The Unmaking of June Farrow is a unique story. I enjoyed getting to know the characters in both storylines. I think it’s best to go into this book without knowing too much about it and being surprised with where it takes you. Young is one of my favorite authors but this one was a little slower than I was expecting. However once I got into it I really enjoyed it. I loved how it tied up in the end.

4.5 stars.

Suspenseful, mysterious, and a plot that had me hooked. There was no good places to stop reading because I needed to know what was going to happen. I wasn’t enamored with this book as I was reading but I also could not put it down, which is saying something considering the colossal reading slump I’ve been in for months. The setting is vivid, the plot is gripping, the characters are complex, the pacing is on-point, the world-building is rich (though I NEED an origin story to this Farrow women curse. What started it?!). Besides the tired cliche of the small town preacher being the depraved villain, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Time travel/parallel time lines is very hard to do well, and Adrienne tackled it fairly adeptly. I love Young’s writing and have enjoyed everything I’ve read by her. This story felt incredibly similar to Emily Henry’s ‘The Love that Split the World’. INCREDIBLY similar, and I would be shocked if she hasn’t read those books herself, so I have to knock it half a star for originality in that regard, and for the cliche villain. But even if you’ve read that one, I still encourage you to grab this one because it’s better! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC to review!

INCREDIBLE. Adrienne Young will always be an automatic purchase and read from now on. What an incredible story about a generational curse, an unsolved murder, and the lengths that a person will go to discover themselves, save their family, and right a complex history of wrongs. Holy cannoli - what a ride. I loved this story so much. It’s one of those reads that will stick with me - and likely remain one of my favorites for 2024!
I highly recommend this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

3.5 stars. I am ordinarily a big Adrienne Young fan and while I overall didn't dislike The Unmaking of June Farrow, it was not my favorite book of hers. I found myself struggling to connect to June and her story. That could partially be because I didn't care much for Eamon and the constant unwillingness of everyone to tell June anything. I think the time travel trope has a tendency to be very hit or miss but the book is saved by Young's writing style. Her descriptions of a place are so evocative that I can always picture it clearly.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc!

I loved this one so much!! The flower farm setting was a cottage core dream and right up my alley. The time traveling aspect was a bit confusing at first but once I caught on it was a beautifully complex masterpiece. The mystery intertwined with the strong family love was just such a perfect balance for me. I felt all the things the characters were feeling and felt very invested in this story.

I think I'm majorly in the minority here, but this book just didn't jive with me. I can see why it would be so popular - it's well-written and the concept of time travel is explored in an interesting fashion - but for whatever reason I just was not invested in June's story or her family. Chalk it up to a me-thing.

I am absolutely savored The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young! The story is captivating, the writing is lovely, and Young has struck the perfect balance between fantasy and mystery. Coziness and darkness. I can’t recommend adding this to your TBR enough!

I really love Adrienne’s story telling. She’s very descriptive an atmospheric. I thought this was so unique and beautifully written. A timeless tale of love and finding yourself.

This book. Wow. I don’t think I even have words to do it justice. It was brilliant. A total masterpiece. SO well written.

It was so much more than I expected. The farther into the story I got, the more I fell in love with it. It kinda killed me that the story was complex because it made telling my husband about it a lot more difficult😂 He was a real winner though because he patiently listened as I explained all about the “curse” and time travel and the red door.

I absolutely loved the way that the author used June’s slow regaining of memories as a way to reveal slowly the missing pieces of the story. I mean, wow. There were twists and turns and it was just so good! This one was so hard to put down and I definitely want to read the rest of Adrienne Young’s books!

Content notes: there was infrequent mostly mild language and one brief relatively vague open door scene

Huge thank you to netgalley and the author for a free copy of the book in exchange for a review!

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Do you want to read a cozy historical thriller that reads like every other cozy historical thriller?

It’s probably the best book on my do-not-read list, but it’s still going on my do-not-read list.

Pre-reading:
A book box pick that I know nothing about except that the cover reads cozy, and I am not a cozy girly. The special edition is lovely.

Thick of it:
So help me if this is a quirky, artsy-fartsy fuck-off Mom book- (They literally always are and I don’t know why I continue to try to read this genre.)

It’s reminding me of Starling House.

Tropes I hate: mental illness is actually just magic.

They’re 34. And they’re just friends? I don’t believe you.

I don’t trust Ida. (Sam’s unfounded paranoia for side characters continues.)

This is not my genre and I’m bored

A Sam!

This time travel is so plotholey.

I think I can see why people like this book, but it has so many things in it that I hate. I hate time travel. I hate moms. I hate children. I hate love triangles. It just all reeks of familial obligation, and I am so wildly independent and anti-that.

They’re like that’s your daughter. You owe her better, and it’s like no, that’s some other bitch’s. She didn’t push that out. She didn’t decide to have that kid.

I feel like horse people never wrap a lead rope around their hand but-

The chapter ending lines are so melodramatic.

I would feel so weird helping myself to their ingredients to make food. I don’t think they’re very well to do. Like he’s literally a farmer.

I’m assuming she killed her dad, and that’s why she went on the run.

I am not a history person at all, so this could very well be legit, but the idea of women working and having power in the 1950s is kind of foreign to me. Like I’m just thinking Madmen. Also, I don’t know what the price of pie would be but it felt wrong.

This story reads so whitewashed. It’s making me feel icky. Like farmhands in the past. In the south. Girl.

Okay, Cinderella.

tedder

This whole ‘you don’t need to know everything’ shit has gotten so old. Like this book is one big miscommunication trope, and I’m not about it.

OK cool, so I opened the book and knew exactly what had happened with her mother because it’s so fucking cliché.

For a book that’s playing with timelines, there’s really nothing to make them feel distinctly older from one another. Like she has chalk instead of an iPad but like do more?

Either Eamon died and she went back in time to undo it, or she murdered a bitch.

I feel nothing for their relationship. It’s very weird to me.

No, abandoning your family will never be brave. Babies. Are. Optional.

Oh look, I was right. I opened this book and knew the plot. I hate this book. It’s not badly written. It’s not. I just hate the genre.

Imagine knowing the future and being like I want a homesteader life, not share prices in Apple.

Post-reading:
Yeah, I hated this, but this is not my genre. This will never be my genre. I don’t think I’ve ever read a single book with a premise like this and liked it.

I think time travel is too messy and inherently plotholey to be done well.

I don’t think this book has problems with consent, but I don’t fuck with the idea that remembering something is the equivalent of living it. Memories are so inherently flawed and incorrect. What people remember is very rarely what actually happened. I think people from different timelines are still distinct and different people.

This book only has a plot because characters speak as cryptically as possible to each other. For no reason. They’re like we can’t change the future! We can write more than trust me as instructions for ourselves. We don’t have to use ambiguous pronouns. What do you mean.

There’s no explanation for how the magic got started. That will always frustrate me. The loophole explanation makes zero sense, but I also can’t be bothered to analyze it any further. I just wanna be done with this book.

Everyone in this book is a shit mom. How does it make sense that Margaret’s willing to have a child to let her be murdered? That doesn’t make any sense to me. Like it’s so she can have a granddaughter? Fuck off. Also, babies are optional. Everyone in this family is like oh we can’t have children. They’ll get cursed. So don’t. So don’t. Condoms exist. Birth control exists. Abortions exist. You do not have to have children.

And if you’re like Sam, you’re being unfair to this book, there was no possibility of you liking it because you don’t like what it was about to begin with, I will not argue with you on that. You are so correct. But I will argue that even if you like the genre, it’s still written poorly.

The writing style itself is fine. It’s whimsical. It’s romantic. It’s sentimental. It’s a little too melodramatic for my taste, but I’m a hater at my core.

However, it’s a time travel book that happens mostly in the past, and yet the time periods don’t feel distinctly different from one another. It feels like this book could happen in any time period. That’s bad. It has no thought for the political impacts of the time. There’s no sexism. There’s no racism, but this happens in the 50s in the South. The side characters serve as accessories to the Mary Sue main character. They don’t have lives separate from her. They exist solely to aid her.

The romance felt so forced to me. It never felt romantic. He’s a ponyboy Irishman. That is the definition of my type. I felt nothing. This book just asks you to assume everything. Assume they were in love and a perfect match because they got married and had a kid. Assume everyone in the family is just chill with keeping secrets and having no outside involvement. Assume the family is just totally chill keeping entirely to themselves for their entire lives. Assume everyone lives long enough to carry out this plan. Assume everyone remains able-bodied and in control of the faculties enough to carry out this plan.

The murder, which should be the most interesting thing about this story is boring and obvious. I’ll argue that if you’ve read any book in this genre before, you’ll pick this up and know what’s gonna happen.

Also, fuck me, I know I’m a Capricorn, but you’re telling me you know the future and you’re not gonna write that shit down so you don’t have to live in poverty? What do you mean. What do you mean.

If you turn your brain off and read this book just for the vibes maybe you can enjoy it. I can’t do that. I’m putting it on my do-not-read list. I don’t care.

Who should read this:
People who like historical thrillers
People who like generational family drama books

Do I want to reread this:
No

Similar books:
* The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alice E. Harrow-historical, family drama, magical realism
* The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab-historical romance, magical realism
* The Wilderwomen by Ruth Emmie Lang-magical realism, family drama
* Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah, YA southern gothic, magical realism, family drama, small-town
* Starling House by Alice E. Harrow-YA gothic romance, family drama, small-town
* Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs-magical realism, ensemble cast, family drama
* Lone Women by Victor LaValle-historical, magical realism, family drama, small-town
* The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi-gothic romance, fairytale retelling, magical realism, family drama
* Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross-historical romance, magical realism

Wow! This book was one of my top three this year! I could not put it down! I read Spells for Forgetting and knew I’d love this one just as much. If you’re into love across space and time, this is your jam. This book is for you!

I’ve enjoyed previous work from this author but I do feel Farrow will be a hit or miss with readers.
The writing is beautiful and brilliant and the author has definitely matured in her writing style, but it was hard to follow along with the story. I was lost as the reader with the storyline because of too much prose along with the magical realism writing. I’m not quite sure how to translate what kind of book/story this is.

Adrienne Young has always been a gifted writer. Her natural talent is in making you feel the writing so intensely. Sometimes that can be a good thing. In this book, the writing was so intensely atmospheric that I had a hard time making it through. I am not a gothic reader and this aired more closely to that.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is my favorite Adrienne Young book to date. I cried, both as a mother and a daughter. Achingly sad and beautiful...I can't wait to read it again.

Thank you to Netgalley, Delacorte, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

There is nothing Adrienne can't do! I'm constantly amazed how the manages to pop out book after book after book, all of them magnificent and perspective shifting. Can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I started this off rather excitedly, but somewhere along the way I just kind of fell off it. I can't really remember where I lost interest but I'll give three stars and maybe hop back in.

i was so unbelievably happy to get approved for this arc because i’ve only heard amazing things about the author and their writing. and im happy to report the book did not disappoint me at all. i can’t wait to read more books from this writer.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-arc. I enjoyed reading another book from this author, although I prefer their other series. 3.5 stars.

I enjoyed this book very much. I loved the mystery aspect of the book, and also the time-traveling part. I got confused as to why she had to go through the door three times, only to finally stay where she was back then and never thought about that door was a very good ending. The police was kind of triggering me for a moment, but then as I kept reading, I had to slowly calm down and see what he was going to do to June or her husband. I also loved the romance part of the book and how slowly but surely June and Eamon got to know each other again, and I really loved the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read an early copy of THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW in exchange for my honest review!

How does one review perfection? This is my favorite Adrienne Young book to date.

Young's writing is the type that just seeps into your soul. She's always managing to transport me out of reality into the pages of her books. She creates people and places that feel tangible and lived in, and she writes with such vulnerability that resonates with the reader.

I felt every emotion in this book, bracing myself for what ultimate path June was going to follow as her story unfolded right until the end. And the romance...GAH, THE ROMANCE!!! It left me breathless and weeping.

I loved how things connected from past to present, it made the mysterious elements really engaging.

I don't know how Adrienne Young does it, but she never misses and has my undying loyalty as a reader.

I can't wait to read this one again!