While this is filled with rich storytelling and a beautiful magical realism, I feel like I have missed something.

This one just didn’t connect for me and it breaks my heart because I adore this author! This was by no means bad (in any way), but I found that half way through I still wasn’t feeling that pull to the characters or the story.

Toward the end, I found myself enjoying myself a lot more, but sadly it wasn’t enough for me to fully enjoy my reading experience.

3.5/5

As someone who grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was very excited to read this one! Set in a small (fictional) town north of Asheville, NC, The Unmaking of June Farrow is a heartwarming fall read with a time traveling twist for fans of Alice Hoffman.

Although the story itself is fairly different, there are a lot of similarities between this book and Spells for Forgetting. Both books feature small towns with a dark past (~mysterious murder~), elements of magical realism, and an MC in her 30s who has a strained relationship with the love interest. What sets this book apart is its emphasis on family, specifically female relationships. As someone who loves Alice Hoffman, seeing the relationships between mothers and daughters and grandmothers across generations was definitely my favorite part.

Time travel is incredibly tricky and I think it’s hard to write it convincingly without creating a lot of plot holes. To this end, I’m not sure the author was entirely successful. I was able to follow along with the logic throughout the book, but I didn’t think the conclusion was very believable (avoiding spoilers). However, if you’re able to just go with it and not think too hard like me, it probably won’t bother you.

I liked, but not loved, the characters. I didn’t feel as connected to them as I wanted to, and I think the main reason for this was my frustration with a lot of their actions. There was a lot of miscommunication/hiding of information for no reason other than holding the reader in suspense. The caveat to this is Margaret, who is a saint. Love her.
Overall, despite my handful of complaints, I really enjoyed this one! Adrienne Young is a descriptive, beautiful writer and creates an atmosphere that’s perfect for fall. I recommend if you would enjoy a cozy mystery with a touch of romance and magic. :)

Synopsis: The Farrow women are well known in the small town of Jasper, North Carolina, both for their flower farm and for their family curse. June Farrow has grown up in the shadow of her mother’s madness and sudden disappearance, raised by her grandmother. For the past year, June has been seeing and hearing things that aren’t there. She decides to follow a series of cryptic clues to discover the origin of her family’s curse and end it once a for all.

Thoughts: I LOVED this book! I think it’s best to go in blind and keep an open mind, but also pay close attention as it can get a little confusing (but I promise it all comes together in the end!). As always, Adrienne’s writing is beautiful and atmospheric, and it will transport you straight to small town North Carolina. The twists and reveals took me by surprise throughout, and I really enjoyed slowly unraveling the mystery. This book explores themes of love, family, grief and sacrifice in such a powerful way. I will be thinking about this enchanting book for a long time, and I’ll definitely be grabbing a physical copy to read again!

Read this if you like:
🌻 magical realism
🌻 mystery
🌻 unconventional romance
🌻 generational family stories

"But this aching love that was breaking ground inside of me didn't feel selfish. It felt brave." 🥹🥹🥹

Absolutely fantastic! Part murder mystery, part timeless love story, part magical realism. With an atmospheric setting, a fast pace and well-developed characters, this book captured my attention from the beginning and did not let go. It was heartbreaking, hopeful, and mind-bending all at the same time.

I’m a huge fan of Adrienne Young. I’ve read all her books, but I’m still deciding how I feel about this one. I liked it and couldn’t put it down towards the end, but I don’t know if I loved it as much as some of her others.

It was not at all what I expected and I strongly recommend that you don’t read any spoilers going into this book. Just let the storyline and twists unravel while you read. I’ve never read anything like this book, so kudos to Adrienne for coming up with something original.

As with every book that Adrienne writes, the story is beautifully written. She’s an amazing storyteller and her books will always be an auto-buy for me.

Once I started this book, it was impossible to put down. From the first chapter, I was fully invested and had to know what happened next. I've never read this author before, but I will definitely be reading more by her because this book was SO GOOD. I've never read anything like this before and I definitely want more of it! This was truly amazing and I can't wait to read other books by Adrienne Young. I HIGHLY recommend this book!


Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press for allowing me to read this ARC for my honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc of the book. I enjoyed my time reading as it transported me to a new world. I loved it so much. One of my favorite books so far.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC of this book!

The Unmaking of June Farrow was absolute magic and whimsy.

It was a quaint mountain town and a beautiful flower farm and a family of cursed women. It was time travel and love stories and the eeriness of a small town murder mystery. But it was mostly a story that reminds you that love, and the mark it leaves, stretches beyond the boundaries of time.

This was one of those reads that sinks down deep into your bones and haunts you in the best way weeks after you've finished it. I loved Spells For Forgetting, so I knew Adrienne Young would come through for me with another novel centered around magical realism, but what I didn't expect was for this book to break my heart wide open in the best way and bring me to tears with that ending.

This was one of the best books I have read in years, and it was heartbreakingly beautiful. Adrienne Young has such a way with creating worlds that are so easy to settle into. Like falling asleep in a warm, comfy bed. I wasn't ready to wake up, but I am so honored to have gone on June Farrow's journey with her.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is one of the best books I have read all year. Adrienne Young takes us on a journey through time against the beautiful landscape of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The atmospheric nature of this novel is what you might expect from the author of last year's "Spells for Forgetting" but I would argue the plotting here is far more unique and engaging. We meet June Farrow as she is burying the grandmother who has raised her, but in her grief she is also struggling with fears about her own health. All of the Farrow women before her have succumbed to a strange form of dementia. As June begins to look into her family's past, she unravels secret upon secret.

To say more would spoil beautiful way in which this novel unfolds. Yes, it's a mystery, it's a romance, there is some magical realism in the time travel. But while all of this is interesting, the core of this story is June herself. I simply loved the evolution of this character and the way in which she deals with the choices she is able to make (and unmake) about how she wants to live. Lovely from beginning to end.

Many thanks to Delacore Press and Netgalley for early access to this ebook in exchange for this review.

I love Adrienne's books so I was so excited that I was gifted an ARC copy of The Unmaking of June Farrow. I was instantly enthralled with finding out what happened to June's mom. There were some parts that were a little confusing regarding some of the time travel, however the story itself kept me reading. Absolutely loved this book and how everything lined up at the end.

I finished this book a few days ago and have been thinking about it ever since, it's on track to be one of my favorite reads of the year. Adrienne Young managed to capture so many things in an atmospheric read that I could not put down - sci-fi, mystery, family relationships, romance and thriller elements taking place in the early to mid 1900s. Usually I would be overwhelmed by an auther trying to do so much but Adrienne's writing blended it all together beautifully. The Unmaking of June Farrow comes out on Oct 17th 2023.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for gifting an advanced digital copy to me in exchange for my honest thoughts and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This novel plunged right into my chest and hooked me. It was a beautiful, gripping, heartbreaking and hopeful story, all wrapped into one.

June Farrow (POV character) will be the last Farrow. She will not marry, nor will she have kids, because the Farrow women are cursed to go mad. June herself is no exception, and her mother, Susanna, is perhaps the most mysterious of all the Farrows. On the Eve of her Gran’s death, June sets in to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance, only to find the secret’s of the Farrow women far more improbable than she could have ever imagined. The deeper she digs, the more June begins to unmake herself.

This book was such an introspective look at love and family and the fear that comes with sacrificing parts of ourselves to let other pathways bloom. Young is a talented writer and is a master at setting. I was immersed in Jasper and felt so vividly the town she created there. The addition of the flowers for imagery and symbolism, as well as the intricacies of the farm life, made a visceral experience as a reader.

And June herself is absolutely vibrant in a quiet sort of way that I appreciate in a heroine. She’s determined and strong, but also allows herself to feel deeply all the loss and pain and fear she encounters. It made her human, and it also made it easy to connect with her plight. I won’t go into detail about the plot or other characters, because anything might give away part of her unraveling, and this is certainly a novel where knowing as little as possible going in will have a HUGE payout.

But that’s also what makes this such a phenomenal mystery, isn’t it? I have to be careful not to say too much. And there are reveals all the way up until the final few chapters, at which point Young begins to create closure for us and for her characters. As someone who tends to guess plot points frequently in mysteries, I was pleasantly surprised by most of the reveals in this novel.

If I were to be nit-picky, there are themes Young could have addressed regarding women and their voices, but I’m not going to be. This story, at its center, is about family. It’s about love and heartache and choosing what garden one will tend to for the future. And it’s about making difficult choices that are all too real and all too terrifying.

When FairyLoot releases their exclusive edition, I will 1000% be purchasing a copy. Adrienne Young is now officially an author where, anything she puts out, I will be picking up.

I Voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced copy of this book. All Thoughts and opinions are my own.
Adrienne Young has done it again. This is such a great story. The Unmaking of June Farrow is a heartbreaking and hopeful novel about how love can cross all boundaries, even time

Big thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I received this book, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I'm very much not one to read any kind of fantasy or sci-fi type novels...and to be honest I'm not sure I would have ever picked it up if I hadn't received an ARC. That being said, WOW. I absolutely loved this book.

It is hard not to fall in love with the protagonist and narrator of the story June, as she investigates her memories and past. It was also hard not to like June's Gran, Birdie, Annie and Eamon. The characters were very well developed and I enjoyed all of their quirks and personalities.

What really nailed it for me though was how all of these little, minute things throughout the book all had a purpose, which was later revealed. So many threads and questions that were tied up and answered by the time you were at the last page.

This was a book that was so well written and I truly didn't want to end, even though I desperately wanted to find out what happened to June.

I would recommend this to any mystery, contemporary fiction, romance, and magical realism friends out there. The plot-line and theme of this novel is not something I've seen before either which was incredibly refreshing and interesting. This was a great read and spanned many genres. You should pick it up when it is released in October.

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young-eBook ARC

I am still fairly new to reading Adrienne Young's books. I've yet to read them all. I was exciting about this one in particular because the premise sounded so interesting and you pair the premise with Adrienne's prose??? Say less...

First of all, Adrienne continues her winning streak of a gorgeous writing style. Its lyrical, intelligent, and so engaging. I also think Adrienne develops really endearing atmospheres and the setting of this small town and the family flower business was so vivid in my mind. Before you know it though... you begin to see hints that something is a bit strange, a bit off. It really starts to become apparent after the main FMC, June, losses her grandma. Looking back though, things have been different her whole life, as the story begins with the strange disappearance of her mother. I don't want to say to much because it will spoil the book.

What I will say is that this book gives you a little bit of everything, romance, mystery, magic, and book is whimsical and wonderful. I loved it so much. I love books like this for so many reasons, but one of the main reasons I love books like this???? They almost feel like they could happen... it blooms a sort of hope in me for magic and whimsy. Reminds me of the times when I was little reading Chronicles of Narnia and Secret Garden, where I would check the back of every closet and look for a fairy door in every garden... lol. Such a beautiful read and will continue to read Adrienne Young's books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book! What a gem1

June is the last of the Farrow woman, an ancestral line that has been cursed with madness. June’s mother went mad and left her alone as a baby, and June just witnessed her grandmother’s death after she fully succumbed to the madness. And now June is next. She knows what’s in store for her, but that doesn’t make her any more prepared when she starts seeing objects that aren’t real and hearing people talk who were never there. June’s slow descent into madness makes her quite the unreliable narrator—you can never be sure if what she’s experiencing is real or not. But I still loved her. I thought the characterization in this novel was done well. Magical realism doesn’t usually work for me: I want something either realistic or fantastical, not somewhere in between. Yet I have loved both of Adrienne Young’s magical realism novels that I’ve read. Her writing style is really suited to this subgenre, and the small town setting with a mysterious history and some soft magic makes her stories work rather well. It also probably helps that her stories lean more toward the magical side than the realism side, which I enjoy. I was really drawn into this narrative and had a hard time putting the book down. I found it easy to connect to the characters and fall in love with Jasper, North Carolina as I was drawn deeper and deeper into its history. I really can’t say any more about this novel, though, as I don’t want to spoil anything, and I feel like adding any other details about the setting or the characters or the madness would be a potential spoiler. I went into this book blind, having read only the words on the cover of the book before picking it up, and that’s what I would recommend. The more you know, the less exciting the reveals in the story will be, in my opinion. I’m a fan of Young’s adult novels and will read any she writes in the future.

A curse, a murder, a mystery, and time is running out.

"The Unmaking of June Farrow" by Adrienne Young weaves a spellbinding tale set in the picturesque mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina. June Farrow, determined to break her family's centuries-old curse and solve the riddle of her mother's disappearance, sets off on a captivating adventure. With mysterious wind chimes, a haunting voice, and a mysterious door, this novel offers a magical blend of mystery, romance, a hint of magic, and the quest for answers.

As always, I love Adrienne's writing style and how she weaves her stories together. I would consider this one a slower burn but I might have stayed up till 1 a.m. to finish the book!

Words cannot express how much I loved this book!

From the beginning I was intrigued, engaged and ready to unravel the mystery. Adrienne writes in such a way that you become immersed in the story and I was feeling all the feels by the end. The story follows June, who shortly after the death of her grandma starts having frequent visions. The Farrow women have been cursed for centuries and June realises her time has come to give into the madness and step through the door she keeps seeing.

I devoured this book whilst on vacation. It is the perfect Fall read that will transport people back in time, be touched by magical elements and ponder the impact of true love.

Adrienne Young's 'The Unmaking of June Farrow' gripped me in a way that few other books have. From the secret of her mother's disappearance to the slow-burning passion that she develops in her search for answers, this book combines compelling elements of fantasy, mystery, and romance. Young weaves these threads together with an atmospheric writing style that immerses you in the world of the Appalachian South so fully that you can practically hear the buzzing of cicadas and feel the weight of humid air on your skin as you read it.

We meet June at the moment that she's saying a final farewell to her last living relative: her grandmother. As she's wrestling with the pain of her loss, she realizes that she is likely suffering from the same mental illness that ended her grandmother's life. She finds herself questioning how she will live out her own final days when she is confronted with a possible solution and a hand-written plea: "Trust me."

This book delicately touches on the experiences of loss, grief, and the enduring ties that bind a loving family. The Farrow women are deeply connected, and while they have their fair share of disagreements, their lives and stories are braided together in a way that makes them resilient and strong.

The author took great care when threading magical elements through the story, and she brings them together in a beautiful and satisfying way.

Adrienne Young's lyrical writing and soulful storytelling have made this one of my top books of 2023. I absolutely loved it.

True confession – despite the fact that I’ve heard nothing but praise for Adrienne Young’s last book, Spells for Forgetting, it’s been on my TBR pile for months for no other reason than I have a small library’s worth of books to get through and there are only so many hours in the day.  But her new book, The Unmaking of June Farrow had such an intriguing description, I dove right into it as soon as I received it – and I’m so glad that I did.

The book starts in the present day by introducing us to June Farrow, one of a long line of Farrow women who have been whispered and gossiped about in their small town of Jasper, North Carolina because of their strange behavior.  Everyone believes that the Farrow women are cursed.  June has been raised by her beloved grandmother because her mother disappeared after leaving an infant June in an alley – never to be seen again.  The story begins with the death of June’s grandmother and the reveal that June herself has spent the last year experiencing the same symptoms and presumed descent into mental illness that all of the rest of the women in her family have suffered from.  I really loved the setup to the story and the way it was written.  You know that something is wrong with June – it’s obviously not normal to see things and hear people who aren’t there – but you’re not quite sure what’s going on.  It immediately makes you root for her as she explains that knowing she suffers from this affliction has stopped her from pursuing a romance with her best friend, Mason, despite being in love with him for years, because she doesn’t want to end up a burden on him, and she knows that no matter how much she wants to, she can’t have children with him for the same reason.  A star-crossed love story will get me every time!

The story really kicks into high gear when shortly after her grandmother’s funeral, June receives a photograph from her sent before she died.  The picture was taken in 1911 and is of Nathaniel Rutherford, the well known town minister who was murdered in 1950, a crime that has never been solved and that has captured the attention of the residents ever since.  The twist?  Standing next to him is his wife, June’s mother – decades before she would even have been born!  This was the point where I started to get excited and turn pages as quickly as possible.  I love a good time travel story (as evidenced by my obsession with the Outlander series!) and I was immediately hooked.

June tries to tell Mason, but she knows she sounds ridiculous.  Still, she begins to investigate her discovery and only gets more confused when she finds evidence that she might’ve been born – and died – in 1912.  But how is that possible?  She has no idea what to think or if she truly is losing her mind until her grandmother’s oldest friend, Birdie, reveals that she isn’t going crazy – but won’t tell her anything more except that the next time June sees a door appear out of thin air in front of her, she should walk through it.  Intriguing, right?

Despite her hesitancy, June takes Birdie’s advice and goes through the door.  And that’s when the story kicks into high gear.  June suddenly finds herself in the past, the year 1951, a time she has obviously never been before, except… people seem to know her.  A lot of people.  Including a mysterious man and young girl that she seems to be having memories about herself.   Who are they to her and why won’t the other Farrow women she meets there tell her more about what’s going on?  I’m struggling a bit here with how much to give away because I think the book will be much more enjoyable the less detail I give – the reader should get to experience it all for themself without knowing what’s coming next.

What I can say is I loved this book.  It’s such an interesting mix of genres and stories.  There’s time travel and swoon-inducing romance and June discovering who she is and deciding who she was meant to be.  All of the Farrow women are forces to be reckoned with – strong women who support each other through everything – and I enjoyed getting to know all of them.  (Just don’t think too deeply about the details of the time travel aspect of it because it can get very confusing.  Accept it all at face value and move on).  The book also contains several mysteries – why is June starting to forget her life in 2023?  What happened to June’s mother?  Who murdered Nathaniel Rutherford?  The police chief seems to think it was June, but she’s not a murderer.  Or is she?  By the time all of the stories converged at the end, I was holding my breath and praying that June would figure it all out and find her way to a happy ending.  And in the sign of a truly good book, I was torn about what exactly that happy ending should be!

I truly enjoyed reading this novel and highly recommend it.  In fact, I loved it so much, I moved Spells for Forgetting to my nightstand and plan on starting it tonight before bed!

this review is by Stacey Pulwer