A quarantine over the holidays leads to secrets revealed with an illness and an illegitimate son. Connections are expanded and tested in this entertaining story. Characters are well developed and the dialogue flows. There are some twists to the story that adds to the intrigue of the main plot.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

The holidays can be a stressful time, especially for family members who aren't used to spending an extended amount of time together. Now imagine if that time were a strict seven days in which no one could visit and no one could leave. In Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak, that is the situation for Olivia, a humanitarian aid doctor, and her family as she returns from treating an epidemic in Liberia. Quarantined together for seven days, Olivia, her flighty younger sister, her restaurant critic father, and her caretaker mother must find a way to get along and hopefully enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year's together. Olivia is plagued, hopefully not with the virus she had been treating, but with frustration at her family's frivolousness and obliviousness with the rest of the world. Phoebe, her sister, is newly engaged and obsessed with wedding planning. Andrew, their father, has just received an email from a son he never knew he had and Emma, their mother, is hiding an illness of her own. With the close quarters it isn't long before secrets and old resentments can't stay bottled up any longer.

I really liked this book. We've all wondered if the old saying is true that you can't go home again and this book asks what we do when that is unavoidable. As children become adults it is necessary for relationships with their parents to change, but that change can be hard. Olivia wants so much to make a difference in the world and the things she has seen in Africa forever stain the way she sees the life in which she grew up. Phoebe, 28 and still living at home, just wants everything to be fun and happy, but Olivia doesn't make that easy:

The trouble was it had been so long since Olivia had been back for any length of time that Phoebe- who still lived at home- had come to assume undivided attention...everything was so much easier, and nicer, when Olivia wasn't around.

Hornak writes well-developed characters with their own viewpoints and as a reader it is easy to understand each of their positions. It is also easy to want to smack a few of them, just like in a real family. I liked this book and I think you will, too.

I found this book incredibly enjoyable... full rounded story. I wasn't sure what to expect and remember that I enjoyed reading it so very much. I remember reading the book, feeling sorry for the situation and feeling a little claustrophobic thinking about how I would react and how my family would being in the same situation.

A very delayed response and I will post a review and relink here after I reread in a couple of weeks (that is how much I did enjoy it that I will find a copy to buy and properly review).

I loved the different POV's of this story and thought the concept was fresh and engaging. I really enjoyed this book!

Actually 2.5 stars. This one just didn’t do it for me....I listened to it so perhaps the narration influenced my feelings BUT I just didn’t love the 50 different storylines happening and the lack of resolution and couldn’t connect with the characters. Definitely not a typical holiday read!

Seven Days of Us deals with a limited time frame and just one family. The Birches are in lock down during the Christmas holidays. Each of the Birches has a secret and this propels the novel and keeps the reader turning the pages. I must confess holidays with the accompanying relatives isn’t my favorite time of year, but I feel a bit better about my family after reading this!

Often compelling, sometimes tedious, and a bit overlong, reading the book definitely mirrored the emotions of being quarantined, whether due to illness or weather. Click on the link to read my full review.

I enjoy family drama so I could not put down, ‘Seven Days of Us’. The Birch family is forced to spend the Christmas holidays together due to a quarantine. They have not spent Christmas together in several years. Sisters, Olivia and Phoebe could not be more different which causes some tension and each family member is wrestling with something that they are keeping from the rest of the family. The plot is very engaging. I highly recommend.

"A warm, wry, sharply observed debut novel about what happens when a family is forced to spend a week together in quarantine over the holidays...

It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is only coming home because she has to. Having just returned from treating an epidemic abroad, she’s been told she must stay in quarantine for a week…and so too should her family.

For the next seven days, the Birches are locked down, cut off from the rest of humanity—and even decent Wi-Fi—and forced into each other’s orbits. Younger, unabashedly frivolous daughter Phoebe is fixated on her upcoming wedding, while Olivia deals with the culture shock of being immersed in first-world problems.

As Andrew sequesters himself in his study writing scathing restaurant reviews and remembering his glory days as a war correspondent, Emma hides a secret that will turn the whole family upside down.

In close proximity, not much can stay hidden for long, and as revelations and long-held tensions come to light, nothing is more shocking than the unexpected guest who’s about to arrive..."

One for Christmas, which despite being October is still fast approaching...

2.5 Stars

Seven Days of Us has an interesting premise with characters that are a bit hard to connect with which didn’t work well for me as a character driven reader.

For the first time in years, the Birch family will spend Christmas under the same roof. Olivia, a doctor returning from treating an epidemic in Africa, must stay in quarantine for a week meaning her family has to as well. Younger daughter Phoebe plans to spend the week planning for her upcoming wedding. Their father Andrew plans to catch up on the scathing restaurant reviews he’s become famous for. Matriarch Emma just wants one last perfect Christmas before she drops the bombshell that’s sure to turn the family’s world upside down. The Birch family is full of secrets and a week of forced closeness begins to bring them to light. But nothing could have prepared the family for the unexpected guest who arrives revealing the most shocking secret of all.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book and was curious to see how a family of seemingly very different people would handle being locked up together for a week. The story is told by rotating through each of the characters’ perspectives. I enjoyed how the close proximity forced the family to talk for what was likely the first time in years. A lot of long-held grudges were revealed and ultimately the family did come out of the week with a stronger relationship which at times I didn’t think would be possible.

Where this book faltered for me was in the characters, I disliked nearly every one of them. The entire family is selfish and self-centered with hardly any redeeming qualities. Both Andrew and Emma resent each other for making the other give up their dreams and it’s a resentment that isn’t actually dealt with before the end of the book. Phoebe is probably the most selfish of the characters and has no regard for what others are going through. Olivia is the only member of the family I somewhat liked but she was also fairly clueless to problems outside of herself.

Unfortunately another problem I had with this book was the fact that it was simply too long. At one point around the 300 page mark I felt the story was coming to a natural conclusion only to realize there were still roughly 60 pages left in the book. It didn’t help that I disliked the way the book concluded in those last 60 pages and I wish the book had ended without them happening which would have been a better ending in my opinion.

Ultimately Seven Days of Us just wasn’t the book for me due to my dislike of the characters, but I can see why the book appealed to so many others. I would recommend this book if you’re more of a plot/story driven reader rather than a character driven one.

This ttile went in a completely different direction then what I anticipated. Although the ending was incredible sad Hornak wrapped it up with all the characters having resolution.

Set at a run down English estate between Christmas and New Years, the Birch family is stuck with each other for seven days. The oldest daughter has just returned from Liberia where she worked as a doctor treating an Ebola like disease. She and therefore her family are quarantined with each other and can have no contact with anyone else. Younger daughter, Phoebe, has just gotten engaged and is dreaming of the perfect wedding even though she and her fiancee don't exactly see eye-to-eye. Add in Mom, Emma, trying to hide her cancer diagnosis and dad, Richard, trying to hide the existence of a child he never knew that he had and you have the makings of one very long week. Oh, by the way, Jesse (the unknown child), happens to be in the small English town where he is hoping to meet his biological dad.

This book is all about the secrets that families have the lengths that they will go to in order to keep those secrets. It is also a look into family dynamics and how over time family members find themselves in certain roles that are hard to escape from. At times you want to just shout at them and ask them what they are doing (a good slap on the head may help as well). An entertaining book if you like family novels.

I enjoyed Seven Days of Us. Honestly, though, a lot of this family’s problems could have been solved if they had JUST TALKED TO EACH OTHER. However, that would have made for a far less interesting book! The DRAMA. Seriously. At times, I was frustrated that I was so far ahead of the characters and wanted to fix everything for them. I did like it, especially the fact that it was a Christmas book but not super sappy. Overall, it was a good book.

A fun story about a family that is stuck in the same house for seven days. Readers will laugh and relate to the characters as they figure out life and what they want from it just a little bit more. If you like multiple perspectives, read this! If you like family dramas, read this! If you need some humor, read this!

Really, you should probably just read this.

Definitely not usual reading for me, it being British and Christmasy. I thought the characters were overdrawn and didn't particularly like any of them. Contrived situations and really exaggerated reactions. Eh, but it was a quick, light read.

Not my personal favorite, but will still recommend to young teens and up.

SEVEN DAYS OF US by Francesca Hornak will make you ask yourself how well do you really know your family. Secrets of this dysfunctional family emerge alternating chapter after alternating chapter.

The format of the book helped to get to know each character individually and their thoughts in light of the group; not always a very likable group.

Quarantined for seven days with your family is probably everyone's nightmare and reading how this group handled their quarantine was relatable.

Coincidences occur, secrets are outed - cancer, an affair or two and a contractible disease.

It is a quick read and an interesting enough story.

Seven Days Of Us was a book that I thought was going to be pretty good. Boy was I wrong.

IT WAS AMAZING!!! I absolutely loved the writing from Francesca and I couldn't help but keep this book in my hands at all times. At least until I finished it. Needless to say I was very sad when it ended because I loved it so much!

My Review: 4 stars
Seven Days Of Us is a story about family: the dysfunction, the crazy, the love and the support. A reader and close friend told me that it was like Jonathan Tropper’s This Is Where I Leave You. I adored that book and was worried this would be a lackluster attempt to rewrite it. You can see by my review that this wasn’t the case; it was an enjoyable escape about a family that is placed under a forced quarantine.

This book didn’t have the humor that Tropper’s had; instead it had an interesting medical angle that allowed for another layer of strife between characters. One novel took place at a Shiva and one during the Christmas holiday. Besides those differences, both books bring out all the love, hate, jealousy, pettiness, kindness, fears, sibling rivalries, adoption and joys that being alone with family can bring out. I imagine that being under quarantine for any family for seven days, especially without Internet, is bound to bring out the best and the worst in people.

Although it was predictable with too many coincidences, it still was a very pleasurable read. I didn’t realize that Haag was a real disease that affected many places including Liberia. FYI, it stands for Hepatitis A Antigen disease. It opened my eyes to the selflessness of the dedicated doctors that work with infected patients, but also how it affects their own families. This would make a great holiday read.

I often forget how slow adult fiction is to get going! This story was engaging, if you could limber through the first 100 pages. A rather trite story of a family with a lot of problems. Some of which could have been solved if they would just talk to each other?
I don't think it's ever a good sign if you want to scream at a character to just tell the others what's going on?