I finished reading June Farrow last night and it’s all I’ve been able to think about since waking up. Partly because my brain is still trying to wrap itself around the story, but also because of just how incredibly beautiful and compelling the writing was. This was my first Adrienne Young book and I am excited to dive more into her works.

This novel was suspenseful and thought provoking, heartbreaking and hopeful, and one that I know will stick with me.

I don’t want to say too much, because the mystery of it is a huge part of why I loved book — and I don’t want to ruin that for others. But if you enjoy magical realism, small towns, exploring family relationships, and atmospheric writing, I highly recommend giving it a shot!

WOWOWOW I loved this. A genre bending, fantasy-mystery-sci fi-romance mash up, Adrienne Young managed to pack such a huge punch in a relatively small story. The writing was stunning, the characters were heartbreaking, my heart is so full of emotion and still aching after finishing. What a magical book.

ARC provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to Ballantine for giving me access to this! I’ve been a fan of Young’s for a while and she continues to prove why she is one of my favorites. It’s always engaging and she knows how to tell a story, how to have the reader hooked on every word.

I can’t stop thinking about this book, days after I’ve finished it. I’ve begged every friend I have to read it, and now I turn to you, review reader. Please read this book. I want to talk about it with *everyone*.

If you loved Outlander, but couldn’t imagine yourself staying in a time with no indoor plumbing, despite a magnetic love story? This is for you. However in this story, the timeline has somehow become jumbled and June finds herself in a previous time in which she’s never been, but everyone there recognizes her as a future self who has visited previously. There are mysterious subplots and a slow burn romance and so much foreshadowing toward a fantastic payoff that had me shouting about my rightness for two days. This book felt electric to me— I couldn’t step away from it. The premise of being able to inhabit a time when your foremothers are also young felt so fascinating that I’m still stuck on the idea days later.

Seriously I adored this book. I’m not really one for rereading many books but I can’t wait to reread this one when it comes out. I can’t wait to discuss it with my friends as they read it. Many thanks to Netgalley for a digital ARC of this book.

The Unmaking of June Farrow
By Adrienne Young

This magical atmospheric story of June Farrow is delightfully captivating! Highly recommend this if your into magic-mystery, family detective sleuthing, & romance. Young had me in all the feels as I was inhaling this gripping love knows no boundaries. June is such a wonderfully curated character that is doing whatever necessary to break the multi-generational curse that destroys the Farrow women. This is a fall must read!



📚 Expected release date October 17, 2023📚
❤️Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing & the brilliant author Adrienne Young. I’m super appreciative & gave my honest opinion❤️

Adrienne Young has a way of weaving words that conveys the fullest breadth of a rural atmosphere, perfectly complimenting the magical elements in a way only few authors, such as Alice Hoffman, have achieved prior. Like Hoffman, Young makes that which is real feel magical and that which is magical feel real. Aside from the beautiful writing, The Unmaking of June Farrow is built upon a strong concept, with a time travel device that is perhaps too ambitious-- or else I just couldn't quite track the complexities. The rules around crossing made the story confusing and the book spends too much time trying to explain them rather than letting us just live in the emotional world of the story. Avid fantasy/sci-fi readers may like the depth Young goes into the time travel, but I think those elements could've been simplified as the writing itself is strong enough to suspend disbelief and therefore we'd accept the magic more readily. All of that being said, I would recommend this book to lovers of the genre and look forward to reading what Young releases next.

ok this book was highkey so crazy. reading this book felt like watching tenet. the timelines were so well done but also so confusing and i have never used my brain more to try and understand a plot. adrienne young’s mind is absolutely magnificent. the way she created this story is magical and so beyond clever. the emotion that comes from the relationships in this book was honestly shocking and i’m so glad i read this. definitely very different from what i expected in all the best ways. a must read for those who love to defy logic.

I'm all about the authors that can transport me to another world and flood my senses. The Unmaking of June Farrow was no exception.

It is adult fiction, magic realism, mystery, and a story of love. Not just romantic love, either. A strong love of chosen and blood family. I have delayed on writing this review because I don't want to spoil the mystery.

June Farrow is a compelling, brave, and relatable main character. There is a curse that comes for the women in her family line, and she is determined to break the cycle.

If you like:
✨️TS Evermore and Folklore
✨️ Small Town mysteries
✨️ Outlander
✨️ Strong woman
✨️ Driving down dirt roads
✨️ The idea of running away to the country and opening a floral shop


This one might be for you! It certainly spoke to me. 💐

4.8 ⭐️. I absolutely adored this book. The story grabbed me early on and I could not put it down. Really well written I could vividly picture everything. Unique storyline would highly recommend to most people. I enjoyed this a lot more than the authors other story Spells for Forgetting.

I can’t wait to hear more about this book once it’s released !!!!


Thank you netgalley for providing me with this Advanced Reader Copy.

Adrienne Young has become one of my absolute "must buy" authors! Every story she gives us is completely enthralling, beautiful, tragic and everything in between. The Unmaking of June Farrow as no different. I completely forgot that I was reading while I was wrapped up in this story!

I really loved Spells for Forgetting and had high hopes for this book, and I am completely blown away by how much more I loved this one.

The writing is so beautiful and atmospheric that I could so easily picture these characters in this place. The setting felt perfect for end of the summer reading.

The romance storyline is so so so good🥹❤️ I don’t want to say too much since it’s spoiler-y, but I will say I loved everything about it. It had longing and unsureness, mistakes to get past, and an ever-present sturdiness that just felt so cozy and warm to read about. There are also a couple other characters that I really enjoyed seeing June’s relationship with.

The mystery element of what was going on with June was revealed slowly over the course of the whole book (really right up until the 95% mark), and the snippets I got along the way made me want to read faster. I also liked that I didn’t need to know what exactly was going on in order to thoroughly enjoy the rest of the story.

I honestly wouldn’t change a thing about this book. Bingeable, utter perfection and a new favorite for sure.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is an imaginative tale of love, loss, and family.

Adrienne Young tells the story of June Farrow, a 34-year old taking care of her ailing grandmother and trying to discover secrets hidden far in their past.

I love that this book featured a main character in her thirties that didn't have it all figured out. It had suspense and some truly heartwarming revelations. The women in this story shined.

It is a feel good story, where you will probably shed a few tears and want to hug your daughter (if you have one).

A timeless, modern classic

I could not put this book down! This is my first read from Adrienne Young and I am hooked!

The Farrow women from Jasper, North Carolina are rumored to be cursed. After being abandoned by her mother and now losing her grandma, June Farrow is waiting for the curse to lead her to madness. She has been trying to ignore her hallucinations until she receives mail from her grandma that changes everything. June Farrow is determined, strong willed woman destined to break this cycle! She’s torn on ending her family long curse or giving up on her dreams of having her own family.

Perfect if you like:
Magic realism
Family curse
Small town
Time Travel

The relationship between the Farrow women is so strong and beautiful. It’s unconditional love, it’s unmeasurable sacrifices, it’s selfless.

I would recommend jumping into this book without too much information! Allow yourself to unravel the mystery alongside June Farrow. Follow her through the red door!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing me an ACR copy!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballentine, and to Adrienne Young for the opportunity to read this arc!
@netgalley
@randomhouse
@adrienneyoungbooks

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Publishing Date: 10/17/23

Summary:

It was a magical mix of mystery, murder, family curses, romance, and sacrifice. The generational bonds are so strong with the Farrow women. This book will truly stay with you, I won’t forget this one. It was beautiful and incredibly captivating. I really liked the magical realism!

#read #netgalley #theunmakingofjunefarrow #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #readersofinstagram #booknerds #bookworms #booksaremylife #womensfiction #fiction #avidreader #readmore #randomhouse #adrienneyoung #mystery #thriller

The Unmaking of June Farrow is unmistakably one of the best books I’ve ever read. This book is magic and so heartbreakingly beautiful I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get it out of my head. I have such an ache in my chest that it’s over.

The bond between the Farrow women are strong and uplifting. The things we wouldn’t do for our loved ones even across time!! I’m scared to say too much else and spoil it but do yourselves a favor and preorder it.

Trust me.

Thank you to Adrienne Young and Penguin Random House for sending me an e-ARC. I was so excited for this book. It was a lovely story with magic and love tied in. I didn’t love the whole time-traveling plot, but Adrienne’s writing is always perfect, so I enjoyed the read!

Shoutout to NetGalley for the arc! I can’t say this is Young’s best (but it sure as hell feels like it) because there are three other books of hers I’ve yet to read. I’ve read Fable, Namesake, Sky in the Deep and The Girl the Sea Gave Back. All 5 star YA fantasy reads for me. Especially, SITD. I went into TUOJF completely unaware that this is an adult book. Not that the content is particularly graphic, but the themes are heavy, rich, painful and ultimately cathartic. I don’t know if someone who isn’t at least in their mid twenties could appreciate the sacrifices and losses that these characters suffer. This is not a sad book. But it is a book where my heart was as engaged as my brain. Young is a phenomenal voice and she uses it to the nth degree to elicit poignancy and poetry. 34 year old June knows she and the women in her family are strange, that visions and dreams plague them until madness takes over. She commits herself wholeheartedly to her family’s flower farm, stoic and waiting for her demise, eschewing love and family. The shadow of her mother’s disappearance when June was a baby hangs over her, her grandmother and their friends. Collecting herself after her grandmother’s funeral, a photograph from over a hundred years ago terrifies June when she sees her mother’s face in sepia-toned clarity. But her mother was born in 1966? How can this be? June is already suffering from visions and dreams, seeing a doctor who believes it to be a rare form of Alzheimer’s or mental illness, but she knows what it is: the Farrow curse. It is easier to focus on this mysterious photograph than her own doom, yet her sleuthing will give her answers to both. If I say another word about the plot I will give it away, but this is fantastic storytelling. Expect magical realism, a touch of Southern gothic, mysterious deaths, a beautiful love story and Young’s golden prose guiding her audience through contemplations on grief, true love, motherhood, endurance and legacy. This was an unusual and original vehicle for a tale as old as time: mothers will do anything for their children.

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Adrienne Young has such a way with words & THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW really sucked me in one night when I flailed around looking for something to read. (The title alone gives me raptures.)

This evocative & wistful book has a time slippage premise where the female Farrows have the ability to respond to two different times at once—it’s something that June finds herself struggling with at the beginning of the book as she hears music no one else can hear, sees a strange man lurking & then suddenly disappearing, etc.

Then one day she chooses to walk through a door & she finds herself in the past with a ticked off man who says he is/was her husband who was summarily abandoned by her when she presumably went through the door again.

So June must confront this man who she doesn’t really remember meeting, during a time she hasn’t been in yet, & meanwhile she has another life in the current time with people she loves.

I’m guessing you can see the possible emotional implications of all of this.

Despite the fact that I occasionally got confused by some of the time details, this is a moving story that made me wrestle with some of the emotional fallout of the characters’ choices & what it means to go through the door.

There’s often a sadness that comes with time slippage / time travel books, I think, something lost for something gained, & this book definitely incorporates that into the story.

Ultimately TUOJF is an emotion-driven story that asks the question what if you don’t go through a door: what if that is the risky thing to do. It’s not my personal fave Adrienne Young story but it is compelling & written in a lovely way—she is such a stylist—& I think it will grab many hearts.

4⭐️. Out 10/17.

Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a waterfall. A figure is in the background.]

There was no putting this book down once I had started! Multiple small town mysteries, romance, and a family curse kept the plot moving forward and my mind fully engaged in figuring it all out. There are beautifully written themes of family, love and sacrifice. Adrienne Young continues to write the most captivating and magical stories that live on in your mind long after reading the last page.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine for access to this arc.

The Farrow women are cursed with madness. It took away June's mother when she was young and left her to be raised by her grandmother in a small town in North Carolina. After her grandmother passes, June's madness starts.  She sees and hears things that aren't there, including a red door.  Everything changes the day June decides to open the door to see what's on the other side.

I could not put this down.  While I had an idea of what was going on, I didn't know everything and was figuring it out as June was.  There were some things I figured out on my own and things that were a complete surprise to me. I really did not know how this was going to end.  It's hard to give a lot of detail because I don't want to give anything away.  But, this has a little bit of everything: legacy, family, love, mystery, murder, a curse, and magical realism. It was a complex but enduring story that was surprisingly easy to read.  The mystery aspect really had me hanging on the edge of my seat.  The secrets that had to be kept to give the story its ending was intricate and woven together beautifully.  There was a compelling love story that was the root of all this that gave me Outlander vibes.  After finishing the story, I kept thinking about it and realizing more deatils that made it even better.  The writing was beautiful and detailed, and the setting (blue ridge mountains) made me want to go there myself.  This is the perfect book to pick up if you like enchanting love stories with magical realism. You really should check this one out soon!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.