The Seven Year Slip has such an interesting premise, but it just fell a little flat for me. I loved the setting and the food, but the romance and the predictability made my rating go down a little. There were some loose ends that will annoy me. That being said, this was an enjoyable read and I think many romance readers will love it.

Have you ever been so interested in a story that if you wake up in the middle of the night you look over at the clock to calculate how many hours until you can get up and continue reading? Well this book did that to me. A beautifully written story of what could be. The publicist described it to me as a rom-com and I don't agree with that at all. More of a story of chance meetings and finally realizing what you want out of life. This will be out for sale June 27th and I highly recommend it.

Written by the author of The Dead Romantics. While that was an entertaining book, I enjoyed these characters much more.
#berkley #netgalley #ashleyposton #thesevenyearslip

Also posted on various book groups on Facebook that I belong to.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I think Ashley Poston admirably and poignantly writes about grief and change so damn well -- I'd argue that this book is a mix of coming-of-age and romance, rather than strictly a romance so that people's expectations can be adjusted. Regardless, I thought this was a lovely, tender beach read.

I found certain parts of the storyline to feel rushed and thrown in, as to operate as a quick plot or character development device so that Clementine could be steered towards a new epiphany, such as the <spoiler> conversation with Juliette about being told that she was deserving of something better. It's not that I don't believe that messaging or that I don't want Juliette to leave her shitty situationship; it's just that I didn't really get to know Juliette or learn enough about her to invest in caring about her. I feel like that moment could have landed stronger if it was instead about Drew or her wife, who we interact with way more. </spoiler> That's just one example of the writing/pacing/plot choices feelings a bit wonky or out of place to me. Did it take me out of the book and ruin my experience? No, but it just didn't particularly fit, that's all.

There was also a moment where Clementine <spoiler> tries to place her hands on James' face after shitting all over his new restaurant (which granted, was clearly not *his* actual dream, so she was right in her constructive feedback), and it just did not ring true. Just told someone their brand new investment is inauthentic and you're not impressed, then proceed to cup their face in your hands as a sympathetic gesture, especially after not seeing them for seven years? Ummmmmm, couldn't be me girly pop lol.</spoiler> That actually did take me out for a second and I annotated, "Girl, whyyyyyy? So cringe" hahaha.

The one sub-plot that I adored was that of Analea & Vera's romance from decades prior - that was fun & I loved the tie-in with the present timeline! I will say that I guessed the grand gesture at the very beginning of this book & I fully recognize I sound like such a "pick me" pointing that out but I'm just really proud of my romance reader comprehension at this point so let me have my moment hahaha.

Here's what stood out to me as the strongest part of this book: the exploration of Clementine's grief with losing her aunt Analea. This truly hit a chord, and I think it's something that universally can feel relatable to any audience that this is marketed to. We're all human & we are all going to lose our loved ones, so that's a morbid but well-known guarantee of this short time we have on Earth. I appreciated the way Ashley explores grief and nuance within our loved ones this way. She did it well with The Dead Romantics and she did it beautifully again with this novel.

Lastly, I cried reading the author's note about change, and how only this book will remain stagnant, and that every time we read it, we will be different too (even how we feel about the book, which SLAYYYY - that's me hahaha). I am all for growth, change & evolving & it seems Ashley's own journey with grief has led her to this road of acceptance of whatever's to come, including all future versions of her. I think that's a beautiful meditation to sit with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an eARC of this title for review.

After losing her beloved aunt, workaholic book publicist Clementine finds herself going through the motions, working towards a promotion that she is increasingly less sure that she wants and unable to grieve her aunt’s untimely passing. One night, she returns home to her late aunt’s apartment, only to find that she has stepped back in time seven years and that she is not the apartment’s only occupant– as her aunt subleased the apartment that summer seven years ago to an aspiring chef, Iwan. As time passes, Clementine adjusts to the twin timelines in her life (living in the current era outside the apartment and slipping back seven years in time when she enters the apartment). Clementine and Iwan fall in love, but Clementine is sure their romance will never make it in the real world, living seven years apart and knowing that her aunt’s own time-slip romance ended in a rupture. When Clementine meets the current version of Iwan, a slick, established restaurateur, the two timelines of her life converge, and she must learn how to grieve her aunt’s death and decide whether she can take a chance on a current romance with Iwan and follow her dreams.

The Seven Year Time Slip is an ambitious, high-concept novel, and I was so impressed by Poston’s ability to balance an intricate plot alongside a moving portrait of a woman dealing with unexpected grief and a poignant romance. I found myself slowing down in the final chapters of this book, never wanting to leave these characters or this story. We’ve added this book to our collection in physical and digital formats, and I will definitely recommend this book to patrons looking for a tender contemporary romance with depth and warmth. 4.5 stars.

(In accordance with Berkley’s approval preferences, this review will not be posted publicly until one week prior to publication.)

What a delight this book was!

I am not the biggest rom-com fan, but I’ve heard such great things about Ashley Poston, so I really wanted to read this one. I love a good magical realism/time travel storyline, but it has to be done in a believable way, and I think this one is.

I also loved that the romance aspect of this book wasn’t the only purpose: there are stories of friendship, family, career growth, self discovery, grief and so much more, all of which is done with care and nuance.

Definitely recommend this one to rom-com fans and those who want something a little extra from their romances.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a loved one (by suicidal overdose, past), grief, dementia (past)

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f time slip romance
-forbidden romance elements
-insta attraction
-multiple timelines
-it has always been you
-food is my love language

Gosh this book hurt my heart in the best way. This was such a beautifully written story about grief, about time, and about love. Clementine is reeling after the death of one of her favorite people - her aunt - who left her apartment. Clementine is at a crossroads in her life without even fully realizing it walks into her apartment and finds herself seven years in the past and with a stranger. If you loved The Lake House this book is for you.

I adored Iwan and their relationship together. The yearning of this man and gosh his patience, may we all find a Iwan. Every time he called her LEMON my gosh. A hot chef who just wants to feed you good food and encourage your dreams. How they pushed each other, checked in, both of them at transition points. I don't want to say too much and give too much away but the ways these two continued in and out of each other's lives, the time slips in and out of the apartment that will have you screaming, wondering how these two are ever going to make it work.

What this book says about time, how we change, how what we want can change, but also at our core we're the same person. About timing when you meet someone whether you're in the right place to be with them or maybe it would be better if you met, say seven years later. The whole third act had me screaming, putting my book down for a moment and then diving back in because I had to know how these two will work it out. This book ends just so perfectly and just so well done of the many threads just effortless in the storytelling.

And oof the portions about her aunt, about grief, about her memories and just what her aunt meant to her. It was a beautiful thread throughout the book that would just knock you over with the power of it. This was a beautiful romance, a great book just about having the guts to make changes no matter how old you are, and of trusting yourself and trusting in love.

Steam: 2.5

This is a book I didn't realize I absolutely needed to read! I love when a romance book can make me get into my feels but also keep me hopeful. I loved the characters and thought the concept of traveling back in time because of a magical apartment was so fun!

I mean, what a magical romance. This book was so sweet and had me crying good by the end of it. CW: grief and mentions of suicide.

Ok, I liked this but there were elements that confused me. I am not sure if it was the book or the fact that I didn’t read it consistently for a bit.

I liked the premise - of two people - Clementine and Iwan - meeting from different years. But I felt like the meeting in present day was odd. It felt like I was missing something.

There were other questions I had about the story. I wasn’t quite sure why Clementine had rules for herself about not falling in love. I also wanted to know why there were certain elements that weren’t discussed in present day. And how did Clementine and Iwan fall in love so fast?

Perhaps I needed to suspend more disbelief. But I think some of the plot hole had me not being able to hold onto that.

I still enjoyed this one, and think it will work for people. (3.5)

[cw - suicide, death of relative]

4.5 stars, rounded up. Sometimes sophomore novels that follow a smashing debut can fall flat. However, I didn't find that to be the case with The Seven Year Slip! Utterly enjoyable, charming, and emotional. I adored every single character and the whole concept of timing was such a unique way to bring the main characters together. I really enjoyed this one!!

TW: mentions of suicide, depression
Content: strong language including f words, two open door scenes

Thank you so much to the publisher for my complimentary e-arc of this book. All opinions here are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing the ARC.

I don't know what it is about Ashley Poston's writing that makes me sob like crazy, but I am here for it.

In a book that is reminiscent of all other time traveling romance stories, Clementine and Iwan manage to find each other 7 years apart in an apartment that bends the boundaries between time and space. Their story is heartfelt, poignant, and just a bit sad as we see them both come to the realization of what it means to be together across a 7 year span.

This book was beautifully written. I loved the cast of characters and their growth, but especially Clementine. Her emotions leapt off the page - a credit to Poston's literary skill. This book was unputdownable and I read it all in one sitting.

What an absolute treat.

4.5 rounded up / my oh my! This book was such a wonderful surprise. I liked but didn’t love The Dead Romantics but did love Poston’s writing, so I was excited for this one, and boy did it deliver. It felt like parts of this were literally speaking to me directly, and the romance was so so lovely. I really loved that although Clementine was figuring herself out, she was still a formidable woman who although didn’t need no man, she wanted one in particular. One who was oh so swoon worthy. Of course, the magical realism can take a little adjusting, but I think it worked well here and complimented the story instead of overpowering it. I can’t wait for everything else Poston writes!

When Clementine’s aunt passes and leaves her the apartment, she is devastated, but finally gets up the strength to move in. when she arrives home from work to a man at the counter, she is thrown off, but her aunt always did say this apartment was magic. Magic in apparently the way that this man is living seven years in the past. Her aunt always told her to never fall in love though…

This book was a damn delight. I just freaking adore Ashley Poston and the way she can weave a bit of the supernatural into a story which just brings it to the next level. I loved the idea that these two are kept apart by the seven years, and when they are both living in the same time continuum, seven years has past for Ian, while Clementine is still in the same time frame. I just loved every second of this book, so I highly recommend you grab a copy!

Phenomenal phenomenal phenomenal! I read this before having gotten around to The Dead Romantics, and think I like it better. I'm so glad to see Ashley Poston having such success in the field of adult romance. While I tend to go for books with a bit more spice (not that this is closed door by any means), I just fell in love with the characters, the setting, and Poston's beautifully descriptive writing. I love her insight into the publishing world and both Clementine and Iwan are well-developed and totally lovable. What a quirky, enjoyable read!

Ever since her aunt's death, Clementine has put her head down to work harder toward her goals at her publishing company. Living in her late aunt's apartment, one day she finds herself shocked to find a man in her kitchen. With kind eyes and a seductive Southern drawl, he's the perfect man for Clementine. Except for the cosmic mistiming: he actually exists seven years ago. When Clementine encounters him in the modern day, she is shocked by how much he has changed.

I haven't read The Dead Romantics, Poston's big hit last year, so I wasn't sure what to expect from The Seven Year Slip, especially since I'm not much of a romance reader. To my pleasant surprise, I fell in love with Poston's nuanced love story, which reminded me of a few of my favorite Josie Silver's writing. This twist on a time travel story keeps you guessing, for every time Clementine slips into the past, it affects her interaction with the present. Poston takes the concept of right person/wrong time to a whole new level, giving you an engaging and enjoyable summer read.

⭐️: 4.5/5

Still coming to grips with her aunt’s sudden death, Clementine moves into her old apartment. Her aunt’s old apartment has a secret though: sometimes it and its inhabitants will travel 7 years forward or backward in time, putting the residents in contact with people just when they need it most in their lives. In this way, Clementine meets Iwan, an aspiring chef, subletting the apartment 7 years in her past. As she grows closer and closer to him, she finds that she’s in danger of breaking one of her aunt’s cardinal rules: don’t fall in love with people the apartment brings to you, because a lot can change in 7 years.

I loved this book. I was a little skeptical going in, having not read The Dead Romantics due to a similar skepticism of the fantastical nature of the plot. Boy was I wrong though, I really loved this book, from the characters, down to the tension, to the way that at 50% I couldn’t see how the resolution would come about. I couldn’t put it down the whole way through, because I had to see how everything would turn out, and how everything would (or if it even would) have a HEA. This was such a clever idea for a romance, and I loved the way that timing was a key plot point throughout the whole book. It really resonated with me how a lot of finding lasting love with a person you connect with is down to the timing, and whether you’re in the same place in your life as that other person, and whether the circumstances of your lives allows you to build that connection into something more. The mental health and suicide representation was also a great addition, because visibility is so, so important when it comes to those type of conversations. However, that is certainly a trigger that is present in this otherwise pretty fun rom-com. I really enjoyed this book, and will definitely be picking up The Dead Romantics now as well!

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleypub for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Ashley Poston writes the most gut wrenchingly beautiful magical realism romances. She left me an absolute wreck despite the happily ever after in The Dead Romantics and now she did it again with The Seven Year Slip. Her writing is so immersive I dread leaving her universes.

The Seven Year Slip takes right person wrong time to a whole other level with time travel. Yeah you read that correctly and you’re going to read this and absolutely love it because it’s phenomenal. Clementine is still in the harsh stages of grief when the universe brings her an optimistic Iwan out to chase his dreams—he’s 7 years in her past, but who will she find when she stumbles into him in the present?

This is a single POV romance told from Clementine’s perspective. We get the opportunity to experience her move through her grief and grow quite a bit as a character. While we don’t get Iwan’s POV (honestly it’s a time travel novel, we can’t take the POV of the guy we meet across time and space because hello —spoilers) we do get to see how time can shape us when we’re not looking and not listening to that guiding voice. They’re both stunning examples of chasing the moon and finding what fills not just your heart but also your head.

OMG YES!!!!!!! I love this book so much! I LOVED The Dead Romantics and was worried this wouldn't live up to my expectations, but Ashley delivered. Clementine and Iwan were such a cute couple. I was rooting for them so much. Ashley does a truly phenomenal job of writing magical realism romances that don't seem super far=fetched or super far out there. Her writing captivated me from the start, and I flew through this book. I wanted it to keep going.

What makes this truly a fantasy novel? A fantastic rent-free apartment in NYC! This modern magical realism romance is filled with love of art, travel, books, and food, set alongside a messy on-the-cusp-of-thirty career crisis. Clementine has inherited a magical apartment from her beloved aunt and travel companion. Occasionally, when she enters the apartment, instead of her unpacked boxes, her aunt’s peacock chair is back in it’s corner, and the apartment has slipped seven years into the past. One day when Clementine comes home, there’s a handsome, tattooed, stranger there, the son of her aunt’s friend who was granted use of the apartment while Analea is in Europe with her niece. A dishwasher and aspiring chef who wants to make memories with food in a warm, cozy restaurant of his own one day, Iwan charms Clementine with pie and nickname for her (both lemon).

In the present timeline, Clementine is now a book publicist, potentially up for a promotion that will alter her life–or possibly leave her with NO life apart from her work. She discovers that the celebrity chef author her imprint is trying to acquire is none other than Iwan, but he is greatly greatly changed, going by James and making fussy food that is nearly impossible for home cooks to recreate. James creates a cooking challenge to help narrow down his choice of publishers, and they reconnect. He’s hurt from their relationship, but his past hurt is not in Clementine’s timeline yet, and their reconciliation is delicate as a mereguine.

In addition to the past/present timeline, the mystery shrouding Aunt Analea’s death and the relationship she had that could not withstand a literal test of time is brilliantly juxtaposed with the burgeoning relationship between Clementine and Iwan. Supporting characters are diverse and richly constructed. The narrative is witty, lusciously detailed, warm, raw, honest and unputdownable. I read it TWICE. Truly, every word Ashley Poston writes is luminous. Like The Dead Romantics, The Seven Year Slip involves supernatural elements and lots of poignant longing; the appearance from the protagonists from The Dead Romantics is icing on the cake.

I received a free, advance reader’s review copy of #TheSevenYearSlip from #NetGalley.

Read if you like:
🚪 Magical Apartments
⏳ Split Timelines
♥️ Falling in Love
🌮 Tattooed Chef MMC
✍🏻 Book Publisist FMC
💔 Love after Loss

“Never forget to fall in love whenever you find it because love is nothing if not a matter of timing”

This book was my most anticipated read of the year and it did not disappoint one bit. I smiled, I laughed, I felt my heart breaking, I cried, but ultimately I fell in love with this story.

The quote I pulled felt so correct to my experience with this book because timing would have dictated I would not have read this one yet, in favor of other books I said I would read first, but I couldn’t take the wait and dug in, and so glad I did because this book was absolutely everything I needed and everything I didn’t realize I needed all in one.

It’s more than a love story, but also a story of processing grief and loss, and also learning to open your heart to happiness and remembering who you are regardless of the path you may have gone on for the right reasons at one time.

I don’t want to say too much because truly I think everyone should go in blind as possible and fall in love through the pages of a book while your heart processes the love and grief of Clementine aka Lemon all at once as it was so powerful to be tugged between love and grief throughout the book.

Thank you a million times over Berkley for my ARC and to Ashley Poston for this beautiful story of Lemon and Iwan.