"I gotta be cursed. Almost all of my incredibly anticipated 2021 releases are just not hitting for me.

I know I'm the outlier with my rating on this book, but just hear me out. I see why folks loved this. In my view, it had an extremely strong start, and it had a lot of potential. It had the bones to be a knockout read for me, but didn't quite get there.

I'll start with what I loved about Seven Days in June. Firstly, the book is really funny, which I had not expected based on the book cover and description. I also loved the disability representation here. I think the author wrote about the main character's chronic migraine condition with tenderness and honesty, and I really appreciated that. I also think the chemistry between the main characters Eva and Shane was positively electric, and literally leapt off the page. And that is the whole reason for a romance novel, isn't it? So, slam dunk there. Eva and Shane's connection and dialogue had my heart racing.

What did not work for me, however, sort of outweighed my enjoyment of the above. Firstly, the book is crammed with every single possible millennial Black cultural reference possible, and it feels very effortful and a little try-hard. I get it, this is a Blackity Black book, and I appreciate that, as a Blackity Black person. But it almost felt as if someone who is not a Black millennial wrote it (I have no idea how old the author is, and I don't care enough to google it). It was like just trying way too hard to be hip and relatable. And it started to weigh the narrative down in some parts of the book, where the story could have been more streamlined. Because, the author definitely can write! Really well! But the writing here lacked restraint, lacked any sort of subtlety and falls into the trap of cramming every cultural marker it can into every sentence. Exhausting.

I also think the book is unnecessarily dramatic. I usually love a high-stakes story, I love high drama in my books - when it feels warranted and fleshed out. When it makes sense. So, our main characters met as two messy teens and have an electrifying (and super problematic, tbh) week together, and then don't see each other for fifteen years. However, the teen versions of the characters felt like two characters off the show of Eurphoria. Like, the premise of their week together and not seeing each other for fifteen years is, in my opinion, dramatic enough to keep a reader engaged. And, I'm not opposed to the characters meeting when they were both messy and fucked up kids (I actually like the fact that this romance was not cookie-cutter or typical in that way), but the characterization of teenaged Eva and Shane was just really intense and extreme, in my view. And, we did not spend enough time with them as teens to fully appreciate how damaged they were. It's also problematic to call that week they had together "love," imo. It was intense and all-consuming for them both...but the basis for love? I am not sure that is a safe message tbh.

Lastly, I take real issue with how many of the hood/lower class/working class Black folks are written in this story. It was very much giving classism, and it made my skin crawl. The characters were all these bizarrely outdated archetypes relying on some stereotypical notions of blackness and poverty, and it really soured my view of the book as a whole (and, the author.) Incredibly disappointing.

I had more issues with this read, but my hands are tired from typing so I'ma leave it there. In all, this book had potential but didn't live up to what I'd hoped for it. I'm happy others seem to be enjoying it, though."