3⭐️
June runs to Scotland with her brother’s ashes, no plans and a huge secret, only to find there people that make her rethink her whole life.
Things I liked:
- The whole cast of characters she finds where she goes to Scotland are great. They have amazing chemistry and they really add a lot to the story.
- The writing. It felt immersive and intriguing.
- The ambiance, when she describes the weather and the houses and decorations the vibes were great.
- Firefighter men
Things I disliked:
- June is a bit too stubborn for my taste, and her relationship with Lennox wasn’t my favorite, mostly cause I’ve gotten a bit tired of the whole “bossy tall big man and feisty short woman that sometimes argues with him” dynamic
- The 3rd act conflict felt a bit rushed in my opinion and I feel like it didn’t add anything to the story.
- Matt as a character really annoyed me and I didn’t entirely like how his character arc turned out.

I really thought I'd like this one, but I couldn't even finish it. I got to the last chapter, and quit. The setting was cute, and the romance should've been adorable, but it wasn't. Again, it was just bland and boring. Not my thing

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book for the purpose of this review. It was my first time reading a book by Crane and I enjoyed the way she developed the characters and the plot was interesting to me. It's a RomCom and I thought the Main Character was super funny at times. I was invested in her story and excited to see what happened to her.

This book has me hooked from the moment I picked it up.

June, Reimagined is such a beautiful and heartbreaking story. From the moment I read the first few pages, I knew it was going to be a story worth reading. The characters are memorable and the storyline has substance. I found myself laughing and crying, and connecting with the characters on a deep level.

I loved June and everything about her. She was a breath of fresh air as a character and so real. Her journey was one of heartbreak and healing and finding herself through the pain of her loss. She was such a relatable character, and I could feel the pain that weighed heavily on her shoulders.

June and Lennox were both such beautiful characters. Whether separate or together, they were so perfect together because of how messy and real they were. They didn’t pretend to be something that they weren’t, but rather they were authentic. . I loved watching them grow and experience the things they had to overcome in order to find themselves.

If you’re looking for a book that’s authentically beautiful and heart wrenching, but will make you laugh, cry, and everything in between, June, Reimagined is a book you don’t want to miss out on.

June Merriweather just has to get out of town. With a backpack on her shoulder and her brother's ashes in an urn, she skips town and boards a plane to Scotland to get away for awhile, not expecting to find herself falling for a broody, Scottish inn owner.

This was my first book by Rebekah Crane and I enjoyed her simple and easy writing style! It was incredibly approachable and I found myself laughing out loud on multiple occasions in the beginning of the book. Even though June is dealing with grief, there's a lighthearted tone to it and very romcom-typical hijinks that happen. I was also drawn to this book because of the Scottish setting, which I always find dreamy in novels.

I was initially shocked to see this novel was set in 2003! I wasn't expecting that at all when I picked up this book and I've honestly never read a current novel that used the early 2000s as a backdrop. I had hopes it would be mildly nostalgic but instead, it seemed to take some of the worst parts of the decade and integrate them in strange ways. I wish I understood why the author chose to do this - because I feel like this book would have excelled had it been modern, but instead it seemed constantly hindered by it's time setting. I also feel like the setting and characters could have been expanded upon. I didn't feel as connected to the town and people as I hoped to.

I also want to add that I was a little disappointed by June's character. The beginning of the book set her up to be a relatable, quiet, kind of character who just needed to get away from her life and the immense loss of losing a sibling. I was very confused when she mentioned she was a partier/sorority girl because I had an entirely different picture of her personality in my head. I felt like this was a huge disconnect with her character and, unfortunately, June's often brash and emotional reactions in the book ended up making me dislike her a good amount. By the end I was glad she got an ending with Lennox, but it felt a little rushed and fell flat for me.

I think June, Reimagined, could have been one of my favorite books of the year had it been polished a little more and some care been put into developing the settings and characters. So much of this book was almost to a point where I enjoyed it, but then stopped short for me. I feel like I might try another Rebekah Crane novel eventually, as I did enjoy her writing, but I'm a little disappointed in this one and am not rushing to grab something else.

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyscape for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

I enjoyed a previous book by Crane and was looking forward to this latest release. Overall, this was an okay read, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I was hoping to.

June is struggling with grief over the loss of her brother, so she decides to run away from her pain and buys a one-way ticket to Scotland. Once there June tries to start a new life away from her pain.

I had a hard time connecting to June, she acted irresponsibly and selfishly at times. I understand that she is grieving the loss of her brother, but she seemed to push people away and act without thinking things through. When she meets Lennox, she's pretty rude to him right from the start and for most of their interactions throughout the book. Not that Lennox was perfect either, he could be condescending to June and treat her like a child at times. He seemed to boss her around a lot. As the book progresses, they do grow closer, and both of their earlier behavior improves slightly.

A quick read with the enemies to lovers storyline.

Honestly - I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this. The cover captured my attention immediately. I really liked this. I got attached to the characters more than expected and was smiling throughout. 5 stars!

After June's brother dies, she runs away to Scotland with his ashes, leaving her friends, family, and university life behind. Once in Scotland, she finds a job and a place to stay. However, what she didn't expect to find is love.

I struggled to connect with the characters in the book. I think flashbacks to June's life before or lead=up with her brother might have been helpful so we could've connected more with June.

I really, really enjoyed this New Adult romance set in the Scottish Highlands. Reeling after her brother's death, June takes off in the middle of her college semester to deal with her grief and guilt with no real plan in mind. When she arrives in Scotland with no job or place to stay she finds a lovely group of people who take her in plus Lennox, a curmudgeonly hot guy who rescues her from a peanut allergy emergency and ends up being her landlord/roommate.

This book does a good job of exploring June's emotions about her brother and the coverup about her brother's heroin addiction/overdose. I thought there was a great balance of found family, romance and mental health/addiction rep that made for a well rounded story in my opinion.

Good on audio, this is a new to me author who I'm excited to read more from! Recommended for fans of authors like Rachel Lynn Solomon. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

CW: heroin overdose, alcoholism (recovering alcoholic)

Thank you Netgalley & Publisher for the arc in exchange of an honest review.

I honestly don't know where to begin but I'll start by saying that it took me a lot of time finishing this because I kept pausing to feel every damn emotion each scene had to offer.

"You seem........ delicate."
"I'm so not delicate. I broke my wrist once (...) & didn't go to the hospital for 5 days".
"So you're delicate AND stupid."

This book has got everything I love in a romance and much more. The amazing hate-to-love banter between MCs was too good for my poor heart. I was burning, swooning, laughing, smiling and crying throughout. Never a dull moment with these two. Everything about June & the love interest, staring from the meet-cute to the post conflict scene was satisfying.

Apart from the amazing, earth shattering romance, the grief portrayed was realistic & added a personal touch to the story! And the side characters were amazing.

2.5 Stars June, Reimagined by Rebekah Crane was a sweet romance set in the Scottish Highlands. I’m not sure why this was listed as Teens & YA on NetGalley, because I wouldn’t categorize it that way. The story starts on New Years Day 2003, with twenty year old June Merriweather on her way to a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands to escape her life at home in Ohio. Her older brother died a few months prior and June has been lying to everyone at the bequest of her parents for appearance’s sake. The only thing June will miss about her life at home is her best friend, Matt, but she’s also leaving to save her friendship with him. In Scotland, June meets quite a cast of characters, including the brooding Lennox Gordon. June can’t stop running into Lennox, usually when the situation calls for him to save her life (both literally and metaphorically).

The novel delved deep with some difficult topics, but ultimately, I felt like I didn’t know too much about the characters, especially Lennox and the other characters June met in Scotland. I wish we had gotten to know more about them. I always love a book set in Scotland, but ultimately this was just okay.

𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦, 𝘙𝘦𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 begins with June sitting at the airport with her brother's urn in her hands and a one way ticket to Scotland. As she escapes the mess of her life to hide out in the Highlands, she forms a bond with the people there. Between a grouchy inn owner, who's saved her life more times than she cares to admit, and friends she has grown to love, June finally asks what it means to be true to herself.

- ~ -

With somber writing and the classic English humor, the story sets you upto feel and live along with the characters.

The story is steeped in the Scottish culture and so well described that I could almost imagine I was there in Knockmoral.

I think character arc was the strong point of this book, not only for June but for her parents as well. But I reckon grief causes you to reimagine a lot of things differently.

This is my first from the author and needless to say I'm hooked.

I just wish I could read this again for the first time.

- ~ -

4.82 / 5✩

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘬𝘺𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘥. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.