Book Review: The Seven Year Slip// A Love Story Complicated By Time

Romance books are not my preferred genre, but I like a good love story, provided it has other elements too, such as fantasy, mystery, or like today’s book, time travel.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston was released last year, but I just got around to it in March, and am now eager to read her adult debut, The Dead Romantics.

Author: Ashley Poston

Published Year: June 27, 2023

Genre: Adult, Romance

Trigger warnings (spoiler) :

death of a parent, grief, minor descriptions of suicide

Synopsis

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

My Review

Time is a key figure in this love story. Since I don’t read a lot of romance, time travel in romance books was something I’d vaguely heard of before, such as the one in The Time Traveller’s Wife. So when I read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately interested. But, I didn’t realise that this book has representations of mental health too, although they are minor ones. And that’s always a plus in my book.

“Sometimes the people you loved left you halfway through a story. Sometimes they left you without a goodbye. And, sometimes, they stayed around in little ways. In the memory of a musical. In the smell of their perfume. In the sound of the rain, and the itch for adventure, and the yearning for that liminal space between one airport terminal and the next. I hated her for leaving, and I loved her for staying as long as she could. And I would never wish this pain on anyone.

I listened to the audiobook and it was highly engaging. I was highly invested in Clementine and Iwan’s romance, although the one thing I didn’t like was the insta-love. I prefer slow burn so was quite disappointed to see how quickly the protagonist fell for her handsome “roommate”. The other flaw was the emphasis given to Iwan’s physical features. Yes, we get it, he’s good-looking and you can’t look away! In addition, I wish Clementine’s grief was explored more, although considering this is a romance, I can understand why that was the primary focus.

Apart from these flaws, I adored everything about the plot-from the time travelling aspect, to Clementine’s supportive friends and the sneak peek behind book publishing deals.