Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This is the first adult book I had read by Ashley Poston, and I really liked it. Very sweet magical realism love story. After inheriting her Aunts apartment, Clementine finds that it takes her back 7 years in the past where she starts to fall in love with the man she meets there. Clem and Iwan both feel like fully fleshed out characters and their love story is delightful.

How much can life change in seven years?

You’re living alone in your Aunts strange apartment in NYC. She passed away a few months ago and left it to you. Two pigeons are always perched on the AC named Mother and Fucker. You wake up to a southern gentleman with a big dream to facilitate perfect moments for people through food. He’s subletting for the summer. Or, at least he was… seven years ago.
Ooops. You fall slowly, and all at once, with a man from the past.
But when you leave the apartment, it sends you back to present day. So, the love and that man only exists in that tiny apartment filled with memories of your Aunt who is no longer home.

Once again, Ashley nails the tiny, intricate, seemingly insignificant details of life, and allows you the space to realize how marvelous and precious those details are.

This was a book of self discovery, exploring the way in which our dreams and our lives change, but in ways, stay the same. Of how our love stays through distance and time. It’s the past and the future falling for each other. It is the strange coincidences of life that feel like magic, that maybe the stars have us hanging by a thread.

Iwan and Clementine will now, and forever, reside in my blood. Find me with a tattoo of a lemon in the future.

There is a significant conversation around suicide. It is not on page but it is deeply impactful. I saw myself in that character and it was stunningly painful.

Cry count: 12
Spice: 🌶️.5

I am desolate and whole all at once.

The Seven Year Slip is a read that captured my mind, spoke to my soul, made my heart beat faster, and tugged just a little more as a swarm of emotions enveloped me. This is my first book by Ashley Posen, and I am captivated by the simplistic yet impactful prose character development that spans seven years into the past and future. This book is about finding yourself through grief, learning to pick the little pieces as they drop, romance and becoming the best version of yourself. Clementine is one of my favourite characters of 2023. Her evolution as she sees the safety net of her job slowly begins to tear into unfulfillment; her devotion towards being a best friend and confidant and reading her heart soar with Iwan is magical. The timelines were distinguished and flowed exceptionally well. The lead and supporting characters were full of life and highly relatable. The little wisdom giveaways are something that lingers in the corner of my mind for a long time. However, I found the ending to be a little rushed, but it did not take away from the central message of this beautiful read.

If you're a fan of romance, time travel, what if and nostalgia, this is the perfect read for you.

Thank you, NetGalley & Harlequin Australia, HQ (Fiction, Non-Fiction, YA) & MIRA for giving me an e-ARC. This honest review is left voluntarily.

This book stole my heart! Clementine and Iwan are the couple of my dreams. The two timelines in The Seven Year Slip were written in the most magical way, and I loved the way the past and the present collided.

This book is all about self discovery, change, and the importance of timing.

The Seven Year Slip is such a unique and heart-warming read, and I highly recommend it to romcom fans!

Without a doubt, one of my new favourite books of the year!

"Sometimes, the people you love don’t leave you with goodbyes—
they just leave."

I absolutely sobbed my way through a lot of this book! I also laughed and squealed and just thoroughly enjoyed it, but honestly, I didn't expect to ugly cry like I did. Not many books can make me do that.

Some parts were a bit predictable, sure, but honestly, it was in the best of ways. Other parts weren't at all predictable. I had no idea how this was going to end, and I have to say I was scared. I'm the kind of person who loves a happily ever after, and I really wasn't sure if I was going to get one.

I absolutely loved Iwan. He was such a sweet and caring man who made me absolutely want to try his lemon pie. I need my own Iwan, please.

Clementine honestly was one of my favourite FMCs I've read in a while. She was down to earth, strong and caring, and definitely someone I was happy to follow through the story as she grew.

Analea was, at times, someone I would want to be. She was well travelled, confident, and strong in her own way. At other times, Annalea was someone I wanted to know just a little bit more about. Her storyline was the sweetest and saddest thing I'd read in a long time. I will say, though, her storyline may require a trigger warning, but it was written so well.

I have to finish this off by saying I will be recommending this book to everyone. I read it in under twenty-four hours, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

➛ 𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

Thank you to Harlequin Australia via Netgalley for providing me with this ARC of The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston. My review is honest, and my own.

Another great magical realism rom com from Ashley Poston!
I’m not a big insta-love girl (which felt like this between Clementine & Iwan) but I loved seeing the past and present versions of Clementine and Iwan collide as they relearn how to love each other and ultimately themselves. The time travel aspect created such a great premise to the plot, where you can slowly see everything unravelling as Clementine discovers what happens between her and past Iwan (and how present Iwan becomes the person he is).
Most of all, I loved Clementine’s descriptions of her Aunt Analea and the adventures they go on. Above being a romance, this story follows Clementine through her grief, as she slowly starts to figure out who she is and what she wants to do. (4.5 stars)

I'm giving this five stars even though I didn't love it as much as The Dead Romantics because I do love Ashley Poston, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this book and many, many things that were very good.

However I think that the reason I didn't love it as much as The Dead Romantics was a little bit of misguided expectations courtesy of the blurb that I read: to me, it just felt a bit too much like second chance romance, which I am absolutely not into. This is kind of a second chance romance novel with a really original magical premise, even though it's a contemporary. And the other thing that misguided my expectations was the blurb, which, by mentioning that Clementine is 7 years into 'the man in the kitchen's future', I was actually expecting a little bit of back and forth time travel: as in, Clementine travelled back 7 years and the man travelled forward seven years. I don't know if that's a misread of the blurb, because blurbs can be really tricky, and also they are really easy to update and change, but this is what it said at the time I requested to read this book:

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

I wanted more of a back and forth time travel rather than a one-way thing. That's why I'm still rating this 5 stars, because I don't think it's fair to rate it any lower when my expectations for the plot weren't managed. I still liked the plot! As I said earlier, I'm just not into second chance romance, which this kind of felt like.

All of that being said, there was so, so much to love about this book. The details woven in; the descriptions of food especially were incredible; Clementine's career as a book publicist falling out of love with her job; her grief over her aunt's death and inheriting this strange magical apartment; her uncertainty about so much as she approaches 30; her adorable and amazingly supportive friends; and especially, especially, her love of summer in New York City. I had never heard of Manhattenhenge before I read about it in this book, and on the very same day I learned about it, I saw a Tiktok video about it as well. THAT IS SO CREEPY. But I felt really grounded in Clementine's world. I felt like Poston's descriptions of summer rain and humid nights really helped me feel the setting. I kind of want to go to New York now, just to experience this.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and although it didn't convince me to love second chance romance, I loved so much both iterations of the male love interest. I loved his passion, the way time had changed him, the twists involved in the time travel, and how Clementine dealt with all of that. This book contained the absolute best kissing scenes I have ever read. So swoony! I just loved reading about two people who were just really into each other! Maybe I've been reading too much enemies to lovers/hate to love recently. It definitely didn't feel like instalove, but there was an instant rapport and chemistry, which I am a big fan of. I absolutely bought them getting to know each other and the relationship, despite its magical touch, felt really genuine.

I do want to mention that Poston appears to think that watercolour painters use their fingers, which they do not because it would affect the paper, which is delicate when it's wet. She had Clementine paint in travel guides (so not heavy watercolour paper) which would buckle terribly (this was mentioned, but still it seemed... very odd for a watercolour artist???), and Clementine made quite a dumb comment about watercolour pans being magically water activated (which yes, that's the whole point, it's there in the name). I feel that Poston must not be a watercolour artist or know anything much about it beyond it being a very beautiful medium, and she did not convince me that she knew anything about watercolour painting. I hate being one of those people who is like, 'they would never', but just... watercolour was a poor medium for Clementine as a character to use. It just wasn't represented the right way.

Apart from that glitch, I really did thoroughly enjoy The Seven Year Slip, and if Poston could keep writing adorable adult rom coms set in the publishing industry, that would make me happy forever.

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past…

The marketing blurb above pretty much sums up this fun, cute romance. Clementine is the young workaholic book publicist who lives in the apartment she inherited from her much loved Aunt Analea. The aunt who used to take her along on wonderousl trips together during her summer breaks. Her aunt had told her the apartment was magical and at certain times in her life would send her back seven years her to meet the person she fell in love with.

When Clementine is at her saddest, grieving for her Aunt, she finds a stranger called Iwan, who says he is subletting the apartment while he tries to find a job in a restaurant. He’s tall, dark and handsome with a quirky smile and boy, can he cook! Clementine knows she could fall for him but how can you have a relationship with a man who’s living in another time line? It’s a lovely novel about grief and loss, yearning and love and finding who you want to be.

BLURB:
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:
For a novel written with two different timelines, this was surprisingly good. The plot is a common one within time travel/dual timeline books, but was, nonetheless, done well. The characters were likeable, and for the most part, relatable.

This was a delightful, lightweight, quick read, finished in an hour.

Perfect for fans of ‘what if’s’, nostalgia, love across time, time travel and the unexplained.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review.

4/5⭐

When I got the email that my request for an ARC of this book was approved, I could not believe it! Thank you so much @harlequinaus and #NetGalley!

What I like the most about Ashley Poston's books is that her romances have a touch of magic - I haven't found many books like that around, so I love being able to read her stories. And this did not disappoint me, I binged it in one evening! I really could NOT stop reading, I had to know what was going to happen and how things were going to be solved. Both the MCs are very sweet and I loved their story. But I really loved the little cameos Florence and Ben (from The Dead Romantics) had in the book too😍

I really liked the relationships between the two MCs and their friends - they had some found family vibes that I always appreciate! And Clementine's (the FMC) nickname was just so sweet. But a few things did not make much sense to me (**spoiler** did the aunt from 7 years before know Clementine was going to come from the future? Because she was going to travel with past-Clementine, she why would she say anything about her niece coming to the house? **end of spoiler**), and I would have liked to have them better explained or addressed, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless.

However, I feel like the ending was rushed. Clementine made Iwan realise he wasn't happy anymore and that what he was doing wasn't aligned with his old dreams. They had a huge fight about it, but it only took a second for him to come to terms with that? I don't know, I feel like there was space for a bit more growth there, but everything was solved and done in a few pages. It was okay, but probably too rushed for my taste :)

That said, I really enjoyed the story and I will definitely read any other book Ashely Poston writes.

3.5 stars
I loved the concept of this one and things tied together nicely at the end but I found it very slow to get into. It took me about 40% of the novel before I really started to enjoy it. Once I got to this stage I was hooked and really enjoyed when the past collided with the present and all the interconnecting parts. The relationship with of Clementine and her friends was a great addition. Was a fun story once I got into it.

This book was such a joy to read! I fell in love with the house, it's magic and Aunt Analea. Iwan was the sweetest and I adored his character. Clementine was also a great character, I feel like she hid a lot and didn't know her true self and I'm so glad she found it. I was so excited for her and the magic the house shared with her. Such a fun and easy read. Absolutely reccomend.