Ramblings of an Avid Reader

June is the third novel by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore, her first novel, Bittersweet was met with much acclaim, and June looks to be doing the same.

June is set spanning sixty years in the grand house called Two Oaks, located in rural St. Jude Ohio. Set in the months of June 1955 and June 2015, June pulls together two generations into one house.

2015 finds Cassie Danvers camping out in the house her grandmother June left to her. The $14,000 that went with the house didn't go far though, at least not far enough for Cassie to make any of the needed repairs on the house. But then again, running away to the house to escape a failed relationship, might be reason enough for Cassie to neglect everything. But then comes the knock on the front door. Nick, the assistant to Tate Montgomery, is there to inform her that Jack Montgomery has left his entire estate to her. Naturally, Tate, who is Jack's younger daughter, is incensed. She's never heard of Cassie, let alone Cassie being related to her.

Meanwhile, in 1955, June's best friend Lindie, tells the story of what was happening. From the beginning of the filming of "Erie Canal", which is why Jack Montgomery is in town, to the end of the film, and the beginning of a romance between June and Jack.

The question that runs through the entire book is "Did Jack and June have a romance, one that June kept secret from everyone, including the son that might be Jack's?" The answer is a long time coming, and it is, and isn't, what was expected.

Upon opening June, I thought I was going to be very disappointed. A 400 page, 65 chapter book that flips back and forth between 1955 and 2015? Eeeh, probably not. But I'm glad that I stuck with it. I enjoyed the story. It did have some enormous plot holes, and some incredibly improbable situations (inviting a perfect stranger and her two personal assistants to live in your home until you can sort out if your grandmother and her father had an affair? Your house is falling down around your ears, and you don't do *anything* to repair it? Ohio, in the winter with no heat at all?) But all in all, it was a pretty good book. There's certainly a large market for the book, romance, history, Hollywood, mystery. It's got a little bit of everything, and something to appeal to almost everyone.