Seven Days In June by Tia Williams is a second chance romance of two authors who wrote to each other in their respective novels but hadn’t connected in real life as adults, following a week together as teens that shaped the trajectory of their adult lives. Eva Mercy is a successful fantasy erotica author who wrote a series of books based off her high school romance with the elusive literary fiction author Shane Hall – though no one knows this is the basis of her book series or her past relationship with Shane except for them. They hadn’t seen each other since the week they spent together when they were in high school, until they’re both at the same book event, shaking Eva to her core as her feelings for Shane resurfaced.
Honestly, their relationship was toxic from the start and in a way, they both wanted to save each other but not themselves. I’m not sure if their relationship as teens was real love but their connection is what led them each to their present lives.
To Shane, Eva became the anchor that helped him get out of the system and eventually get clean. While he stayed away to give her space, he wrote to her in his novels – which is sweet but not when you realize that Shane only wrote when drunk; both to numb himself but probably also because the time they spent together in their youth, they were both under the influence of something. I think part of the reason Shane didn’t want to let go of Eva and what they had together, aside from being the one seemingly good thing in his life, was to see if he could love her sober and because he felt undeserving of real love.
For Eva, her journey was about figuring out who she was and finally breaking the “curse” that allegedly follows the Mercier women. A big part of that was figuring out how to go back to her roots to really get to know the women of her family to help her see her future.
To get to that point, she had to make the decision to let go of her book series and to let go of Shane. Also, shout out to the migraine representation in the story. As a fellow migraine sufferer, it’s not something you see in books though I felt for her because hers were devastating. To me, her migraines were the real curse and wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what her grandmother (or great grandmother, I forget) was suffering with but was undiagnosed and unmedicated back then.
Overall, I did Seven Days in June – it was compelling, real, toxic, and borderline tragic. At the beginning, I thought they were just not good for each other but they really did try to help each other; even if it meant destroying themselves in the process. As adults, the fire from their time together in high school persisted though they struggled to figure out how to be together as adults outside of what kept them together as youths.
The highlight of Eva and Shane’s love story is that they continued to love each other for who they really were, in spite of their respective demons, even when they both had a lot of growing to do as adults. I feel like they were destined to be together; since their first meeting, they were tethered to each other by an invisible thread and through their books that eventually brought them back to each other. Five stars, no further notes.
