June First Summary, Characters and Themes
June First by Jennifer Hartmann is a deeply emotional contemporary romance that spans decades of love, trauma, and healing. At its heart, the novel tells the story of Brant and June—two individuals whose lives are permanently bound by a shared tragedy and a love that defies traditional boundaries.
Raised in the same household after a devastating event, their bond begins as protectiveness and devotion, but over time, it blurs into something far more complicated. Through beautifully rendered characters and emotionally charged moments, the book explores grief, identity, forbidden longing, and ultimately, redemption.
It’s a story about what it means to survive the past and choose love anyway.
Summary
Brant Elliott is just six years old when his life is torn apart. His father kills his mother and then himself, all while Brant hides under the bed holding his stuffed elephant.
That same night, his neighbor’s baby girl, June Bailey, is born. Orphaned and traumatized, Brant is taken in by the Bailey family, his mother’s close friends.
He meets baby June and quickly becomes emotionally attached to her. To Brant, she’s not just a baby—she’s a promise, a new beginning that coincides with the end of everything he once knew.
Though the Baileys welcome him warmly, Brant never fully sees himself as part of their family. His grief and confusion manifest through emotional distance and denial, yet he clings to June as his reason to keep going.
As he settles into the Bailey home, Brant forms a lifelong promise to protect June. His bond with her is powerful and consuming.
One night, he even breaks into his old house with June in tow, believing he can reclaim what he lost. Injured and shaken, he slowly comes to terms with his new life while continuing therapy to cope with his trauma.
June, still a baby, unknowingly becomes his anchor. Over the years, Brant and June grow up together, and their relationship transforms.
What begins as an older-brother-like role becomes more emotionally complicated as June enters adolescence. Brant, who’s always seen her as precious and untouchable, finds himself confused by emerging feelings.
June, now a perceptive and emotionally aware teen, starts to recognize her own love for Brant—one that no longer fits the narrative of sibling affection. Their connection deepens, leading to a charged, unexpected kiss that leaves both of them shaken.
Brant, terrified of what he feels and haunted by memories of his father’s violence, begins to withdraw. He sees himself as dangerous, someone who could hurt June in ways he can’t allow.
Determined to protect her, he applies for college far away and severs ties with her. June is devastated.
The boy who always promised to keep her safe now becomes the source of her deepest hurt. Their separation marks the end of their childhood and the beginning of emotional fallout that spans years.
Time passes. Brant remains absent from June’s life, believing that staying away is an act of love.
But the absence doesn’t heal either of them. June grows into adulthood shaped by longing and abandonment, while Brant wrestles with shame and loneliness.
Eventually, Brant returns, unannounced. He finds June changed—stronger, more self-assured, but still wounded by his departure.
Their reunion is not simple. Buried emotions resurface quickly, along with the pain of everything left unsaid.
Brant is still convinced he’s unworthy of her love, while June is determined not to let him slip away again. Their reconnection forces them to confront not only their shared past but the personal demons they each carry.
Theo, June’s older brother and Brant’s childhood friend, also plays a crucial role, challenging Brant to take responsibility for the pain he caused. Gradually, Brant begins to understand that he is not doomed to repeat his father’s mistakes.
With June’s persistence and the guidance of his therapist, he finds the courage to accept love without fear. Their relationship, once marred by silence and sacrifice, becomes a partnership built on choice and healing.
In the epilogue, Brant and June are together, at peace with their past and hopeful for the future. Brant proposes quietly, intimately, honoring the childhood dreams and tragedies that shaped them.
They don’t just find love—they earn it, through years of pain, growth, and unwavering connection. Their story ends not with fantasy, but with the quiet, enduring truth of a love that survived everything.
Characters
Brant Elliott
Brant is the emotional nucleus of the novel, a boy whose life begins in innocence and spirals into profound trauma. As a child, he witnesses the murder-suicide of his parents, an event that brands his psyche with guilt, fear, and abandonment.
Taken in by the Baileys, he struggles with identity and belonging, particularly resisting the label of “brother” despite the family’s warmth. His emotional lifeline becomes June, whom he believes was miraculously delivered to him on the same night he lost everything.
As he grows older, Brant becomes intensely protective of her. This protectiveness morphs from a childlike bond into a complicated emotional attachment that ultimately turns romantic.
Haunted by the fear of inheriting his father’s capacity for harm, Brant wrestles with his own darkness. He even rejects love in an effort to shield June from himself.
His internal conflict becomes the central tragedy of the novel. He believes he must suffer alone rather than risk becoming the villain in someone else’s story.
By the final part of the book, Brant’s journey is one of redemption and self-forgiveness. He returns older, emotionally wounded, but with a deeper understanding of love and accountability.
His transformation culminates in his ability to finally accept love without the condition of martyrdom. He chooses partnership with June over penance.
June Bailey
June is both a symbol and a fully-realized character—born on the night Brant’s world collapses, she becomes a beacon of innocence, hope, and eventually, desire. As a baby, she is the emotional salve for Brant’s broken world.
As she matures, her perspective begins to surface, revealing a perceptive, emotionally intelligent young girl who adores Brant with unshakeable loyalty. Her early attachment, filled with playful nicknames and childlike worship, transforms into a more complex affection as she enters adolescence.
June becomes aware of the nuances in their relationship long before she fully understands them. Her heartbreak when Brant distances himself is deeply human.
Despite abandonment, she grows into a resilient young woman, defined by both the love she received and the absence she endured. When Brant returns, June no longer inhabits the role of the girl who needs saving.
Instead, she emerges as a woman who is willing to confront the past and fight for clarity and love. Her arc is a quiet triumph.
She reclaims agency, demands honesty, and insists on a love built on mutual truth rather than protection.
Theo Bailey
Theo plays a supporting but pivotal role, acting as both a brother figure and a moral anchor. As Brant’s childhood best friend and June’s biological brother, Theo exists at the intersection of emotional proximity and protective distance.
In the early parts of the book, he is portrayed as a kind and dependable boy, part of Brant’s safe haven. As the characters age, Theo becomes more independent, emotionally withdrawing as Brant’s behavior becomes increasingly intense and isolating.
When the romantic tension between Brant and June surfaces, Theo is understandably conflicted. He recognizes the emotional damage inflicted by Brant’s abandonment and doesn’t shy away from holding him accountable.
Yet, in the final chapters, Theo also embodies grace and growth. His confrontation with Brant is fueled by anger but tempered by understanding.
He ultimately supports the relationship between Brant and June—not out of resignation, but because he sees the authenticity of their bond. Theo evolves into a character who balances love with honesty, loyalty with boundaries.
Dr. Shelby
Dr. Shelby is more than just a therapist; she functions as the novel’s psychological compass. Through her sessions with Brant, the reader gains access to the deep undercurrents of his trauma, guilt, and self-loathing.
While she isn’t a central character in terms of narrative presence, her influence is profound. She pushes Brant to recognize that his darkness does not define him.
She helps him see that fear and pain do not have to dictate his future. Her clinical steadiness and compassion provide a crucial counterbalance to Brant’s emotional volatility.
She challenges the narrative Brant has internalized—that love from him can only bring ruin. Instead, she guides him toward the idea that healing is possible through connection, not withdrawal.
Mr. and Mrs. Bailey
Although they do not dominate the page, the Baileys offer a representation of stable, unconditional love. Their decision to take in Brant, especially in the wake of such violence, speaks to their generosity and emotional resilience.
Mrs. Bailey, in particular, is portrayed as nurturing and wise, often functioning as a quiet emotional guide. They provide structure and affection without demanding assimilation.
They allow Brant to heal at his own pace. Their presence in the story subtly reinforces the novel’s themes of chosen family and love that isn’t contingent on blood, but on constancy.
Brant’s Parents
Though short-lived in the narrative, Brant’s parents—particularly his father—cast a long shadow. The father is a tragic figure of rage and mental instability, whose final act of violence shapes Brant’s lifelong fear of his own nature.
The mother, in contrast, is gentle and musical, singing lullabies that linger in Brant’s memory as symbols of safety and love. The contrast between them becomes the origin of Brant’s internal war.
He longs to embody his mother’s light and fears inheriting his father’s darkness. They function not only as characters but as psychological archetypes in Brant’s journey.
Themes
Childhood Trauma and Its Lingering Impact
The most dominant theme in June First is the psychological and emotional impact of childhood trauma, particularly how it shapes identity, relationships, and one’s sense of self. Brant’s early experience of witnessing his father murder his mother and then take his own life becomes the foundation upon which every later experience is filtered.
His trauma is not confined to that single night; it becomes embedded in his psyche and influences every decision he makes, especially in regard to June. Even as he is taken in by a loving family, Brant cannot fully reconcile the horror of what he saw or what it meant for his safety and worth.
The trauma creates a fractured sense of identity: he cannot accept love easily, nor can he feel truly a part of the Bailey family despite their best efforts. This manifests in behaviors that oscillate between hyper-protectiveness and emotional withdrawal, particularly with June.
As he grows older, the trauma does not dissipate—it evolves. His fear of inheriting his father’s capacity for harm takes root, and he becomes emotionally self-punishing, convinced that proximity to others, especially June, could damage them.
The most telling aspect of this theme is Brant’s belief that love and violence are inherently linked—a subconscious narrative that drives him to sabotage happiness before it can be taken from him. Even in adulthood, Brant must confront the idea that trauma is not just something that happened to him, but something he has allowed to define him.
Only through genuine reckoning and self-forgiveness does he begin to separate his past from his future. This journey underscores the painful truth that trauma is not linear in its resolution, but recursive, and requires sustained work and vulnerability to overcome.
The Complexity of Chosen Family
While June First does begin with Brant losing his biological parents in a horrific act of violence, it quickly introduces the idea that family is not exclusively determined by blood. The Baileys, particularly Theo and June, become Brant’s emotional lifeline.
Yet, despite being adopted into their home, Brant resists the idea of fully embracing them as family. This tension reveals a complex exploration of what it means to belong.
Brant’s reluctance is rooted in both grief and loyalty to the parents he lost, however flawed they may have been, as well as an internalized fear of replacing them. The Baileys offer love unconditionally, but Brant’s trauma causes him to interpret such love as something foreign and temporary.
The dynamic becomes even more complicated as his bond with June grows from sibling-like affection to romantic attachment. That shift forces both Brant and June—and eventually Theo—to reexamine the definitions they have assigned to family roles.
Is Brant June’s brother, protector, or something else entirely? The emotional turmoil that results from these blurred lines does not invalidate their love but highlights the challenges of reassigning meaning to relationships formed under extraordinary circumstances.
Chosen family in this context is not idealized or sanitized; it is messy, evolving, and deeply tied to the characters’ needs for safety and belonging. By the end of the novel, the resolution does not come from clarifying roles, but from accepting that love and loyalty can take many forms.
Chosen family can be just as enduring and valid as any blood connection. This theme challenges societal norms about family structure and insists that emotional truth is more important than traditional labels.
The Fear of Inherited Darkness
Throughout June First, Brant is haunted by the fear that he is destined to become like his father—a man capable of destroying the very people he loves. This fear is not based on any behavioral evidence but on an emotional conviction rooted in shame and guilt.
Brant’s entire worldview is filtered through this inherited dread: that violence and madness are in his blood, and that loving someone too deeply could eventually lead to their harm. His internal monologue often centers around the idea that he is tainted, broken beyond repair, and that the only responsible thing he can do is remove himself from those he cares about.
This becomes particularly visible in his relationship with June. When their connection begins to move from familial affection to romantic intimacy, Brant reacts not with acceptance but with fear and withdrawal.
The kiss they share is not just a romantic milestone—it is a trigger that confirms his worst fears about himself. In his mind, he is already following in his father’s footsteps by engaging in something he believes is inappropriate or dangerous.
This self-perception becomes a prison. It dictates his decision to leave for college and abandon all contact with June, under the guise of protecting her.
His therapy sessions with Dr. Shelby are aimed at disentangling this psychological knot, but the real shift only begins when Brant realizes that repeating his father’s actions is not an inevitability. The story makes it clear that cycles of trauma can be broken, not through avoidance, but through conscious choice and self-awareness.
Brant’s final act of choosing love, and more importantly choosing himself as worthy of love, is a powerful rejection of the idea that people are bound by the sins of their parents. The novel’s treatment of this theme is a reminder that inherited trauma can cast a long shadow, but it does not have to define one’s path.
The Evolution of Love from Innocence to Maturity
At its heart, June First is a story about love in all its forms: innocent, familial, romantic, and redemptive. What begins as a child’s whimsical desire for a sister becomes, over time, a deeply complicated and transformative relationship.
Brant’s love for June starts as a protective instinct, shaped by trauma and emotional need. She represents safety, purpose, and continuity after the chaos of losing his parents.
As they grow older, this love matures—but not without difficulty. Their relationship is marked by confusion, repression, and moments of emotional overreach.
The kiss they share in adolescence is symbolic of a pivotal moment when innocence gives way to awareness. It complicates everything they thought they knew about each other, and about themselves.
Brant responds with guilt and self-loathing, June with hurt and confusion. Their love becomes a battleground for all the fears and longings they’ve accumulated over the years.
What makes this theme compelling is that the love story is not built on fantasy, but on the reality of trauma, growth, and the hard work of emotional honesty. When Brant returns years later, their reconnection is not framed as a fairytale reunion but as a confrontation with everything left unsaid.
June demands accountability, not just affection. Brant has to re-earn her trust, and she has to choose him, not as her childhood savior, but as a flawed man trying to be better.
The final evolution of their love—marked by mutual respect, acceptance, and a quiet proposal—shows that love is not static. It must grow, be tested, and ultimately chosen again and again.
The novel presents love as both sanctuary and crucible, a force that heals not by erasing the past, but by acknowledging it.
Self-Forgiveness as a Prerequisite for Healing
Among the many emotional battles fought within June First, the struggle for self-forgiveness stands out as perhaps the most quietly devastating. Brant’s life is shaped by the belief that he is fundamentally broken, unworthy of happiness, and incapable of truly changing.
This belief is not challenged by external events, but by his own inability to extend to himself the same grace he gives others—especially June. While others forgive him, welcome him, and see his goodness, Brant continues to define himself by his trauma and the fear that he is irreparably damaged.
His self-exile is not simply about protecting June; it is about punishing himself. Even when he returns, he does so hesitantly, as if waiting for permission to exist in her world again.
The process of healing only truly begins when Brant starts to understand that forgiveness is not something earned through suffering, but something granted through compassion—toward oneself. This realization does not come easily.
It requires confronting the worst parts of himself, acknowledging the pain he has caused, and accepting that making mistakes does not make him monstrous. The role of therapy, introspection, and, ultimately, June’s unwavering willingness to see him fully—all contribute to his capacity to forgive himself.
By the time he proposes, Brant has shifted from a man who sees himself as a ticking time bomb to someone who believes he can be part of a shared, loving future.
His arc is a testament to the truth that self-forgiveness is not a passive act, but a conscious decision to stop running from the past and start building a new future with the tools one has, scars and all.