It wasn’t awful, it was cute and fun but at some point it got annoying… with that said, it is a very cheesy rom com book so if thats what you need in your life, then this is the book for you….

I was BLOWN away by The Seven Year Slip, which was this month's book club pick. I went in a little hesitantly because I kept hearing people rave about it, but I wasn't a huge fan of The Dead Romantics. I'm happy to say that I fell in love with this novel and its characters. Clementine, a hard-working book publicist, hasn't felt the same since her aunt passed away. She moved into her aunt's apartment, which *alledgedly* was magic. She's skeptical until one day she wakes up to a handsome stranger, Iwan, in her apartment seven years in the past. It's the same man who, in the present, her team is fighting to get a book deal with. Will the person she loves in the past be able to stay in the future? Or is it seven years too late? "That was love, wasn't it? It wasn't just a quick drop- it was falling, over and over again, for your person. It was falling as they became new people. It was learning how to exist with every new breath." ***THE PLOT*** There's something so magical about falling in love, and I think Ashley Poston caught that perfectly with this book. I could feel the magic seeping through the pages, especially towards the end. In the beginning, it felt a bit clunky and slow. I was having a hard time getting into it. I thought the characters fell too fast, but who am I to criticize how people fall in love? The Dead Romantics and this novel both have themes of navigating through grief. What I loved about how it was done in this one was how subtle it was throughout. The apartment was there for Clementine when she needed it most... when she needed Iwan most. I think he really helped her find a way to come to accept the past and herself. As far as the romance goes, I loved how it went back and forth from past and present Iwan. How accepting he was. I loved the way conflict was introduced because it was so understandable and unique and not your normal miscommunication trope. It was simply waiting for the right time. It's a bit like a forbidden romance, and you've got a little bit of a one bed trope. The spice is not super explicit, but it's there. ***THE CHARACTERS*** Clementine's character development really surprised me. I didn't necessarily realize she had to go through changes herself when we were at the beginning of the novel, but she did. She's at a crossroads you don't necessarily see, and she has to choose which path she desires most. I think it pointed out something that I whole-heartedly agree with: it's okay to go after a career change that makes you happy. Iwan is a great MMC. He's poetic and full of bright-eyed hope. He's got raw passion and excitement for his craft. And he makes a great point, too: in seven years, passion might look different, but that doesn't mean it's not the same. ***FINAL THOUGHTS*** This book was a tearjerker for sure. I loved watching Iwan and Clementine's progression throughout. I loved the little cameos from The Dead Romantics. I loved the hug scene. I loved how he called her Lemon. I loved it so much. Please note: there are mentions of suicide and strong themes of grief that might note be suitable for all readers.

This was a gorgeous story. The concept of magical realism in this novel was successful because it was simplistic and not trying to overly complicate or take away from the romance. I loved the mix of present and past and how they were interwoven. While Ashley Poston most definitely has a way with words and wrote grief in a very beautiful, surreal way, at times I felt it the prose was overwritten. There was a disconnect in the flow, with too many of the same similes and anthropomorphic descriptions thrown in just to make it feel “poetic” imo. I wasn’t a huge fan of the insta-love; it felt a far-fetched that this man would wait 7 years for a woman he had a total of 3 interactions, spanning 1-2 weekends with. Their love connection felt immature and not developed enough to make me invested. I resonated much more with the present day chapters than the past. Perhaps I enjoyed the tug and pull of the present day interactions much more as it created a sense of romantic suspense and stakes that segued into the ending beautifully.

I don't even know how to describe the way this book made me feel and has thus impacted my whole week- in the BEST way possible. I am really mad at myself for putting off reading this. I started it and honestly got a little disenfranchised with it- I got distracted. I jumped back in this week determined to get hooked and just wow. I felt such an array of emotions reading this book. I felt awe, happiness, giddiness, grief (so much grief) and saddness but then happiness and inspiration. Having been someone who has lost someone close to me to suicide- I could relate to EVERYTHING that Clementine was feeling. I am not really an underliner or highlighter of books, but I couldn't help myself with this one. The way that Ashley was describing grief and the aftershocks was just too on point for me. I loved everything about this book. I loved both of the main characters. I loved their journeys and how different but alike they were. I liked how they helped each other more than they could admit (at first). I liked the mystical aspect with the magical apartment. I liked the unpredictability. I liked the side characters, but as I said before I loved how this book made me FEEL. I must have told every person I saw this week how much I liked it. I would highly recommend checking out the TW as it does speak heavily of grief and loss specifically around suicide. Clementine is at a low point. Her aunt has just passed away and given her her apartment. The apartment holds soo many memories, and Clementine is having a hard time only focusing on the good ones. She can't help continuing to think about why she has the apartment. The cool thing about this apartment is that at any point, it can travel back in time by 7 years. And what do you know this happens to Clementine. She comes home one day from work, where she is about to land her dream job, to find a man in the kitchen. Not just a man but a handsome man. He is cooking and setup like he owns the place. Come to find out she has gone back in time and this man, Iwan, is her aunt's really good friends son. He is in NY to take a stab at being a chef. She decides to roll with it and has a wonderful night. She finds herself being able to open up to this stranger who knows nothing about what is going on in her life. She finds herself looking forward to tomorrow. They have another great night together and then he is gone. She finds herself sad and wishes they had more time together because she felt something towards him. A connection of sorts. Now that she is back in today's time, her company is working towards nailing down the hottest chef in town because he is coming out with a cookbook. Well it turns out this hot chef happens to be HER Iwan. Except he goes by James and when they see each other, she doesn't know how to act. So she acts like he doesn't know her. They reconnect and she finds herself noticing how different this Iwan is from the one she met 7 years ago. He is more bottled up. Less carefree. She finds herself wondering what happened to him. She wants to dig and in the process finds herself brought back to the past and then back to the present a few times. Her and Iwan have a connection- that she wants him to remember. She wants to remember. She is ready to make some big decisions in her life, and she wants him to be there with her. The question is will he want to do this after everything? Will he support her big decisions? It was really interesting to see the changes in Iwan and how life had affected him. And when he finally opened up to Lemon as he calls her, it was so beautiful. I thought it was cool that even though there was no time difference for Clementine, she truly had an awakening after meeting carefree Iwan. He made her want to do more things and be more. I can't say enough about how much I loved this book!! If you haven't read it- pick it up!! I went ahead and preordered her next release and am hoping it is just as good. The bar has been set LOL.