Medium: Audiobook
Publisher: Razorbill
Length: 317 Pages
Rating: 4/5
For as long as Jack “June” O’Donnell has been alive, her parents have had only one rule: stay away from the Angert family. But when June collides—quite literally—with Saul Angert, sparks fly, and everything June has known is thrown into chaos.
Who exactly is this gruff, sarcastic, but seemingly harmless boy who has returned to their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, after three mysterious years away? And why has June—an O’Donnell to her core—never questioned her late father’s deep hatred of the Angert family? After all, the O’Donnells and the Angerts may have mythic legacies, but for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them.
As Saul and June’s connection grows deeper, they find that the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers seem to be conspiring to reveal the truth about the harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations. Now June must question everything she knows about her family and the father she adored, and she must decide whether it’s finally time for her—and all the O’Donnells before her—to let go.
Heading into this book, I didn't really know what to expect. My introduction to Emily Henry was through her adult romance novels, but since I decided she was a Full Catalogue Author™ for me, I ventured into her older YA publications. Reading the summary, I came to the false conclusion that the "magic" we would encounter along our journey was more of the metaphorical kind. I was wrong. It is very literal. After I got over the shock of multiple ghosts, wil-o-the-whisps floating in thresholds, and magic wolves that steal your shoes; the nature-based folklore magic only elevated the ambience, tone, and overall message of the story. So, here's your warning: when Emily Henry says magic, she means it and if that's not your style, this isn't the book for you. For those of us who love a bit of magic in our mysteries, this one has got you covered.
All in the Family
Although found family tends to be more my speed in novels, family sagas have started inching their way onto my TBR. (I fully blame @newlynova from TikTok and YouTube for this. Her recommendations are great so check her out too!) I have tried family based stories before, but have either not enjoyed them or the family parts of the story were mostly B plot. Henry executes the discovery of hidden family history and the reckoning it brings with such grace. Allowing June to feel angry and betrayed by the lies, showing her start to internalize that anger, and then finally accept this cosmic shift in shelf without ever falling victim to the "It's like this whole family is a lie" blow-up scene is refreshing. The emotions are there-and they're BIG-but they are also complex. By keeping the anger small on the page, it allows the other emotions to peek through in quiet moments both in June's internal narration and external actions.
I also really enjoyed how much of Saul's family dynamics we got to see. Going in, I thought we would mostly see Saul as the love interest. The choice to have him essentially be a secondary main character, despite the book only being from June's POV, was inspired on Henry's part. Getting to see more than just passing glimpses of the Angert's side of the story adds a depth to the main plot/conflict that would be missing without it.
Family is actually addressed in three places in this novel; the O'Donnell family, the Angert family, and June's step-family. The healthy family dynamics that exist between June and her step-dad, and June and her half-brothers is such an important and -- for me at least -- stand out part of the story. Like with the family secrets part of the novel, Henry could have taken the trope-y way out and had June resent her step-dad and the boys for taking her father's and her places, but instead June loves and cares for them all exactly as family should. It makes her continued grief over her father's death come across as genuine emotion and less like part of a grudge she's holding.
Grief - A Prism Emotion
As in, a single emotion goes in and a thousand different actions and other emotions refract out. Henry tackles the topic of grief in a way that I would consider subtle. In a story that could have soaked in grief as the main theme, tone, emotion, and/or driving motivation behind character action, it is present in the narrative as a decorative column instead of an essential cornerstone. As a fellow human living on Earth, I am sure you know that grief is an emotion with no linear path to navigate. The choice to have Jack O'Donnell III's death not be a recent event allows room for the exploration of the different highs and lows of long-term grieving. Even eight years later, June still has bad days where it feels like she just lost him, even when the day previous her mother and her were reminiscing about how superstitious Jack III was and laughing hysterically about it.
Like with the theme of family, Henry gives the reader the theme of grief from every angle she could. June and her mother with the loss of a father and husband on one side, with Saul and his father with the loss of a sister and daughter on the other. Loss hits everyone differently. Henry does an artful job of portraying multiple ways of dealing with said loss. Some run away from reminders (Mr. Angert). Some seek reminders out (June). Some move forward by leaving the sadness in the past (June's mom). Some move forward by engaging with the sadness (Saul). The most masterful part is showing all of this without an unconscious bias as to the "right" way to grieve.
The plot's climax really drives home the author's intended message behind this theme. There is no right or wrong way to grieve so long as you don't refuse to grieve at all. The point is to feel whatever it is you are feeling whenever you are feeling it. Noname and Feathers, the resident ghosts, represent the two ends of the spectrum. One has fully grieved and has reached acceptance while the other refuses to acknowledge the emotion at all. This comes into clearest focus when June and Saul are at purgatory beach. The imagery of washing off what is holding you back from moving to the other side, coupled with Feather's sparkly description and Noname's dark inky one, makes the final takeaway clear without being frying-pan-to-the-face obvious. A truly expert use of story elements across the board.
A note on Magic
Speaking of expert, the clean way that magic is woven through the story to emphasize the other elements is the best I've seen in a while.
Nit-Pick
With all the wonderful things about this book., I do have one little issue with it. The pacing. There are about 80 pages of this book that do not need to be there and would not be missed if they were removed. These 80 pages cause the story to drag in places where you desperately want to reach the next plot point and keep the action going. I wouldn't have even noticed the extra content if it had elaborated on bits of the story that I wanted to go deeper into and/or know more about (like June's Mom's life after Jack III died or Saul's time at college after the death of his sister). The moments that went on longer than necessary were always June's internal conflict. Which would be fine normally, except -- especially toward the end -- it was a constant repeat of cyclical thoughts we have already seen her have eight hundred times before. Again, this would have been fine, except the thoughts didn't grow and change enough to portray the character growth that June was meant to have been going through. It is not a good sign when the side characters display more overt character growth than the main character whose head we are existing in.
Like the title of this section suggests, this is a very nit-picky thing to gripe about. Since the rest of the elements of this story are so strong, I wanted to include this section to help explain why my score ended up a 4/5 and not a 5/5. No story is perfect, but some come very close.
If you are a magic loving, family history adoring, Romeo and Juliet nerd, this is the book for you! If you like Emily Henry's novels, this is obviously the book for you! And if you have already read this book, I would love to know your thoughts and feelings. Did you like the mystic elements of the story? Would you also say the pacing kind of dragged in places? Let me know!
And as always,
Keep wondering and stay wandering!
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