This book was so good. I tore through it trying to guess the mystery the whole way through. Of course I was wrong about 80% of the time, but it was fun to keep trying. The reveals constantly had me gasping and shouting “what??” I have never made so many annotations in a book to keep track of my thoughts.

I really enjoyed the FMC, and the journey she went through to discover the secrets of her mother’s disappearance and the curse of the Farrow women. I never found her annoying, but was constantly rooting for her to have a happy ending with her star-crossed love. I wanted things to work out for her, and for her to be happy; I felt like she deserved it.

Adrienne Young really tugs at my heartstrings with the way she writes her FMCs. I also enjoyed that June was older (in her early thirties) as opposed to being in her late teens or early twenties. Sometimes it’s nice to have a MC that’s a little more mature and settled in their life before things start happening. It made her very relatable for me both in the way she handled her grief over the lose of her grandmother and her stress over the trials she experienced.

I was already recommending this book before I had even finished reading it, and I will be recommending it for quite some time.

To begin, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read an ARC of The Unmaking of June Farrow.

I have so many things to say about this book! If you read no further than the end of this sentence, let your takeaway be GO READ THIS BOOK!

Okay, now that we have that out of the way. The Unmaking of June Farrow is the story of June Farrow, a woman who has lived her life knowing that one day she will lose her mind to a madness that has plagued the women in her family for generations, and a madness that no one seems to be able to explain to her. When the story begins, June is burying her beloved grandmother and secretly experiencing the beginning of her apparent decline. As her "symptoms" increase, so does the mystery, and this mystery will truly take her where she never expected.

No spoilers yet....just one very tiny foreshadowing reference
It has taken me days, and a hell of a book hangover to begin writing this review. I was honestly in shock and awe over how much I loved this book and how deeply it pulled at my heartstrings and just about every other emotion out there. I have read other books by Adrienne Young, and I really enjoyed them, but this unbelievably special book just dug itself so deep into me. I picked up this book and was intrigued, though not surprised, by the time June walked through that door, this book had me in a chokehold. I don't even know if I can exactly point to why, other than this book just had all the warmth, longing, yearning, and deep love and connection I could ever dream of in a book. Even while writing this review, I am relieving all of these moments I felt so strongly and feeling the echoes of those emotions as I write. It may sound dramatic of exaggerated but I genuinely was taken aback by how heartfelt this book was. Finding oneself, learning family history, the ROMANCE. My god. No words. Just swooning.

Okay my one tiny piece of an "I wish" from this book.....MAJOR MASSIVE SPOILERS
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Like really huge ones so look away
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I so, so, SO desperately wanted one more scene between June and Eamon at the end. When she chooses her life with him and Annie (HOW could you not?!), I really reallyyyyy wanted a full scene of them reuniting after she is able to escape from Caleb. I know we get the wedding scene and I loved that I just really would have loved to have one more moment where we get to see her go back to him and see the moment where it really sets in that she is here and she is staying and choosing him and choosing their life together. I was so actively looking for that moment

To an outsider looking in, every Farrow woman is cursed to go mad. To the Farrow women, one day their minds begin to fray like the ends of a rope. But to June Farrow—aside from her mother who abandoned her as a baby and then disappeared—the curse of the Farrow women is just a sickness that has claimed the life of her grandmother and has now begun to plague her. But when a door that only she can see appears, and secrets begin to reveal themselves around her, she finds that maybe there is more to the women in her family than meets the eye.

This book was an absolute masterpiece. If I can give one strong word of caution, do NOT try and figure this mystery out as you read. Learn everything alongside June and unravel it at her speed, right along with her. I could not wrap my mind around it all until I allowed myself to sink into her shoes and absorb the gravity of the impossible happening around her. And then it was nothing short of beautiful.

June was a fantastic lead. Determined to be the last Farrow, but also deep within her heart longing for the life she knows she’s giving up because of it, her journey was equal parts heartbreaking and breathtaking. I wish I could say more, but there is so much you just don’t want spoiled!!

The mysteries surrounding the town, the disappearance of her mother, the unsolved murder of a beloved preacher, and of course the visions that June believes to be hallucinations, are all intriguing and build at a fantastic pace. I absolutely devoured this book in two sittings and was too engrossed in every detail to notice the pages ticking down to a heart stopping and perfectly satisfying conclusion.

The characters were fantastic, the romance was above and beyond any second chance-type trope I’ve ever read, and the bond between the Farrow women left me crying like a baby from the sheer beauty of its layers. It’s an incredible story of women down through generations defying evil, logic, and time to accomplish the impossible—all for the unconditional love of their daughters. It’s atmospheric, it’s beautiful, and it is a MUST read!!

Thank you so much to Random House - Ballantine, NetGalley, and the author for provide an early copy of this book for review!

Wow. Absolutely LOVED this book and I couldn't read it fast enough. Firstly, there is just enough spookiness and romance that makes it a GREAT fall read. Secondly, having June, the main female character, be in her thirties makes it super relatable to a reader like me and those I recommend books to. Third reason to love it was because of how descriptive the writing was. It's not often I feel completely transported to what the author is describing, but this book did just that and I truly felt like I was in Jasper, North Carolina.


Below has spoilers!!

[I love that June also is pretty normal other than the fact that her family is cursed and can time travel. She is just a woman who cares for her family, falls in love, and tries to best handle what life throws her way, making it so relatable to readers. Though her solving the mystery of her mother's disappearance really shocked me. I mean I gathered that Nathaniel was going to have some play in the disappearance but I didn't think he would be the reason for her disappearance.

The Unmaking of June Farrow was one of the most mind-bending and unexpected books I've ever read! Adrienne Young takes us on a poignant, sensitive and soul-searching journey with the protagonist, June Farrow. This is a lovely tale of a woman discovering who she is, how to make sense of what is happening to her, deciding where to put down roots, and who to give her heart to in the middle of impermanence.
June is from a family of women who are all expected to go mad at some point in their lives. It's a curse passed down from mother to daughter. At the start of this story, June has just buried her grandmother who had been showing signs of insanity for many years. Her mother, acting erratically, disappeared years ago, leaving a baby behind. And at age 34, June is already having episodes of what she assumes is the family madness.
June lives in the mountains of North Carolina, where her family has always owned and run a flower farm. Like many other magical realism novels I've read in the past few years, this novel includes plants and caring for the land. The mention of various kinds of flowers and how to tend them is sprinkled throughout the book. When she's not working on the farm, June has a penchant for research. She has been trying to discover more about why her mother disappeared and where she went. She's also working on uncovering the mysterious death of a local minister that looms over their small town. With a cryptic clue from her grandmother, and words on an old envelope, June sets off one morning, determined to find answers. Where the path leads her is beyond her wildest imaginings. She will need much courage to face the truth and will discover a love she never thought was possible.
I highly recommend The Unmaking of June Farrow to fans of magical realism and fantasy. You will be captivated by June and her journey. Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for this advanced reader's copy!

4 stars! The Unmaking of June Farrow blends magical realism, a small town mystery, and a little bit of romance much like Young's Spells for Forgetting. We also get the same beautiful and atmospheric prose. Young is a master of blending different genres and elements together to create a story and transport you into the story.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a multi-generational story of the Farrow women who are cursed and all eventually go mad. June herself starts seeing and hearing things that aren't there and after her grandmother's funeral, she receives cryptic clues about her mother's disappearance. June goes on a quest to discover what happened to her mother and to understand the hallucinations she's having. When June steps through a red door that has been appearing to her, she is transported back in time to 1951. I don't want to say anything else because I think its good to go in blind.

I loved the twists and turns in this story and all of the strong women.

Overall, I liked this one, but it is my least favorite book that I've read by Adrienne Young (still 4 stars though!). I didn't really feel connected to the love story. I definitely had to pay attention to the plot and as the story unfolded, I was constantly asking myself "does that work?". I'm trusting the author that there aren't any plot holes. I'm specifically talking about one part of the ending (that I loved), but is a little hard to believe that it never came up before.

Thank you to NetGallery and Random House/Delacorte Press for the eARC!

I loved "Spells For Forgetting" and I think Adrienne has definitely found her niche with cozy, mysterious towns with a secret mixed with magical realism and a bit of fantasy. I immediately loved June's voice and the town of Jasper.

The Farrow women are different and honestly the mystery holds right until the end. I love time travel and timey wimey adventures so I was very excited to dive right into this. All June knows about her mother is that she disappeared shortly after giving birth and leaving her to be raised by her grandmother as a newborn. She grows up knowing her family line is cursed to eventually get sick. When she starts having "episodes" she knows her time is up and her mind will soon deteriorate. Thanks to her grandmother, she walks through a mysterious door she keeps seeing and amazingly starts living her life decades in the past.

The whole book was so atmospheric and I loved unraveling the mystery of not only June but also Nathaniel and Susanna.

Thank you for Netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

What happens when all the women in your family are cursed to loose thier minds? And then you find out the family curse is actually time travel? I love Adrienne Young's books, but I have only read her YA titles. This one was gripping. After losing her grandmother, June starts to uncover the family secret that only haunts the women. When she ends up traveling in time to another version of herself, she must make a choice. Stay or return. There's also a murder mystery to be solved. Fantastic read.

Thank you Adrienne Young, Random House Publishing Group -- Ballantine, and NetGalley for sending me an advanced e-book copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW. This book is officially my favorite book I've read so far in 2023! The premise had me intrigued, and I got sucked into the story right from the jump. I read it in two sittings, stopping only to go to bed. I lay there, trying to go to sleep, but thinking about this book instead.

The Unmaking of June Farrow gave me everything I hoped for in a book about a cursed woman in multiple time periods in the middle of a mystery. While it holds some similarities with The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, I felt June Farrow delivered in a way that Addie LaRue fell flat for me. It was paced well, the characters felt fully formed and realistic, and key plot points came together in fun and surprising ways. keeping the action moving.

There was only one instance that took me out of the story. Two of the characters were talking about a horse and its name. The word 'horse' was said a few times, and the dialogue ended with a tag like "I replied hoarsely." Other than this one line, I loved everything about June Farrow and her story.

**My official review will be posted to Goodreads and on my TikTok channel two weeks before publication.**

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced release copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a beautiful story about lives woven together in ways that transcend time. It is about strong women who are fiercely loyal and will protect each other at all cost. What I didn’t realize until that spectacular ending is that every detail of this book has been thought out in a way that all ties together. This is a perfect fall fantasy/historical fiction that is also thought-provoking

I am a huge fan of Adrienne Young and this book did not disappoint. It was atmospheric and had me hanging on to every word to figure out what exactly was going on with the Farrow women. If you enjoyed her previous book, Spells for Forgetting, you will love this one as well.

As the book opens, June’s grandma has just died. Her grandma had a dementia-like illness that runs through the women in the family. June’s mother had it very young and disappeared when June was a baby. June was raised by her grandmother. While she desperately misses her grandma, she has a bigger problem to worry about. About a year prior, June started experiencing dementia symptoms. June gets a cryptic letter from her grandma a few days after the funeral, offering some information about the mysterious illness. This sends June on a crash course with fate.
 
**Spoiler Alert** There’s some time travel, and while it was interesting, I did have a little trouble following the logic. Overall, it's a very entertaining book, though.
 
I love Adrienne Young! She’s an auto buy for me. Her two YA series, Fable and the Sky and Sea, are some of my favorites of the last few years. This is her second adult book.

This book was really slow and the characters were all so one-dimensional. I did not find the timeline plot or “mystery” compelling either. Her previous book Spells for Forgetting was really similar but at least that one was a little atmospheric.

I really enjoyed this book, it took me a minute to get into it. It was fast paced but I didn’t feel immediate attachment to the characters. As I got further into the book and got to understand June more I really liked her, she’s tough and curious and has a good heart. I will say that I’m normally more drawn to books with heavy dialogue but Adrienne Young does a great job of character develop without a whole lot of conversation which usually doesn’t work for me but she excelled. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people who liked The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue and Midnight Library.

4.5/5 stars. this book was amazing start to finish. it sucked me in right from the first few pages and it took all i had to put it down. the story is beautiful, the characters are well developed, and everything about it - ugh - perfection. the ending is the only thing i wish had been fleshed out just the tiniest bit but the way all the pieces fell together was great. i have nothing negative to say and this book deserves all the hype it gets. thank you netgalley, the author and publisher for such a beautifully well written story on second chance romance and familial love.

This was one of my anticipated books this year. This book started off strong and I was turning pages so quickly to see what was happening. Towards the middle it started to fall flat and it never recovered. I started finding myself skimming through the pages to get to the end so I could see what happens. This book had so much potential but unfortunately missed the mark for me.

Thank you Adrienne Young, Ballantine, and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review!

I LOVED this book! I finished it weeks ago and I am still thinking about it. Adrienne Young is an amazing author that constantly captivates my attention as a reader. The Unmaking of June Farrow is without a doubt my new favorite book by Adrienne Young and among my top books for 2023. I seriously couldn’t put it down and the twists threw me for a loop, because they were so well done. Add the Unmaking of June Farrow to your must read pile and be prepared for it to be one of your favorite books of the year!

This was an intriguing read! I’ll admit that I didn’t really know what I was getting into because I saw the author and cover and requested the book because of that but I’m glad I did! Even now that I’ve read the book I’m not sure how I’d classify it. Magical realism? Mystery? Romance? It contains all that and more. I liked that the book had a little bit of everything. It kept me interested and I was never really sure what direction the story was going in.
The book takes place in a small town where the protagonist is an outcast. I’ll admit that at first the book reminded me a lot of Spells for Forgetting. But the plot quickly diverged into something different. In the story, we’re introduced to June who tells us that all of the women in her family are cursed to fall mad. However, we soon learn that that may not be the case. We learn as June does the real secrets of her family and get to watch as June decides whether to follow the course set for her or to try to make a change.
This book really took me by surprise. I’ll admit that I did not see a lot of the plot twists coming. I don’t know if they were hidden too well or if I just wasn’t paying close enough attention while reading to catch them. But I was genuinely shocked at some of the reveals and wanted to immediately go back and re-read the book to see what clues I had missed. All of the twists and reveals made this a fun book to read!

June is a Farrow, and thus doomed to madness. Sometimes it comes early, like with the mother who abandoned her. Sometimes it holds off for decades, as it did for her grandmother. June has been steadfastly ignoring hallucinations for a year and is determined to end the curse by never starting a family. Then, a posthumous message from her grandmother sets her on an impossible journey. The Farrow women are not insane but unmoored in time, and June must untangle the knotted threads of her family history before she unravels altogether. A captivating, if sometimes dizzying, romance.

I'm obsessed. I'm just absolutely obsessed. I've never read anything like this before.

This book was even better than I expected it to be. The concept was already so intriguing, but the story and the writing somehow surpassed it. The plot is something that I've never personally come across, and I think it's brilliant.

It's written in a way that has you falling for the characters while also leaving you hungry for answers. I couldn't be happier with the way the entire story unfolded, and this special little family holds a small piece of my heart. ❤️