What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez is one of the most well written books, the story of a young woman seeking to find her family in the midst of insurmountable odds was very inspiring and fun to read about. I loved the witty dialogue and how the characters really came to life on the page which made the story really easy to follow. The writing was a beautiful mosaic of egyption mythology, magic, historical fiction, romance and adventure. I think its my favorite Isabel Ibanez book to date!

Thank you to St. Martins Press, Isabel Ibañez and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

At Tome Student Literacy Society, we have a list of language and content criteria for the books we select for our annual book award list, the It List. Upon a language search in this book, we discovered that it did not meet our specific criteria for language. Due to this, we elected not to finish this book for review purposes for our organization. We would like to thank the publisher for the opportunity to review an e-book of this title.
We selected a previous book by this author for our award list, so we are confident this is a wonderfully-written book, it just does not meet our profanity guidelines.

What the River Knows follows Inez, a girl from Buenos Aires, as she sneaks away from her aunts care to Egypt in search for answers on her parents disappearance. There she meets her uncle Ricardo and his assistant Whitford Hayes. Her uncle immediately decides to send her back to Argentina but Inez has other plans. Through a series of sneaking Inez evades her uncles orders to go home and instead follows him to an excavation sight in Philea. It is in Philea that Inez will finally start to learn her answers about her parents.

What the Rivers Knows was a charming story filled with adventure and a hint of magic. I adored Inez's ambition even if she did make some questionable choices at times. I was hooked from the first chapter. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys historical fantasy or the moving The Mummy! I'm excited to read the next book and see what happens with Inez & Whit!

This is my first Ibañez book, and it won't be my last.

I'm a history major who is currently obsessed with fantasy and this book was everything. I loved that it centered on Egyptian mythology and was filled with mystery, magic, and suspense.

The characters were great, the plot was interesting, and the ending has me chomping at the bit to read the next book. I enjoyed the banter between Inez and Whit, and I'm a sucker for enemies to lovers, so I can't wait to see what happens.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for my eARC. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored this book.

Brief synopsis: Inez Olivera, a young woman in Buenos Aires society who chafes against expectations of a woman of her status, finds out her parents have died mysteriously in Egypt where they spend half the year without her. She sneaks off to Cairo to confront her uncle, an archaeologist and her new guardian, and uncover the truth of what happened.

Inez was everything - smart and stubborn and feisty and trying desperately to deal with her grief for beloved, absent parents while learning about their lives in Egypt. Whit is man with secrets and snark and can’t help but match wits with our girl Inez.

The story leaves you unsure of who, if anyone, to trust as everyone seems to have secrets and ulterior motives. It made you ache for Inez, who wants desperately to understand and to be wanted. The slow burn romance is immaculate, driving you crazy as Inez and Whit circle each other. It made you feel like you were walking the streets of Cairo or along the banks of the Nile with the characters. It also doesn’t shy away from the impacts of colonialism on Egypt and the treatment of the country, the people and the history and artifacts of Egypt by the British in particular.

And the ending. The ending wrecked me. The beginning and middle moved at a moderate pace, but the last probably 25-30% flew by. It made me scream and cry and yell HOW DARE YOU. The end of the book left me feeling fully unhinged and desperate for the sequel.

Thank you to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press & Wednesday Books for this eARC!

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I’ll be completely honest and say I was touch and go on this book in the middle but by the end it was a total winner. Looking back, I really loved it.

The atmospheric description of Egypt and the Nile was maybe my favorite part? I felt transported to the other side of the world. My second favorite part was the sloooow burn of Inez and Whit’s relationship. It was giving rivals but then eventually “touch her a die”. I loved that I spent the whole book not knowing who to trust because it kept me on my toes, wanting to keep flipping pages.

I have a love-hate relationship with cliffhangers and this one got me. When does book two come out?? Oh wait, this book isn’t even out yet.

My onlyyyyy complaint is that the snippets of Whit’s POV felt frustrating. I wanted a lot more of him or nothing at all.

I don’t always preorder the arcs I read, but you bet I preordered this before I even finished. It was so dang enjoyable.

You’ll love:
+ rivals to lovers
+ magic
+ historical fantasy (1880s)
+ Egypt & Cleopatra
+ adventure
+ mystery

Thank you to @netgalley, @stmartinspress, @wednesdaybooks and @isabelwriter09 for the e-arc of #WhatTheRiverKnows in exchange for my honest opinion.

‘What the River Knows’ by Isabel Ibañez is absolutely one of my top reads of the year! This book is just freaking phenomenal. Absolute perfection. With beautiful, vibrant prose, intriguing characters, mystery, adventure, deceit, magic, vivid, thrilling, immersive settings and a swoony romance full of banter and chemistry, this book just left me speechless and in love. The cliffhanger ending, that wild epilogue, they killed me in the best way, and I cannot wait for the next book. I can’t say it enough: READ THIS BOOK. I’d give it thousands of stars if I could. 😍

𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘣𝘺 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 (𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬-𝘺𝘰𝘶!). 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I thought I would like this as I have been getting into magical realism lately but I just could not connect with the characters. I found Inez to be whiny and annoying and immature for her age. It just was not for me.

This book was excellent! The pacing, characters and plot kept me hooked, the voice of the MC was funny and relatable. The romance/banter was to die for, I can’t believe that I have to wait for the second book now. Crying all the tears. 10/10

Synopsis:
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. When she receives word of the tragic death of her parents -who often left her behind- Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe. With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

My Thoughts:
This story is The Mummy meets Death on the Nile. It features brief flashbacks to the life of Cleopatra, magic, an archeological dig, a murder mystery, and romance. I liked the more whimsical story opening. I felt almost like I was reading the beginning of Cinderella, before we pivoted to the world of archeological excavation sites, bustling markets, and annoyance to lovers storylines. The setting of Egypt has long been a fascinating one. We fight Nile crocodiles, colonialism, family betrayals, and battles of the heart and the mind. Our heroine has no idea who to trust, but boy does she want to be able to believe in our male lead. The pacing is perfect and the lead up to the sequel incredibly frustrating in the best way. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book. Our male lead has most of the charisma and frustrating appeal as Brendan Fraser, and our female lead the same glamour and feisty-ness of Rachel Weisz. So if you grew up in the late 90s like me, loving The Mummy franchise, this has some wonderful nostalgia. But it's also an entirely new story about family, coming into your own, exploration, love (familial and romantic), duty and preservation. I think this is a home run of a story.

I chose to DNF around 25%. This he could take it out book had potential but I just couldn’t stay focused and it didn’t feel like it was authentic to the time period.

Are you a fan of The Mummy? Of course you are. Did you own that massive gold and slightly gaudy copy of Egyptology as a kid? You most likely did. And do I have news for you. You’ll be obsessed and completely captivated by this book as it takes you on a wild ride all across Egypt.

My mind is absolutely blown by this book. The storytelling captivated me from page one and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time not sure who to trust and what was going to happen next. It’s got a murder mystery, a nod to Cleopatra (as the badass she really was too), a magical element that ties to ancient artifacts and memories, a feisty and headstrong female main character you’ll adore, a morally gray man of mystery and unknown intentions for the male main character (as well as a couple of brief POV changes for him), archaeology digs, and the descriptive ambiance of Egyptian cities and markets that make you feel like you’re there yourself. It’ll take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions and the cliffhanger will leave you desperate for more. It’s the type of book you’ll want to reread immediately as to go back and analyze each character interaction and see how all the pieces fall into place early on that you were initially unaware of.

You can tell that the author put a lot of research into this book (regardless of the few liberties she did take) and that she’s mastered her writing and storytelling skills. Historical fantasy has found its place in my heart for sure now. I will certainly be thinking about this book for a long time and will be buying a physical copy for my collection as soon as possible.

This was such a fun read! I truly felt like I was watching a new edition to The Mummy movie franchise while reading this book. And as a Gen X-er who grew up watching Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile almost weekly on TV, there was some heavy nostalgia for me as well.

Action-packed, plot twists, swoon-worthy romance, cheeky banter, this book has it all. I felt early on that the plot was going to be predictable (only in the sense that I am a middle-aged woman who has decades of reading under her belt, unlike the YA audience this book is written for) and it was...until it wasn't. Let's just say the ending had me saying "WAIT WHAT" in the best possible way. I cannot wait for the sequel!

I do want to address some other reviews that call Inez a "petulant child" for her constant dismissal of being told what to do by the adults in her life. Are we really still calling young women who go after what they want (and what they know is RIGHT) with courage and conviction petulant simply because they are ignoring the misogynist and archaic rules of society? Can we just not?

Anyway (insert eye roll)

Highly recommend.

Such a great magical read! Completely immersive and well written, the author completely takes you into her world and through her magical ride. Mystery, magic, fantasy, a great spooky season read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, Inez was smart and cunning against all odds making her someone you rooted for and the mystery kept me going the entire time, I also loved the Egyptian history and descriptions. The magic system was interesting but unfortunately didn't really get used as much past the first half of the book which was disappointing.

I loved how each character really had a personality and were well written to the extent that they never fell flat, some evolved and some stayed the course but either way they felt like real people and not just names.

The banter and relationship between Inez and Whit was one of my favorite things and I laughed out loud several times.

Overall the book was enjoyable, it did drag a bit and the first half seemed unnecessarily long with Inez having to sneak around again and again before the adventure really started but it was still a good story.

Rating: 3.5 stars

I have read every book by this author so far. Sometimes they can be a hit or miss but overall do keep me wondering what she will write next. I really liked the sound of this one as I hadn’t heard of another like it and because of that my attention was piqued. For the most part I liked this one.

The book is told from two point-of-views and they come from Inez and Whitford. They both have different personalities and I think that is why they bounce off of each other so well. They balance out weaknesses and strength and have quite the adventures because of it. Inez may have to wear a skirt but don’t count her out! I liked learning about their pasts and seeing what their future could hold together and even apart. Their relationship definitely has its ups and downs but they at least try to talk through it when not being stubborn. Whitford is a very swoony guy!

A lot of the plot is centered around Cleopatra and archaeology as well as family secrets. I have always taken an interest in Cleopatra and Egypt since I was younger so all of it was right up my alley! I couldn’t help but be intrigued with how the author decided to put her own spin on it while also discussing important topics like colonization and what it looked like for those living under British control and at times having their own historical artifacts taken from them.

I will say that it did take a while for my to get completely invested but I am glad I continued on because I am quite curious on what will happen next. I honestly didn’t realize this was a series!

Overall, I am pretty happy with this one as it was a fun adventure.

This is definitely one of the better books I have read this year. I’ve been a fan of Isabel since I read Together We Burn so I knew going in I would enjoy her writing style. And I did, if anything it had only become that much better. The story was slow to start but flowed really well and was a great story overall.

It’s start out with Inez receiving the news no one wants to hear: after years going back and forth between home and Egypt, both of her parents are dead. But Inez doesn’t take this news lying down. She is determined to find out what happened to them, by any means necessary. But once she gets to Egypt she is thwarted by her uncle and his assistant Whit and ends up embroiled in things she never anticipated.

There are so many twists and turns in this book. It’s a mystery in the best sense. And I couldn’t help but root for Inez to make it and get to the bottom of what happened to her parents. But it’s never that easy. I have no idea what’s going to happen but I cannot WAIT for the next book. I was on the edge of my seat at the end and I need to know what happens next! I love love loved it. If you’re a fan of The Mummy and a cute enemies to lovers romance this is for you. You won’t regret it!

Fresh, original, and fun! If half points were a thing, then 3.5 stars. I did feel like the magic was fun, but I thought the plot could've been more tight. I did like the mystery aspects and the history aspects!

Inez Olivera is a headstrong young woman in the glittering, urbane elite of 19th century Buenos Aires. She wants nothing more than to be with her parents, who spend most of their time in Egypt. When they die mysteriously and Inez inherits both a fortune and a guardian she’s never met, she journeys to Cairo in the hopes of discovering what happened to her parents.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I think most fans of YA and Brandon Fraser’s The Mummy will too.

The characters were surprisingly complex. For example, Inez is headstrong and independent, but more relatable than your average female protagonist– her victories primarily come from sheer willpower and the help of others rather than massive strength or out-worldly beauty.

Most Victorian/Belle Époque books I’ve read are told from a British or American perspective, so having a Bolivian-Argentinian protagonist was rad. I think some of the most sophisticated parts of the book are the critiques of the British Empire and how they operated in Egypt. I also thought the book does a particularly good job as a period piece of including more contemporary beliefs (e.g. independence for colonies, not plundering a country for artifacts, paying people a reasonable wage, etc.) far more elegantly than a lot of books do. To borrow a phrase from the costuming community, “Vintage clothes, not vintage values”.

What I didn’t like: exposition at the beginning of the book, especially regarding how magic is part of the world, is pretty clunky. And while the book looks like a standalone at first glance, this ends in QUITE a cliffhanger.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from NetGalley and I’m so happy I was able to read What the River Knows early because I loved it so much!!! It’s set in the late 1800s and follows Inez, who travels to Egypt to get answers about what happened to her parents.
There is adventure, mysteries, fading magic, and of course romance! I absolutely love Inez’s journey throughout this book. The way this book is written I actually felt like I was in Egypt and I found all the history relating to Cleopatra fascinating. Inez is an amazing FMC because she’s so determined, stubborn, and she does what she wants. I adore her and how headstrong she is.
Inez meets many interesting characters along the way but I have to mention Whit because I love him! He’s charming, charismatic, and clearly has his demons. I adore his dynamic with Inez because they both obviously develop feelings for each other but they deny them while at the same time being there for each other. They are complicated to say the least.
This book also has so many shocking twists. Some I predicted but there are others that had me screaming “what just happened?!”. Honestly every time I thought I knew where the plot was going there was a twist.
Part of the plot has to do with the fading magic and how it latches onto objects, and I really enjoyed that aspect! It’s fascinating and I can’t wait to find out more about how it’s affecting Inez.

In this incredible historical fantasy you’ll find:
🧡 mysteries
🧡 adventure
🧡 magic
🧡romance
🧡 Egyptian history/myths

I absolutely love this book and after everything that happens at the end I’m so excited for the sequel!! But considering this doesn’t release until Halloween I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait so I’ll probably reread this book in the meantime!