Adrienne Young is always a must buy author for me. I always preorder her books signed. So it was nice to be able to read it before it actually came in. It was the best magic realism book in a long time. Definitely worth the five stars. It makes me think of Practical Magic with the breaking of a generational curse. And I loved the setting of this book, having been near there myself. The first ten chapters were a bit slow, but the rest of the book made up for that! All in all, I would highly recommend this book.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young. Pub Date; October 17, 2023. Rating: 4 stars. Adrienne Young knows how to create an atmospheric novel that transcends time and brings mystery, intrigue and hope to the story. In this novel, she takes a family of women who have an uncanny ability to time travel and creates a murder mystery around them. I loved the powerfulness of the women, the setting within acres of flowers and the hope this book created by the end. This novel was a journey and one I was glad to take. I highly recommend this novel! Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhousepublishinggroup for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a beautifully written story from start to finish, one of my favorite written by Adrienne Young. If you are into magical realism, time travel, and a little bit mystery, I would highly recommend picking this book up.
5 stars

Had I realized this was a time travel story, I would have been perhaps a little more hesitant to read it, but I dove into this book hot on the heels of Spells for Forgetting and was firmly ensnared in Young's web before I cottoned on to what I was in for. I typically dislike and avoid time travel tales, as the mechanics behind it hurt my brain, and this one was no exception. With all of the rules surrounding crossing, characters existing in multiple times, and the back-and-forth June does, it was difficult to wrap my head around. Unfortunately, I'm not usually one of those readers who can just suspend their disbelief and roll with it, I must understand and thus I spent way too long wracking my mind trying to make sense of it all.

Still, I enjoyed the story. Young's writing is evocative and both easy to read while also being immersive. The book is, more or less, a love story in the vein of Outlander with the protagonist being forced to choose between two times and two romances. It was a bit heavy on the romance for my taste, but I did appreciate the slow burn between June and Eamon.

Young does commit my greatest literary sin, which is poor communication and withholding information for the sake of drama and conflict; it's lazy writing and it drives me crazy. June appears dreadfully passive as she well knows that people are keeping things from her, they are things that she should know, and yet she just goes along with being kept in the dark just so the dramatic reveal can be drawn out a bit longer. I prefer heroines who are a bit more active in their own storylines, and the use of this ploy was a disappointment to me.

There's also quite a bit of focus on motherhood, which isn't really for me. Just a personal preference, but I don't vibe with parenthood and don't care to read too much about it.

All that being said, this is a creative, well-written, and twisty tale, and I did enjoy reading it. I'm 2/2 on Adrienne Young's works and I'll be looking up her future output.

Excellent! Such a fun and unique storyline with a fantastic ending and characters. We read for book club and it was fun to discuss.

Adrienne Young’s The Unmaking of June Farrow is a captivating blend of mystery, romance, and time travel, set in the atmospheric Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The story follows June Farrow, a flower farmer grappling with a long-standing family curse that has plagued the women of her family for generations. The plot delves into time-bending twists as June uncovers dark secrets tied to her family's past, particularly her mother's disappearance and the murder of a local minister.

What sets the novel apart is its intricate portrayal of time travel, where June navigates both her present life and the mystery of her past—especially when she discovers a mysterious red door that transports her to 1951. Here, she encounters Eamon, a man who claims to be her husband, reigniting a romance that June struggles to reconcile with her fragmented memories. Despite the complexity of the time-travel mechanics, the emotional core of the novel—June’s search for belonging and resolution—remains compelling.

Young’s writing excels in evoking the haunting small-town atmosphere and building suspense around the Farrow family curse. While some readers may find the time-travel aspects confusing, the novel’s lush prose and emotional depth make it a rewarding read for fans of magical realism and romantic suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this title.

Thank you Delacorte Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review The Unmaking of June Farrow! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm going to need a few business days to recover after finishing Adrienne Young's newest release. If you adore Outlander, The Time Traveler's Wife, and the atmospheric vibes of Rebecca Ross books, you will fall in love with The Unmaking of June Farrow.

June Farrow is part of a long line of women who experience episodes of what people think are delusions and madness. For a year, June has been seeing dreams of a red door, blood under her fingernails, feeling the touch of an invisible lover, and it leaves her with dread as she begins to realize she is experiencing the family curse. For many years she has been wondering about the mother who left her at a young age. When June finds a photo of a woman who looks like her mom with the murdered town minister, she is shocked to see it dated in the past: 1912. The red door appears again for June and she decides to take the plunge and finally step through it...

I was so thrilled to receive an early copy of this book, especially after reading Spells for Forgetting. I apologize for not reading and reviewing this one sooner. Of course, I am absolutely kicking my own butt for not diving right in when I received it.

Adrienne Young is a fantastic story-teller. I love how she weaves words into such an enchanting and captivating way. The Unmaking of June Farrow is a brilliantly told story of time-travel, mystery, romance, and family. The characters are layered, and so well-developed. The pacing can be slow at times but the build-up to all of the reveals is completely worth it. I'm so happy Young created an ending that tied up all loose ends leaving no questions unanswered.

5 stars

I loved the time travel in this book and found the rules of it very unique and interesting. The way Adrienne Young writes is so beautiful. She makes you feel as though you are living this right along with the characters. This book was just as atmospheric as Spells for Forgetting. As much as I want to be in Washington is as much as I was to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains now. I loved the romance between June and Eamon. I also loved the rest of the characters as well and were just as invested in them. This book was stunning. I can’t wait to read her next book. Will absolutely be recommending this. Five stars!

This book just slayed me dead. I sobbed so hard. Please read this book.

June's story left my mind spinning in the best way possible. The mystery, the drama, and the epic love story that slowly unraveled all kept me coming back for more. I could not put this down. As soon as I was finished, I wanted to start again from page 1. I don't want to give anything away about the plot because the less you know, the better.

I loved this book. To me, it was a little slow at times (and I did have a hard time wrapping my head around SOME of the storyline), but I found it to be so unique. I flew through the book and would definitely recommend it to other readers.

I loved this book!! This is the perfect atmospheric, cozy fall read with magical realism and a bit of mystery thrown in. I was worried at first that I would struggle to figure out how the timelines worked, but Adrienne Young did such a beautiful job of unveiling each thread throughout the story. She writes so beautifully and I just loved sinking into this story!

I wasn't a huge fan of her first book but this one deff redeemed her. I loved the adventure aspect and the characters were super interesting and likable.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve been a little backlogged with my ARC’s but am working diligently to get caught up. I’ve read a few of Adrienne Young’s books and they never disappoint! The story is complex and the characters are well constructed. I really loved the supernatural/time travel element too! This book gave me all the good vibes and I would highly recommend if you like romance, fiction, with some sci-fi elements!

I personally am not really into the time travel novels. The unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young is one of the few novels that I have really enjoyed in regards to time travel. It is probably because I have read this author's books before and she has a beautiful way of telling a story. This novel is no different it captivates you and pulls you into the story.

I was so pleasantly surprised by The Unmaking of June Farrow! What a story! It is beautifully written, atmospheric, mysterious, intriguing and unique.
I was so invested in what was going to happen and where the story was going. I got emotional, I had a blast, it was truly such a good reading experience. This was my first Adrienne Young read, and I cannot wait to read more from her! This audiobook was also incredibly well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this story! I really enjoyed the characters, the theme of the book, the timelines, June's bad/yet good decision making. I just loved reading along and the world that I was being immersed in. Would definitely recommend. I also listened to the audio and would recommend that as well! Great narration!

The writing was beautiful, the plot was interesting, as were the characters. I just felt like the story all around was a little too slow for me.

Honestly I was pretty confused in this. It didn't stop me from enjoying it but I feel like I missed a pivotal part of information.
Time travel
Motherhood

To start, I am not big into time travel stories. I find them to be overly complicated and the rules to be annoying. While I did find that this book did sometimes fall into the trap of convolution, to be honest, it was a time travel story I actually found that I couldn't put down. I think for me, the rules of the time travel didn't matter as much to me as the plot did--the plot was what kept me coming back. The story was lovely, and I loved the historical fiction aspects.

A perfect example of right book, wrong time. I've had an ARC of this book sitting on my kindle since last year and really could not get into it at the time. I decided to give it another go recently and I'm so glad I did. I was hooked from the first page and devoured it as fast as possible. Adrienne Young's writing is beautiful and whimsical and magical and the setting of this book was perfect. I wanted to live in it too. It was heartbreaking and beautiful and Adrienne Young has officially become an auto buy author for me. As soon as I finished this book all I could think about was rereading it again. Allll the stars.