I like to think of Anne Tyler books as the best friend of Elizabeth Strout books. Or the mother, perhaps? (I'm sure I'm the millionth person to make that comparison). If you're by any chance familiar with one author and not the other, consider this a recommendation for either!

This book centers on Gail, whose cynicism often leads to her picking at people and situations in unkind ways. Her daughter, who is getting married, and her ex-husband are well-practiced at dealing with it. I appreciate how the book shows her negativity as coming from her genuine perspective, though her justifications often made me roll my eyes!

As someone who is often saying books went on too long, I appreciate that this was only 176 pages, yet painted a full picture of Gail's life.

Three Days in June by Anne Taylor, follows Gail through the day before, the day of, and the day after her daughter’s wedding. The reader learns of Gail’s past and present life, dreams, and failures. Gail learns to forgive herself and look at the possibilities of the future.

This was so good! It's on the shorter side so I wasn't sure I'd have enough time to connect to the characters but it was the perfect length!
I loved getting to know Gail and her family. She's funny but hurting inside. I loved how this is laid out. It's told over 3 days with little past scenes thrown in to give the background story some substance. The character development and growth really drives this story. This will be a perfect summer read!

I don’t know how I feel about this one. Quick read. Very quirky and strange characters. It kept me reading which I guess is a good thing but I don’t know how I feel about the story as a whole. 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. I enjoyed the fact that this was a quick and engaging book, broken down into three chapters, each representing a day. I also enjoyed the setting of my home state of Maryland.

However, I could not relate at all to the main character, Gail, whose daughter was getting married. She has virtually nothing to do with the wedding, which just seemed so odd to me. Even if she felt pushed aside by the groom's mother, it just felt so sad. I couldn't get a good read on her ex-husband either. They are both quirky characters, and as we get a look back into their earlier life, they seemed like a happy family at one point. That changed with the divorce, but I would have liked to have learned a little more about their lives from the point of the divorce to present day. I just couldn't reconcile where they were at this point in their lives with the life that was depicted earilier.

I understand that Tyler has a unique writing style, which I like. I enjoyed the snippets of humor, but overall this one felt depressing and flat to me.

Gail is having a really bad day. After getting fired Or did she quit her job? Either way, she is now jobless, and getting ready to celebrate her daughter’s wedding. When her ex shows up on her porch expecting to stay, WITH a cat as well, she is not pleased. When Debbie shares what she just found out about her husband to be, Gail is reading to grab her and run…

This book takes place over three days, hence the title. This was a short and sweet book, and there isn’t a TON happening, but I found it so enjoyable! I mean Debbie….why you believing Kenneth? I seriously was so mad at her. I’m a sister, and I can tell you I would never tell one of my brothers significant others something like that without it being 1000000% true! This book may be short, but it certainly packs a punch!

Thank you to @aaknopf for my gifted copy of this book!

I hadn’t read Anne Tyler in years so I thought it was time to revisit. Three Days In June is just that. Gail essentially quits her job (thus avoiding being forced out), frets about some disturbing circumstances that may affect her daughter Debbie’s wedding. Which is the next day. Oh, her ex-husband Max shows up for the wedding without any place to stay. Gail now has a houseguest. Gail isn’t morose. She is socially awkward. She is stuck. I’ll save day 3 for the reader. This is a quick read. It just really didn’t move me. No crying. No laughter. Insights into human emotion? Every character in this book smacks the reader in the face with their flaws, but because the book is so short, and with maybe the exception of Debbie, we don’t know anything about them. She has written far better.

While I enjoy Anne Tyler’s glorious writing skills, this book was not for me. I felt it slow and the characters were a bit boring. That being said, just not for me, but think fans will enjoy. Thank you for the ARC.

Loved the flow of the story! Knowing it was going to take place in three days was interesting. Family drama was in full force, it easily moved from current day to the past and I never felt left out. Read it in one day because I couldn't put the book down. Books like this don't come along too often. Recommend.

This character driven novel told with humor, joy, and heartbreak was such a delight! It’s short and quick-paced with interesting characters struggling with various situations of family life, crisis and emotions that all take place on a timeline of before, during, and one-day-after our main protagonist Gail Baines (loved her) daughter’s wedding. Not to be missed! ❥ 5 stars — Pub. 2/11/25

I received an arc copy from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Three Days in June is my first novel by Anne Tyler. The story takes over the course 3 days in June as the title tells you. Gail is in her 60's and her daughter is getting married. During this time, Gail starts to reflect a lot on her own life, past, current and future as she is worried about her daughter's future. The story flip flops in time and easy to follow. As a parent who's child recently married, I felt I could relate to Gail at parts. Thank you # NetGalley for a invitation to preview this story in an exchange for an honest review..

Short character-driven book. Not a huge amount happens but it explores Gail's past and current relationship/feelings with her ex-husband, Max. Gail is in her 50s, lacks people skills, and is being let go from her job when Max comes to town for their daughter's wedding. We learn about how they got together, why they divorced, and how she starts to explore her feelings for him again. Tyler did a good job making Gail's interactions and inner monologues awkward.

Three Days in June tells the story of Gail, an awkward and quirky woman navigating a whirlwind weekend of unexpected challenges. The day before her daughter's wedding, Gail loses her job, setting off a chain of events that forces her to confront her past and present.

As if the job loss weren’t enough, Gail uncovers troubling information about her future son-in-law, adding to her growing worries. To complicate matters further, her ex-husband unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep—cat in tow. Over the course of three tumultuous days, Gail reflects on her life, her choices, and the mistakes she’s made along the way.

This charming, heartfelt novella captures Anne Tyler at her best, offering a poignant and relatable exploration of family, resilience, and self-discovery.

Three Days in June is Anne Tyler at her best. Gail, a mother of the bride, is left out of the wedding activities, made to feel like an outsider. The plans have been made by the groom’s mother and Gail’s daughter, without her being consulted at all. Gail is dealing with recent job loss and the pressure of a wedding, when her ex-husband shows up on her doorstep with his aged cat.
This is where Tyler’s keen sense of human nature takes over. During the three days surrounding the wedding, Gail comes to terms with her past mistakes while she strives to ensure her daughter’s happiness. What a sweet and touching story. The characters are a bit quirky, but readers will relate to them. The emotions in this three-day glimpse into family life are true to real life.
Tyler infuses the story with her characteristic wisdom and subtle humor. The book is short, less than 200 pages, but it packs a punch.

Three Days in June brings the reader into the world Gail Baines, a divorced, socially awkward, but loyal mother to her only daughter, Debbie, in the three days surrounding her daughters wedding. Gail navigates everything from a job loss, her ex-husband showing up to stay unannounced, a foster cat he has toted along, and ultimately a crisis with her daughter just before the wedding, and does so while reflecting back on her own past experiences. I found this book to be a great mix of humor, relatable socially awkward moments, and also quite touching. I think readers that enjoy family sagas with flawed but relatable characters will enjoy this book. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for the advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

My first read by Anne Tyler and I absolutely loved this small, fantastic book! At under 180 pages, I got through this book in a day. The story is about a mom, Gail Baines, who is what you'd call “socially awkward", whose daughter, Debbie, is getting married. It takes place the day before the wedding, the day OF the wedding, and the day after. Her ex husband comes to town for the wedding unannounced with his cat and doesn't even have a place to stay. So basically this book is about these three characters and their lives and drama. And I just loved the way this story all came together. I was expecting it to go one way but it went another way and I just loved it. What a great read!

Thank you to the tagged Publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Three Days in June is about a mother of the bride who attempts to navigate the days before and after her daughters wedding. This was a short read that was written well. The author was new to me and I look forward to reading more books from the author. All of the characters in this were interesting and the cat, of course, was awesome. Overall, this was a good read that I enjoyed and would I would recommend this one to any reader who likes literary fiction. Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for this read in exchange of my honest review of Three Days in June by Anne Taylor.

This was a nice palate cleanser after a string of suspense and thriller novels. It’s a graceful character study of a woman in midlife trying to figure out what comes next. Anne Tyler is known for her exquisite novels. Three Days in June does not disappoint.

Gail is an assistant headmistress of a private school. When the headmistress decides she’s retiring, Gail thinks she should be a shoe-in for the position, but instead she finds herself being pushed out. She’s only sixty-one. However, now isn’t the time to dwell on this, as her daughter is getting married this weekend. Her husband shows up on her doorstep with a foster cat, her daughter has a moment of pre-wedding doubts, and Gail the perfectionist isn’t quite ready to handle the chaos. These three days are going to give her plenty of time for reflection and a realization of how to move forward.

Anne Tyler truly is a brilliant writer. There is such depth in this novel. Gail is truly not a very likable character, but over the three days, she does look inward to see where things may have gone wrong. It’s the kind of writing that sucks you in. The story unfolds perfectly, just a little bit at a time, with a fulfilling ending. Enjoy.

Anne Tyler's greatest skill, shown here at the height of it's power, is to give us seriously flawed, messed up characters, bring them to the edge of self-destruction, and them redeem them.

Poor Gail is facing crisis and crisis in this short gem, some of her own making and some not. It appears that she'll never be able to deal with them thereby multiplying their power, and then, ah, a moment let's us know that things can be well.

This book is short, a fast read, and will help regain hope in an out of control world.

Anne Tyler is always reliable and when I received the opportunity to read and review an ARC of her upcoming book, I couldn't wait! The story takes place over 3 days and centers around the marriage of Gail and Max's daughter Debbie. In typical Anne Tyler fashion, the book is really about Gail and Max. Gail feels left out of the wedding plans, she has quit or lost her job, and her ex, Max, comes to her house, carrying a cat. Gail also doesn't know what to do with information she has about Debbie's fiancé which could upset everything. Tyler deftly weaves a tale around these 3 people and she tells an interesting story that kept me turning the pages. I'm so glad I picked this one up and you will too!