By Kim Ventrella

Published: 2020

I suggest: 3rd grade – 6th grade

I was excited to pick this book up because it is so pretty! Although, right away, I knew the main character was going to be, well, a character. The voice and humor is strong in this story that includes friendship, magic, and dealing with life when adults are making decisions you don’t like.

The main character, June, will capture your heart and your attention. And there are more than one Junes in this! I won’t give it away, but pick this up for a heartfelt, fun story. Or, if you family is going through a split, this may be just the tonic and conversation starter you need.

Here’s more from the book’s description:

A heart-expanding story of hope, friendship, and the power that comes with realizing that magic, like family, doesn’t always look the way you expect it to.

Eleven-year-old June is a problem-solver. Some people might call her a busybody, but that’s okay. Just look at all the couples she helped find love! (Grateful newlyweds Marlene and Big Vic have even promised June free hot chocolate for life at their café.)However, when June learns that her parents are getting divorced, she has to face the fact that there are some problems too big even for her. At least, that’s what the adults in her life keep saying.

But June’s convinced there’s a way to make her parents fall back in love. While brainstorming ideas on her new secondhand laptop — purchased from a mysterious store in town called The Shop of Last Resort — June gets a strange IM from someone named JuniePie28 . . . someone who claims to be an older version of June messaging her from the future.

At first, she assumes it’s a prank. But JuniePie28 knows too much about June’s life to be a fraud, and future June warns her against interfering with her parents’ marriage. But June can’t just sit around and watch her parents’ marriage dissolve, not when there’s a magical shop in town that could be the answer to all her problems! Will June prove her older self wrong and stop the divorce? Or will she have to accept that there are some things she can’t control?