Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Unmaking of June Farrow

June Farrow grew up knowing that one day she would start to see things that weren’t there and when that happened it would be the beginning of the end. The same was true for every woman in her family. When her grandmother dies after her own battle with dementia, June is left a strange photograph that can’t be explained. However, when she starts to search for the answers to her questions, she finds the truth along with so many secrets no one ever told her.

This story swept me away. I love Adrienne Young’s beautiful atmospheric writing and this was no exception. I’m always going be a sucker for books set in Appalachia. This story is about June discovering herself and her purpose in life through her history and a lot of that revolves around the relationship between a mother and a daughter. The romance in this one was a bit angsty and borderline subplot/chicklit level but I love a prickly man who is sad and lonely on the inside. There was pretty vague steam but I still found it hot. This book was hard to “trope” bc it doesn’t quite fit a mold and I don’t want to spoil the plot but it has a mystery that at times borders on suspense/thriller and it had me turning the page as fast as I could. I am tempted to start it over from the beginning now that I know what happens. I think this one will stick with me for a while. Great on audio by Brittany Pressley.

The only thing I’m dying to know:

What happened to make her start things with Mason and then go through the door? I chose to believe that Mason just saw her as a sister, Birdie told him the full truth after a time, and then he fell madly in love with that intern!

Content Warnings

reading_historical_romance's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I’m trying to come up with the right words to express how much I loved this book, and whatever I write keeps falling short so I keep deleting and starting over! It was everything magical all at once, and absolutely one of my favorite reads of the year. Two enthusiastic thumbs up. Five glittering gold stars. This is a masterful tale of magical realism, suspense, mystery, thriller, and aching romance.

Thirty-four year old June Farrow was raised by her grandmother in the small Appalachian mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, after being abandoned as a baby. Her mother was never seen again. Although June has done some research into what may have happened and to try to discover if her mother is still alive, it is June’s grandmother’s death that kicks off a chain of events that leads June to finally discover the truth about the female members of the Farrow family.

This is one of those books that you can’t quit thinking about when you have to put it down to deal with actual real life stuff (rude) and long after you’ve finished it. The threads of the story are all woven together so tightly. The characters are consistently human, and never get close to the edge of being fantastical or mystical. The characters are what continually ground the reader to focus on the novel’s themes, which include the sacrifices inherently required of true love, motherhood, sisterhood, and choosing one’s paths throughout life.

This is a mystery novel, and Adrienne Young absolutely kept her contract with the reader. I loved that I wasn’t able to predict the end. I sat back when I finished it, feeling happy in the afterglow of a great book and thinking BRAVO. For those readers who know the author through her YA fiction, be prepared to find what I felt was an impressive depth of maturity in terms of content and writing style. I think Adrienne Young really demonstrated her ability to craft compelling adult fiction with this novel.

And finally, because I cannot end this review without mentioning EAMON. I have no notes. *CHEF’S KISS*

Thank you NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine, Delacorte Press for the opportunity to read and review this novel. All opinions are my own.

Content Warnings

lex_is_bookish's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

loved loved LOVED Young's second adult title 🥹 this book gave me chest pains and honestly kept me guessing!

the love scene between june and eamon was BEAUTIFUL and sexy and shredded me

Content Warnings

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

mjscooke's review against another edition

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mysterious relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you aren't afraid of any content warnings and are willing to go in fairly blind then I recommend doing so as this book is especially delightful when you experience it without any expectations. If you want to know more - which you probably do if you are reading reviews - then let's step through the red door.

June Farrow comes from a line of women who are cursed. A curse that leads to madness and when her grandmother dies her world begins to unravel just as those of the women before her. Then when she crosses the threshold of the mysterious red door everything begins to fall into place.

Adrienne Young weaves the magical elements throughout the real world North Carolina setting in a way that had me challenging my own skepticism as I related to June. The small town vibes with big emotional stakes are Young's forte and I felt completely swept away in this beautiful story, So much so that despite having the privilege of receiving a digital advanced reading copy I plan to purchase the special edition of this special book as I enjoyed it so much.

Content Warnings

bringmybooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Delacorte Press, & Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

B̷R̷I̷N̷G̷ ✨ 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪 ✨ B̷Y̷P̷A̷S̷S̷

FIRST THINGS FIRST, I DO RECOMMEND THIS BOOK EVEN THOUGH MOST OF THIS REVIEW SOUNDS LIKE I DON’T

Second things second, although I really liked reading this, there were things that could have made it stronger.

Similar to other books by Adrienne Young (Fable, Saint, Spells for Forgetting), there are a lot of references to things that have happened in the past that could have had a lot more impact had their been (more) flashbacks, or even dual timelines / diary entries, something. I’m being SHOWN things that are happening in the current story, but I’m being TOLD about things that have a lot of bearing on what’s currently happening and that disconnect keeps me from ever being fully invested in the story, if that makes sense?

Also, in the name of all things Aslan, can we please please please stop using “I can’t tell you the answer to the direct question you’re asking me because it’s too dangerous” when it is, in fact, not too dangerous and makes literally zero sense because you’re now putting the character in more danger because they have literally no idea what’s going on?

(Also also, at a certain point I legitimately just stopped trying to make the fantasy aspects make sense because they didn’t and it made me happier just to pretend I understood and keep reading.)

But all of that being said - I loved the idea of this book and even if it’s not going to be a forever favorite, I still really enjoyed reading it and there were one or two things that were legitimately jaw dropping moments and I LOVE having that in books!

Content Warnings

brewdy_reader's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 • 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 • 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 • 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳

𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 𝘚𝘤𝘪𝘍𝘪 • 𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢 • 𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯'𝘴 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 • 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴

This book has blown me away.

An affliction that is a blessing and a curse
An unsolved decades old murder
A love that transcends distance and time

This story is told in beautiful, poetic prose that transports us instantly. Nestled into the cozy, picturesque hills of the Blue Ridge Mtns in small-town USA, Jasper is a town where everyone knows everyone, where the annual midsummer faire is a main event, and where June Farrow owns and operates her family's flower farm.

This is a tale of family and a love story and it’s also a mystery/thriller. Young deftly blurs the lines between literary genres, obliterating the normal boundaries. Her words are smooth like butter & made my multi-genre-loving heart sing.

This is a story of 5 generations of women, of the choices they make to keep each others' secrets to avoid persecution, bringing strong witchy vibes. Combined with repressed memories, premonitions, hallucinations, a curse affecting only Farrow women, and an unsolved cold case - this is the perfect spooky fall read.

I loved how we get to unravel the mystery alongside June. Young is the master of the slow reveal, balancing predictability against complexity, employing amnesia to allow June to remember things over time, and utilizing visions to make us question her reliability.
This book made me 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙.

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅! 𝑹𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝑶𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟕𝒕𝒉
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 - 𝘋𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊.

Shades of 11/22/63 and The Time Traveler’s Wife and Memento. Pass through different timelines.

Content Warnings

astoriareader's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

SYNOPSIS:

June is grieving the loss of her grandmother, Margaret. Margaret raised June with the help of a few folks (Birdie & Mason), after June’s own mother, Susanna, abandoned her & disappeared without a trace. Over the last year, June has been experiencing hallucinations, including a red door.
June investigates what happened to her mother, and after a series of revelations, June is faced with a decision to walk through the red door.
Can’t really say much else without spoiling it :)

MY THOUGHTS

Involves time travel + magical realism. Also, has suspense/mystery + romance.
Lots of strong female characters.
Interesting premise & well-plotted story.
A good Fall read.
A little slow in some parts.
Set in Jasper, NC.
Young adeptly paints the setting, as well as emotions & body language. While reading, your mind automatically forms a picture with the words.
As with all time travel stories, it is easy to find some logical inconsistencies & confusion. With these types of read, I find overthinking it isn’t worth it.
I enjoyed Young’s clever references to women’s legitimate issues timelessly being deemed “hysteria” or mental illness by medical professionals and society.

TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Read if you enjoy time travel with a mix of other genres (romance, mystery/suspense, magical realism).

Thanks to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. It will be published on October 17, 2023.

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