Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - The Unmaking of June Farrow

I thought the prose was well done, and very vivid and vibrant. There felt like there was a little too much going on, and it all made sense at the end but I felt like there was a little too much pushed under the rug with the main plot. I liked June a lot, and I understood her fears and worries. I really liked her and Eamon together, though I found it frustrated at times when he didn’t trust her

because she wasn’t ‘his’ June… because she is? She just doesn’t have all the same memories?

I liked the threads that tied through the whole book but at some points, I think it was just the plot of the book that made it a little messy. Some threads (even if I liked them!) were a little too obvious, but I did listen to the audiobook so that might have changed somethings.

For any interested audio listeners, I thought the narrator did a pretty great job, but sometimes I felt like she had a hard time with Eamon’s voice.

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sunburn's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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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.

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