Quick Synopsis – June Farrow comes from a long line of cursed women. After losing her grandmother, June is scared that the family curse has come for her and she is losing her mind. Until she decides to trust her delusion and goes through the red door. On the other side she collides with the past and uncovers her family’s secrets.

Song this Reminds Me Of – Red – Taylor Swift

Spicy Rating – 🌶🌶

Overall Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Publication Date – Oct. 17, 2023

Review – I have read Fable and Namesake, but I think I liked this novel best of all. I did have a few issues with the story telling, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

June Farrow is determined to break her family curse, even if that means sacrificing love and the idea of ever having a family of her own. All the women in her family are cursed with madness, which took her mother from her and is now taking her grandmother. After she suffers the loss of her grandmother, it’s time for June to come face to face with her own madness. It turns out that June has been hiding her own delusions for over a year. She’s been seeing things that aren’t there: a horse, the shadow of a man, and a red door. Her grandmother left behind a mysterious photo showing her mother and the town’s old preacher, Nathaniel Rutherford. The only thing is, the photo is from the 1920s, and the preacher was notoriously murdered.

June follows the clues down the rabbit hole and what she finds breaks apart her understanding of her family and the madness that surrounds them.

This book has an excellent time travel mechanism which I won’t spoil here, but it is honestly one of the most simple and well-thought-out time travel stories I’ve ever read. If you’re a fan of The Time Traveler’s Wife but would like a cleaner story that has a much happier ending, this book is for you. There are some slight steamy scenes near the end of the book, but nothing that’s super graphic.

I found most of the mystery in this book fairly straightforward, and it was easy to guess where the plot was headed. There was only one plot point that made me gasp because I truly didn’t see it coming. However, this same plot point actually infuriated me because, given all the research June had done about the past, you’d have thought that it would have come up. I don’t want to spoil it, but this plot point really bothered me.

There were nail-biting moments, and the book was intriguing. I definitely recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine/ Delacorte Press for the e-ARC.