I received June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore* without really knowing what to expect. I had sort of read the blurb, but forgot about it after receiving the book and finally getting to it, so I went in cold. What I got was a quite enjoyable ride.

June takes place in two time lines- the modern timeline focuses on Cassie who is living in a crumbling mansion called Two Oaks. It was once a beautiful house, but due to time, it has started to fall apart. Cassie is broke and hanging on by a thread with the house being her only real possession left. She gets a knock on the door letting her know she has just inherited millions and millions of dollars by a famous actor. The actor's daughters are contesting the will and Cassie is offered a million dollars to walk away rather than receiving the millions upon millions which will come with DNA testing and years of lawsuits.

The other timeline takes place in the same town with the same mansion, but Hollywood has come to town! June and her sister are enthralled with the Hollywood lifestyle and quickly become part of the shoot. On this shoot is Jack Montgomery a very famous actor, who June (Cassie's grandmother) has started getting attached to.

What happens when these two timelines begin to come together? What is the connection between Cassie and June and Jack?

This was a quick and fun read- a perfect "summer" novel. It moved fairly quickly and flowed quite smoothly. It was a good mix of storytelling, mystery, and murder. Nothing too deep, but simply a good read.

I really enjoyed that the house gets a narrative as well. The house will often tell of its history and its place in the story. It was a good break in the narrative and helped fill in the blanks.

As stated, this is one of those books one picks up, reads on the weekend or on the beach, and just has a good time with it. I really liked this one for the entertainment. Great storytelling.

I gave this one 4 stars.

*I wish to thank BloggingForBooks and Crown Publishing for the chance to read this book. I received it for free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I was instantly taken with the blurb and couldn't wait to read this book. I have a big weakness for books with stories where the character in the future is trying to solve some great mystery from the past. Sometimes I love both stories equal, and sometimes I find one slightly better than the other.

When it came to this book I have to admit that I found Cassie's story a bit more interesting than her grandmother June's. I think that's because the characters; Cassie, Tate, Elda Nick, and Hank is way more interesting to read about than June, Lindie, and Jack. I'm not saying that the 1955s story was bad. It's more that I found myself not always that interested in what was going one between June and Jack. One would think that Jack and June would have had a lot of chemistry, she is a beautiful young woman, engaged and Jack, the handsome Hollywood star. But, I just didn't feel it. I felt that Lindie was pushing them together and that was actually a bit annoying.

However, the story in 2015 is really interesting. I loved the interactions between Cassie, Tate, Elda Nick and Hank and Cassie's quest to find out more about Jack and June. And, Cassie and Nick was without doubt much more interesting to read about than Jack and June.

In the end, I have to say that the book was good, despite my lack of passion for the 1955s story. I loved the old house that Cassie had inherited, the feeling that it was alive. Some people made a bigger impression on me than other did and I liked that the story took turns that I didn't expect. Especially towards the end of the book.

Thanks to Crown Publishing and TLC Blog Tours for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

I was instantly taken with the blurb and couldn't wait to read this book. I have a big weakness for books with stories where the character in the future is trying to solve some great mystery from the past. Sometimes I love both stories equal, and sometimes I find one slightly better than the other.

When it came to this book I have to admit that I found Cassie's story a bit more interesting than her grandmother June's. I think that's because the characters; Cassie, Tate, Elda Nick, and Hank is way more interesting to read about than June, Lindie, and Jack. I'm not saying that the 1955s story was bad. It's more that I found myself not always that interested in what was going one between June and Jack. One would think that Jack and June would have had a lot of chemistry, she is a beautiful young woman, engaged and Jack, the handsome Hollywood star. But, I just didn't feel it. I felt that Lindie was pushing them together and that was actually a bit annoying.

However, the story in 2015 is really interesting. I loved the interactions between Cassie, Tate, Elda Nick and Hank and Cassie's quest to find out more about Jack and June. And, Cassie and Nick was without doubt much more interesting to read about than Jack and June.

In the end, I have to say that the book was good, despite my lack of passion for the 1955s story. I loved the old house that Cassie had inherited, the feeling that it was alive. Some people made a bigger impression on me than other did and I liked that the story took turns that I didn't expect. Especially towards the end of the book.

Thanks to Crown Publishing and TLC Blog Tours for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! ( )

Young To Publishing finally remembered that I didn't sign up for romance books! I was very happy to receive this book, due out in May (why not June??), which dips, every so often, into the perspective of the grand old house of Two Oaks as a character in its own right. These passages, in which the house reflects on occupants past and present, were particularly lovely, and while I don't think it would have worked for this particular story (given how much happened outside the house), I would love to see a story like this told entirely from the house's point of view.

I found the writing quality very enjoyable overall, most of it relatively simple but with a few nicely poetic sections that didn't distract from the overall thrust of the narrative. The book's strength, however, is in its characters. Usually when I read a book that transitions between a child and their parent/grandparent/ancestor, I end up enjoying half the book a great deal more than the other: for [b:The Joy Luck Club|7763|The Joy Luck Club|Amy Tan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304978653s/7763.jpg|1955658] it was the mothers' histories, for [b:Orphan Train|15818107|Orphan Train|Christina Baker Kline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362409483s/15818107.jpg|21545713] it was the contemporary story. June is one of the rare books where I enjoyed being in both time periods, never flipping forward to see how much longer I had to put up with some characters or feeling disappointed when I hit the end of a section.

If I had to prefer one set of characters, it would probably be the modern set, though I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that they're all crammed together in one place, which automatically creates its own set of conflicts that people who can retreat to their houses at the end of the day just don't have to deal with. Without the distraction of historical world-building, Cassie, Tate, Hank, Nick, and Elda become multi-dimensional human beings, which is particularly impressive given how easy it would be to succumb to painting the California crew in broad strokes as basic Hollywood types. I didn't expect, going in, to end up liking Tate in spite of her move-star-ness.

I waffled a bit about whether to tag this one with "diversity," but I'll go with it for the relatively rare acknowledgement that queer people did, in fact, exist before the 80s. Lindie was a definite favorite character: it was charming and sweet to watch her come to realize that her feelings for June might just have a recognizable name, and that her tomboyishness wasn't, in fact, going to be a phase. I was also very pleased that some old acquaintances, speculating about her sexuality some sixty years later, did not actually correctly identify Lindie as transgender. It seems like an easy trap to fall into, putting a name to a difference, but Beverly-Whittemore resists the deux ex machina temptation to let complete strangers settle someone's identity, instead leaving it up to Lindie to identify herself (or not). Maybe I liked Lindie so much because I related to that feeling of just living and not really thinking, for the most part, about what the subtle differences might mean in the big picture--except when the difference became uncomfortable.

The scenes in the past threw me off a little bit--it was surprisingly difficult for me to figure out what time in history the book was set, and I'm still not entirely sure when in the '50s the book falls (or was it the very late '40s?). Maybe that's just a side effect of being so into history, but I really wanted a date or two thrown in so that I could anchor down the timeline of the overarching narrative. I understand, of course, why a writer would want to avoid this, since it gives a little more room to forgive fudged historical details.

There were a few plot holes here and there, but not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this book. I had fun reading it and I think others will, too. I look forward to reading the reviews and seeing the reactions when the book publishes!


Quote Roundup
Because the book technically hasn't published yet and there are still quite a few typos (especially toward the end) in this pre-final-copyedit draft, I won't type out the actual quotes.

199) A particularly beautiful passage from the point of view of Two Oaks.

241 & 290) Both scenes in which Lindie comes to terms with herself. In the first, she receives support from a place that, all too often in stories, usually gives condemnation. In the second, she makes a great discovery about herself and, despite her discomfort, finds power in her new self-knowledge.

313) I love the description Cassie uses for the sound made by multiple cameras going off at once. It's one of those things that's so perfect you wonder why no one made the comparison before. ( )

Cassie Danvers has isolated herself in her family's estate, needing the time to herself to mourn the loss of her grandmother, June. And she really would like to be left alone. Which is why she's none too happy to be disturbed by a man she's never met before. And she has no idea what to think when he informs her that she's been named as the sole heir to the fortune of Jack Montgomery, a famous movie star. Jack has two daughters who have their own interest in the inheritance, and they would like Cassie to submit to a DNA test to prove she has no claim to the money. But, again, Cassie just wants to be left alone.

Contrary to Cassie's wishes, Jack's daughters soon show up on Cassie's doorstep, not willing to let their father's fortune get away from them. And in between flashbacks to June's childhood, they begin to understand what it means to be family, famous, and fortunate.

There are some interesting twists in this one that I will admit I did not see coming. It proved to be just enough to keep me interested and turning the pages to see what would happen next. The flashbacks to June's story were helpful in understanding how things got to their current state, but they didn't always have a strong connection to an overall thread in moving the plot forward. That said, it all builds to an unexpected ending.

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher via BloggingForBooks.] ( )