United By Pop received a free copy of Seven Days Of You in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are our own.
Title: Seven Days of You
Author: Cecilia Vinesse
Purchase: Available in the UK and the US.
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Great for: Fans of Jenny Han, Morgan Matson, and Brigid Kemmerer
Themes: Contemporary, young adult, romance
Review: Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks. She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked and, when no one answered, she walked right in.
At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.
“This porridge is too hot!” she exclaimed.
So, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.
“This porridge is too cold,” she said
So, she tasted the last bowl of porridge.
“Ahhh, this porridge is just right,” she said happily and she ate it all up.
Goldilocks search for the perfect porridge resonates with me and my own search for a romance novel.
Some are too hot and comprised of nothing but page after page of steamy scenes and liberal outpourings of emotion.
Others are too cold and involve nothing more than cardboard-characters and predictable insta-love, that leave me with no connection to the story.
And others are just right, combining both a swoon-worthy love story with relatable characters and a viable plot surrounding them. Just like ‘Seven Days of You’ by Cecilia Vinesse.
This is Sophia’s story. She recounts the details of her last few weeks living in Tokyo city, before her family’s imminent relocation to America. Sophia’s life has been continually disrupted by family moves and separations, but their current residence has started to finally feel like home, in a way America never has. Sophia fears she is not just losing her physical place in the world, but also her emotional one, as well. Her identity is bound to this place, and also to the most quirkiest and lovable of friendship groups, who are just as saddened by the rift about to torn in their tight-knit clique. But just one week before Sophia’s departure, an original member of their gang returns just in time to say goodbye. He unwittingly upstages her emotional leaving and also alters everything Sophia thought she knew about herself, in the process…
This story was such an utterly charming and adorable read. The adoration between Sophia and her boy-crush unfurled slowly, as the plot progressed, and, despite the short time-frame of the story, felt like a realistic and resonant romance. The discovery of their shared attraction made this such a sweet tale that transported me back to my own teenage days, and the angst and agitation that is paired with the discovery of first love.
Each and every character had a reason for existing within the story, and all their quirky characteristics combined to make this small group feel like a family. One that invited the reader to join their tight ranks.
Perhaps the biggest character to leave an impression on me, wasn’t actually a character at all and yet was presented as one. The doors to Tokyo city were opened to the reader, and the everyday wonders of life there were exhibited in a way that made the setting part of the magic of this story. The culture and the society were vividly recreated within the confines of this book and I truly felt I got an authentic glimpse of a life lived in this vibrant place. Had this been set elsewhere, the book would have lost much of its charm. Vinesse’s affinity with the place shines through her writing, and it is easy to see where her own love lies, in this story.
This is a tale that transports the reader to a place that feels alive and also makes them relive the wonderful magic of first love again – what more could you ask from a book?
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Beautifully written review as always, Dannii!