So thankful to Random House for this one.

Fable was my first Adrienne Young book, and the sequel nor last year's Spells For Forgetting have disappointed. This newest one was no different. I absolutely loved the story of the Farrow women. The women were strong characters and the writing was wonderfully done.

I honestly cannot say a lot because if I go too much into the story it is a spoiler, as the synopsis does not give this part away. Let's just say I highly recommend.

I think this was a very enjoyable read and definitely a page turner. I liked that it was a mystery and a romance and had a magic twist. I ended up really liking June but wish that more time had been spent on her relationship with Mason and her time in the future. I've always loved a creative pull everything together in a unique way ending, but there was something about this one that didn't quite work for me though I'm not exactly sure why.

The story of June Farrow is haunting and unputdownable!

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a complicated story woven with mystery.
Through the pages, ghosts haunt the living—ghosts of lives never lived and those yet to be born.

“I couldn’t stop thinking that where we stood was the center of something, a place that
created the kind of gravity that makes galaxies.”

For as long as can be remembered, the Farrow women have been cursed. The townsfolk call it “madness.” Some call it delusion. Others think there is something broken in the Farrow’s.

Jasper is a small town with devastating secrets. June Farrow is determined to let those secrets die. No other Farrow will be dealt the same cruel hand of fate again. The Farrow line must end with her.

However, as the past comes to haunt June with a vengeance, she must make a choice…

Take a leap of faith or deny the truth unfolding in front of her.

What she decides will change the course of history, her history, and her life—forever.

All in all, The Unmaking of June Farrow is a decent enough novel. The story is quite compelling, while the characters are easy to fall in love with. Unfortunately, it was not for me.

I decided to take a chance on this novel because I love Adrienne Young’s writing. This story is no different. Young masterfully crafts novels of brilliance and beauty.

However, my mind clashed with the story Young was trying to tell. The parallels between my own life and the book Young’s crafted do not coexist well with one another. I cannot give a “proper” rating for this book because I do not have the frame of mind to open up and truly experience this story.

That being said, the highlights I could hold onto were radiant. Young has crafted an intricate and delicate web of time. The Unmaking of June Farrow is the story of a woman whose life has been fractured. Left to sort out the mystery of herself, June walks a path few others can follow. Everything that happens is because of June’s resilience and strength.

Only you, dear reader, can decide if this book is for you. I recommend taking a chance on June and her story. You never know, what may not have been for me could be the very thing you need.

A Massive Thank You to the Author, the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book prior to its release date.

I loved this so much! Adrienne Young really seems to understand magical realism and weird family dynamics. I loved the kind of time travel aspect of this story and I loved the characters. The author did an awesome job hitting you with a twist and then wrapping it all up well. There was strong emotion, mystery, grief, and love in this story and the author did a great job piecing that all together. I don't think this story is necessarily set in fall, but this book gives that early fall feel to me, like Spells for Forgetting felt like early September to me and this one does too.

Wow! I devoured this book in one day! The Unmaking of June Farrow is a genre-bending tale filled with magic, mystery, love and family. It was hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking. The magical element had me a bit confused at first, but when it finally clicked, I was awestruck. This book was brilliantly written. I was completely captivated by the story and the twists were unreal. My first by Adrienne Young and it won't be my last! I highly recommend this one!

Thank you to the author, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

The Unmaking of June Farrow
by Adrienne Young
Pub Date: 17 Oct 2023

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.

I literally couldn’t put this book down and read it one day. Now I am in a major book hangover. The style with which Adrienne Young composes a book is utterly compelling and I want to live in her worlds.

June Farrow was found abandoned by her mother and then raised by her grandmother. Their family is one riddled with madness. June is set to end this familial trait with herself, never entering into a relationship and deciding to never have children. Only, there’s more to their family history than what June knows. But now she is seeing things and hearing things…. And now there is a mysterious door that has appeared out of nowhere.

The next time the door appears, June takes a chance and steps through it. Stepping through the door will change everything – the past, the present and the future.

Again, this book was amazing. This review is hard because I want to say everything that happens, but I refuse to ruin this story for anyone!

June Farrow is as strong and brave as she is afraid. This is an epic tale that spans time that holds as many mysteries as it does its answers. This book has everything you could ask for – romance, mystery and a touch of magic. You should download this novel immediately – you will not be disappointed. I am only disappointed in how little I could articulate a review without spoiling anything.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for the opportunity to read and review this. Adrienne Young has become my favorite author.

The Unmaking of June Farrow… First THANK YOU to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this masterpiece.

Now, I didn’t know what to expect from this novel after reading Spells. I’ve devotedly read all of Adrienne’s work the moment it is released, and Spells did not land for me; I did not connect to that story, or its characters.

Let me eat my words there because Adrienne wrote with a hauntingly astute beauty of small and poignant detail for The Unmaking of June Farrow and those details me followed me into sleep. Never have I felt so grounded, so aware and a part of a character’s world—in any genre. It has in fact taken me days to work up the words for this review and still, I do not think it will do justice.

Mystery, romance, and magic weave together in a heart-wrenching tale of what a mother will do when it comes to her child, and the heartbreak and loss that can accompany those choices. If I read that line alone, this isn’t a book I’d typically pick up (not being a mother myself) but good god would I have missed out.

Read it, love it, love Eamon (because I can’t write a review without doting on #TheMan) and love June because she deserves it.

I really enjoyed this book and the story it told. It was easy to follow and kept me interested in what was happening. It was a fun puzzle to put together and while I saw some of it coming there will still pieces that surprised me. I loved the writing style it was beautiful and dispute being a story about time travel which is notoriously complicated it was actually really easy to follow. I liked the openness of the ending but did feel that it was a little abrupt in some ways and could have been built out a little bit more but beyond that a really enjoyable read.

🤍 Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the e-arc of The Unmaking of June Farrow 🤍

This book was utterly captivating and completely immersive. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop!

The story was so unique and all the threads that Adrienne Young wove together were amazing.

It was twisty and had one of my favorite tropes ever! The romance was perfection, the mystery was eery, and the book was just magical.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5
Steam: mild open door/fade to black
Our October 17th
.
TW: graphic murder, mentions of su**ide

A delightful, meditative fantasy mystery with a dash of romance. This truly surprised me with how invested I became in the characters—my only fault with it is that I think it could have easily been another 200 pages. I would have loved to spend more time getting to know the Farrow women and their lives.

Even though I’m sitting here thinking “what did I just read” I’m also thinking about how wonderfully beautiful and amazing this story was.
June Farrow comes from a long line of Farrow women who have gone mad from a century long curse. Her mother is one of those women, one day she disappeared leaving June to be raised by her grandmother. But when her grandmother begins to suffer the same fate, and she also becomes plagued by visions she doesn't understand. She is determined to stop this curse once and for all. June knows that to do this means that she will never find love or have a family of her own.

After her grandmother dies, she uncovers clues about her mother's disappearance that only brings more questions. Resolved to stop this curse she decides to go through the door that appears in her visions to find answers. But once she crosses that threshold she emerges into a small town, where she begins piecing together the truth and meets a family that will forever change her life.

I just adored this book and I found myself not wanting to put it down while at the same time not wanting it to end.

I struggled a little for the first few chapters. The story felt slow and just wasn’t grabbing me enough to hold my attention. Then as I kept reading I began to figure out what might be occurring within the story and I was 100% invested.

There are so many plot twists, so many mysteries and your brain synapses really have to be firing on all cylinders to grasp the timeline. There are multiple astounding relationships and love stories, including timeless love.

“And then I spoke my vows into the summer wind. That I’d love him forever. That I would always, always come back. That no matter what, I would always find him.”

This was a beautiful novel.

I received an advanced reader copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5 stars. Since her debut in 2018, Adrienne Young has been such a comfort author to me. I can always finish her books in one sitting, even during slumps. Her books always center around family, community and of course romance. Those topics are my bread and butter.

The more I think about The Unmaking of June Farrow book the more I love it. I initially gave this 4 stars because I found the romance disappointing but I slept on it and decided on 4.5 stars. This book summary does something incredible rare, it tells you exactly what it is about.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a small town mystery steeped with magical realism and focuses on the intergenerational relationships of the Farrow women. Each Farrow woman was their own person. Each had a unique relationship with each other. Sometimes stories focusing on matriarchal families feature man-hating, but not in this story. It was very much about the love they had for each other and sometimes men fit in the story and sometimes not. I can't explain how moved I am by the relationship between grandmother, mother and daughter. It reminds me of my own.

There were 2 plot twists I did not see coming even though there were hints and it just blew my mind. It was very very smart. Sometimes playing with time can get tricky but Adrienne Young balanced explaining enough to satisfy your curiosity with still maintaining an air of mystery with the unexplained beautifully.

As I mentioned upon finishing the book the romance disappointed me, until I recalibrated my expectations. This book isn't romance driven like Spells for Forgetting, it's family driven. It's very interesting it's a rare romance story that focuses on what happens after happily ever after? Spoiler: reality. Eamon was like that too, he's nothing like male love interests we usually see. He's kind of poor, hard-working, an immigrant in a small town, a proud farm owner just trying to make ends meet. We don't really see his and June's love story because of complicated reasons but that really wasn't the point of the story and with space I see that it would have detracted from the story if we saw it. I never felt like Eamon was the love of June's life but this book reminded me that sometimes love doesn't need to be soulmates. It can be a simple choice of wanting to be where that person is, to share their joys and their burdens, to feel at home because they see all of you. A simple life could really be a magical life.

I honestly sped through this story because I just had to know the answers!!! But I can't wait to do a slower read once the book comes out.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

Adrienne Young gets better and better, as well as more creative and confident in her abilities, writing techniques and storytelling, as her magical realism novel, “The Unmaking of June Farrow,” demonstrates.

This fabulous adventure into time-bending is mesmerizing in its originality, beauty and emotional range.

June Farrow is raised by her grandmother, Margaret, on the family flower farm in the tiny mountain village of Jasper, NC, after her own mother, Susanna, abandoned her, then disappeared, when June was just a seven-month-old child.

June grew-up knowing that the Farrow women were different. Most say that they are cursed to lose their minds at some time in their lives. Margaret is already delusional, and unknown to family, friends and colleagues, June has been having visions, too.

Soon Margaret dies and June’s crazy is getting worse—red doors are standing open in the cemetery; a preacher dead 100 years is seen standing in the church window; a man’s voice keeps calling her name; chimes ring when there are none.

Encouraged by a elderly family friend Birdie, the next time June sees an open red door, she walks through it into a time and place of which she has no memory.

TheBookMaven graciously thanks NetGalley, Author Adrienne Young, and Publisher Random House Publishing / Ballantine / Delacorte Press for this advanced readers copy (ARC) for review.

Adrienne Young is a storytelling goddess. I didn't read the description before starting, and I'm glad I went in blind! I loved the magical realism and Adrienne's stories are always so atmospheric.

When I wasn't reading, it was all I could think about. SO many mysteries to solve and pieces to put together, and sweet relationships scattered throughout. I think my favorite parts were those relationships that were weaved through time. I finished it feeling heartbroken but peaceful at the same time. I absolutely loved this one!

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Ms. Young does not know how to write a bad book! The Unmaking of June Farrow was so beautifully written, I love being immersed in her stories, and with her characters. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

This is the second novel by Adrienne Young that I have read (the first being Spells for Forgetting, which I loved) and this one disappointed me in that I felt it moved way too slow for the first ¾ of the novel and if this had not been an ARC, I probably would have added it to my Did Not Finish pile. June Farrow is member of a family of women who become ill (something that sounds like dementia) as they age. But that is not all that is at play here - June's mother had abandoned her as a baby and she was raised by her beloved grandmother and her grandmother's best friend Birdie. As June begins to question her past and her mind begins to go with hallucinations, she starts to see a red door - should she open it? And what will happen if she does? There is more to the story and it links to an unsolved crime in their small town that took place years before.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Another beautifully written, heartbreaking story from Adrienne Young. I get completely lost in the unique stories she creates. This is a must read for 2023 and the perfect book to be released during fall. Also, I absolutely love this book cover!