I tried really hard to read and love this one, especially after all of the love it got but it just wasn't for me. At 20% in (felt like at least 75% in) I just did not care. Nothing happened for the first 20% and I was bored to tears. That being said, so many people loved it and I think it is absolutely a book for a lot of people, just not me.

Thank you to the author and netgalley for the eARC.

If you're looking for magic and adventure, this book is for you! From magical treasure in trunks to going around Egypt, this has everything. It's very 'indiana Jones meets harry potter' with a dose of historical fiction. Definitely liked it more than I thought!

Okay, yes. This was extremely enjoyable and the book itself is beautiful!
This was the first book I’ve ever read by Isabel Ibañez, and I ended the book feeling very positive about her and her writing style.
It wasn’t just the Ancient Egyptian history, archaeological atmosphere, and mysterious characters with questionable motives that drew me in. It was the engaging plot, great setting, extremely likable characters, and amazing writing. I’m hooked now and I can’t wait for the sequel!
Thank you SO MUCH for this ARC!

Wow! This was so much fun to read. What The River Knows had it all mystery, history, magic, betrayal, and romance. I truly thought I had this book figured out and multiple points but I was wrong every time. Inez as the FMC was amazing, she was strong and resourceful. Whit as the MMC was charming, flirty, and mysterious. The slow burn will they won’t they was so good. Their banter was so fun to read! WHAT WAS THAT EPILOGUE? I literally cannot wait for the next one. I will be reading more from Isabel Ibanez while I wait for book 2!

Inez has been jealous to not have joined her parents in their expeditions in Egypt. But when news arrives that they’ve died on one of their site excavations Inez is determined to find out what happened. She leaves her aunt and cousins and heads to Egypt to track down her uncle to get answers. Inez finds herself thrust into a world of political and social divisiveness between the Egyptians and British who have taken to claiming precious ancient artifacts and a black market of sold antiquities. Inez slowly learns her parents roles on their excavations. While on the hunt for Cleopatra’s tomb Inez realizes she has inserted herself in a perilous situation, one she might not be able to come back from.

With magical artifacts, a scorching romance and historical prevalence this story has a bit of everything!

This has to be one of the best stories I have read in a while. Unique and thrilling! I loved learning about Egypt and following Inez journey to uncover the truth of what happened to her parents. Inez was strong-minded and relentless in her pursuit of the truth. She overcame every barrier in her path. Whit a handsome wall trying to stop her every step of the way. Love the relationship developments and story progression. I thought I had it all figure out till that twist at the end blew my mind and broke my heart. I am dying to get into book to after that last line, the end of the year can't come fast enough!

WHAT AN ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING AND FANTASTICLY BEAUTIFUL BOOK! I LOVED EVERY MINUTE READING THIS. The mythology, the lush descriptions, the characters, the plotline....just beautiful!

A beautiful tale with a historical edge touched by magic. This was my first book by this author and I really loved the way she wove this tale and brought the characters to life.

4.25/5

Advertised as "The Mummy meets Death on the Nile" and I think it does a pretty good job living up to that standard. I really enjoyed the first half of this book, where we meet Inez and her personality really shines through. She is a feisty 17-year old with a heart of gold and a love for her family bigger than the Nile River, so it's no wonder that when she learns that her parents have gone missing and are presumed dead, she would cross oceans and continents to find out what happened to them.

Whit is also a great character, who reminded me a lot of Dmitri from Anastasia for some reason. Brave, handsome, and charming, he is everything one could want in a hot, young male main protagonist (except for the alcoholism, but that's explained).

Without giving too many spoilers, there were only a few things about this book that I didn't like, which lead to my overall rating.

1) The same argument happens over and over and over. Tio Ricardo and Inez argue time and time again, with him wanting to send her back to Argentina as soon as she gets to Cairo. Then he gets mad at her for doing things without his permission, even though he won't tell her basically anything about what's happened to her parents. And yet, any fallout from his decisions not to keep her informed? Inez's fault, duh. Ricardo was hard for me to like.
2) Some of the characters felt unnecessary to the plot and I think they were just there to prove that there was more to the cast than 4 people, so it felt a little clunky.
3) There were several instances where we're told AND shown the information that we need to know, which means that it is basically overkill. I don't need to hear that Inez saw a ring on someone's finger only for her to whisper to herself "that's the ring!" WE GET IT!
4) There were several plot twists that felt like they came out of left field and way too close to the end of the book to the point where I got confused about what was happening with the plot). It felt like Ibañez thought there needed to be more drama with only 50 pages remaining, so she added in 5 different things.

Overall, super enjoyable story! I'm excited for the sequel, and think most people who like YA adventures will like this book!

I feel like underwhelmed is the word that comes to mind. It was repetitive and didn’t have the shine I was hoping for. I’m also learning that books with a strong whodunnit feel aren’t my cup of tea- total personal preference.

I admit I went into this read having no idea where it was heading. Completely in the dark. However, it quickly grabbed my attention, and it never wavered. Once I started, I quickly finished, because I could hardly put it down!

Following Inez through the story, experiencing the news of the death of her parents when she wanted so greatly to join them in Egypt to immerse herself in their work with them, we watch as she quickly grows into a very strong and independent character. She takes those hard journeys alone, never wavering in her determination to find out what happened to her parents. Her journey made me fall in love with the stories of those ancient Egyptians and the ideas behind Cleopatra and Nefertiti and those alike. How thrilling it is to find that love again, thanks to this beautiful and brilliantly written piece of work!

I cannot share enough good things about this story. Isabel Ibanez has captured a truly magical story in her work, and I am beyond excited for the next installment to be available for us! She has made me want to travel, and I cannot wait to continue along the journey!

Thank you to NetGalley for granting access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Highly, highly recommend! Five stars and beyond.

What a beautiful, enchanting book this was. Straight away, from the first page, the reader is transported to a world that they will not want to leave. I will absolutely recommend it to any client looking for a good dose of magical writing.

A stunning first book in a duo-ology and I am IN LOVE! Trademark Isabel with fast-paced action, alluring romance, and a plot that will leave you turning the pages as fast as you can. Perfect for fans of the Mummy and Indiana Jones.

I reaaaallly wanted to love this book. It started off so fantastic, with intrigue, banter that made me giggle, Egyptian lore, and a main character I absolutely loved. This book was a solid 5 stars until the last quarter.
I think the foreshadowing was just a bit too heavy handed because I saw the twists coming from a mile away, and even character deaths I predicted in the beginning. It ended exactly how I thought it would, but with much more confusion. The ending I think was supposed to be another twist, but by then I was just exhausted.
This romance in this was so exciting to start, but then just went downhill until I hated all of the characters. I definitely will not be reading the second book, but three stars for the fantastic first 3 quarters because had it ended less convoluted and confusing, this would be a 5 star book.
I think quite a bit of editing and some more surety of who the characters were and why they did what they did would have brought this to a much more satisfying close. Right now I just feel disgusted and like the end of the book killed my love for the start of it.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, even if I didn’t read it before release!

In light of the fact that St.Martin's Press is refusing to provide actionable items on how they plan to prevent harm to their readers and reviewers due to racism and islamaphobia, I will not be reviewing this title in solidarity with the boycott that has been put in place.

Isabel Ibañez is an absolute gem and so is this novel. Inez and Whit were the lights of my life and as soon as I closed the book, I wanted to pick it up again. The plot was fast-moving and never dwells, with the characters being lively and the budding romance between our two main characters was perfectly done and brimmed with the perfect amount of tension and longing. I am impatiently waiting for Where the Library Hides to come out as I have not stopped thinking about What the River Knows since I finished it. This book is perfect for anyone looking for epic adventure, sweet romance, and many twists and turns.

I was so interested in this book when I read the blurb, I love The Mummy and this sounded a little bit like The Mummy fanfic so I was down. I haven't read the author's previous books but I also read some early reviews saying this is her best book to date.

What I Loved:

1. The setting - the author does an immaculate job of setting the scene and provides a lot of detail and imagery. I honestly think the length of this book is due mostly to the author's obvious love for Egypt and her wish to really put the reader inside of it as much as possible. It worked! I finished this book wanting to read everything else on Egypt I can find.

2. The history - again, the author does such a great job of giving us bits of history throughout this book and even included two prominent historical figures into the story.

3. The end - I won't lie, the cliffhanger grabbed me. The author shoved a twist in right at the end and I think it will bring a lot of angst into the next book. I'm excited for the next one and to know what's going on with Whit and his scheming and Lourdes and her scheming.

What I Didn't Love:

1. The romance - maybe I'm getting pickier as time goes on but this romance seemed so rushed and was based on so little that I was never rooting for it. I think a lot of romance readers push their romances forward too quickly. This book is the first in a series and the FMC was talking about love without knowing much about her love interest. I think the Victorian time period could have been used to bring more angst and pining to the situation that seemed more natural. Those things are brought up periodically but not really enforced throughout the book.

2. The mystery - I was so intrigued by the mysteries in this book but I don't think our FMC spends a lot of time actually solving them. She spends a lot of time complaining that no one will tell her anything and she spends like one scene sleuthing. I wanted her to have more agency, especially as a girl who reads as so vibrant and willing to step outside of the box.

3. The magic system - this is more in-between for me. I was interested to know more about the magic system and there's barely an introduction to it here. I'm hoping the author plans to do a lot more delving into it in the next book which seems like it could be likely.

I would recommend this to those that have enjoyed The Mummy, Stalking Jack the Ripper, and/or Egyptian history.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC!

I loved this story and the way the mystery unfolded throughout! I have always found Egypt fascinating along with its mythology so this book definitely fits right in with that. I loved the characters and the premise of the story. It was heart-pounding at times yet filled with lots of heart and history. I cannot wait until for the sequel!

Last year, the book I read by this author, TOGETHER WE BURN, was one of my favorite books. I’ve enjoyed the other books she’s written, so I went into this book fully expecting it to be amazing. And it really is.

The story is different than I expected, though. I liked how quickly Inez reaches Egypt and her quest there begins. It did feel like she was often at the mercy of other characters or that there were brief lulls in the action.

It really might just be me, though. I started and stopped a lot during my reading, so that might have made the book seem choppier than it is. Once I got to about the 60% mark, I felt a significant uptick in my investment in the book, and I think I read from there to the end in one sitting.

I love how this author creates strong, independent characters and delivers some great connections between female characters. The romance, as in her other books, definitely had me hooked.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book and loved getting to read a book set in Egypt. I think fans of Isabel Ibañez’s other books will not be disappointed in this one.

This book has a fantastic premise, but a so-so execution. The dual POVs are sometimes misleading (intentionally), but confuse the narrative rather than add to it. I find that I cannot relate to or sympathize with novels that rely solely on sexism to drive a narrative, as is the case in this novel. The ending, while sudden and rather violent, was confusing. What exactly is it that the twist was referring to? I don't think I'm entirely certain