Book review, full book summary and synopsis for The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, a rom-com about a woman who moves into a magical apartment and falls for a man who exists seven years in the past.
Synopsis
In The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, Clementine is a book publicist whose aunt passed away six months ago, leaving her an Upper West Side apartment in a highly sought-after building her will.
Clementine remembers the stories her aunt once told her about the apartment and its magical ability to slip its inhabitants back in time by exactly seven years, but it’s not until a handsome stranger is standing in her home that Clementine truly believes it.
Soon, Clementine finds her falling for this guy, but she knows that falling for someone who exists seven years apart from her is not a small complication to say the least…
(The Full Plot Summary is also available, below)
Full Plot Summary
Chapter-by-Chapter SummarySee the Chapter-by-Chapter Summary of The Seven Year SlipQuick Plot Summary
The four-paragraph version: Clementine is a book publicist who inherits her aunt’s apartment after she passes away, knowing her aunt’s claims that the apartment has the magical ability to transport its inhabitants back in time by exactly seven years, though it’s unpredictable. Clementine is skeptical until the apartment reverts back in time one day, and a stranger, Iwan, is there. He says he has permission to stay there for the summer. Clementine and Iwan soon fall for one another, but the apartment soon reverts to current-day.
At work, Clementine is given the task of bringing in a potentially bestselling author, a handsome and well-known restauranteur, known as James Ashton. It turns out to be Iwan, which is his middle name. Iwan remembers her but is unsure how Clementine feels now, and Clementine doesn’t understand why Iwan never came to find her. As her publishing house engages in the bidding process for Iwan’s upcoming cookbook and he opens a new restaurant, Clementine sees how Iwan has changed and misses the man she fell for.
Eventually, Clementine realizes that she needs to accept Iwan as the person that he is today, and Clementine understands why it wouldn’t have made sense for him to come find her. And when Clementine sees Iwan-from-seven-years-ago again, she tells him the truth about what’s been happening and tells him to wait seven years for her. She doesn’t want him to go looking for her now, because she knows that she was a different person seven years ago and it wouldn’t make sense for him to try to be with the early twenties version of herself who was still figuring herself out. Clementine is also inspired to quit her job and pursue something more meaningful for her.
When Clementine sees present-day Iwan again, he tells her that he has changed but also that he appreciates the reminder of who he once was. He tells her he loves her, and she says it back. Then, Clementine and Iwan embark on the beginning of something new.
For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary.
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Book Review
Ashley Poston’s The Seven Year Slip is a rom-com with a time-traveling twist that came out last June. I’ve continued to be the mood for some lighter, faster and more entertaining books lately and this seemed right up that alley.
In The Seven Year Slip, Clementine is a book publicist at a small but reputable publishing house who has recently become the owner of her aunt’s fashionable Upper East Side apartment. Her aunt passed away six months ago, and Clementine is still struggling with her grief. She thinks fondly about her adventures with her aunt and remembers her aunt saying that the apartment was magical — in a literal, not just metaphorical, sense.
But it’s not until Clementine enters her apartment one day to find it transported seven years into the past that she really believes it. And to complicate matters, there’s a man there who says he’s been given permission to stay there for the summer while her aunt is away traveling. Stuck together for the time being, Clementine starts to fall for him despite being someone who has always kept her heart closely guarded. She knows it’s useless falling for a man who exists seven years in the past, but before she can figure out what to do next, he’s gone again…
The Seven Year Slip is a really fun, classic rom-com type story. You basically can guess what’s going to happen, but there’s a lot of joy in the anticipation of when and how it’ll come about. Along with the com-com elements, the book also lightly explores the way people change over time.
I had a lot of fun reading this delightful book, and it sped by very quickly.
In the interests of full disclosure, I am a huge sucker for anything involving time travel, so I had feeling this would be a win for me. And I was right, and I also really like being right. So it was a double win, basically.
Read it or Skip it?
If you’re looking for a book that’s fun and has a classic rom-com-type feel, the Seven Year Slips serves it up in a bright, time-traveling package. It’s a little predictable in the way that rom-coms can be fairly predictable, but it’s also enjoyable and delivers on its entertaining and slightly magical premise.
I’d easily recommend this book to anyone looking for some rom-com goodness.
I was surprised that I originally found out about this book on a list of book club reads. I’d say it’s probably not substantive enough to be a good book club book. Like, I’d struggle to come up with a solid list of discussion questions about it, unless you’re in the type of book club that’s more about socializing and less about the book itself. It’s definitely a crowd-pleaser, though. I’d recommend it more as a beach read.
See The Seven Year Slip on Amazon.
The Seven Year Slip Audiobook Review
Narrator: Brittany Pressley
Length: 9 hours 42 minutes
I listened to parts of this via audiobook. I thought it was fine. I didn’t love the voice that she used for the male lead, but that’s always going to be tough for a woman to really sell.
Hear a sample of The Seven Year Slip audiobook on Libro.fm.
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