Review: June First by Jennifer Hartmann

I’ve been on a serious fantasy kick lately, so I grabbed a book that a fellow book blogger highly recommended to change things up.  Unfortunately, June First should not have been the book I picked up.

The story focuses on the relationship between Brant and June.  Brant was six when he moved in with his best friend Theo and his parents.  His family had been shattered and they gladly took him in.  On the night his family fell apart, Theo’s sister, June, was born.  The moment Brant met June there was an undeniable connection between the young boy and the baby.  This story follows their relationship.

This forbidden romance, in my opinion, could have been so much more.  We saw glimpses of Brant and June’s relationship and how they each struggled with their feelings.  But it felt like we spent too much time with the younger version of them rather than the characters when they were young adults/adults.  The last quarter of the book is really what I wanted.  How did Brant’s feelings for June impact his relationship with Wendy (he was with her for a long time)?  If Samantha really saw what was happening, were there ever discussions with June?  Theo?  I was left with too many questions and given the forbidden romance trope, this should have been so much more of a hot mess.  Instead, the ending was too neatly tied together to get the HEA for the couple.