Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine is a compelling and haunting ghost story set against the brutal backdrop of pre-Civil War America. The novel introduces us to Junie, a sixteen-year-old enslaved girl on the Bellereine Plantation in Alabama. Junie's literacy, taught by the "master's" daughter, fuels her yearning for a life beyond the margins of her enslavement.

The narrative is deeply immersive, drawing readers into Junie's world where the horrors of slavery are depicted with unflinching honesty. The story is not just about physical brutality but also the mental and emotional trauma endured by the enslaved. Junie's relationship with Violet, the daughter of the plantation owner, is complex and fraught with naivety and eventual disillusionment.

Eckstine's writing is both evocative and poignant, capturing the resilience and quiet strength of Junie as she navigates her harsh reality. The supernatural elements, including the ghost of Junie's sister Minnie, add a layer of depth to the story, though some readers might find this thread distracting.

The novel's atmosphere is thick with tension and dread, seamlessly blending the supernatural with the harsh realities of the time. The romance in the story is endearing and adds to the emotional stakes, making Junie's journey all the more compelling.

Junie is a book that stays with you long after you've turned the last page. It's a powerful exploration of resilience, love, and the quest for freedom in the face of unimaginable adversity. Erin Crosby Eckstine has crafted a story that is both arresting and deeply affecting, leaving readers with a profound sense of empathy and a heavy heart.

This may be the best book I have read in a long time. A novel I am sad to finish as I was very invested in Junie's story. This is a magnificent novel filled with a captivating plot and characters one can imagine sitting with on the plantation. As a fan of The Kitchen House, this is now my favorite. Junie and her sister's relationship evolves as the truth is revealed. Her sister's ghost was well crafted into each section, giving details as the story of her struggle comes to light. A rich love story in so many ways, family/friends/lovers. A realistic view on what one will do for love and family. I was so involved in the story I felt as if I were there with Junie and felt all the feelings. Junie evolves through the story as she finds forgiveness with those she feels have betrayed her. As all the characters seek freedom and find their peace in their own way. This is a story that haunts me long after the last page. I left hopeful in the ending, although I would love for the story to continue. I will be anticipating more from Erin Crosby Eckstine. I would recommend everyone read Junie for the historical fiction it portrays and the gripping plot.

I loved Junie. She was an incredible, strong character. To hear about the author’s inspiration and familial connection to Junie made the story even better. Books like these are the reason I love historical fiction.

This book has me slightly conflicted. I have a lot of thoughts, but ultimately, nothing that changes my overall stance—it was just okay for me. I won’t go on a rant about the negatives, so let’s keep this short.

I went into this with high hopes, especially since the author had mentioned wanting to approach this kind of story from a fresh perspective. Unfortunately, nothing about Junie felt particularly revolutionary. I also didn’t care much for her relationship with Violet. It felt forced and only further cemented my feelings about the read.

My biggest issue with this book is that it should have been marketed as YA. While it’s written well enough, it reads exactly like a young adult novel—the characters, the dialogue, and even the way modern teen angst is injected into a historical setting. If this had been officially categorized as YA, I think I would have been more forgiving of Junie’s lack of character development.

That said, I’m sure there will be readers who love this book, especially with its paranormal elements used to explore heavy themes. In fact, I wish those elements had been pushed even further. While this wasn’t a favorite for me, I still see potential in the author’s future works outside of this debut. I hope to see them push their narratives further and explore storytelling in the future instead of the past.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this egalley.

Note: Contains some spoilers: This book was really interesting - not what I would have expected when picking it up - between Junie's relationships with her family and Caleb, the evolution/devolution of her relationship with Violet, the truth behind the stories of her family, and more. It definitely kept me on my toes. There were some parts of this that I really loved (Junie and Caleb reading, Junie standing up to Violet, Junie uncovering her family's history), but there were other parts that felt repetitive to me (Junie's guilt over Minnie/deciding whether or not to help her as one example). I like that the ending was left open (something I normally don't) because it allows for the reader to hope for more for Caleb and Junie's family. I also really liked learning from the Author's Notes that this was based on a woman in her family tree. I would definitely recommend this book though - I felt like it isn't like anything I have read before.

I live in Alabama close to Elmore County and I throughly enjoyed reading this book. Loved all the characters and descriptions of this part of Alabama.

Mere words cannot do this amazing read justice. My heart had melted into a puddle on the floor after I finished the last page. I found myself looking over my shoulder hoping not to see a gold mist anywhere nearby. A total surprise …I was not expecting to be so very engaged by Erin Crosby Eckstine’s novel of an amazingly unique brave sixteen year old girl named Junie, living on a cotton plantation in Alabama just before the Civil War. Although the setting and the challenges faced by Junie and her “family” were familiar I found Junie to be one of the most unique characters I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I loved her carefree personality and her connection to the woods. Her naïveté was very endearing. Her connection with Violet was no surprise until the fallout, which served to harden Junie and help her realize her tenuous relationship with Violet. I did feel sorry for Violet whose book loving romantic wishes from Bronte never came to fruition in her own marriage. Her connection with her sister in law was shocking but not surprising. Still confused how her husband did not seem to pick up on it. Junie’s decisions towards the end of the book had me cheering for her strength and ability to see through others.
My favorite character was actually Minnie who served as the catalyst for so much of Junie’s strength. I love the way Erin Crosby Eckstine included her and the other haunts with their reasons for remaining in that area. Minnie’s actions during the fire made sense after Violet’s mother’s confessions and I so loved the combined efforts of Minnie and her fellow haunts to control the fire saving Junie’s family.
Caleb was truly a heartbreaker and I still find myself wishing “what if”. Although the ending was heartbreaking it served to showcase Junie’s incredible strength and determination.
Reading the author’s notes that she used a relative’s story as the catalyst for this amazing book really was the icing on the cake. Coosada must be a very special place indeed.
My immense thanks to Erin Crosby Eckstine, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this unforgettable story published on February 4th.

This book was beautiful. I absolutely fell in love with Junie. Her carefree and adventurous spirit calling to me. There are also some heartbreaking moments in the story that transport you back to the Civil War era. This book was based loosely on the authors past generations of her life. I fell in love with this and would 10 out of 10 recommend it to anyone.
Thank you NetGalley on the early copy.

I've seen a lot of love for Junie going around social media, but sadly I didn't fall in complete love with it like others. While I liked the ideas surrounding Junie, especially with the haunts, I didn't think it was as well executed as it could be. Junie, the novel itself, seemed to be trying to find its footing in adult fiction, but read like YA lot of the time. Some of it could be the naivete of Junie as a character that kept it feeling like YA a lot of the time. I've read a lot of novels with similar themes and this one hit the mark compared to others. It was nice to know that the author used her own family as inspiration for the story, but I'm sad they had to go through everything they did. When dealing with a story involving slavery, there are of course things that are harder to read, but it is our history and we can't and shouldn't erase it. Although Junie wasn't a total win for me, I'd still try another novel by Erin Crosby Eckestine in the future. I'm excited to see where her writing will go in the future.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley for a copy in exchange for review consideration.

Honestly this was phenomenal. I would put this up there with my fav book of 2025. I know it’s early. But the characters were so multi dimensional, so real. I loved how flawed everyone was and the ending made me feel something. It wasn’t the ending i wanted but after reading the authors note i totally understand.

The wait this author writes a book is just so beautiful and lyrically perfect.

This book was really really tough to get through. I wanted to enjoy it because the premise is so intriguing, but I just couldn’t get into it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine!

Junie is historical fiction at its best with a page-turning story revolving around a young slave Junie, her dead sister's ghost, and the plantation on which she has grown up. The book is an exploration of love, grief, friendship, and power. The ending is powerful and hopeful; would be an excellent book to discuss at book club.

Kudos to the cover artist for one of the most beautiful book covers I've ever seen...

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this ARC.

Junie has been enslaved all her life, along with her older sister, Minnie. Her sister has suddenly died and now Junie is living in the wake of that tragedy. Junie's main role has been to tend to the plantation owner's daughter, Violet. The lines of slave owner and enslaved seem to be blurred when it comes to Junie and Violet's relationship. They grew up together as confidants, however that relationship is tested when guests arrive at the plantation. Things begin to change around her and Junie makes a desperate choice that conjures up Minnie's ghost. As the tides change on the plantation, Junie becomes increasingly desperate to take control of her destiny... and that of her ghost sister's who is stuck between worlds.

The first half of the novel eases the reader into Junie's life as an enslaved young lady, but the second half shows the terrible, violent truth of it. The relationship between Violet and Junie is one you don't often see in fiction about slavery, which made this book stand out to me. What also made it stand out is the paranormal activity. I'm not one for ghost stories, so that really had me questioning my feelings about this one!

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine
I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful tribute to a family legacy!
This is a debut novel by Eckstine and I really hope to read more by her in the future!
Junie has been enslaved since birth. Existing on Bellereine Plantation, she serves with her family as a maid and a cook. She has become a close friend to Violet, the master’s daughter. The two girls enjoy poetry and reading, a gift Violet gave Junie. At night Junie roams the woods, filled with guilt and loss from her sister Minnie’s death.
When guests arrive from New Orleans, everything changes. There is talk of marriage for Violet and Junie’s world is upended. In her desperation, Junie awakens the spirit of her sister. Lies are uncovered with haunting secrets. Junie’s anchor becomes Caleb, a coachman brought by the visiting guests.
So many things go wrong, there is threat of war, and Junie has her own secrets and dreams to contend with. She is faced with the most difficult decision of her life.
This was such a beautiful tribute to a family legacy. It is based off an ancestor of the author. The story is so well written, the characters are just meticulously developed and so relatable. This was heartbreaking and astonishingly wonderful at the same time. I wanted more.
The details in the characters and setting give the reader an intimate connection to slavery and the characters living through it. It isn’t painted completely negatively; they are portrayed with hopes and dreams and it’s just beautiful. Junie will stay with me as a favorite character. 5/5⭐

I would love to Thank NetGalley and Ballantine Books/Penguin for the wonderful opportunity to review a copy of this beautiful book.

• On a side note, I did purchase a copy of the audiobook and it is also so wonderfully executed. The narrator does an excellent job giving voice to the individual characters and enhances the overall experience of the book. Also a 5/5⭐

"Junie" is a compelling novel that had me in tears! Eckstine masterfully intertwines historical fiction with elements of magical realism in this pre-Civil War Alabama story. Sixteen-year-old Junie, an enslaved girl on a southern plantation, nurtures a friendship with Violet, the plantation owner's daughter, and harbors dreams of a life beyond servitude.

This book delves deep into the psychological and emotional impacts of slavery, presenting a vivid portrayal of Junie's internal and external struggles. The introduction of supernatural elements, particularly Junie's encounters with her deceased sister's spirit, adds a unique dimension to the story, symbolizing the lingering traumas and unfulfilled desires of the past. "Junie" paints a compelling portrait of the emotional and social degradations of slavery so much so that I found myself developing a deep connection to the story and the characters...something not many authors have done for me in the past. Dare I compare to Kristen Hannah?

This is a story of an exploration of resilience, hope, and the enduring human spirit amidst the harrowing realities of slavery. The blend of historical fiction with supernatural elements offers a fresh perspective on the subject matter. Absolutely incredible.

*Be sure to read the Author's Note at the end, as the story was based on the author’s generational family history and was a tribute to her great-great-great-great grandmother.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC.

ARC BOOK REVIEW

Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine
5 STARS

Thank you, Random House Ballantine, for the #free eARC of this book! It is equally gorgeous and difficult.

SYNOPSIS: “Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.

When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act—one that rouses Minnie’s spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her. She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests’ coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.

With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life. As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?”

REVIEW: This is a beautifully written story with so many layered elements. It’s a coming-of-age story, with a touch of supernatural, that’s carried by Crosby Eckstine a powerful language. It is a story of love, loss, guilt, and survival.
The novel is profound exploration of the brutality of pre-Civil War America, where the horrors of slavery, racism, and violence are woven into the fabric of everyday life. The story doesn't shy away from depicting the cruelty of a society built on oppression, while also highlighting moments of love, resilience, and tenderness amidst the trauma.
I also want to point out the beauty of this book cover. The artist did an amazing job. It’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen in a while.

Publisher: Random House - Ballantine
Pub date: OUT NOW!

Behind every single ARC that I request and receive, is a genuine desire to read the story and love it. I have gotten much better at picking books that I’ll enjoy than I was even a few years ago, but my judgment isn’t always the best and sometimes I’ll pick up a book that I just don’t connect to. Sometimes the story veers in a different direction than I was hoping, I don’t connect to the characters, or any other variety of reasons. What it all boils down to is that you should take my review with a grain of salt, because all of my reviews are based on my own subjective experience, and you might just love a book I didn’t enjoy.

I make it a habit to avoid reading any reviews before I read the book itself. Not just to avoid spoilers, but also to sidestep the possibility that I start the book with a view biased by someone I trust. So I started this book with no preconceived notions except that I’d most likely find it to be a good read. I was expecting this to deal with heavy topics, particularly because it takes place before slavery was abolished. However, I had a difficult time with this book. I wound up switching to the audiobook version for some of the read to see if that helped, and for the most part it did.

The story centers around 16-year-old Junie, who has been enslaved on the same plantation for her entire life, and despite her dark skin, has grown up as a playmate and then maid to the daughter of the plantation owner. But the events that occur during this book made Junie seem so incredibly naïve. My father grew up during wartime and said that after the experience of the Holocaust, there were no children left, only young adults if they were fortunate enough to survive. I mention this, because like there is nothing that can be compared to the Holocaust. It had such an enduring effect on Jewish people. And while nothing can be compared to chattel slavery, I can easily see how 400 years of the cruelest oppression any psychopath could dream up would have an enduring effect on Black people descended from enslaved ancestors.

The writing is beautifully descriptive, and that’s a clear standout skill from the author. Despite it being approximately 17ºF in New York, and closer to high 60s in my house, I could feel the waves of heat the characters were experiencing with no relief, and read most of this reading in a tank top and shorts (they were the easiest thing to put over my boot), shivering while reading this summer tale.

Bellereine Plantation is in Alabama, and I can only imagine that no enslaved Black people were spared the brutal realities of the life they were facing—the complete dehumanization to where PEOPLE were viewed as property, the fact that a white person could do whatever they wanted and there was no avenue for justice or even human rights, and that they weren’t in control of any aspect of their life. By the time the story starts, it seems like the plantation isn’t doing too well, since they are running with a skeleton crew. There are barely enough slaves to keep up with all the house duties, which is how dark-skinned Junie winds up being a ‘house slave,’ although there are multiple uses of the N-word, as I’d unfortunately expect to see in any accurate historical fiction set on a plantation in the deep South.

Somehow, despite Junie growing up as the one dark-skinned girl allowed to work in the house, with constant apologies to guests for how dark the maid is. Since Violet has grown up with Junie as her companion and now her maid, Junie has been exposed to some advantages that others aren’t privy to—like learning how to read and write at Violet’s side. I didn’t really understand how she could be living her life as an enslaved person and still be so naïve about the life right in front of her eyes.

I struggled to fully connect with Junie, because she comes off as so sheltered and young. Not age-young, but maturity-wise. In some ways, she was far more mature for her years, and in other ways, this read a lot like a MG character’s way of thinking, rather than a girl who is on the verge of becoming a woman. And speaking of which, as Junie navigates through her 16th year, she doesn’t seem to realize what happens to a woman’s slave when she gets married. I found it hard to believe that none of the older and/or wiser enslaved people who lived with and cared for Junie had ever pulled her aside and explained what can happen if she doesn’t fall into line to keep her as safe as possible. But with Junie facing the encroaching betrothal of Violet, she has no thoughts that she might be separated from the people she’s known her entire life. She has no knowledge of what can happen to her if she isn’t the perfect maid and doesn’t have the knack of being able to fade invisibly into the background. Events start to go sideways, and before long, Junie is trying to fulfill a task for her sister so her spirit can move on. This is a common belief in other cultural groups as well as my own, so it didn’t seem strange to me.

For me, the paranormal elements of the story were the least cohesive. I had some difficulty integrating the haint of her sister to the non-paranormal elements of the story. Sometimes it felt like it furthered the story for sure, and at other times, the pace slowed and it didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the story. This is one of those books where I kept hoping it would get better. I had actually began to toy with the idea of DNFing, but realizing I was more than halfway through, I didn’t. I’m so glad that I didn’t, because the last 15-20% of the book is fast-paced, engaging, and literally had me on the edge of my seat to find out what would happen next.

Eckstine also has the talent of crafting characters who were mostly all believable and realistic, well-rounded individuals. Violet struck me in particular, and if you’ve read Babel by R.F. Kuang, you’ll understand why. I loved seeing how the characters engaged with each other, behaving as differently with found family as with new people and the people who enslave them, and enjoyed the conversations the characters had—it’s that effortless easy way the Black people in the story have with each other, and a sense of fierce protectiveness of each other, despite the fact that that they were cowed into submission by any number of brutal means. And even as Junie is coping with the events occurring in the story, she struggles with an inner conflict of guilt and feeling responsible for the death of her older sister with no healthy outlet for support and reassurance.

Overall, this wasn’t a bad book—there wasn’t anything wrong with it that I can put my finger on. Junie’s sense of innocence didn’t feel realistic to me, and it made it more difficult for me to warm to her quickly, and the ghostly visions of Minnie had me feeling like I missed something somewhere along the way. But by the end, I was firmly team Junie, even if the action and emotions the story had pulled out of me at the end weren’t enough to overcome the things that I didn’t like. Honestly, it just wasn’t a good fit for me personally, which is why I started this review by saying this is my own subjective opinion, and the good news is that I seem to be in the minority of people who didn’t rate this book highly, at least according to Goodreads. You might want to pick this one up if: you like American and especially Southern history leading up to the Civil War; are intrigued by the summary; want to learn more about the impact enslavement had on every aspect of the lives of these people in a historical fiction format; if you like a little slow-burn, low-spice, sweet romance; and particularly if you like a little magical realism/paranormal twist in your historical fiction.

Oh my heart is in pieces after finishing this one. Just beautiful and sad.

Books like this don’t come around all that much so I’m going to cherish it. Junie is a ghost story mixed with history and feelings of being your own person when no one wants you to be.

There were parts where I couldn’t help but cry for the characters.

I will read more from the author. I love the title and the cover is perfect. I can already tell this is going to be on all the top books list. I think the subject matter is also extremely important right now.

Thank you to NetGalley, Erin Crosby Eckstine, and Random House Publishing Group. I have written this review voluntarily.

What a truly beautiful story and a compelling debut.

As with all stories that take place during slavery, this enraged me. We are not divorced from the atrocities of our past—from colonization, from slave owners who assaulted my ancestors, dehumanized them, violated them, abused them, stuffed their pillows with their hair. Stamped out the fire of their rebellion and doused their dreams. Stories such as these remind us the importance of never forgetting so that we may never return, and so we may never allow this to happen to anyone else, anywhere in the world. If we forget, we dishonor the people who suffered inhumane treatment so that we can live the lives we live today, and I will never, ever do that.

Junie was somewhat a coming-of-age book alongside everything going on. Junie's behavior was frustrating because she was young and naive, and it is also the thing that saved her life. Her unwillingness to allow her life to be the thing it'd been for everyone who came before her was bold and terrifying, but it was also delicious and hopeful.

I also found the paranormal aspect—ghosts of enslaved people helping from the other side—to be beautiful. I very much am the type of person who believes that our loved ones either cross over or go on to serve and protect their bloodline on the other side of that veil, so I was so incredibly touched by how this was depicted and thought it was incredibly written.

The only thing I wish we'd seen more of—and I was struck by the absence of—was clarity about the ending. I felt like these characters—especially Junie and Caleb deserved more. However, I acknowledge that hope was hard to come by back then, especially with stories like these. I also would've liked to see how Violet ended up.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for the ARC!

4.5 ⭐️s