Thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review.


From the moment I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down and I completed it within twenty four hours. It’s a beautiful tale about love, motherhood and family. It is unlike anything I’ve read before and anything I will ever read again.

It’s hard to review this book without giving anything away because in these pages lies a intricately woven tale, one spanning lifetimes, and it is best to enter this story knowing as little as possible, and like June, our main character, when you flip to the first page you are opening a door to a whole new world.

You have no idea where this door will take you, or the person you will become when you reach the other side but the journey is one you must take- one you can’t turn away from.

This book unearthed an ache within me, a gnawing fear for these characters and how their lives would play out. It is twist after twist, making you hold your breath until you reach the last page finally able to breathe in but also saddened it’s over.

It is beautifully written with complex characters and an even more complex storyline that will leave you in sheer awe. It feels lifelike- it’s attention to detail rooting it within its own reality.

With elements of mental health representation, confronting death and grief, and a love and family that runs so deep they would do anything for each other, this book is never black and white and you will never guess what happens next.

Books like these are why I read, hoping to find a story that takes me off guard and makes me look at life a little differently. Worlds that fill my life with a color I can’t identify anywhere else. So next time you come across a door you are afraid to cross through, or a book you find yourself curious about but unsure, open it.

This was not my favorite of Adrienne Young's books. I absolutely loved Spells when it came out last year but the starts to June Farrow was just too darn slow and I was confused for the first third of the book. Once it came together in the end and I understood what was happening I enjoyed it, but I think the reader spends too much time being as confused as the main character June is about what's happening. That disorientation mad it hard for me to settle into the story. Once I got past the 35% mark and it started to come together I enjoyed it more but it never seemed to fully hit its stride and when a very important choice came up for June in the end there was no suspense for me because it was already clear what she would choose as there was nothing tying her to one of her options. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for this arc.

Wow. This was a good book with a unique premise. Such an emotional rollercoaster. I loved the supporting characters as well. 4.5 ⭐️, 0.5 🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and author for granting me an advanced copy of the ebook in return for my honest unbiased review. This book is expected to be published in October 2023.

The Unmaking of June Farrow, a multi-generational mystery with a touch of romance and time-play, is a great followup to her previous magical realism novel Spells for Forgetting.

In Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is determined to break her family's curse, which has haunted the Farrow women for generations. After her grandmother's passing, June unearths clues linking her mother's disappearance to the town's dark history. She discovers a mysterious door that might hold the answers to Jasper's enigmas but risks her sanity the deeper she delves. As she crosses the threshold, June's journey reshapes both past and future.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a little more intense and complex than the cozy mystery you find in Spells for Forgetting and I really enjoyed Young's criss-crossed timeline and the layering involved. June's personal journey was deeply felt and the characters around her were wonderfully solid and vivid.

My main takeaway for the majority of the book was just how perfectly Young depicted the North Carolina small, mountain town feel. She captured the essence of this brilliantly and remained true to the setting and characters without ever going over the top, which is a main beef I often have with Southern fiction. It's clear that Young lives in that area and I was thrilled with how perfectly she portrayed this particular brand of Southernness on the page, something that's hard to do even for native North Carolinians, much less transplants like her.

There are a lot of elements from Spells for Forgetting to which she has returned for the barest bones of how the two compare: small town community, an old and unsolved murder, a farm that feeds into sustaining the economy of the area, an outsider family, and a multi-generational family at the heart of it all. But her setting is not the only thing she changed for The Unmaking of June Farrow. The way Young played with story and character here was a wonderfully fresh take and reminded me a lot of Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells.

As June explores the mystery, her place in the world, her relationships with the people in her life, and the idea of fate, are all tested. Once again, Young infuses the novel with an intriguing mystery, captivating atmosphere, and a moving romance. Her overall storytelling, exceptional characters, and writing style perfectly aligns with my preferences and expectations.

The Unmaking of June Farrow

By Adrienne Young

Set in the hills of North Carolina, Young has created an almost gothic tale of seeming madness that runs in one particular family, the Farrows, and only in women. There seem not to be many men in the Farrow family, and the name passes from mother to daughter.
But is it madness? Or is it possible to live in two worlds on entirely different timelines?
This is a book that kept drawing me back to it, no matter what else I was reading. That’s a sign of a tale well told. I had to pay close attention to keep track of what was happening in the two timelines, who the characters were and how they interacted. But I was desperate to find out what was going to happen, how the book would end.
There’s a murder mystery at the center of the second timeline. There’s a brooding husband and a golden haired little girl. June’s grandmother in the second timeline is younger than she is. The question for June has always been what happened to her mother. That’s what draws her through the red door that isn’t there.
I hope I’ve intrigued you.

I basically read THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW in one sitting. I love Adrienne Young's dreamy prose and cloudy soft universes. SPELLS FOR FORGETTING made me weep and THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW made me cheer. I LOVE June and love all the supporting characters, love the time flip-flop between 2023 and 1951, and especially love the North Carolina setting. This is a perfect autumnal novel and perfect witchy novel.

The UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW is definitely in my top 10 of the year! Going to make sure my book club picks it up for our October read. Thank you to NetGalley and RandomHouse for the ARC!

I love Adrienne Young’s writing style. Her words are absolutely captivating and make it near impossible to set the book down until I have completely devoured it. I did not think that this book would have the same effect on me that Spells for Forgetting did, but I was mistaken. Immediately, I found myself immersed in the small town Jasper and totally invested in the life of June Farrow.
June believes she will be the one to break the curse that has plagued the women in her family. After being abandoned by her mother, June was raised by her grandmother and watched as she eventually succumbed to the Farrow curse. Love is greater than everything. It can transcend time and even make the impossible possible.
I really can’t get over how heartbreakingly beautiful this book was. It had a very well done mystery woven throughout the book. The s i-fi element was uniquely handled. As the book wrapped up, I found myself emotional over the importance of familial love in this book. Nothing is stronger than love.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and RandomHouse Publishing Group for the advanced copy of The Unmaking of June Farrow. Adrienne Young has done it again!

I’ve read several of Adrienne Young’s books now, and I think The Unmaking of June Farrow might be my favorite. I love the NC setting; Young creates this fantastical tale within a small mountain town, and it’s lovely! There were lines and sections that really just transported me there.
This story follows June Farrow, a woman in a family of women who all experience an unraveling-a curse. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that I found myself rooting for June throughout this book. It was hard to put down because I wanted to answers to what June was experiencing. Great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Love can cross all boundaries of space and time in this magical story. The Unmaking of June Farrow is a perfect combination of magical realism and romance. The women in this novel are fierce and protective of each other. The love of mothers, daughters and granddaughters was profound throughout time as we travel to 1951 from 2023.

This small tight-knit town was blooming with enchantment, mystery and intrigue. The time travel kept me guessing how the story would unfold, especially the love story. In the end, the farrow women expose their strengths to overcome the challenges each generation faced in the family.

Young's a mastery of storytelling!

Thank you Random House for the complimentary copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for giving me an opportunity to read an arc of The Unmaking of June Farrow, in exchange for my honest review.

I’m sad to say that I am deciding to DNF at 30%. It’s putting me in a reading slump for some reason. The plot is happening to the main character, but June herself has no personality other than that, and her foreseeing her demise. I think it’s leaving me to feel uninvested in what happens next. At this point all that’s really occurred is her repeating that she’s losing her mind/it’s happening/“it’s not really there”/I need to look into this/this can’t be real/everyone thinks I’m going crazy and so do I.

I think maybe if something else was there to grab my interest, it would have felt more engaging to me. Even slightly more with the potential love interest (there was one conversation, one line between them that I was like !!! And then June literally brushed it off entirely, so it fell completely flat right after).

It was well written and beautifully descriptive about the setting, but I really just needed something more. I read far enough to feel like it just wasn’t going to be the kind of story for me, at this time.

This was the first book that I've read by Adrienne Young and it did not disappoint! This intricate story had so many twists that I couldn't put it down. It was beautifully written. I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to read her previous books.

5 magical stars!

A mesmerizing blend of Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, and Magical Realism, where the impossible becomes possible. The perfect escape!

For fans of these books:
"Spells for Forgetting" by Adrienne Young
"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
"The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern
"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger
"The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow

A must-read if you enjoy mind-bending twists, brain-teasing mysteries and these tropes:
- Family Curse
- Mysterious Door
- Time Travel
- Second-Chance Romance:
- Small Town Secrets

After falling in love with Spells for Forgetting I knew I needed to read more from Adrienne Young. The Unmaking of June Farrow did not disappoint! The writing is poetic and atmospheric. The author does an amazing job of making you feel like you are there in the Blue Ridge Mountain's (one of my favorite places).
The character development is perfection, I loved the entire Farrow family!
This book is sci-fi/fantasy/magical realism/mystery/romance, really Adrienne Young’s books fall under their own genre! It’s really impressive how she able to make a book feel so cozy and magical.
The beginning was a little slower, but once I got about 30% in I could not put it down. Read the last 70% in one night!
4.5⭐️
Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Delacorte Press and Netgally for this ARC!

First off, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this arc!

Although this story wasn't for me, I still think plenty of other people will enjoy this book. It has a great opening - which did make me tear up, plot twists, a likable fmc, magical realism, family, and romance! Think Nicholas Sparks meets The Time Traveler's Wife.

What really held me back from loving this book would be the amount of information present that didn't really pertain to the plot/characters. I found it daunting to be met with page after page of dense paragraphs with no dialogue. I was able to fly through this book because of the easy writing style, but still felt it took me a long time because I was unmotivated to continue. I guessed the twist pretty early on, but there was still some surprising factors towards the end.

Again, not a bad book, not quite my taste, but I can see plenty of people falling in love with this story!

This book broke my brain and then my heart. I love Adrienne Young's writing so I had high hopes for this book but it absolutely blew any and all of them out of the water. It was filled with her usual amazing writing, a chilling and thorough storyline and an absolutely beautiful depiction of family. I genuinely don't think I will ever get over this, by the end I was sobbing my eyes out.

Anyone knows if you are a big reader that, sometimes, stories can start to blend together, Similar tropes, Similar themes. Similar characters. But then I picked up this book and read it in a little over a day. THE MAKING OF JUNE FARROW is probably one of my favorite books this year because it tells a story that is unique, while also being engaging and well written.

One of the things that was so special about this book is that it is genre bending, One can't quite place how the story is going to go and what category it should fall into. it has mystery elements. It has some romance. It has some historical aspects. It has magical realism. And with these combined, it created such a fabulous story. I didn't know what was going to happen and I was guessing throughout. I HAD to know, and that is what propelled me though the book. After reading so many books this year, 85 and counting, it was almost refreshing to see this combination of genres because it made the story one of a kind, while bringing in the best part of these different styles.

Part of this enthrallment with this book was also because it was extremely well written, The character development, the vivid descriptions, and the story were immersive. They author does a fabulous job of creating this world, explaining it, and fundamentally sucking the reader into the story.

Overall, I found this book to be such a breath of fresh air story wise. While I can't give too much away because the plot is so intertwined, it is definitively a must read. I hope, like me, you won't be able to put it down.

This book was amazing, and has made me look into other works this author has released. The atmospheric writing and overall concept was done so well. I never found this book lacking, I truly felt every word, every sentence, was needed. The time travel sci-fi twists and the whole concept of overlapping timelines was so unique and well thought out. I will be recommending this book to everyone, one of the best books I read all year.

Wow this book! I think that Adrienne Young has an amazing writing style, and it leads to these complex and excruciatingly detailed stories and The Unmaking of June Farrow was no exception. The setting is a small town, beautiful flower gardens and the writing really paints a picture, following the perspective of June. The pacing of this book is on the slow side, but the plot is so complicated, with such delicate details, that it really needed to take the time to build, or the plot would have unraveled. There were some surprising revels, heartbreaking situations, and undeniable love and determination. I thought June was quiet and kept to herself at first, accepting her fate of the family curse, but as the story moved along her character really started to show so much resilience. Overall, I had a really great time reading this book and think it’s a great fall read.
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

4.5 🌟

After falling in love with Spells for Forgetting, I knew I would be picking up Adrienne Young's next book.... and The Unmaking of June Farrow made Young an "auto read" for me.

As June Farrow struggles with the "sickness" her + other Farrow women have in the family, you find out how far they are willing to go to protect one another.

This book was beautifully written with just enough mystery to make me want to keep reading. The relationships June has in this book are both beautiful and heartbreaking.

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book!

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
1 sentence summary: A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old course, solve her mothers disappearance, and find love.

I’ve only read one Adrienne Young novel (Spells), but after that book, I assumed Young was quickly on her way to being an auto-buy author. After this book, she’s safely cemented her spot!

What I loved:
- The atmosphere. I was fully immersed in this story!
- The slow-burn romance
- The mystery at the heart of the novel
- The supporting cast
- Young’s writing style

What some might not love:
- I found the time travel slight confusing, but I think that's a me thing. I find most media that includes time travel confusing. Ultimately, I didn't focus on the plot point or the rules around it too closely (which may have led to the confusion) so it really didn't impact my enjoyment in a positive or negative way.

Rating: An easy five stars!

I don’t know what it is, but Young’s writing and stories work so well for me. I’m transported and fully immersed in anything she writes. I recommend this for everyone but especially those who are fans of slow-burn romance, light fantasy, magical realism (which I’m normally not a fan of), or anyone looking for a good Fall read.