The Unmaking of June Farrow A Novel

I really like the concept of this one, but the characters were just a miss for me. Because of that, I honestly wonder if the romance aspect of this book would have worked better as a horror story

I think I liked where the novel focused more on the mystery and the family curse more than when it focused on the romance. Felt like it had taken a lot of inspiration from Octavia E. Butler's "Kindred", though well divorced from any real examination of societal themes.

I hate time travel books because of the inevitability of plot holes. The plot holes here lost a star for it, but I still enjoyed reading it. A quick read, could have been 300 pages longer and I probably would've enjoyed it a lot more. Can't say I've ever said that about a book before.

This had all the elements that should work for me: small town, unsolved murder, complex families. But where Spells for Forgetting was charming, June came off as an odd time warp story that was never really resolved to my satisfaction. I liked it, but didn’t love it.

If I could give this infinity ♾️ stars I would. This was so moving, and heartbreaking, and suspenseful, and immersive. I was completely swept up in it and read the whole book in less than a day. I had to know what the curse was and what happened!! I’m honestly so glad I went into this without knowing basically anything about it. This has definitely been added to my all-time favourites list, and I am just endlessly obsessed with Adrienne Young’s work. I just read Fable, and that was fantastic. Cannot wait to check out the rest!

This book was described to me as a mystery with time travel and a bit of romance; it turned out to be a romance novel with some aspects of time travel and a murder. Unfortunately I find most romance novels tedious and this one was no exception. As soon as the protagonist mentioned pulling her hair from a knot, "letting the sun-warmed waves spill across her shoulders", I should have known that this novel would require a lot of eye-rolling on my part. I could have gotten past that all if the time-travel part was mind-twisty fun, but it wasn't -- it was more like time travel-lite and I was ultimately disappointed.

It had potential but I just couldn’t get excited to pick it up to read.

Fast paced, but gets a little mind twisty

A beautiful read. I had no idea where it was going to go, and if it hadn't gone the way it did, I would've filed emotional distress charges against Adrienne Young. This was amazing from beginning to end, and really drew me in. It was painful to put it down in order to work. Had a unique rustic old southern feel, with a ranch style time travel romance and I ate it up. I liked how unique the stretch of time was, how disjointed and twisted it became, and how the doorway to the different times felt almost spooky. Will reread in the future!

This is one of my fav reads ever

ok wow i need to sit with these feelings for a bit

➺ 4/5 🌟 The messed up timeline here due to the time travel, when her future self meeting his past self while his future self meeting her past self, was actually interesting but somewhere I couldn't exactly pinpoint, there's a kind of inconsistency with how the timeline works. Maybe this just got too complicated, even for me who loves time travel where the timeline would somehow get messed up. I don't really get the fraying stuff, but regardless of the complicated things in this book, I enjoyed this story a lot. Honestly, the ending was a bit anticlimactic for me. I was already bracing myself for an emotional ending. It's not that I'm wishing for a sad one, but even though everything went well, the ending wrapped up in an abrupt manner. It felt like all this build up only for it to conclude in the last 5 short chapters. Don't get me wrong, it's not that the ending ruined the story for me because the ending isn't bad. I still really liked my whole experience reading this. The anticipation for what's to happen and the mystery kept me going. Despite the ending a bit lacking, I still think this book still deserves my rating. My first book with this author and I know I'll be picking up more of her books.

Compelling but never really got attached to main character. It was a fun quick read. Needed a visual for the 🧵 at the end.

My interest was piqued by the first couple of pages. At first it felt slightly spooky, but the majority of the book is more of a mystery. I loved the storyline, characters, AND setting. I did figure out the two biggest plot twists, one particularly early, but I still couldn’t stop reading. Even the seemingly dull moments had me hooked. The Unmaking of June Farrow has the perfect mix of of family, love, rural mystery, and hocus pocus.

Spells for Forgetting was one of my favourite reads of last year, so I knew I needed to read The Unmaking of June Farrow ASAP!

The Farrow women have a curse, one that June is determined to end. As her mind begins to unravel faster and her madness cascades before her, June begins to delve into her past in the hopes of finding a cure for her future.

This book has a touch of everything: magical realism, time-travel, mystery, and unending love that crosses over all boundaries, even time.

The writing is beautifully exquisite. Adrienne Young just has this ability to immerse you so completely into the story and the characters lives that you breathe for them, you feel for them, and ultimately (in my case) you cry for them. I can not remember the last time I felt so absorbed in a book that every emotion, every heartbeat, every second of the character's life was caught so completely within my own.

The story of love and how it has the power to defy everything, even time, is exceptional! It weaves so carefully through every page, painting the most perfect picture and fueling all your emotions as it all all comes together.

The mystery woven amongst these themes of love really adds to the climax of the story. I was worried it would detract from the main themes, but instead, it pulls everything together and helps guide the story.

The Unmaking of June Farrow is a compelling, intriguing, and truly heartwarming story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for a review.

Let's start with my favorite part about this: the writing. I've read a few of Young's previous books, so I knew that I was in for an atmospheric read, and she more than delivered. It was so enchanting. I loved the small-town setting and the magical realism elements. Despite the slower pacing, I was gripped the entire time. I like June as a character and wanted to learn more about her and her family. My issue with this book stemmed from the plot itself. I never understood how or why June and her family had this time-traveling ability. I found myself confused by all the different details and had a difficult time keeping the timelines straight in my head. The romance was also lacking for me. Despite all that, I still enjoyed it and will continue to pick up whatever Young comes out with next.