Clementine enters her apartment and finds things are quite different from when she left them earlier that day. Seven years ago different. Odd. Then, after sleeping on the couch under her dead aunt’s afghan, she is awakened by a strange man standing over her. Not odd, but creepy. Wait, he has a note from her aunt that says Iwan is subletting for the summer. And he is sweet. And handsome. And he can cook.

Here begins the most unusual romance. Clementine lives in today’s time, but Iwan lived in her apartment seven summers ago. The magical apartment building she lives in occasionally sends her back in time. When she steps out of the apartment, it is normal time, where she has a job as a publicist in a small publishing company. The seven-year slip sneaks smoothly into the story while it confounds Clementine.

Clementine is working to get ahead in a job she is good at, but not in love with. She is dealing with the death of her beloved aunt. And she trying to avoid being set up on dates by her best friends. Along comes the highly successful chef who is being courted as an author by several publishing companies, including Clementine’s. Guess who the chef is. Yep, Iwan, from seven summers ago.

This magical story is a sweet confection of romance, everyday life, cooking, friends, and family. The alternating timelines stir up the romance, while bringing an odd complexity to both main characters – Clementine and Iwan. These complexities are worked out, mostly while enjoying a meal. Both will come to important, possibly life-changing realizations, while they grow closer to each other.

Readers of Poston’s previous book, The Dead Romantics, will recognize the characters that make cameo appearances in this story. Both books are set in the publishing world. And in both books, the heroine is dealing with the death of a beloved family member. It may seem repetitive, but it absolutely was not. It just works.

The Seven Year Slip is contemporary romance flavored with heartfelt emotion and sprinkled with magic. A few twists will make you smile. Somehow, Ashley Poston has snuck onto my favorite authors list. I’ll be watching this one!

Through NetGalley, the publisher provided a copy of this book. My review is my honest opinion.

Thank you for the free book @berkleyromance!! #penguinrandomhousepartner #berkleyIG #BerkleyBookstagram

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒀𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑺𝒍𝒊𝒑
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲: magical realism, books about books/ food/ travel, paranormal romance-ish?, honestly just get it
𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: June 27

"...𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙛 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜..."

Clementine had recently lost her aunt and had inherited her apartment. Her aunt had always told her that this apartment is magical, obviously Clementine didn’t take this literally until one day she experiences magic herself.

Her aunt really only had two rules for living in such place: 𝗢𝗻𝗲, 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘄𝗼, 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. But when you open the door and it brings you back seven years from your current time and who welcomes you is some handsome guy who knows his way around the kitchen and was able to make you laugh in one of your worst days, the second rule might be a little bit hard to stick to 😅.

That’s all I’m going to say about this book, friends but omg this was such a beautiful story.

It’s about finding yourself and your happiness even if by the book, it seems like you almost have everything for a perfect life,
It’s about letting go of the control and letting life take you wherever you need to go,
It’s about falling in love with the right person at the right time;
And if you found said person before the “right” time, are you strong enough to let go of them to give them room to grow? Because "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.”

Definitely go get yourselves a copy!

💭 What are your top 3 romance reads so far?
☕️ this book!, Yours Truly, and Just My Type

If you liked Ashley Poston's The Dead Romantics then you are going to LOVE The Seven Year Slip! Run, don't walk, to pick this one up from the bookstore! I really enjoyed The Dead Romantics but this book blew me away! I didn't want to put it down for one second.

“…𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒, 𝓈𝓂𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝒾𝓇 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝓊𝓂𝑒. 𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓇𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉.”

This book is sooooo sweet! I absolutely loved this one and the magical/time travel aspect of it. As well as the real life, mental health, aspect of it. This one balances real life, romance, and a little magic🪄 so well in my opinion, it’s not one to miss. It also really made me want some lemon pie. 🙃

Ashley Piston does it again! Amazing story! Magical romance is done like no one else can! If you liked the dead romantics, you'll definitely love the seven year slip!

So, I’d heard such good things about this. Then the first time I picked it up, I was a little bored and unsure if I would go on. Well, I stopped at the wrong spot, because if I’d just started the next chapter, I would have been hooked! Because the second time I picked it up, I totally started to see what the reviews I’d skimmed before were talking about.

The love story was so good, but it was also so much more than that. Clementine in the present day was still reeling from the death of her aunt that she had been so close to. Her aunt had left her apartment to Clementine, which while wonderful in one way, it also had so many memories it was hard for her to deal with being there. And the morning she woke up and there was a strange man in the apartment, wow! That was crazy! But how it all unfolded with the things her aunt had told her about the magic in the apartment, well that was unique and so good! There were things I wondered about why one didn’t reach out to the other in the time between, but it made sense when I thought about it, as well as when the characters worked those things out for themselves.

The times that the two of them got to spend together in the apartment were perfect with banter and time spent together just the way I’d want to get to know someone myself. Then there were the little connections between the two when they didn’t really know the one they ran into, or at least one of them didn’t, and those were special too. And then when they had to reconnect in the present day, wow, it was perfect. Nothing was too overdramatic like so often happens, it just really seemed real for those moments.

Finally, I didn’t quite see what Clementine decided at the end coming until she did, but it made sense and tied in perfectly with Iwan/James’s journey as well.

A wonderful book, so glad I made the time to fit this e-galley into my reading schedule!

This book was a really great romance while also being a wonderful exploration of grief and moving on. While The Seven Year Slip has a fantastical premise, what the characters go through and how they feel are very relatable and I was rooting for them from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a fun premise for a romance, and it’s excellently executed. The romance itself, from the perspective of our protagonist, may seem quick, but I still felt like it was believable, and utterly swoon worthy. And shout out to the Dead Romantics character cameos! So seamlessly woven into this book.

And the prose! So beautiful! I found myself highlighting a bunch of passages that I adored. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Another winner from Ashley Poston. It started of a little slow, but then hold on because you won't want to put it down. I am recommending to my romance readers who want more depth to the story. I know this one will find a large audience. I look forward to the next book from Ashley Poston. She has become an author to watch with this sophomore debut.

This is how you do a foodie book. Such good anticipation and I didn’t quite know how it all would work itself out. Ashley's romances are unique and always have a little magic in them!

“There was something just so reassuring about books. They had beginning and middle and ends, and if you didn't like a part you could skip to the next chapter.”

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston is fabulous! Clementine, a book publicist, has inherits her grandmother’s apartment after her passing. The apartment has a tendency to go forward or backwards in time according to her grandmother. She comes home one day to find it has gone backwards in time seven years and she meets Iwan. He is a funny, good looking, and kind man who wants to be chef. But, what is he like in the present day?

WOW! I enjoyed this story so much. The characters were so vivid to me, had incredible depth, and were very likable. The time travel was so well executed and added to the story. I enjoyed wondering how Clementine and Iwan would meet in the future, if they would recognize each other, and if they would they be able to connect again like they did in the apartment. I was very invested and loved reading their story.

“There is was never grief without love or love without grief.”

What surprised me in a good way was how the author wrote about grief in such an insightful way. There were so many quotes and thoughts that I found comforting and insightful. I found myself reading them to my family. The author spoke straight to my heart with this story. I highly recommend the Seven Year Slip.

“Because the things that mattered most never really left.
The love stays.
The love always stays, and so do we.”

I was given a copy by the publisher and not required to write a review.

Oh my goodness I absolutely LOVED this one! So different from anything else I've read. Magical. I am not a re-reader however I might just have to grab this audio because I hear it is spectacular!

I could go on and on but let me just say this…

This book left me in all the feels. It’s magic, joy, and warmth bundled into 350 perfect pages.

Based around a magical apartment that transports you 7 years in the past, this is a uniquely heartwarming story about love, loss, grief, self-discovery, and the importance of timing.

While the romance is super tender and swoon-worthy, there is soooo much more to this story. Be ready to savor all of the little details, memorable quotes, and life-lessons that this book has to offer.

The Seven Year Slip will easily be in my top reads of the year, if not all time! After not loving The Dead Romantics, I am SO glad I picked this one up, because I honestly can’t imagine not knowing this story.

Thank you to @berkleyromance for the gifted copy 🙏🏼 #berkley #berkleypartner

Ashley Poston's "The Seven Year Slip" was the ideal feast of writing that tugs at your heartstrings, characters to root for, and a plot that drew me in. I enjoy books with magic realism. This tale is fundamentally about mourning loss, accepting change, and understanding that falling in love comes at the right time.

After her beloved aunt died, Clementine inherited and moved into her late aunt’s apartment. About 6 months after her aunt’s death, Clementine walks into that apartment and sees a strange man standing in the kitchen. It turns out the apartment holds some magical powers that will occasionally take the inhabitants back to that exact date seven years prior. While Iwan is the perfect man - the type of man Clementine can see herself really falling for, he exists 7 years in the past, so how can it ever work?

This is such a beautiful story about grief and love. Even before reading the author’s note, I could tell Ashley Poston really poured her heart into this one. After reading the author’s note it was even more abundantly clear that she really used her own experiences with grief when writing this. The result was simply beautiful.
The romance between Clementine and Ivan was also beautiful. His patience and care. The way they each support each other and encourage the other to pursue their wildest dreams. It was all incredible. Then there was Clementine herself - her growth, her journey of self-discovery, all of it was wonderful. This book is so magical in more than one way.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy.

This is one of those premises where, if you suspend your disbelief--about a magical apartment that draws people together from points in time seven years apart--the heart of the story beneath the romance is: who do the characters become in response to this phenomenon, and how do they interact with each other. Under the romance are questions about grief, self-identity, and personal growth. And it’s these touches that make the book hit a bit deeper.

Clementine is devastated over the loss of her grandmother (the cause as we learn later on packing an especially hard punch), and Iwan plans to work hard for the chance to work his way up to head chef at a restaurant that’s a favorite of his grandfather’s. Meeting seven years later, Clementine gets to see who Iwan has evolved into, and Iwan has years of perspective to see if the Clementine that has lived in his memory all these years--the very same one he sees now-- is the one he can be with. (What’s interesting is that Iwan has always had one Clementine to deal with, while Clementine winds up dealing with two different Iwans.)

Some of the surprise is deflated relatively quickly 20% of the way in as we realize who Iwan is in Clementine’s present (it involves the creation and use of a nickname), but that only creates anticipation waiting for Clementine’s own discovery.

I just really liked this book all around and it even made me cry in spots. Highly recommend it.

This is the type of second chance romance I’m here for. I do wish we had gotten more moments together in the past but I also think having more in the present would
have been better as well. I’m blown away by what Ashley writes and can’t wait to read what’s next!

After falling in love with 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗥𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 last year, this was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, and friends, it 1000% delivered!! I don’t read a lot of magical realism books, but I will now read anything Ashley writes. Her writing is beautiful and poetic and draws me in. It’s almost hypnotizing.

There is something magical about apartment B4. Clementine is left the apartment by her late aunt, whom she loved dearly. Her aunt would tell her the stories about its magical powers, but it isn’t until she moves in after her aunt dies that she experiences the powers for herself. Slipping back in time seven years she meets Iwan and the two have an obvious connection. But just as easily as she slips back in time, she returns to the present.

I don’t want to say much else because I think it’s better to just go in fairly blind. This book captured my heart, though. It’s unique, magical, and heartfelt. Oh and did I mention that food and cooking is a big part of the book?! If you add that to a book, it automatically gets bonus points. 🤩

🍋This book is best enjoyed with a slice of lemon pie.

⚠️Content/Trigger warning: language, suicide and two open door scenes with mild details 🔥🔥

Loved it! LOVED it in all caps ❤️❤️❤️

I am a sucker for any books with time travel, time loops, time bending so to say I was excited to read this is an understatement. Combine that with the fact that the Dead Romantics was one of my favorites of 2022, and I went in with very very VERY high hopes.

Ashley Poston did not disappoint. She completely wowed me with this special story.

And that author's note😭😭😭😭

There is no way to describe Ashley Poston’s books other than “pure magic”, both literally and figuratively. This book wonderfully combines a time travel romance with a character’s journey towards self-discovery, and I loved every minute of it.

Clementine and Iwan’s relationship was utterly to DIE for. Their dynamic was so entertaining from their first meeting, and I loved seeing Iwan’s bright-eyed optimism break down Clementine’s walls. You can’t help but root for them from the start, and they had me flying through the pages just so I could get to their next interaction.

I loved the journey Clementine went on as a main character, both in grieving her aunt and in finding out who she wants to be. This book tugs on your heartstrings in all the best ways, and my favorite part about watching the story unfold was seeing the way the past and present met.

I don’t want to say much more about this book because I genuinely think everyone should experience it without knowing much of the plot. So basically what I’m saying is don’t walk, RUN to go read this book (and please tell me when you do so I can scream at you about it).