June by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

From the New York Times bestselling author of Bittersweet comes a novel of suspense and passion about a terrible mistake made sixty years ago that threatens to change a modern family forever. 

Twenty-five-year-old Cassie Danvers is holed up in her family’s crumbling mansion in rural St. Jude, Ohio, mourning the loss of the woman who raised her—her grandmother, June. But a knock on the door forces her out of isolation. Cassie has been named the sole heir to legendary matinee idol Jack Montgomery's vast fortune. How did Jack Montgomery know her name? Could he have crossed paths with her grandmother all those years ago? What other shocking secrets could June’s once-stately mansion hold?

Soon Jack’s famous daughters come knocking, determined to wrestle Cassie away from the inheritance they feel is their due. Together, they all come to discover the true reasons for June’s silence about that long-ago summer, when Hollywood came to town, and June and Jack’s lives were forever altered by murder, blackmail, and betrayal.

As this page-turner shifts deftly between the past and present, Cassie and her guests will be forced to reexamine their legacies, their definition of family, and what it truly means to love someone, steadfastly, across the ages.

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About The Author

I write novels. My third, New York Times bestseller Bittersweet, is set at the home on Lake Champlain where I spent my summers as a little girl. But that's where the resemblance to life ends - the place, renamed Winloch in the book - is inhabited by a family of deliciously bad people. I wrote Bittersweet for people like me, who love The Secret History and The Emperor's Children; it's a literary beach read.

My first two novels were published in 2005 and 2007. My next novel, June, will be out in 2016.

Based in some part on my own experience being photographed by two fine arts photographers, Jock Sturges and Mona Kuhn, I started my first novel, The Effects of Light, to answer the question most Americans seemed to ask when I explained this photographic work to them--would I still love it if an innocent died because that work had been made?

My second novel, Set Me Free, was based in part on the time I spent on the Crow reservation in highschool, the legacy of my countercultural parents, and the complications of their generation of liberal do-gooders. The book was also an homage to my theater school-aged days and based on The Tempest. 


My Review

This story takes place in St Jude, Ohio, and our main character Cassie Danvers is living in an old, disrepaired mansion, that she has inherited from her grandmother June. When the story opens, Cassie appears to be very depressed, and experiencing wild dreams, that give her a glimpse into her grandmother’s life back in 1955.
The story flashes back and forth into the past and then back to the present 2015, and we learn a lot about grandma June, and her friend who idolizes her Lindie, whom it seems is always getting herself in a bit trouble.
The dreams that Cassie experiences seem to answer a lot of questions, we have an open camera to the past. What defines all of this is who Cassie really is, that is, is the father she knew during her short time with him, really her dad?
What a turn of events happen in this young woman’s life, is she about to find out life changing news, or is she going to find out about her roots to this old town?
A very different, and entertaining book, from the first page forward, there are a lot of bomb shells dropped and you won’t see most of them coming.
I received this book through Crown Publishing, and was not required to give a positive review.