3.5 ⭐️ I enjoyed this dual timeline story of Eliza Rivers and the grand Mayfield Estate in SC circa early 1900’s and 1988.

Told from Eliza’s POV the book comes to life with all the nature and wildlife featured. I liked that the beginning of each chapter started with some type of facts about local flora and fauna native to SC.

Eliza’s character is a strong voice and a strong woman! Supporting characters are equally as interesting from her parents to her best friend Covey, brothers Heyward and Lesesne, and beaus, Hugh & Tripp and her horse Capitano.

The writing is beautiful and descriptive and covers WWI, Jim Crow South, family drama, love, and loss.
The story didn’t grab me as much as I thought it would, and lagged in the middle. Some loose ends I felt need to be addressed , but it will be a series. I’m interested in reading more. .

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

#WhereTheRiversMerge #NetGalley

There will be a sequel to the book called the rivers edge in 2026
What a great story about Eliza an 88 yr old woman from South Carolina
She owns an estate with much acreage
She has been running this company for many years
Now her son Arthur doesn’t think she is capable of doing it anymore as she is giving a lot of the
Land for conservation
This is a story about several generations and what Eliza has endured to get to
Where she is now
She tells the story to her 18 yr old granddaughter
Can’t wait for the sequel

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe. I've always enjoyed books by this author. But Where the Rivers Merge wasn't like her usual type of beach reads that I always loved this was historical fiction. Which isn't my usual type of book that I read. I didn't know what to expect going into the story it did take me awhile to get into the book but once I did it was a good book. I look forward to reading more books by Mary Alice Monroe.

This had some beautiful atmospheric writing in it. I felt immersed in the landscape almost as if I was racing the winds on the back of Capitano himself or fishing in the Sweetwater pond.

The characters though.. Eliza is most definitely naive to the point where it's almost unbelievable. It's hard to read about the way her mother treated her when she was younger and then seeing the switch to where they became close. The same issue with seeing her father treat her well enough when she was young and then when she got older and helped him take care of the farm he switches attitudes.

I really did enjoy the characters Heyward, Hugh and Covey. The idyllic childhood between all of them was incredibly well written.

I didn't like how current Eliza didn't have any more thoughts or realizations about telling the secret of a close friend though. Maybe a page of some "hmm I thought at the time I was doing the right thing?" the tiny smidge of remorse shown seems surface level.

The ending also was abrupt? I was preparing myself for more family drama and it just ended? I wanted to know what happens to Mayfield!

This is the story of a courageous woman's battle to preserve her family home and the Lowcountry land that surrounds it. Set against the backdrop of the patriarchal and racist Southern white planter society, the novel takes place in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. It is Southern fiction at its best and beautifully written. I highly recommend this book—five stars.

Thank you to Book Club Girl and William Morrow for the early read in exchange for a fair review. I loved it. Five stars.

I’ve fortunately been on a roll with finding several great books lately, all 5 stars, it’s been a good spring reading for 2025. I’m not exactly sure how to explain how a book is written by a good author, other than when you are in the middle of the book and you just sigh, and say, wow, this is a good one, the sentence structure is good, the storyline flows well, all of it and you hate to put it down. This is a really well told story.

We go on an adventure of a family coming of age in the south, especially Eliza, Tripp, Hugh and Covey. I loved it, we grow up with these young characters and experience the trials in the early 1900’s with the differences of race in the south. This book has love, loss, race challenges, women vs men limitations and the love of the south low country. I highly recommend and look so forward to the next one in the series. She left us hanging and I want to know more. Comes in with 5 stars!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Where the Rivers Merge is a delightful and descriptive story. It’s a soulful tale of a woman filled with courage and determination and the South Carolina low-country property she strives to protect. The narrative includes Eliza’s complex youth at Mayfield starting in 1908, alongside her best friend, cousin, and two brothers. The characters are well-drawn and varied. One of my favorite scenes in the book is when Eliza participates in a horse race as a boy.

The vivid writing encapsulates Eliza’s life in a moving chronicle. In the book, the history of Mayfield is presented through a mural on the Dining Room wall. Eliza uses that mural as the backdrop to narrate the story of Mayfield to a new generation, one that Eliza hopes will protect its legacy as she has done.

Author Mary Alice Monroe illuminates the perils of South Carolina's Low Country in this poignant and thoughtful book. I look forward to the second installment in the series, which continues Eliza’s quest to protect her family’s legacy.

Thanks to Netgalley for an advance reading copy of this book. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe is a very highly recommended historical family drama. This is the first book in a planned two book series about a families home in the ACE Basin, an area named for the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers in the southeastern corner of South Carolina. The second book will be The River's End.

In 1988, 88 year-old Eliza Rivers Chalmers DeLancey has reach a level of success as the CEO of the family business, the DeLancey Group and in charge of the family's traditional plantation home and surrounding land, Mayfield. She has already put conservation easement on four thousand acres of the land and plans to put the last thousand acres, where Mayfield is located, into a conservation plan to protect it from development. Her son, Arthur opposes this and is scheming against her, but Eliza is prepared for his machinations.

After a tense and dramatic board meeting, Eliza sets off to Mayfield, accompanied by her college-age granddaughter, Savannah, and also the granddaughter of her closest childhood friend and grandniece Norah. Once at Mayfield, Eliza shares their family's history with the young women. The novel jumps back in time to 1908, when Eliza is 8 years old and tells her story of growing up at Mayfield and her friendship with Covey, Norah's grandmother.

This well-written historical fiction family saga opens each chapter with an interesting note about the various flora, and fauna found in the area of the ACE Basin. As Eliza grows up with a love for the land, the narrative follows the different expectations and societal norms of those days. This first novel tells Eliza's story and follows historical events up to her first wedding in 1926.

Eliza is a fully realized character full of self confidence and determination which is displayed even when she is young. Her family isn't portrayed as perfect. All the characters have flaws as well as strengths. What the story of her childhood does an excellent job of is showing her love of the land, her deep ties to Mayfield, and her unstoppable spirit to persevere. It establishes the foundation behind why she is determined to protect the land and her heritage as an adult.

Where the Rivers Merge will be relished by those who enjoy historical fiction and family dramas. Thanks to HarperCollins for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Where The Rivers Merge is the captivating story of eighty-eight-year-old Eliza and her love of the Rivers family's ancestral home of Mayfield in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Told with a dual timeline, this historical novel pulled me in from the first page. It is more than just a story. It's a lesson in preserving the land for future generations to come. I love this author's work and look forward to her next book. Thanks to author Mary Alice Monroe, publisher William Morrow, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Eliza is 88 years old and about to retire from the company she built. What will happen to the company and the family land that she owns? This is the story of Eliza's life from the time she is a little girl. It includes family dynamics, racism, and expectations of girls at the time. You will definitely be involved in Eliza's life, both the joys and disappoints. I really enjoyed this book and it ended far to soon. I will definitely be looking forward to book two. I would highly recommend reading this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #MaryAliceMonroe, and #WilliamMorrow for a copy of this book.
#WheretheRiversMerge

This book is a must-read! Mary Alice Monroe does such a beautiful job bringing the story to life—I could see the scenes unfolding as I read. The dual timeline worked really well and added so much depth to the story.

What stood out most to me was the strong female lead. Set in a time when women weren’t often seen as leaders, she truly broke the mold. The characters felt real, and the writing was so vivid and emotionally rich.

If you love well-written historical fiction with strong women and immersive storytelling, definitely add this one to your list!

This was a lovely story about a strong women growing up in the South Carolina at the turn of the previous century. It explores themes like love, friendship, family, and racism.

Eliza is the middle child in a well-to-do family, intelligent and headstrong. She befriends Covey, the black daughter of the estate caretaker. Along with her brothers and some of their friends, they form the nucleus of a group, growing up together amid changing times.

It's told in a dual timeline as today, Eliza heads a large company, and as she plans to retire, she is figuring out how to hand over her land.

As usual, the older timeline is much more interesting than the present one.

3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Mary Alice Monroe for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

I knew this book is the first half of the story, but darn! That ending came too soon. Not a cllffhanger, but I wanted to keep reading this fascinating saga of a South Carolina woman and her family. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, joyful. The story jumps between present day 1988 and the past, beginning around 1906. There are hints of how things are but the big question is how did they come to pass? How long do I have to wait for the concluding book?

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me a galley in exchange for an honest review of Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe. This is a wonderful novel on so many levels. It is the family saga of the Rivers family of the low country of South Carolina through the generations told through the eyes of their daughter Eliza as she comes of age. Through Eliza’s voice, the reader becomes immersed in the times, starting with the years before WW I and extending into the 1980’s. We see Eliza chafe and rebel at the perceived role of women, causing discord within the family, especially with her mother. The rivalry between brothers is exposed by observing the differences between first and second born sons caused largely by their birth order. The ugly underbelly of southern racism is also revealed, first in subtle ways, but later in more profound ways that can strain and permanently fracture a friendship. Eliza, her best friend Covey, her brothers Heyward and Lesesne, and later Heyward’s friend Hugh are strong characters that fill out a plot that hooks the reader from the beginning. The author masterfully weaves facts about the plants, animals and environment that make up the ACE Basin where the story takes place, adding to the interest. There also is a second timeline, where Eliza has aged. She has the opportunity to forge new relationships with her granddaughter Savannah and her great niece Norah, relationships that never formed earlier due to Eliza’s preoccupation with preserving her plantation home at Mayfield and decisions Covey made earlier. Now, Savannah and Norah are needed, and the reader is left wondering if they will deliver, as this is to be a two book series, due to the length and breadth of the story. Despite knowing this, the novel ended rather abruptly, but it only serves to whet my appetite for the second and concluding book. This is the author’s first adult book in awhile, and it serves to remind me how much I have missed her.

As an avid reader of Mary Alice Monroe, I was very excited to ready Where The Rivers Merge. Once again, she has told a lovely tale of love, loss and family wrapped up in beautiful scenery set around the water. Unlike the Beach House series which focused on sea turtles, this book is focused more on conservation of our natural world. The main character, Eliza Pinckney Rivers Delaney is someone with whom I would like to spend a day. She is 88 years young and the CEO of her family corporation when we first meet her. This multigenerational story goes back and forth in time, weaving the complex story of her life beginning in childhood. She is an incredible woman who started breaking down barriers even as a child. Her love for her family and her land serves as the basis for this incredible story. Too large to fit into one book, this is the first in a two part series. It was a wonderful read and I look forward with anticipation to the second book.

ELIZA RIVERS OF MAYFIELD!

In her newest release, “Where the Rivers Merge”, Mary Alice Monroe has crafted an evocative and moving narrative centered around Eliza of Mayfield. This novel unfolds as a multigenerational family drama, beginning with Eliza's childhood in 1908. Eliza always marched to the beat of her own drum and felt more at home in the natural world. She had a deep connection to the beautiful lands of Mayfield, as if they were a part of her very being, despite societal expectations of women during that time.

The story also explores the theme of deep, lifelong friendships—relationships that can sometimes resemble family, or even surpass familial bonds. Additionally, it delves into forbidden love and the complexities of a secret child, as well as the challenges of misplaced love and devotion throughout generations.

By 1988, Eliza realizes she must make difficult decisions to save her beloved Mayfield and ensure it thrives for future generations. Her greatest challenge comes in the form of her greedy son, but fortunately, Eliza gains two new allies to support her mission to protect Mayfield.

I can hardly wait for the next installment of this novel to be released so I can discover what happens next!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from William Morrow and NetGalley. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own and without outside influence.

A great book. An accomplished woman recounts the story of her life for young relatives. Great characters and interesting plot line. I hope book two comes out soon.

Thank you, Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to this absolutely wonderful book.
This book was glorious.
I laughed , I cried, sometimes both at the same time.
I will definitely be recommending to everyone.

Where the Rivers Merge is a heartfelt story of home, friendship, love, and betrayal, set in the Deep South during the WWI era. Against the backdrop of a racially divided society, the novel explores the powerful bond between Eliza, the daughter of a white plantation owner, and Covey, the Black daughter of the hired help—an unlikely and forbidden friendship during that time.

I really enjoyed this book. The story was compelling and held my interest from start to finish, especially with its rich portrayal of South Carolina's history. The characters were well-drawn—Covey was a standout for me—and I admired Eliza’s determination to stand up against the racism deeply ingrained in her community.

I gave this one 3.5 stars, rounded up. My only real critique is that the ending felt too abrupt. Key plot points were left unresolved—what happened to Mayfield? A few more pages to tie up those loose ends would’ve made for a more satisfying conclusion.

A big thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Mary Alice Monroe always writes wonderful stories that include the need to help animals in the wild. My favorite series centered on sea turtles. In this novel she looks at a much larger picture that involves the need for conservationship of land as a way to protect the land as well as plants and animals in it. Of course, there’s a great story with memorable characters too! The best part is the story was too long for one book so we can look forward to another one, hopefully next year.