I really enjoy Adrienne Young’s story writing. I think the writing kept me interested me more than the plot in The Unmaking of June Farrow. She really knows how to write captivating spellbinding women in her stories. However, something was missing or lacking for me. I feel like there was so much more to explore with the timelines and it left me with a lot of questions.

I could not put this book down. I wanted to drop every other obligation in my life and sit and read. This was such a magical story with a unique take on a time traveling plot. I became so emotionally invested in these characters and my heart was in my throat while reading.

The descriptions of rural small town North Carolina were incredibly vivid and I felt like I had jumped onto the page.

I look forward to reading more by this author.

I was really nervous to read this book. Spells For Forgetting by Adrienne Young was one of my favorite books of 2022, and I wasn’t sure this one would live up to that one. Well…I was wrong! This book was written so well, and Young has become an auto buy author for me for sure! I loved her young adult Fable series, but her adult novels are written so beautifully that I can’t say enough about them.

I struggle with magical realism, but Young has a way of writing them that her readers will be immediately immersed in the story. I honestly can’t say how much this story moved me. Without giving much of the story away, I can only say I loved the setting once June walked through the door and into the past. The family ties were perfect, and figuring out who certain people were in her future life was almost like reading a thriller and figuring out the big twist. This book was a mash up of genres, and I’m all for that!

I listened to the audiobook thanks to PRH Audio, and Brittany Pressley did a beautiful job bringing June’s story to life. Her quiet tone was perfect for this story, and her emotions had me feeling all the feels. Well done for sure, and I highly recommend listening to this one!

If you’re looking to try a different genre, then this book is for you. It has romance, mystery, fantasy, and historical fiction all wrapped up in one lovely and moving story. This was my favorite read in November, and I can’t wait to see what Young comes up with next! Thank you @reading_with_jon for buddy reading this one with me!

Thank you Ballantine and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Holy cow it's so good!! This was an amazing book and so well written. I loved the characters and couldn't put it down.

Thank you NetGalley and Adrienne Young!

In the quaint mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow, from the cursed Farrow lineage, seeks to unravel her family's centuries-old enigma and uncover her mother's vanishing. A year marked by peculiar occurrences propels June towards her fate. Haunted by the past, she's determined to break the curse, even at the cost of forsaking love and a family of her own. Following her grandmother's passing, cryptic clues about her mother's disappearance surface, leading her to a mysterious door. As she steps beyond, June's journey unfolds, reshaping her past, and future, and kindling a profound, star-crossed romance in Adrienne Young's unforgettable tale, "The Unmaking of June Farrow."

The Unmaking of June Farrow was unlike anything I had read before. It seamlessly blends genres throughout in a way that I can’t explain without spoiling the plot. While at times the story can be a bit slow and difficult to navigate, I promise that all the pieces come together in the end. I alternated between reading and listening to the audiobook and I would recommend both!

The story follows June in the wake of her grandmother’s death. She starts having visions and believes she’s going crazy, following the curse that has affected generations of Farrow women. I loved June as a character. She’s headstrong but just wants to do right by her friends and family.

What I love about Adrienne Young’s writing is her ability to weave a compelling plot with completely atmospheric writing. I sat outside and read this one in the twilight with a warm cup of tea and it created such a cozy experience. It’s the perfect fall read.

I highly recommend The Unmaking of June Farrow to fans of atmospheric mysteries! Thank you to @delecortepress, @netgalley, and @prhaudio for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

The Unmaking of June Farrow was such a lovely read to escape reality for just a little bit. With a similar voice to Alice Hoffman, Adrienne Young creates a beautiful world filled with strong women, curses meant to be broken, time traveling, and the beauty and magic of love in many forms. I absolutely adored it!

4⭐️

This book is absolutely fantastic. It drew me in from the start. I actually haven't read many books like this. It was a breath of fresh air. It featured main characters in their 30s while staying fairly low spice. It was a thriller/mystery with time travel elements.

This book reminded me of Kindred (without the trauma of slavery) and Time Traveler's Wife. I liked that the reader and female main character learned together as the story went along.

The romantic subplot was very well done. I just loved them. These were adult characters who behaved like adults. I loved how the story was built and how the puzzle pieces fit together. The plotting and pacing were *chef's kiss*.

Tropes:
Forced Proximity
Mystery
Abandoned baby raised by grandmother
Murder
Mental Health difficulties

Content Warning: it does have mature scenes (sans clothing), but it's done very tastefully I would say. I typically skip all spice as a general rule, but this book focused more on the feelings than overly explicit. One f-word that I remembered. Murder, attempted murder in front of young children.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

I don’t even know what to say about The Unmaking of June Farrow. Was it a little confusing? Yes. Books about time usually are [for me]. Did I love it? Emphatically, yes! I will recommend this to so many people because it was extremely enjoyable.

I have been seeing conversation lately about “show, don’t tell” writing on TikTok and I think this book and Young’s writing is a really good example of this kind of writing. Spoiler-free example: “It was like hearing a sound and being unable to tell which direction it was coming from.” I loooved that line! I knew exactly what Young was trying to convey there.

As far as the plot/story goes, I don’t know how to describe it. I saw a reviewer on IG say it’s best to go in knowing nothing and I will echo that sentiment here. Just read it. It’s good, I promise. 5/5 from me. Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Unmaking of June Farrow.

“The next time you see the door, open it.”

June Farrow's life is spiraling. Her grandmother has passed, she's starting to see and hear things, and she believes the curse is finally coming for her as it does all the women in her family. I've been haunted by this beautiful story since I finished it days ago. Adrienne Young captured my attention right away and I could not put this novel down. I stayed up entirely too late, desperate to know what was really going on, and I look forward to reading this again to see what I missed the first time. I absolutely adored June and the many characters we meet throughout her unique journey through time.

I'm struggling to review this without spoiling anything so I'm going to stop here, but I highly recommend this beautiful story. I can't wait to read her other books if they are lovely as this one. Anyone who enjoys realistic fantasy with romance, suspense and mystery should definitely read this immediately. Young kept me guessing the entire time and while I'm sad it's over, she wrapped this story up perfectly!

I greatly enjoyed this book! I found Adrienne Young to be great at the prose and thought about the characters often while not actively reading the book! I do feel like this book is very general fiction and not so much magic realism or fantasy. While the ending wrapped up nicely, I was a bit confused.

I was a little hesitant to begin this one solely based on the fact that it revolved around time travel. It drives me bonkers when there are huge plot holes due to time travel, or the author makes you feel dumb because you don't understand the "science" behind time travel. Let me tell you. This book was beautiful. I understood the time travel aspects. I loved the mystery. I loved how we were able to start fitting pieces of the puzzle together while June was. The setting was perfect for the story. So excuse me while I start a flower farm while looking for a red door!

First Adrienne Young book I've read and I thought it was written with absolutely beautiful prose. It was engaging from the beginning and kept my interest throughout it's entirety. I loved the atmospheric writing and imagery. The only aspect I struggled with slightly were the overlapping timelines. Though it's mentioned a handful of times throughout the book as a build up, I can't say I fully understood it until the very end (and even then, I'm sure there are nuances that I've overlooked and I'm still unsure about). Overall, it was a nice, cozy magical realism read and I'm eager to check out some of her other work now

For the first 1/3, I thought I was going to love this book. The middle third took forever to not go anywhere, and the final third I found infuriating. The timeline "fix" made zero sense, and the main conflict of the story between Caleb and June just got brushed under the rug at the end 0 this long drawn out conflict, just forgotten with one conversation. None of the twists or reveals were original, and you could see them coming from a mile off. And how did the Farrow women get cursed in the first place? Overall, this was extremely unsatisfying and I found it ultimately disappointing.

After really loving Spells for Forgetting last year, I was stoked to get an ARC of The Unmaking of June Farrow by the same author. I started and stopped this book several times last month, eventually putting it on hold, realizing I wasn’t in the right headspace for it. I’m glad I did, because when I got into the right headspace, I really loved it.

It’s a slow start, firmly establishing the world of the MC June in present-day Jasper, NC as she reels from her Gram’s recent passing. Past the first few chapters, we start to see hints of magic in June’s world as she looks into ‘the Farrow curse’ that besets each woman in her family eventually. By the time this portal fantasy really gets swinging, the reader is already trying to piece together this family mystery (with a dash of murder!) alongside June herself.

Adrienne Young writes compelling characters that feel lived-in and authentic. Even when the situations presented to them are other-worldly, the emotion that drives their decisions is grounded in reality. We come to care for them as much as they care for each other, and we’re rooting for a happy ending.

I also love how the magic system works, how it manifests for June, and how the author plays with time. Reminiscent of Addie LaRue, we learn of things out of linear time order, which allows the author to reveal information just when we need it. It’s cleverly constructed to keep us at arm’s length until it’s time to reveal all.

Adrienne Young is a queen of atmospheric magic realism. This book was an easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 despite the slow build at the beginning because the payoff is very worth it.

This book was SO good! I am loving fantasy. I didn’t read her other book and now I am definitely going to go back and read it. I loved the plot and character development!

Adrienne Young’s writing is undeniably beautiful, but I just don’t think her mysteries are for me! This felt extremely similar to Spells for Forgetting, which was fine but I was expecting something different. The time travel aspect was interesting, but I kinda checked out with how intricate it got later in the book. Still glad I read it though, I think I’m just not as into contemporary magical realism but that’s on me and not on Young :)

🌈 Queer rep: none

I absolutely love Adrienne Young’s writing and she really topped herself with this one. I could not put it down and had to know where it was going.

Every once in a while a book comes along and steals your heart and will stay with you long after you finish reading. That is this book for me❤️. Young has written such a beautiful story of love, family, heartbreak and sacrifice.

June Farrow, like all the Farrow women before her, is cursed. Each generation experiences hallucinations and ultimately go mad. When June starts to see and hear things that aren't there, she is more determined than ever to end the curse.

This story weaves together elements of fantasy, mystery and romance that all work together so beautifully. The twists this book took and the breadcrumbs left for us to follow made this a book that I couldn’t put down and the relationship between the Farrow woman was everything. I know this book will end up on my Top 10 of the year❤️

Thank you @prhaudio and @delacortepress for my #gifted copies

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

I loved every single thing about this book! I have already recommended it to so many people.

This was a time travel, magic love story!

June has been seeing a red door that no one else can see. One day she decides to go through it! The journey it takes her on is phenomenal!

5/5 stars and I will be buying a physical copy for my shelf!

This was a fantastic original story that I couldn't put down!

June Farrow is in the middle of living a normal life, though a bit solitary. She has approximately two friends and is convinced that the women in her family are all cursed. After her grandmother passes, she starts seeing odd visions and wonders if she's losing her grip on reality, perhaps succumbing to the family curse. But June doesn't know that there's a reason behind everything and soon embarks on a journey that will alter her life forever.

I enjoyed the style of writing and this book has quickly become my favorite read of the year so far!