This book was beautifully written. My favorite parts were the different setting. I wanted to visit Jasper!!! But overall, this book wasn’t for me. I’m not a big fan of parallel timelines or time traveling apparently. And the supporting characters kept major secrets from June which seemed to make no sense. It would have been more helpful to her journey if she actually knew what was going on. This was the first book I’ve read by this author, and again, the story was beautiful, just not a genre I particularly enjoy.

If you liked Divine Rivals, you’ll love this story. Chapter one will grab your emotions, chapter two will tangle your brain with the mystery. The rest unravels in a way that tangles your soul into it. I felt the same when I was done with divine rivals. It’s not a book that you can say why it’s good. It just feels like it has become a part of you during the journey. This is the story of a woman that is cursed to time travel and she must find a way to break that curse. She intends to be the last.

The perfect October read with mystery, magical realism, romance and time travel. June Farrow is leading an unfulfilled life with fear that her family curse will befall her. She becomes trapped between two worlds and has to make a choice on what is the most important way to save her family and herself.
The story unfolds itself perfectly and I could not put it down. I especially liked her link to family and motherhood and her search to discover the truth about her origins.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is confusing but beautiful. I like the whole idea of the Farrow ‘curse’ and the door. The whole cyclicty of the book is both amazing and difficult to grasp but I loved it just the same.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

What would you give to know your grandmother as a young woman?

June Farrow knows the illness that has claimed all of the women in her family is coming for her. June’s mother was lost to the illness when June herself was just a baby, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother. Hearing strange voices, seeing shadows of people that aren’t there, feeling like she’s in two places at once; these are the symptoms that tell June it’s time for her decline to begin. Losing her grandmother, the woman that raised her from a baby, doesn’t seem to have helped detain the onslaught.

When her grandmother passes and visions and voices begin appearing, June knows it’s time to depend upon the only two people she has left in her life, her best friend Mason and her grandmother’s best friend, Birdie. But just as June begins to believe she is really succumbing to mental illness, a letter from her departed grandmother turns up with a picture of June’s mother. From over a hundred years early. Thus begins June’s journey through time to solve a mystery that goes back generations.

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I’m not sure how to express how poignant this book was. A story that shows what it means to trust in yourself and those who know and love you best. June’s relationship with Margaret is so beautiful. To see them connected not only in the present, but in the past. I adored that Adrienne Young places the focus of this story on how June must trust in the women that come before and after her in order to solve the puzzle of their family. Well written, and leaving me wanting more. I finished the book with so many questions and craving more stories of the Farrow women. I hope that someday we may see more.

8 / 10 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/10/15/the-unmaking-of-june-farrow-by-adrienne-young-review/

The second adult novel from Adrienne Young, the Unmaking of June Farrow begins like a North Carolina faerie tale. A small-town legend complete with a mystery, curse, and a line of women disappearing down the ages. I adored Spells for Forgetting—Young’s debut adult novel from last year—and was incredibly excited to be granted a copy of this second standalone. And while I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, Unmaking is not the masterpiece the Spells was.

Now, I’m not a huge romance fan. As in, I don’t select my stories specifically for the romance. Some is fine, so long as it’s incorporated amongst the mountains of mystery, fantasy, and adventure. The romance in Unmaking was certainly interesting. Far from a simple, cut-out story of two star-crossed lovers—or even a love-triangle—this tries its luck at both without really doing either at all. It’s certainly interesting, and doesn’t really distract from everything else that’s at stake.

And the stakes are high. June has a deadline to meet; solve the mystery or else become yet the latest casualty to her family curse—one that has already begun to plague her mind. And that desperation plays through so well, becoming central to the story in no time. But as the plot rolls right along, one mystery is replace with another, which kept me guessing right up til the end.

Now the kicker—and I can’t tell you about the issue I had with this, so tied up is it with the story and spoilers of. I can tell you that it’s not the first time I’ve objected to something such as this, and I’ve been fairly consistent throughout. I can also tell you that while the romance fulfills all its briefs, the overarching plot isn’t quite as satisfying. The conclusion doesn’t quite wrap everything up, nor does it deliver complete fulfillment.

TL;DR

Part mystery, part romance, part urban legend, the Unmaking of June Farrow delivers a delightful, contemporary fantasy amidst the rolling mountains of western North Carolina. It’s a lovely read, one built for cozy winter nights and lazy summer afternoons. One that makes you question everything you know to be true about the world, and one that made me in particular wonder if perhaps Adrienne Young and I might have similar dreams. For I too have dreamt of a red, lacquer door amongst a field of flowers, and dared to wonder might life might be like if I were to step through.

June Farrow is the last of the Farrow line - and she means to keep it that way. Upon her grandmother’s death (and with the family curse looming), June starts finding clues that link her mother to a past the town of Jasper, North Carolina can’t seem to let go of. As she embarks on a journey that will bring her the answers she is desperately searching for, June will risk everything - past, present, and future - and put the one thing on the line that she has held close for her entire life - her heart.

This story has a strong grip on my heart and my soul and I can’t see it ever letting go. Adrienne paints a beautiful picture of this small town that had this born-and-raised city dweller wanting to pack up and move to the country. Not only does the story have that magical small town feel to it, it is also filled with sweeping imagery that fully immerses the reader into the world of Jasper. It’s never made sense to me why people would choose to move to the South, but after reading this book, I can absolutely see the appeal.

Going into this story, I didn’t know much outside of the Goodreads description and I’m truly glad that’s all I had. It’s been said many times before, but this is the kind of story that you want to go into with as little information as possible. You are taken on a journey alongside June that unravels in unexpected - but magical - ways that leave you feeling breathless by the end.

June is surrounded by a full cast of characters that all worm their way into your heart, each playing a big part in her story in so many different ways. By the time June reaches a point where she has a difficult decision to make, you have become so attached that you don’t even know what decision you hope she’ll make. I desperately found myself wanting her to be able to make both sides work but, in the end, it’s more impactful because she makes the choice. But my god. My heart is aching just thinking about it.

With a deft hand and her signature magic, Adrienne Young has crafted a dazzling story that will make you believe in love and fate again. Filled to the brim with magic, romance, and a touch of the impossible, THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW has probably changed my brain chemistry and will live forever rent-free in my mind from this day on and into the next life.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review.

The Unmaking of June Farrow:⁣
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Thank you @prhaudio @randomhouse @delacortepress for my gifted copies.⁣
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“This changes everything”. ⁣
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If you love Shea Ernshaw or magical realism, I have the story for you. I was completely engrossed in this world. I wanted to know all about the mystery and how to stop the tethering. I’ll say I am surprised I was not confused and really understood the path we were going on. It’s really not hard to spoil this story so I’m trying to keep it short. ⁣
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The audio was breathy. I don’t feel like us southerners are as breathy as people think we are, so it took a minute to get into the audio. Now don’t get me wrong, Brittany Pressley is one of my favorites and best in the business. It was only June’s that gave me pause to get used to it. Birdie (🥹IYKYK) and Ida were perfect. ⁣
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Overall, this gave me the same feels as A History of Wild Places, The Measure, and Eudora Honeysett. It’s a big warm hug with a dash of mystery. I didn’t know where we were gonna go, but all I know is that I couldn’t stop reading. ⁣
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Out 10/17.

This story was not at all what I was expecting. June knows that the women in her family have a history of losing themselves, but she's about to find out that it's not what it seems in the slightest. She longs for a life that most of us want - family, love, children. But she's decided she can never have it, despite her feelings for Mason.

A series of events begins to unfold that leads her to discover secrets buried by time, or maybe hidden in it. June finally goes through the door, and she learns more about a mysterious woman decades in the past.....what she had no idea, is that the woman is her.

I loved how everything in this unraveled in a sequence that not only revealed important pieces of information, but allowed her to learn and see what she truly wanted from life. The unwavering love and support of family is so important in June's story, she just doesn't know how much until the end.

A story of family and self discovery more than anything. While the plot is wonderful yes this book was honestly about vibes for me. Once I picked I up I really couldn't put it down.

“Time is like a rope, made of many fibers, and when they’re bound up together, they make one strong timeline. But once you cross it, it begins to fray.”

From the cover to the synopsis this book called out to me. I just had a feeling that I needed to read it. And it did not disappoint!

Fun fact: Before reading this, I was in a reading slump for a few days. I started one book, switched to another and then decided to open June Farrow as well. I felt unable to focus on anything. And then… next thing I knew it was midnight and I was halfway through the book! It literally sucked me in completely unnoticed and became an immersive experience.

THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW has it all. It has the atmosphere, long line of unusual and powerful women, strong, Addie LaRue-esque main character, unsolved mystery, magic, unconventional second chance romance. And it is all delivered in a very enchanting way.

The only thing that threw me off was the time explanation towards the end. It was so confusing that I’m not fully sure I still understand it.

Overall, Young’s The Unmaking of June Farrow is undoubtedly destined to stay in readers memory for a long after finishing it.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the digital copy.

Fair warning- The Unmaking of June Farrow has a slow start. I struggled with the first quarter of the book. Thank goodness I stuck with it because it will easily be one of my favorite reads of October. Adrienne Young has such an immersive quality to her writing that even when I was struggling with the pacing, I was still enjoying every word.

I ended up switching to the audio (thank you PRHAudio for the complimentary copy) and I am so glad I did. Brittany Pressley brought such warmth and depth to June.

No one writes a beautiful setting like Adrienne Young. The flower farm in the small town of Jasper, North Carolina was simply swoon worthy. Its hard to write this review without giving away any spoilers but the story took an unexpected turn which made it all come together. The layers to these characters and the family’s collective history seemed to come alive through Young’s storytelling and Pressley’s narration.

I highly recommend readers grab a copy of The Unmaking of June Farrow!

The Unmaking of June Farrow was the perfect October read. A bit of a spooky mystery that kept me on my toes throughout the whole book. I had never picked anything up by this author before but this book has convinced me to keep my eye on Young's future books.

I was unsure if Adrienne Young would be able to top last year’s release of Spells for Forgetting but she accomplished just that with the gorgeously written, atmospheric, and entirely evocative tale of a family of cursed women and the lengths they will go to in order to protect the ones they love. Like Spells, this book takes place in a small-town setting where our main character June starts off the story grappling with her grandmother’s death which prompts an unraveling of family secrets about the cursed line of Farrow Women; including June’s mother that disappeared several decades ago without a trace.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is absolutely one of those books that you can sit down with on Sunday morning and finish before the sun sets. Adrienne Young’s ability to write atmospheric and gorgeously detailed settings and pair it with nuanced characters you both love and love to hate is extraordinary It is equal parts entertaining and thought provoking with a plot that picks up from the get go, twisty turns to keep you guessing and a romance that is achingly tender. If you loved aspects of the Ten Thousand Doors of January but found it to be a little too slow in the plot execution, then this book would be a great alternative for you!

Themes of the generations-long connection and love shared among family are strong in this narrative and had me tearing up on several occasions! The characters were loveable and played on my empathy SO HARD - I could actually feel how torn June was in the decisions she had to make deep in my soul.

You cannot feel the things I felt to the degree Adrienne Young made me feel them and not rate this book 5 stars. I will forevermore read everything she ever puts out there in the adult magical realism space.

Thank you netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the early reader’s copy.

This book was 5 starts for me! I had never read any of Adrienne Young's books before, but The Unmaking of June Farrow was awesome!

June's mother disappeared while she was pregnant with her. When June was close to 7 months old only June reappeared with a family heirloom, to be raised by her grandmother. Unfortunately for June, the women in her family have been cursed with a type of madness that causes very specific hallucinations. This is likely what caused her mothers disappearance. Also, her grandmother was experiencing this when she passed away at the very beginning of the book.

June's grandmother's death causes her to begin unraveling the decades old mystery of her mother's disappearance. There are many twists and turns along the way, but ultimately this is really a lovely book.

I have already recommended this book to so many people! Booksellers, this would be a great hand sell with The Great Alone, and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue.

Title: The Unmaking of June Farrow
Author: Adrienne Young
Source: DRC via NetGalley (Random House Publishing Group – Ballentine, Delacorte Press) in exchange for an honest review
Publication Date: October 17, 2023
Synopsis: Goodreads
Purchase Link: Amazon

Why did I choose to read this book?

While they tend to be hit or miss with me, I’m always drawn in by the potential of a good time travel story. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Recursion by Blake Crouch are two of my favorites. I want to know how authors perceive the flow of time and how they would navigate around any messes that time travel might cause.

I’m also a sucker for generational bullshit, which this book promised to have in abundance.

What is this book about?

This book is about sacrifice, but also not really sacrifice. It’s about making a choice that will bring you happiness but also protect those you love. This book is about combating a curse and finding balance across generations. I finished the book without an answer to the question “how did this multiverse situation even begin for the Farrow women?” and I think that’s the part that I was the most curious about. At its heart, this story asks a woman to choose what matters, and let go of everything else.

What is notable about this story?

It took me a minute but I eventually understood all the elements of the time travel mechanics. Where Marvel’s universe dealt with time travel as a “your past is now your present, your future is the past but also still the future,” Adrienne Young calls bullshit on that and shows us that the Farrows become psychologically torn apart if they travel through the red door. Their mind exists in two places, two timelines, almost to the point of schizophrenia, because their timelines are frayed and they can’t reconcile that. Time travel should have a cost, it should have consequences. Captain America shouldn’t get to go back in time and live the life he missed and exist alongside an earlier version of himself. I liked that this story made the multiverse seem more personally dangerous through the Farrow women’s stories.

No spoilers, but the character Caleb Rutherford is notable.

Was anything not so great?

Honestly I felt like this book went by too fast! I wish I could have had some side stories about the other Farrow women from their own perspectives. But if I’m being honest what drives the action is that most of the time June doesn’t really understand what is happening to her, and it’s her search for the same answers I wanted that lead her to her eventual destiny. So it’s a small wish rather than a critique: I wanted more time with these characters.

What’s the verdict?

Four stars on Goodreads. Guys, I could not stop reading this book. The mystery of the time travel, the events happening based on June’s actions, the characters – everything was compelling. I was invested in the characters and so I also cared about what was happening to them. This is an important element of a book for me, and it allows me to make a glowing recommendation to you, my reader! Definitely check this one out either through preorders or your local library because once it has you, this story will not let you go. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

June Farrow is mourning the loss of her grandmother and trying to keep her mental decline a secret from those around her. Madness runs in her family and she knows that it will eventually consume her as well. When she starts to dig deeper into her family's history she finds troubling details about the past.
This was my favorite Adrienne Young novel yet. I loved the characters, the love story, and the world building.

"It was several seconds before I realized what was happening, and it was like being hit by a rogue wave, the rush of it coming all at once. It didn't matter that I'd been standing on that shore my whole life, waiting for it. It still felt like the world split in two when it finally arrived."

Oona Out of Order meets family curse along with a mysterious disappearance and hallucinations to boot. June's life on the flower farm is fairly uneventful until she starts to go crazy like every woman in her family before her, or so she thinks. After her grandmother's death, June is faced with endless unanswered questions and dots to connect to make sense of not only her life but the lives of all of the Farrow women.

I mean talk about a whirlwind of a story. I was hooked super early on trying to figure out what had happened and where we were headed next. From ALL of the jaw dropping moments to the oh.my.gosh connections through out, The Unmaking of June Farrow was the perfect combination of suspense, mystery, love, and one impossible decision to make. Adrienne was so creative with the way all of the details and characters fit together and come full circle. I love a good time travel book, and this one definitely hit the mark!

Thank you, Random House Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced peek! Pub date: October 17!

God damn was this good.

The Unmaking of June Farrow follows (surprisingly) June Farrow. The book begins almost immediately after her grandmother dies, and we learn that her grandmother had had a "sickness" that June knows she, too, will one day get. This "sickness" is more of a slow descent into madness, and we learn early on that June has already begun her descent. Other than this, I truly believe this book deserves to be read truly blind to any other backstory.

This book feels like a mix of so many genres, that I honestly have recommended it to almost every reader I know. Lovers of fantasy, speculative fiction, thrillers, and mysteries will all find aspects of this book to love. Further, Adrienne Young is a master of Fall Vibes - read this book when the leaves are changing and the air is crisp! Read it surrounded by nature!

I cannot talk this book up enough. I buddy read this with friends who also had the ARC and there were so many things I wanted to discuss about the plot. Young does an amazing job of creating a complicated story in a simple enough way to understand. But it will still get you thinking so many "What If"s. I was only about 40% into this book before I pre-ordered it, because I knew it had to be a part of my library. READ THIS!

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the publisher for my egalley!

THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW is another knock out of the park by Adrienne Young! A beautiful story of love, family, heartbreak, and self discovery. While time travel is one of my least favorite tropes, this one wove its way into my heart and will be a book I think about for a very long time.

June Farrow is one of the most complex characters I’ve ever read, written in a way that only Young can accomplish. Teetering between two worlds, we walk alongside June as she makes crucial decisions that will affect not only her life, but the lives of those most important to her. You can’t read this book and not feel a tugging in your heart that reminds you of the power of the love a mother has for her child.

The Farrow women are strong, intelligent, and cursed. Each possesses a level of depth that grounded me to them from the start, attaching me to their back story and investing me in their future lives. Unwavering and inspiring, their allegiance to one another will leave you wondering, “How far would I go for the people I love most?”