Book Review | The Seven Year Slip

This is one of my summer reads that I didn’t quite get around to writing about at the time.

The Seven Year Slip
Ashley Poston

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: 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.

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Ashley Poston is definitely becoming a go-to author for me. I’ve only read two of her books so far, but both have been fantastic. I do love a romance book, but I love that her stories incorporate fantastical elements. It’s a small part of the story, but it makes it a little different and usually ups the stakes of the romance.

I had tried to start this book near the beginning of the year because I had been looking forward to it so much, but I’m a mood reader, and as soon as I started reading, I knew it wasn’t the book I needed to read at that time. I’m glad I waited until I was in the right mood for it because this was just such a wonderful book.

The time slip idea was fantastic, it had an element of suspense because you never know how much time Clementine and Iwan would get together, and when she would jump back and forth in time, it was pure chance. It made every moment that they had together even more precious. It also had me completely hooked because I was desperate to know if they would find each other in Clementine’s present.

I love that there are always a lot of layers to this author’s stories, as well as the romance aspect. Clementine is dealing with grief and trying to figure out what makes her happy in the aftermath of loss. I did find myself on an emotional rollercoaster reading this book, with a wee tear in my eye one minute and then filled with warmth from the budding relationship the next. I love it when a book can bring that out in me.

The chemistry between Clementine and Iwan was perfect, it kept that slow burn alive, given the set up of the story. I liked that it wasn’t all plain sailing for them because it gave them the chance to figure out each other and themselves.

Honestly, I’m so excited to pick up my next Ashley Poston book because of how amazing this one is. If you love a romance with a bit of a fantastical element and some amazing characters, then I would highly recommend you pick this one up.