempted to write it off as trendy and trite. That said, this novel quickly drew me in, far exceeding my expectations, mainly because the characters totally drew me in. I'll mention a few notables...

Shane: For me, Shane was the perfect male love interest. As a person who's been through my own addictive struggles with food and relationships, I'm a sucker for recovering addicts. As far as I'm concerned, recovering alcoholics are the best of both worlds - they're bad boys, but they're being good! What could be better? Shane was deep and complex and weird and dark but also sweet and kind and vulnerable - not to mention those hazel eyes. Plus, I'm a marathon runner, and I loved that he channeled his addictive tendencies into long distance running. In case I haven't made it clear: Shane checked ALL my boxes.

Audre: This tween girl - protagonist Eva's daughter - was so cool! I didn't want to like her, because I don't have kids and don't relate to the whole mom thing. But Audre was really fun! I loved that she was a tween practicing therapy - without a license, obviously, and more competently than plenty of adult shrinks, from the sound of it. It busted and poked fun at a lot of the navel-gazing therapy stereotypes. At the same time, Audre had moments of true childishness which made her a credible and endearing character. In short, an atypical daughter character who kept surprising and delighting me!

Cece: I found Cece's borderline cynicism and pragmatic personality refreshing. If this book had any major flaw, it might be the over-the-top romantic nature of the Eva-Shane dynamic. Salty Cece was a welcome counter-balance to this hyper-romanticism. I appreciated that while she was apparently happy and content in her own marriage, her romantic relationship with her husband, Ken, was more ordinary and "normal" than the celestial fire between Eva and Shane - good, and good enough, but not unattainably, hyperbolically romantic.

Eva: Protagonist Eva was the character who grew on me the most. I'm pretty hyper-healthy, and although I've dealt with my own "invisible" health issues in the past, Eva's crippling migraine problem was new for me. Her disability was described in a way that made me have compassion for her without making her seem pitiful or annoyingly needy. In addition, as a writer myself, I also enjoyed hearing about the often ludicrous ins and outs of the writing world. When it came to her writing, Eva's saving grace was that she didn't take herself too seriously. I appreciated the arc of her creative development and how she ultimately abandoned her crowd-pleasing fantasy writing to write about what matters to her.

Aside from these main characters, there were many other engaging and enjoyable minor characters who made the book very fun and lively - the literary equivalent of the best sort of people-watching. And as a native New Yorker, I loved all the Brooklyn details. The happy ending was happy, and even better, it didn't come too quickly. The delayed gratification made it that much sweeter.

All told, it's clear that UVA alums write fabulous books! Thank you, Tia Williams, for entertaining me, educating me, making me laugh, and opening my heart to the world just a little bit more.

07.21.24 24% progress, 999 Ka-Trillion percent enamored. That part. I am excessively COMPELLED to write this INITIAL review at this point. I love Gen* & Shane; they feel so familiar as if they're composites of everyone I've known thus far in life. I ALREADY have it in queue to re-read. 2s.

7.23.24 - There are too many words and NONE of them seem ADEQUATE/ENOUGH to convey what I'd love to say about this book, Seven Days in June.

*Stickler for names, shortened over misspelling.