Sophia has seven days left in Tokyo before she moves back to the States. Seven days to say good-bye to the electric city, her wild best friend, and the boy she’s harbored a semi-secret crush on for years. Seven perfect days…until Jamie Foster-Collins moves back to Japan and ruins everything. Jamie and Sophia have a history of heartbreak, and the last thing Sophia wants is for him to steal her leaving thunder with his stupid arriving thunder. Yet as the week counts down, the relationships she thought were stable begin to explode around her. And Jamie is the one who helps her pick up the pieces. Sophia is forced to admit she may have misjudged Jamie, but can their seven short days of Tokyo adventures end in anything but good-bye?
Seven Days of You by Cecilia Vinesse is the story of a girl getting ready to leave the place she's always considered home. The book spans the last 7 days she's in Tokyo as she packs up her room and says goodbye to the friends (and enemies) and the city she's loved for so long.
I was very excited to receive an ARC of this novel and get the chance to review it. It sounded right up my alley--an angsty, romantic story set to a ticking clock in an exciting, vibrant city. I love nostalgia, and was certain this book would be full of it.
And it was full of all these things! The first 30% or so of this story bored me, though. It took me a while to care much about Sophia's story, particularly when it came to Jamie, the boy she's loved to hate for a while (even though he moved away when they were like 13). The description of her neighborhood and city are full of things unique to Tokyo, but they didn't do much to really show the city. It just felt like a collection of italicized words without much description.
The story snuck up on me, though. I loved Sophia's interactions with her family, especially her sister. I also loved how her friendship with Mika is depicted. They do some crappy things to each other, but it felt like a real relationship. I complain a lot about when girls are terrible friends to other girls in YA novels, but I wasn't filled with rage about that here. In Seven Days of You, the female characters talk about things other than romantic interests. What a shocker!
There is romance here, and it's slow burning and sweet. This is also a book about a love affair with a city. It's also about a girl coming to terms with disappointments--the ways your friends and family can disappoint you, learning how to cope when things don't turn out how you pictured it in your head, that you yourself may not be the person you thought you were.
It isn't a perfect book, but it's a very admirable debut from Cecilia Vinesse. Once I got to the meat of the story, it sucked me in and I stayed up all night to finish it.
3 1/2 Stars
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Published March 7, 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers