This story was absolutely stunning! This is about a young woman named June Farrow who comes from a long line of women are plagued with an unknown disease. At some point, the Farrow women lose their minds and no amount of testing or doctors visits can determine what causes the unraveling. Decades earlier, June’s mother went missing, so she was raised by her grandmother. The circumstances surrounding how she gets to her grandmother is also suspicious in itself.

One day, after her grandmother dies, June finds a letter addressed to her. Inside the letter she finds a mysterious photo of her long lost mother which prompts her to dive deeper into the details within the photo. Everyone around June is keeping secrets from her and when June finally starts pushing for answers she soon finds herself on a self-discovery journey that goes beyond her wildest dreams, and against the laws of nature.

This was so incredibly atmospheric and beautifully written. I was captivated from the first page. I loved the magical realism, the second chance romance, the slow burn and irresistible mystery in this book, and uncovering June’s family secrets with her.

The vivid imagery, character development, and intricate connections among the characters completely enchanted me. This is a book you'll undoubtedly find unforgettable.

my only complaint is that the ending did confuse me a bit. I wish things would have been explained more and fleshed out because I found myself struggling to make sense of the final chapter. Either way, this didn’t take away any enjoyment, and overall I’m giving this 4.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House - Ballantine for a copy of this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I think this is my favorite book Adrienne Young has written, and I'm pretty sure I've read them all.
I was immediately captivated by the Farrow women's curse and how they all go mad. I was immediately captivated by the mention of a murder that happened years earlier that I knew would play a big part. I was kept captivated when we learn June has started down the path of madness and is finding clues about her mother who dropped her in town as a baby and disappeared forever. The clues don't make sense. I literally HAD to know what that clues meant. Then June goes through the door she thought was only a hallucination.
These characters were fantastic. It's so hard to talk about the people and things I want to talk about without spoiling the *big thing.* June was really intricate. I felt like I knew her and all the rest of the characters actually. She was willing to give up having a family so she would never have a daughter to pass the madness onto after watching it happen to her grandmother and knowing what happened to her mom. Yet she loved her family and her one friend Mason so deeply. She loved the flower farm she worked at. She loved her life despite knowing that one day she would succumb to the madness. After the *big thing* she showed another kind of love all together and it just made my heart want to burst. The other Farrow women were so woven together and the journey they had throughout the book was amazing. There were a few other characters I don't want to mention that were also amazing.
The atmosphere of this book was so vivid. I felt like I was in Jasper, North Carolina. I felt like I could picture these fields and these farm houses and the Summer Faire. I was totally transported. I felt like I was living the story alongside these characters every chapter, every page. That doesn't happen often.
The plot took me on such a journey. Like I said, everything that happened in the beginning totally captivated me. Once the *big thing* happened, things slowed down and I wanted to know more about the clues and the murder, but we got something totally different for a while and my interest waned. But things picked up and even though we had more lulls, I welcomed them because by that time I was so incredibly invested in the characters and I wanted to know everything about them. After finishing the book, things totally made sense, but as I was reading, I was constantly trying to figure out how one thing related to another and it just blew my mind how all the puzzle pieces fit together.
There was one part near the ending where I could vividly picture the story going 2 ways (ironic if you've read it). My heart was beating so fast. For what the story was, it ended more than perfectly, but also certain things broke my heart. There was also one big reveal close to the end that I had figured out early on and part of me wished I hadn't because going into that reveal not guessing anything would have been so emotional. The whole ending just made me emotional. I wasn't sad or overly happy, I just FELT so much.
This was an absolutely amazing book I would recommend to everyone. The first genre it is under is fantasy, but don't let that push you away if you are not a fantasy reader.

This was an incredible story about the power and endurance of love.

June Farrow knows that all the women in her family are cursed. Every woman before her suffered a kind of madness, seeing things that aren’t there, hearing voices or sounds, getting lost in their own minds. June wants to ensure the curse ends with her. She has closed herself off from love, swearing off marriage and children. But so far she can’ stop the curse, and is experiencing things that she can’t explain. But shortly after her grandmother’s decline and death, June receives a mysterious letter in the mail, setting off a chain of events that will change her life forever.

I really loved this book! It is incredibly atmospheric, with southern, small town vibes, and a little bit of creepy mystery that is just perfect for fall. I really don’t want to share too much about the plot. This book is best experienced if you go into it with little information, and just let the story unfold. It reminds me a lot of Spells for Forgetting, which I also loved by this author, so if you enjoyed the pacing and mystery of that book, you will probably love The Unmaking of June Farrow as well. The writing is beautiful and draws you in to the story, while the flow and progression as we learn more will keep you hooked and needing to know what happens next. Over the course of the book, June learns more about her family and her past, and learns to open herself up to love and all the messy things that come with it, even knowing what will happen in her future. There is a romance that is central to this story, but there is also familial love too, especially between mothers, daughters, and grandmothers. This story made me reflect a lot on how traditions are passed down and carried from one generation to the next by women, which was an underlying theme throughout the story.

This was a glorious book, and a perfect eerie read for a fall weekend.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press for an electronic Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It’s been a while since I’ve devoured a whole book in one sitting. This book took my breath away and captivated my soul! The Farrow women are cursed. As time goes by, they start to see and hear things. Then the red door appears. A crazy series of events that’s impossible to tear yourself away from, with surprising plot twists and beautifully brave characters. Escape into Young‘s thrilling mystery to forever change the fate of the Farrows!

First of all, thank you to Delacorte Press and Net Galley for the ARC. I was really looking forward to this novel as I am a fan of magical realism and it did not disappoint. June Farrow lives in a small mountain town near Asheville and is coping with a dying grandmother and fears that she has the same madness coming for her that comes for every woman in her family. June starts to find clues after her grandmother passes away that lead her to believe she has a chance to break the curse but it may mean realizing that her hallucinations are not really hallucinations and she maybe part of a bigger story that goes across time.

I thought that the author did a great job of explaining the timelines, paradoxes, etc. while incorporating an engaging mystery with some great twists.

Mysterious time travel and self-discovery give a deeper edge to this romance. Readers will enjoy discovering what June has done to make her own future possible.

Adrienne Young does not miss. I don’t think I can properly put into words how much I enjoyed “The Unmaking of June Farrow”. Initially, I was a bit intimated by this book. However, after picking it up, I was unable to put it down.

This is one of those books where I think it’s best to go in blind. It’s hard to categorize into one specific genre as it has a little of everything - mystery, thriller, family drama, romance, etc. This is just a good story that I think everyone will enjoy. The plot keeps you on your toes the entire time, and will keep you guessing until the last pages.

I absolutely love the way Adrienne Young writes her settings and her ability to make them feel like characters. She did this in last year’s “Spells for Forgetting” and she does it again in “The Unmaking of June Farrow”. She is able to write such atmospheric settings that make you feel nostalgic for places you have never been. The characters in her story are also amazing. They are flawed and complicated people, but she writes them in a way where the reader is able to understand their motivations.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for giving me an ARC copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I think this book has solidified Adrienne Young as an auto-but author for me. I loved Spells for Forgetting. I loved this one even more. I rarely end a book wishing it was longer but I wanted this to keep going. Without giving much away this does have more of a “sci-fi” feel to the magical realism. There is a love story here and damn is it a beautiful one. I cried out of sadness. I cried out of happiness. I cried over a twist in the storyline. This was easily one of my favorite reads this year and I highly recommend grabbing this one.

The Unmaking of June Farrow has to be the most unique second chance romance I have ever read. It has time travel, family curses, magical realism...

I was completely hooked by the mystery of it all and the atmospheric writing. I also really loved the themes of family, marriage, and motherhood that the story brought forth.

I was a little confused at moments when it came to timeline dates and ages, but I just rolled with it and overall really enjoyed the story and found it to be so creative. Anything this author writes, I will read.

I feel there was some missed mark in the book. There was ability to expand in so much that Young didn't fully develop and left me lacking in wanting her to dive deeper.

This book is packed with family history, emotional connections, and a cozy vibe that you'll want to wrap yourself up in and never leave. I did have some bumps in the road when I first picked this up. I am familiar with Adrienne Young's previous work, Spells For Forgetting, which was one of my favorite reads of 2022 & 5 stars. I was riding a wave of slight disappointment through the first 30% of June Farrow due to the heavy descriptions, and the lack of connection to June and her relationships.

The book took a sharp turn for me right around that mark and the more June's character develops and I couldn't put this down. I really enjoyed the rich atmosphere, the emotion you could feel in the pages, and the direction the rest of the story went. This, reflecting on my previous review of Spells For Forgetting, is something the author knocks out of the park consistently.

I know this is a highly anticipated book this fall, and while this wasn't in my top rated, it's still worth the read and might hit differently - so do it!

An absolute delight! Every time I read one of Adrienne’s books I am completely transported into the story. It had me on the edge of my seat, dying to know more with every chapter. Similar to her other book, Spells for Forgetting, this one is also very atmospheric, and perfect for fall(or anytime!). I’m not sure what category to put this in because there’s so many wonderful elements. It’s got mystery, suspense, generational curses, complex family secrets and magical realism with a hint of romance. And of course we can’t forget, time travel!

June is such an interesting character right from the start. The story follows her as she experiences the curse befallen to all the Farrow women, madness. Or it is? Questioning what’s real and what isn’t June’s world is thrown upside down when she receives a letter that leaves her with more questions than answers.

As much as this book is about love it’s also about secrets and heartbreak, especially involving those we care most about and the sacrifices and hard choices we have to make involving them.

It’s been weeks and I still think about this book, so safe to say you should grab it when it comes out this October!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I continued to be amazed by Adrienne's ability to create such depth of characters and story from the very beginning of her novels. Each character on the page feels like a real person, like you're reading an extremely enthralling history book. They're well-rounded and have their own motivations and backstories. The writing is so visceral that it practically jumps off the page. You can practically hear the way Eamon says June's name. Your heart hurts for June every time she looks at Annie. Your brain screams "more" as June unravels the mystery of the curse of the Farrow women. This book was so atmospheric, and the tension, mystery, and need to know are palpable. I could not put this down until I finished it. The way that each timeline intersected was remarkable. I felt the story unraveling as I read as my reading pace quickened. I didn't know how Adrienne could solve it or put it back together again, but she did. And can we talk about this line -- "You may have ruined my life, June. But first, you gave me one." Screaming.

Loved. Absolutely loved.

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/🫑
The Unmaking of June Farrow was my 5th book by Adrienne Young and, once again, I was not disappointed.

I have to admit that the first 24% of the book was a little slow. It was a lot of character building setting up the background of the story. It was a lot of walking through the day-to-day activities before…BAM! At 25% I started to get very intrigued and had a hard time putting it down from that point.
🌼
The Farrow women are cursed with a hereditary ailment that plagues the mind; leaving them with hallucinations and an unraveling mind.

June is determined to break the curse and discover the mysteries surrounding the death of her mother. However, in order to do so, she may just have to give into the hallucinations she is afraid of so that she can unmake her truth and finally take control of her life.
🌼
Adrienne Young’s books are so beautiful. She paints a wonderful picture of the worlds she creates, allowing you to step out of reality and into the mysteries of her story.

This is a Magical Realism story combing modern and historical Blue Ridge Mountains small-town charm with mystery and suspense and a complex plot.
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It is considered an Adult novel based on the age of the characters. There is a pretty vanilla on-page explicit scene, but I wouldn’t say it’s for 18+. Any age is fine as long as you can follow along with the complex plot.

Since I typically review mostly fantasy books, I want to point out that this book falls along the themes of Spells for Forgetting; it is Magical Realism, it is not Fantasy.

If you liked Spells For Forgetting, you will like this one even more.

i really really really wanted to like this one. i seem to be in the minority here, but i do see how a lot of people will enjoy this.

the cozy mystery and small farm town elements were there. there was magic, a non-linear timeline, a whodunit plot line, and familial relationships. i just don’t think that it came together well. with time travel/non-linear timelines, it can get clunky and confusing really fast and this just didn’t work for me. i felt a major disconnect with the characters and the plot because i was so focused on how the past and future were fitting together.

i really wish i connected to the characters and the story more because i think this concept is very unique and interesting. the lyrical writing was definitely the star of the show!

thank you to delacorte press and netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

3/5 stars!

As usual, Adrienne’s prose is so atmospheric and lovely. This story was heartbreaking and the family bonds were strong. I loved the mystery element to the story! The writing was so descriptive and beautiful and you really felt everything that was happening.

The romance part of the story was incredible. The way the story came together had me in tears by the end. I am still thinking about June a week later after finishing this book. I loved everything about it!

+ magical elements
+ family bonds
+ non-linear timeline
+ emotional romance
+ strong, protective women
+ small town atmosphere

Thank you for the advanced copy of this book that’s quickly become a favorite!

The Farrow women are known in their small town to be different, strange and mysterious as they have lived on their wildflower farm for generations. June Farrow, raised by her grandmother after she was abandoned as an infant by her mother is determined to change the destiny of the Farrow women. After her grandmother’s death, June follows the clues to learn more about why her mother disappeared decades before and this search leads her to another time and another version of herself.

I really enjoyed this novel once I got into it. I love magical realism and time travel so this book was right in my reading wheelhouse. The story and characters were great and mostly I liked how it all tied together in the end. That being said - there is a bit of messiness with the dates and time jumping that lead to some interesting conversations with other bookstagrammers (with no real closure on some of it) so it is a bit confusing with a few plot holes. I read it but two of them listened to audio which I think led to the confusion so I would suggest maybe not solely listening to this one. If you like a good magical realism story I highly recommend this one. I think I will have to look at this author’s backlist.

4.25

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for this ARC for review

Whenever I read a book where theoretical physics comes into play, I get an absolutely giddy feeling because I know the author will take me on a journey. And I don’t know how to review this because it’s such a carefully plotted storyline that you have to walk a fine line when discussing it.

So, as a reviewer, you mention the romance, the red door, and the feeling of having a strong tribe and family, but you can’t mention much else or other readers won’t get the experience. They won’t get that feeling of ‘whoa’ that takes over your entire body when you watch the book in motion, when all the carefully laid clogs start to work together, and you realize what a fantastical journey you’ve been on.

Life is often cyclical, and most people see time as a straight line, but some of us who study physics know that it is anything but. It would be easy to go off course when bringing those concepts into a book, but Young stayed the course. She wrote a book that brings the beauty of love and time and all its iterations into a superbly stunning read.

Thank you, Ballantine Books, for the advanced copy.

It took me several tries to read this book because of the very slow pace. I think the plot really just picked up once the mysteries started to unfold and the plot twists all came towards the end. The last 20% of the book wasn’t enough for me to fully understand the intricacy of the plot as it felt liked info-dumped on me. I might have to reread it to fully absorb the story.


But, it did have beautiful writing by the author. She made it easy to imagine the story setting despite the time skips. Some twists were predictable, but it still offered some mindblowing stuff. I was frustrated on how the characters acted on some parts, but I think it went well with the mysterious theme that the author was trying to achieve.


What this book contains:
- small town mysteries
- time traveling
- magical realism
- self-discovery
- second chance romance
- strong family (motherly) ties
- eerie & mystical vibes


Pacing & writing style:
- very slow pacing until you hit 80%
- more in-depth narrations than dialogues
- detailed imageries
- first pov


Ratings:
3.75/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher (Random House), and the author for the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book, it was so beautifully written. It kept me guessing and wondering where the story was going but as things unfolded, I couldn’t put it down. I loved each of the Farrow women and their stories. I will be putting all of Adrienne Young’s books on my TBR because I just loved this one and the perfect writing. Thank you Random House and Net Galley for the advanced copy of this book.