"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 bath water."
We’re wrapping up the month of July with one more beach read, and it doesn’t get much more summer vibes than a novel titled “Seven Days in June”. This romance focuses on two novelists (how meta), Eva, who writes fantasy romance and Shane, a more ‘literary’ novelist. The novel is structured to unfold their relationship over the course of a week in June many years in the past and in the present day, in parallel. It’s a unique love story, and overall many of the elements of this novel were excellent, but ultimately the plot had weak points that made it difficult to fully invest into, and some of the characters felt more like plot devices than authentic personalities.
To Williams’ credit, though, the aspects that were done well were done very well. Eva has an invisible disability which is intimately woven into the story and the impact on her career, family and mental health is profound. We appreciated the commentary around perceptions of fiction - what makes literary fiction literary? Can romance or erotica be literary? We loved reading a novel centered in black success and happiness. And we would be remiss not to mention that steamy art installation scene…
Overall, we recommend Seven Days in June for anyone seeking a unique love story that they can immerse themselves into on a hot summer day. 3.5 stars!
tw for topics of su!cide and drug ab*se
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