The Seven Year Slip - Ashley Poston - ★★.½

AUTHOR: Ashley Poston

NARRATOR: Brittany Pressley

GENRE: Romance, Timeslip.

PUBLICATION DATE: June 27, 2023

RATING: 2.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance with a magical timeslip. Decent characters, plot, and writing. Interesting use of the timeslip but no explanations and many loopholes. Insta-love and rushed relationship. Too many attraction-related inner monologues for my liking. Too convenient in plotting. Not a light story, but has light moments. I liked it but wasn’t blown away by it like so many others were. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Plot Preview:

After her beloved late aunt Analea passes away, Clementine moves into her NY apartment that Analea willed to her. Though still grieving, she is focussed on her work as a book publicist, and has no time for relationships. However, one day, she bumps into a strange man in the apartment. He claims to have been given permission by Analea to use the house for a while. After a lot of confusion, Clementine realises that this is what her aunt had warned her about the house: that it slips time. The man, named Iwan, is from seven years in the past, and their timelines have intermingled because of the apartment’s magical ability. Clementine feels an instant connection to him, but with the seven-year gap between them and his being unaware of it, can she really dream of a relationship with him?

The story comes to us in Clementine’s first-person perspective.

The book goes fairly as per its genre. However, the genre itself isn't my cup of tea anymore. I picked this up mainly for the timeslip (and partly for the GR Winter Reading Challenge that always forces me to read a romance novel.😢) But even the timeslip angle had its ups and downs. Actually, everything in the book has ups and downs, so most of my feedback is mixed.

✔ Clementine. Very organised and focussed at the start.

❌ Utterly impulsive and chaotic by the end. Didn’t like the sudden switch in her personality or in her career ambitions.

✔ Clementine’s first-person. Fairly well-written, offering us a decent glimpse of her personality. Emotional at times, especially when she is pondering over her past with Analea.

❌ Too many inner monologues focussing on the attraction to and attractiveness of Iwan. It’s like nothing else mattered.

✔ Iwan. The typical perfect romance lead who is hot and smart, who cleans and cooks and reads and jokes.

❌ In other words, overly perfect, hence boring. Hated the overuse of his nickname for Clementine: “Lemon”. Also, who the heck calls a stranger by a nickname from the very first meeting?

✔ The relationship. Has some good banter and emotional discussions.

❌ Also has insta attraction and needless steam. A lot of their connection is based on physical longing.

✔ Analea’s character. Had tremendous potential. Loved her appetite for travel.

❌ Disappointed that such a crucial character barely gets an active scene. Further, the details of her death felt at odds with the rest of her personality.

✔ The timeslip concept. As interesting as every timeslip potentially is. An apartment that randomly slips into the past of seven years ago? Intriguing!

❌ All we get is the intrigue. The what, why, how, from when – nothing is answered. The slips also happen auspiciously, only when the plot requires them. And every time a slip happens, Iwan is conveniently at home. Looks like the apartment performed timeslips only for matchmaking! The fun of timeslips is in randomness, which is missing here. Some of Clementine’s decisions after experiencing the slip are also questionable, as if the only thing that interested her in the past timeline was Iwan.

✔ The two pigeons and their names. 😂

❌ Something strange connected to the birds is hinted at in a scene, but this is forgotten after that one mention.

✔ Quite fast in pacing.

❌ Still slow in plot progressing.

✔ Given that Clementine is 29 at present and Iwan is 26 when they meet in the timeslip (potentially 33 in the current time), the age gap between the two is just perfect to fit both timelines. The story explores all possible combinations for their interactions.

❌ Clementine’s comment on feeling her age at 29 and how her body behaves differently from someone aged 25. No kidding, Sherlock! Wait till you cross your mid-thirties! 🙄

✔ The balance between sad and light moments – nicely handled.

❌ So cheesy at times!

✔ Some thought-provoking lines, especially on how people and priorities change/grow over time.

❌ The secondary characters. Could have been great but the ones with good potential end up being either interfering or annoying or missing. Fiona’s pregnancy seems to be yet another convenient addition. Julie’s romance track is immaterial to the main plot except for one scene. (I felt like Julie was being set up for a spinoff story.) The most disappointing is the role given to Clementine’s parents. She is supposed to be close to them and calling them up regularly, and yet we see them only in one scene.

❌ The miscommunication – annoying and lazy. Can be justified saying it is partly required by the plot, but it is again just a way of stretching the scenes without hassle.

❌ The ending. Don’t like it. Never a fan when a character changes everything for another character in the name of love. (Also, it’s funny how all changes happen almost overnight. Interior decoration isn't that instant! Why aren’t romance novels more pragmatic?)

✔ The author's note. Appreciate it. If only she hadn’t shown the restraint she felt forced to while penning this book, this book would have hit with the right level of intensity.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 9 hrs 43 min, is narrated by Brittany Pressley. She handles Clementine’s voice quite well and also narrates the other characters with good emotions. The only thing I didn’t like is the voice she uses for Clementine’s lesbian friend Drew. If it had not been for the pronoun ‘she’, I would have thought Drew was a man. Giving her such a deep voice meant that I ended up imagining Drew Carey instead of Drew Barrymore every time the character came up. Why was a masculine-sounding voice needed for a female character just because of her sexual identity? Other than this, I didn’t have any major trouble with the audio version. It ought to work well for experienced listeners as well as audio newbies, as long as you are open to listening to steamy scenes. (I am not, so I fast-forwarded through those sections!)

Overall, given the high praise this book keeps getting from romance readers, I had higher expectations. But it just didn’t wow me. I think my biggest issue is that it is overly convenient in its plotting. Which is not the same as ‘predictable’. ‘Predictable’ is expected in romances because it is a genre relying on a predictable happy ending. But ‘convenient’ writing just feels lazy.

That said, I am not a regular reader of this genre anymore. It is highly rated (80% of its GR ratings are of 4+ stars!), so if you are a fan of contemporary romances with a bit of magical realism, it might go better for you. I hope it does.

Hitting the midway mark as my feedback is midway on most count and rounding up wherever applicable for the audio version.