Unfortunately, this book was not enjoyable for me. This is partially due to personal preference since I don't love time travel stories; I likely wouldn't have read the book had the synopsis made it clear that it involved time travel.

But beyond that, I found the plot and the "curse" in question to be extremely convoluted and unnecessarily confusing, and it was unsatisfying getting no information on why the Farrow women are cursed at all. The pace also moved along very slowly, and most of the "mystery" element centered simply on people not telling June information that they could and should have. Having a mystery that revolves around secrets that people could easily clear up in five minutes with some communication doesn't intrigue as a reader, it frustrates.

June felt like a very passive character who just had things happen around her; I found that she seemed like an observer of her own life despite her being our narrator. The romance element also didn't work for me since her chemistry with Eamon was really just based on memories she inherited from another version of herself.

Some positives are that the prose was pleasant, and emotions and setting were described well. Overall however this book was, sadly, a miss for me.

For lovers of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Ten Thousand Doors of January

This one’s a page turner, and I stayed up late to finish it. There are layers of mysteries here which was engaging and fun. But all the layers meant that we never quite got to know the characters besides June and that makes me question whether this book will really stick with me.

I like time travel, I like fish-out-of-water stories, and I like complicated female protagonists. I’m not sure I found all the reactions and choices believable, but it might just be that we didn’t get enough time with each of the characters.

I’ll likely reevaluate this rating in a couple of months. And once again, I think the publisher-provided summary gives too much away.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

Omg. Wow. This was everything I could want and more. This is easily in my top 5 reads on the year. It was twisty and mysterious, while also being so sweet. I loved being able to connect the dots, and the story line not being super obvious from the get go, keeping you guessing right to the end. It started at a pretty slow pace, but it wasn’t in a boring way. Once the story picks up, you’re so invested. I wish I could summarize the plot, but that would give it away, so just know it’s worth the read. This makes me want to read everything ever written by this author, if it’s even half as good as this one.

I enjoyed this book! It was so well written, the characters were great, and the storyline was fantastic. This was a solid four-star read for me, and I can’t wait to read books this author again.

📚Book 249 of 2023📚

This book was so good. I can’t wait to read it a second time to see if I catch new things! I’m a whore for time travel novels, so this was right up my alley!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Publication Date- 10/17/23

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for sending me this eARC for review! This book… was an atmospheric and visceral read that will stick to my bones for a very long time. Adrienne Young did an astonishing job creating an all-too-real world with a whimsical yet believable magic system, which is what magical realism is supposed to be, right? I was fully entrenched in this book until the very end. I laughed, I cried, I grieved, and I loved right alongside our lovely and fiery June Farrow. This book is truly unlike anything I have read. It’s filled with mystery, longing, homecoming, and found/created family. If you are like me and are hesitant to pick up this story following perhaps a lackluster experience with Young’s previous adult novel, “Spells for Forgetting,” just take that leap of faith and read, you won’t regret it.

This book was so different than I thought it would be, but in a good way! I highly recommend going into it blind, but I will say it’s the perfect fall read. Slightly spooky with a mystery that will keep you guessing the entire time. I loved the characters and the romance was unexpected, but it was perfectly executed. This book would make a great movie and I would love to read it all over again now that I know how it ends. I definitely recommend this one!

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young had not business being this fantastically good. I knew I was going to enjoy this book and was very excited to read it but I didn't realize how much I was going to LOVE it. Adrienne Young's writing is so dreamy but easy to grasp and understand. I love it. The Unmaking of June Farrow feels so different from everything else that is getting published lately. It's original and you can't categorize it quickly, which I really like. The character development is wonderful, you can't help but feel for them and they definitely make the whole book. Thank you to NetGalley and Balletine for an ARC of this beautifully written book.

Thank you to netgalley and random house publishing for an arc in exchange for an honest review.


From the moment I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down and I completed it within twenty four hours. It’s a beautiful tale about love, motherhood and family. It is unlike anything I’ve read before and anything I will ever read again.

It’s hard to review this book without giving anything away because in these pages lies a intricately woven tale, one spanning lifetimes, and it is best to enter this story knowing as little as possible, and like June, our main character, when you flip to the first page you are opening a door to a whole new world.

You have no idea where this door will take you, or the person you will become when you reach the other side but the journey is one you must take- one you can’t turn away from.

This book unearthed an ache within me, a gnawing fear for these characters and how their lives would play out. It is twist after twist, making you hold your breath until you reach the last page finally able to breathe in but also saddened it’s over.

It is beautifully written with complex characters and an even more complex storyline that will leave you in sheer awe. It feels lifelike- it’s attention to detail rooting it within its own reality.

With elements of mental health representation, confronting death and grief, and a love and family that runs so deep they would do anything for each other, this book is never black and white and you will never guess what happens next.

Books like these are why I read, hoping to find a story that takes me off guard and makes me look at life a little differently. Worlds that fill my life with a color I can’t identify anywhere else. So next time you come across a door you are afraid to cross through, or a book you find yourself curious about but unsure, open it.

This was not my favorite of Adrienne Young's books. I absolutely loved Spells when it came out last year but the starts to June Farrow was just too darn slow and I was confused for the first third of the book. Once it came together in the end and I understood what was happening I enjoyed it, but I think the reader spends too much time being as confused as the main character June is about what's happening. That disorientation mad it hard for me to settle into the story. Once I got past the 35% mark and it started to come together I enjoyed it more but it never seemed to fully hit its stride and when a very important choice came up for June in the end there was no suspense for me because it was already clear what she would choose as there was nothing tying her to one of her options. Thanks to Netgalley and the author for this arc.

Wow. This was a good book with a unique premise. Such an emotional rollercoaster. I loved the supporting characters as well. 4.5 ⭐️, 0.5 🌶️

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and author for granting me an advanced copy of the ebook in return for my honest unbiased review. This book is expected to be published in October 2023.

The Unmaking of June Farrow, a multi-generational mystery with a touch of romance and time-play, is a great followup to her previous magical realism novel Spells for Forgetting.

In Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is determined to break her family's curse, which has haunted the Farrow women for generations. After her grandmother's passing, June unearths clues linking her mother's disappearance to the town's dark history. She discovers a mysterious door that might hold the answers to Jasper's enigmas but risks her sanity the deeper she delves. As she crosses the threshold, June's journey reshapes both past and future.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a little more intense and complex than the cozy mystery you find in Spells for Forgetting and I really enjoyed Young's criss-crossed timeline and the layering involved. June's personal journey was deeply felt and the characters around her were wonderfully solid and vivid.

My main takeaway for the majority of the book was just how perfectly Young depicted the North Carolina small, mountain town feel. She captured the essence of this brilliantly and remained true to the setting and characters without ever going over the top, which is a main beef I often have with Southern fiction. It's clear that Young lives in that area and I was thrilled with how perfectly she portrayed this particular brand of Southernness on the page, something that's hard to do even for native North Carolinians, much less transplants like her.

There are a lot of elements from Spells for Forgetting to which she has returned for the barest bones of how the two compare: small town community, an old and unsolved murder, a farm that feeds into sustaining the economy of the area, an outsider family, and a multi-generational family at the heart of it all. But her setting is not the only thing she changed for The Unmaking of June Farrow. The way Young played with story and character here was a wonderfully fresh take and reminded me a lot of Sarah Addison Allen's Garden Spells.

As June explores the mystery, her place in the world, her relationships with the people in her life, and the idea of fate, are all tested. Once again, Young infuses the novel with an intriguing mystery, captivating atmosphere, and a moving romance. Her overall storytelling, exceptional characters, and writing style perfectly aligns with my preferences and expectations.

The Unmaking of June Farrow

By Adrienne Young

Set in the hills of North Carolina, Young has created an almost gothic tale of seeming madness that runs in one particular family, the Farrows, and only in women. There seem not to be many men in the Farrow family, and the name passes from mother to daughter.
But is it madness? Or is it possible to live in two worlds on entirely different timelines?
This is a book that kept drawing me back to it, no matter what else I was reading. That’s a sign of a tale well told. I had to pay close attention to keep track of what was happening in the two timelines, who the characters were and how they interacted. But I was desperate to find out what was going to happen, how the book would end.
There’s a murder mystery at the center of the second timeline. There’s a brooding husband and a golden haired little girl. June’s grandmother in the second timeline is younger than she is. The question for June has always been what happened to her mother. That’s what draws her through the red door that isn’t there.
I hope I’ve intrigued you.

I basically read THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW in one sitting. I love Adrienne Young's dreamy prose and cloudy soft universes. SPELLS FOR FORGETTING made me weep and THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW made me cheer. I LOVE June and love all the supporting characters, love the time flip-flop between 2023 and 1951, and especially love the North Carolina setting. This is a perfect autumnal novel and perfect witchy novel.

The UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW is definitely in my top 10 of the year! Going to make sure my book club picks it up for our October read. Thank you to NetGalley and RandomHouse for the ARC!

I love Adrienne Young’s writing style. Her words are absolutely captivating and make it near impossible to set the book down until I have completely devoured it. I did not think that this book would have the same effect on me that Spells for Forgetting did, but I was mistaken. Immediately, I found myself immersed in the small town Jasper and totally invested in the life of June Farrow.
June believes she will be the one to break the curse that has plagued the women in her family. After being abandoned by her mother, June was raised by her grandmother and watched as she eventually succumbed to the Farrow curse. Love is greater than everything. It can transcend time and even make the impossible possible.
I really can’t get over how heartbreakingly beautiful this book was. It had a very well done mystery woven throughout the book. The s i-fi element was uniquely handled. As the book wrapped up, I found myself emotional over the importance of familial love in this book. Nothing is stronger than love.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and RandomHouse Publishing Group for the advanced copy of The Unmaking of June Farrow. Adrienne Young has done it again!

I’ve read several of Adrienne Young’s books now, and I think The Unmaking of June Farrow might be my favorite. I love the NC setting; Young creates this fantastical tale within a small mountain town, and it’s lovely! There were lines and sections that really just transported me there.
This story follows June Farrow, a woman in a family of women who all experience an unraveling-a curse. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that I found myself rooting for June throughout this book. It was hard to put down because I wanted to answers to what June was experiencing. Great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Love can cross all boundaries of space and time in this magical story. The Unmaking of June Farrow is a perfect combination of magical realism and romance. The women in this novel are fierce and protective of each other. The love of mothers, daughters and granddaughters was profound throughout time as we travel to 1951 from 2023.

This small tight-knit town was blooming with enchantment, mystery and intrigue. The time travel kept me guessing how the story would unfold, especially the love story. In the end, the farrow women expose their strengths to overcome the challenges each generation faced in the family.

Young's a mastery of storytelling!

Thank you Random House for the complimentary copy.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for giving me an opportunity to read an arc of The Unmaking of June Farrow, in exchange for my honest review.

I’m sad to say that I am deciding to DNF at 30%. It’s putting me in a reading slump for some reason. The plot is happening to the main character, but June herself has no personality other than that, and her foreseeing her demise. I think it’s leaving me to feel uninvested in what happens next. At this point all that’s really occurred is her repeating that she’s losing her mind/it’s happening/“it’s not really there”/I need to look into this/this can’t be real/everyone thinks I’m going crazy and so do I.

I think maybe if something else was there to grab my interest, it would have felt more engaging to me. Even slightly more with the potential love interest (there was one conversation, one line between them that I was like !!! And then June literally brushed it off entirely, so it fell completely flat right after).

It was well written and beautifully descriptive about the setting, but I really just needed something more. I read far enough to feel like it just wasn’t going to be the kind of story for me, at this time.

This was the first book that I've read by Adrienne Young and it did not disappoint! This intricate story had so many twists that I couldn't put it down. It was beautifully written. I highly recommend this book. I can't wait to read her previous books.

5 magical stars!

A mesmerizing blend of Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, and Magical Realism, where the impossible becomes possible. The perfect escape!

For fans of these books:
"Spells for Forgetting" by Adrienne Young
"The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
"The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern
"The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger
"The Ten Thousand Doors of January" by Alix E. Harrow

A must-read if you enjoy mind-bending twists, brain-teasing mysteries and these tropes:
- Family Curse
- Mysterious Door
- Time Travel
- Second-Chance Romance:
- Small Town Secrets