Now I want the sequel to Daphne's lesbian romance like let's go!! I also most definitely love the queer romcom reality tv show trope in a book, it really added that amazing element. 

For full disclosure: I DNF-ed it at 42 pages and I only got that far into the book because I was trying to make sense of what I was reading. There's just so much exposition dump and sexual and racial violence casually mentioned for the sake of.. shock? To show how post-apocalyptic the state of the world is? The writing is dense and convoluted for the sake of introducing many different stories to understand a character more but I don't see it. The book boasts that it is genre-bending but that phrase feels like a catch-all to pretend that this book was something more than what it was which was: clunky writing, bad pacing, the awkward transition between characters that I thought it was a collection of short stories instead, and bad character studies.

Between that and finding out that the author is a whole ass non-Black person, which immediately made me reading the work uncomfortable because of the casual N-word being thrown around and how every Black supporting person in the book is hated by the main character(s). 

Listen, I have read a lot of dark literary books that does not have a single redeeming character in them. Books like The Black Cathedral are of a similar tone to this one but the writing was far more simplistic and the millions of characters that were written were developed in a Show-Not-Dump way.

Not for me at all which sucks because I was excited to read this! 

Easily, one of the best romance books I've read this year! EASILY! It's just so evocative and lush, each character was so well-rounded and believable. It was witty, it was tender, and it was everything I could have wanted from a romance book to sweep me off my feet and make me believe that love is just a wonderful feeling to experience. Now, the other authors pay attention, that is how you write an INCREDIBLE romance novel. Seven Days in June is a masterclass at taking seriously, complex issues between two characters and saying, "hey no actually our love might make us stronger because we're both willing to work through our issues" and I BELIEVE IT. Eva and Shane are so charismatic and flawed.

Listen, I hate second chance romance in a book because I, myself, don't believe that it's good to look back at our past and be involved in it. So when an author writes me something so believable and magical that I got over my own personal bias and this book ended up being an INSTANT FAVE 34% into it? YEAH, Tia Williams laced the book with some addictive stuff because I was mad when it ended! 

I loved the chronic migraine representation in Eva - because it is THAT serious as someone who suffers from chronic migraine (who doesn't have access to the many medications she has in the story). I loved the journey that Eva and Shane went through individually before rekindling. The tension in the room when they meet each other again - oh my god - I remember reading the entire chapter holding my breath! The sex scenes too? Wow oh wow. It got me feeling all types of feelings! 

There were some issues I've had with the book though it did not affect the overall rating because the book made me cycle through so many emotions that my overall reading experience was definitely a FIVE STARS. 

Some of the issues were: 
1. The constant pop culture references! It's not that I hate it, I'm just not an American to get everything so sometimes it flew over my head. But this book is very much contemporary (as in, Twitter-verse contemporary). 

2. The third act conflict felt like an editor took out huge chunks of narrative to force an unnecessary conflict. Okay, let me backpedal a little bit. I understand the emotions and reactions of Eva and Shane because by then, I was already in their heads because of Tia William's wonderful character work. But, it was a lot of telling not shown in the third act as they go through and resolve the conflict. 

3. This book is so millennial - but I don't live in Brooklyn or New York (or in a Western country period) so I don't get it. Maybe that kind of hipster place exists but damn! Not a big deal to me but y'all have a place for workers to sleep during the day to recharge? Yeah.. what kind of fake woke upper class shit is that! 

4. Sometimes Audre be saying the most Adult shit I've ever heard from a 12 year old that I think is not believable but honestly, I've taught some 12 year olds and I've heard the things my younger sister picks up from me because she was regurgitating her oldest sibling's feminist speeches/books, then I realise.. yeah nevermind 12 year olds are like *that* when their environment are like *that*. Im saying this here because so many people have said that Audre's portrayal is unrealistic but both the author and I can safely say, no. Children are reflective of the environment that they are brought up so y'all are exposing your asses for a review. Also, the way Audre acts around her mom is still very child-like! Are we not reading the same book here? 

Okay, to finish this review. I am now placing this book in my Books-To-Purchase wishlist since I read it as an e-book from the library. Good bye!

I enjoyed this book way more than the first book in the series! To start off, the tension between Lia and Grace was interesting to read. I did like the angsty, commitmentphobe meets direct-sunshine dynamic between the two of them. Grace is, however, singlehandedly so traumatized by her life, but the author kept trying to maintain the light-hearted tone of a fluffy romance novel by moving along from her issues relatively quickly.. that it comes off very awkward. The conflict in Act 3 felt like it purposefully pushed forward Grace's whole character arc of trying to overcome her avoidant conflict response - and it felt flat. This is my personal pet peeve (both in real life and in fiction) when someone basically speedruns through their emotional growth because something tragic happened to someone they love. The sex and romantic scenes in this book was way better than the first book itself! I did like that fake dating turned road trip! 

Just a question for an audience that cannot answer: how many times must I read a lesbian romance sex scene that is just finger and hip thrusting? What happened to good old eating out the pussy section? Or is that too... lewd for a mainstream romance book? I really do wonder because I guess I don't see a blow job scene either before in a mainstream trad published book...                                        

Look, I am biased as hell. Give me a sapphic romance and you'll never see me rate it less than 3 stars because I want to support sapphic representation - both own voices and in any form of writing. However, I cannot rate it higher with this romance heroine and the writing. I picked this up because I wanted to be (and be with) Rosie who is a lesbian bookstore owner?! WOW! But the heroine is the property manager that evicts small businesses out to gentrify the area.. is so.. uh?? It's pretty difficult to get over no matter how many times everyone and their mother repeats that it's just a "job" that she has to show up for. Mid-reading it however I eventually got over it at the same time as I watched Jane's personality unravel as she becomes more involved with Rosie's life and I did enjoy the exposition of how Jane did not want to work for the company anymore because she did not share the vision/beliefs. HOWEVER, man, I cannot romanticize any of this because this book does not acknowledge the ill effects of gentrification beyond what was casually mentioned. Reading about gentrification in a romance novel without them talking about how it destroys communities of color and pushes out the poor for the rich.. takes a lot of fun and fantasy out of it. I would rather Jane was just an employee of the company than someone whose dad earn millions by destroying communities with the pretense of modernizing it. 

If you can read a book with a heroine like that, then kudos, you'll probably enjoy the book more than I did. The writing feels flat - in terms of exploring emotions, reactions, (in)actions, sexual scenes, and setting description - which made it a less immersive romantic experience while reading it. 

Beyond that, their romance was sweet and I liked how it unfolded. I am still planning to read the second book next because I liked Lia in the first book!

The could-be-done-better:
I love Elizabeth Avacedo's work, specifically Poet X and Clap When You Land, but this novel felt very underwhelming. From the repetition of many phrases to the character study, it felt like I was not reading her work although she has one of the unique authorial voices in YA which makes her writing distinct from the rest. Though perhaps it was the writer's choice, I wished that we could see more of Babygirl's personality and involvement in the family. Often, she felt like a prop that needs to be moved around for the plot to continue. 

I devoured this book within a span of two days! It got me hooked from the first page and the ridiculous plot and storyline swept me! This book definitely surprised me because of how much I ended up liking it. Without any critical thing to say, because honestly, this was a cozy read for me as it felt GREAT to be in a world where your Aunties had your back, no questions asked. The many times the Aunties and Ma affirmed the MC that it was not her fault, that consent can be taken at anytime, and that it was the guy who chose to want to hurt her. Oh, it's definitely a book that will you have to suspend any belief you have for you to enjoy it truly but it was engaging from start to finish! It definitely captured a unique aspect of a Southeast Asian family dynamic wonderfully! 

Definitely excited for the Netflix movie adaptation. I got recommended this book by Kenya (As Told By Kenya) on youtube because she casually mentioned how much she loved the utter chaos and comedic dialogues between the family. 100% agree! This book had everything - romance, murder mystery, theft, best friend to lovers betrayal, coming of age, sapphic representation, scamming the police system, the shitty billionaire that gets exposed for being shitty. 

BRILLIANT. Without revealing too much about the book, this was so brilliantly written. This is exactly the kind of book I would want my students, my younger self read and feel absolutely seen. I cannot speak for the representation of the characters as this is not an own voices review, but I find that the exploration of ableism and eugenics in digital AI is very thoroughly unpacked and digestible for a child to understand. It got me genuinely thinking about the way we immortalized people in our life after their passing. How much we sanitized people to shape them to be the way we want them to be to suit a narrative that is.. comfortable. 

I have so many other things to say about the book but I have yet to properly process it. All I know is that this book had me bawling my eyes out, snot in my mask on a public bus at 4 in the afternoon. I was clutching my chest to calm myself down. 

Among many favorite powerful lines in the book, "children are not extensions of their parents." Absolutely powerful and empowering to have that read if I was a child, let alone an adult with *tada* parental issues! I don't want to expose on a public site why this book hit me the way it hit, I'm just a neurodivergent person who saw a little of child me in this book and it healed a tiny part of me that grieved the times an adult has made me felt inadequate.