Lilibet Bombshell's Reviews > The Unmaking of June Farrow

This book made me so happy in my bookworm pants! It gave me yummy cottagecore vibes, magical realism, speculative fiction, swoony romance, a creepy mystery, the coziest of vibes, and all of the feels. I haven’t felt so spoiled by a book in a long while. I may have taken a few breaks during the day because I kept getting pulled away by other stuff, but I still devoured this book in less than five hours. I just couldn’t read it fast enough. I was truly and utterly transfixed.

The blurb doesn’t uncover enough of the plot for me to go over a lot of stuff because SPOILERS. That puts me in a bind because the one tiny bone I have to pick with this book would be under said spoiler banner. But that’s okay. We’ll go somewhere else.

Cottagecore: I usually prefer dark cottagecore because regular cottagecore can get old or overdone quickly, but Young really nailed the vibe and didn’t let it get out of control in this book. June’s family owns a large (some would say it’s almost magical) flower farm, so we’ve got all of those lovely flowers, coveralls, and soil-covered clothes. They live next to the Adeline River so there’s plenty of riparian river valley habitat: trees, bushes, fruits, vegetables, and tall grasses. It’s all very Appalachia, very verdant, and very cozy.

Magical Realism: Are the Farrow women witches or are they just extremely good with plants and pass this ability down the line by passing on the knowledge? Could be both. Could be either. People are literally drawn to have their weddings in the small town of Jasper specifically so they can use the Farrow Flower Farm flowers as fresh as possible. They grow flowers prettier and larger than the best flower markets in New York. This is tied to those cozy cottagecore vibes and lead into my next point…

Speculative Fiction: Okay, so I confess, magical realism and speculative fiction are my top two genres. Pairing them together is like hitting my literary g-spot. The curse that affects the Farrow women (spoilers) is fascinating, and I’ve come to think it must be the cost for their spectacular green thumbs. Everything comes with a price. Telling you more than that is ruining the fun.

I can’t tell you about the swoony romance because it involves spoilers. I can’t tell you about the creepy mystery (which gives me the yucks), but I can tell you I cried several times while reading this book. Not great, big, sobbing tears; but the gentle tears. The kind of tears that track down your face one at a time that you can wipe away before they reach your pillow. The tears of someone who was emotionally moved but not broken-hearted.

It’s a magical read and I can’t recommend it enough.

I was provided a copy of this book by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Review/Magical Realism/Romantasy/Mystery/Speculative Fiction/Suspense Mystery/Women’s Fiction