Emotional, beautifully written, and full of heart—Where the Rivers Merge completely pulled me in.

Set in the South Carolina Lowcountry, this multigenerational story follows Eliza, a strong, unforgettable heroine fighting to protect her home and legacy. The writing is vivid, the setting is stunning, and the family drama kept me hooked from start to finish.
Perfect for fans of sweeping family sagas and powerful women.

3.5 Solid stars

Where the Rivers Merge is a beautifully written and emotionally rich novel that swept me away with its compelling storytelling and deeply layered characters. I adored the dual timeline structure, which masterfully weaves together Eliza's life in the early 1900s and the present day. It kept the story moving and added depth to both timelines, making the characters feel incredibly real and relatable.

I was especially drawn to Eliza's character. Her strength, resilience, and willingness to challenge the societal norms of her time. I enjoyed following her journey—both the triumphs and the heartbreak made Eliza a well-rounded character, made her feel real. Monroe has a gift for bringing history to life in a way that feels both authentic and emotionally resonant.

That being said, did it have to have an animal death in this? I admit that I did not come into this story expecting that. That particular plot point felt unnecessary and didn’t seem to add meaningful value to the story—it just broke my heart a little more without clear purpose.

In the end. I really loved the rollercoaster of feelings this book evoked, and how deeply connected I felt to the characters by the final page.

The book would have been a solid 4 star, but the animal death felt too jarring and more of a play on our emotions and left me feeling out of place.

Thank you publisher for a copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

A lovely book, part one of two. Current date is 1988 but most of the book tells of a past between 1908 and 1926 in South Carolina. Elizabeth is telling the family history so her beloved Mayfield can continue. Current day conflict necessitates this. Excellent character development so the people feel real. A history lesson of race relations and customs is always interesting for those of us who care. Wish the continuing book was here, now.

I just love this author! She absolutely can transport me to a different time and place.

This is told in two different time periods, 1988 where Eliza is 88 years old and 1908 where Eliza is just a young girl.

Eliza, as an older woman leading a massive company, is a character that I adored! She is a tough old bird and she takes no prisoners. Eliza as a young child is headstrong and has a lot of issues with sticking to the rules of society. She stole my heart!

This story is atmospheric, heart breaking in places and just an all around good read!

There are two different narrators for each time period. I loved the narrator for the older Eliza. The narrator for the younger Eliza was a tad bit overly dramatic and would get a bit shrill at times. (Like I said…lots of drama!)

Need a family saga that will keep you wanting more…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel for a honest review.

Where the Rivers Merge is a dual timeline (1912 and 1988), historical fiction about South Carolina's Low Country. The story centers around a family, there interactions with each other and the plantation of Mayfield. There are strong female characters that are dealing with many difficult issues at a time that women were not expected to take on those roles. I did find it a bit long and dry in parts, but the story is well written and developed. I think that this will be a very popular book club pick. Book 2 is expected next spring.

I had the opportunity to preview this title via the audiobook. There were multiple narrators including the author. I enjoyed the various narrators as they helped to keep each character/plot line straight. The audio runs 12 hours 21 minutes.

I would recommend this book to:
-fans of historical fiction
-book clubs
-fans of stories with strong FMC
-lovers of the natural world

Thank you Net Galley, Mary Alice Monroe and HarperAudio Adult for the opportunity to preview this title. The opinions shared are my own.
Where the Rivers Merge is now available for your Book Club or Summer TBR!

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe is a beautifully written Southern novel that captures the charm, complexity, and emotional depth of life in coastal South Carolina. Monroe's gift for storytelling shines through as she weaves together themes of love, loss, healing, and the powerful bond between people and the natural world.

The characters are richly developed and relatable, especially the protagonist, whose journey of personal growth and self-discovery is both heartfelt and inspiring. The lush descriptions of the Lowcountry landscape add a layer of authenticity and atmosphere that makes you feel like you're walking through the marshes and standing by the water’s edge yourself.

I listened to the audiobook version, which was engaging and well-paced overall. However, one distracting detail that stood out was the narrator’s mispronunciation of “Beaufort.” Instead of the correct South Carolina pronunciation (“BYOO-fert”), it was pronounced like the town in North Carolina (“BOH-fert”). For listeners familiar with the area, this repeated error may pull you out of the story at times. It’s a small but noticeable oversight in an otherwise well-produced audiobook.

Despite that, Where the Rivers Merge is a touching and memorable read that will resonate with fans of Southern fiction, nature writing, and emotionally rich stories. Highly recommended for those who appreciate a meaningful, place-centered novel.

Where the Rivers Merge is one of the most enjoyable historical fiction novels that I have read this year and I genuinely cannot wait to get my hands on the last volume. The only thing that could have been done to improve the first volume was for the second volume to be released simultaneously so I don’t have to wait for it.

Where the Rivers Merge has two timelines and both are utterly engrossing. The narration is fantastic with Jenna Lammia narrating the early 20th century timeline as a young Eliza and Cassandra Campbell narrating the 1988 timeline with the elder Eliza. Mary Alice Monroe also narrates portions. Having the different narrators really makes the audiobook an enjoyable experience and made it very easy to understand when it switches timelines. Truly a 5 ⭐️ audiobook experience!!!!

The 1988 timeline spans a very short time period, but one in which a crucial showdown is brewing and some tough battles will be fought over Mayfield. Whereas the timeline beginning in 1908 spans the course of a little girl’s childhood growing up on Mayfield and being kept apart from a lot of the racism that she would have experienced in Charleston at that time growing up in the Jim Crow south. There are many early 20th century events and experiences touched on in this book as Eliza grows into a young woman during this pivotal time in history.

Read this if you love a strong female main character. Read this if you love historical fiction about feminism and/or race relations in the south. Also read this if you are interested in nature conservation.

Where The Rivers Merge follows Eliza Rivers-DeLancey and opens on the day of her 88th birthday. Upon announcing her plans for her company and that she will be stepping back as CEO and retiring at a board meeting, she leaves the city with one of her granddaughters and her grandniece for her childhood home Mayfield. Mayfield has a long history that Eliza wants to preserve and part of doing that is telling the stories to go along with the murals painted around her home.

If you loved to snuggle up on your grandma or grandpa's lap as a kid and listen to stories, this is exactly what it felt like listening to the audiobook! I finished this several days ago and have been struggling to find the words to put in a review! I loved having two narrators for older Eliza and younger Eliza and appreciate how younger Eliza transitioned her voice/tone as she grew from age 8 to early 20s. I will be honest that I missed the part of the synopsis that said this is the first of two parts and I got to about 17 minutes left thinking man there's a lot of story left to tell only to get the To Be Continued.

This is the first book I've read/listened to by this author and it won't be the last!

This was a beautifully written story starting with Eliza Rivers in 1908 who grows up on the Mayfield Estate in South Carolina. She befriends the help’s black daughter, Covey, and insists that Covey attends school with her. I loved the dual timeline, Eliza in her late 80’s and when she was a child. There was a lot of information about the plants and wildlife in that area. I felt that I could see the landscape with the descriptions. I loved that a lot of the story focused on the friendship between Eliza and Covey. The love story was woven in nicely. The ending felt a bit abrupt and I wish there was more to it.

When I first started this book, I honestly didn’t think it was going to grab me. It opens with an 88-year-old grandmother who also happens to be the CEO of a massive corporation, and her selfish, power-hungry son trying to take control. It felt very “rich people problems,” and I wasn’t sure I could connect. But then the story shifts—she returns to her ancestral home with her granddaughter and grand-niece, and that’s when things really start to unfold. Through the art hanging in the home, she begins to share their family’s hidden history, and suddenly, I was hooked without even realizing it.

What I didn’t know going in was that this is book one of a series. Yes, it said "Book One" at the beginning, but I just assumed it meant part one within a standalone novel—not a whole saga! So now, not only am I deeply invested in the present-day family drama and the fate of the corporation, but I need to know the full history of this powerful matriarch and how her family came to be where they are. The dual timelines are woven together so well, and I truly fell in love with the depth of the storytelling. The only downside? I have to wait for the next installment—and I am not emotionally prepared for the wait!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

This is a richly layered family saga in which the ecology of the setting—the lowcountry of coastal South Carolina, in the ACE basin—is very much integrated into plot and narrative. It follows the standard historical fiction structure of the dual timeline, beginning in 1988 when Eliza Rivers turns 88. In many ways Eliza is a typical Southern matriarch, tough, resourceful, no nonsense. She has capably faced the challenges of managing her family’s ranch, Mayfield,
since her adolescent years. She is as passionate about conservation of the land’s delicate ecosystem as she is about its rice crops and prize-winning horses. As the story opens, the elderly but ever-astute Eliza has established a conservancy to prevent its exploitation by developers after her death. Her own son is foremost among the shareholders who oppose her plans.

It is at this point that Eliza’s near century at Mayfield, her family relationships, and her friendship with Covey unspool as she tells her story to her granddaughter and newly-discovered niece, a conservation lawyer.

And it is a life history told against the great upheavals of the 20th century, including the world wars, women’s suffrage, the Jim Crow laws, the Great Depression, and the difficult battle against racism. I was far more interested in the early 20th century timeline, which captures Eliza’s coming of age, especially the losses that she overcame to become the prime actor in a family business that grew to a corporation.

This is a long and detailed book covering multiple generations and with a vast character list. The three narrators, Cassandra Campbell, Jenna Lamia, and the author herself, do an excellent job with the various accents and ages. I would single out Eliza’s long and intense friendship with Covey, the motherless daughter of the family’s Black horse trainer, as the heart of it all. It is a relationship both simple in their loving devotion and complex in the ways in which race is a dominant factor in its trajectory for reasons far beyond the control of individuals, just as are the significant class and gender hierarchies of the time.

The author tells a good story, and I appreciated the focus on nature, ecology and conservation, in both historical and contemporary timelines. It is a subject she knows much about; many of her earlier novels share the lowcountry setting. She further explains these, and her personal commitments, in her epilogue. In the contemporary story, they do get bogged down in political and legal discussions that, while important, might have been trimmed. Although the granddaughter/niece elements provide an interesting angle—especially as the niece is concerned—they seem peripheral beyond providing Eliza with an audience. They may prove more central in the second part of this duology. Since Book 1 ends rather abruptly, I can only hope the sequel appears soon.

First off, thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an ARC audio version of this book.
More importantky, this was my first Nary Alice Monroe. Coming of Age story in the south…. Been there so many times before. Good writing overall, but nothing really new. Guess it just was not for me….book clubs may love it.
The narration was excellent but the story just meh.

I am partial to family sagas and this one did not disappoint. Although it portrays some common themes of the 1900’s like segregation and women operating in a “man’s world”, the development of the characters held my total interest and propelled me to the end of the book. There was a scene during the war that moved me greatly — almost to tears — illustrating my ability to feel the characters based on both the writer’s words and the her narration the audio edition. I did not realize it was a part 1 of 2 books; however, this gives me something to look forward to when the second part, River’s End, comes out. Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advance copy! Very enjoyable experience!!

Where the Rivers Merge is a quietly powerful, deeply evocative novel that wraps you in the warm, golden glow of nostalgia while opening your eyes to the stark realities of a divided era, topped with a sprinkling of nature conservation. Mary Alice Monroe’s storytelling is graceful and unflinching, offering a tender, human lens on life in the South during the Jim Crow Laws era.

The novel flows like the river it’s named for—steady, winding, and full of unexpected depths. Monroe captured an emotional complexity that brought me to tears with family, belonging, and much needed change, painting her characters with such care that you feel their hopes and heartaches as your own (goosebumps and tears included).
The authors ability to bring together the comfort of the past and the discomfort of truthful, yet sorrowful times was enveloping. This is how far we’ve come, but like Eliza shows us, we must never stop remembering.

This is a story that lingers, like summer light on the water—gentle, clear, and impossible to forget.

Thank you HarperAudio and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in exchange for my review.

**Contains no spoilers **

This is my first Mary Alice Monroe novel, surprisingly. I have heard much good reviews from her previous novels over many years.

Pleased to say, it won’t be my last and am eagerly awaiting now the second part Where the River Ends.

I am a fan of historical fiction that is heavily researched and is well translated into a glowing fictional novel. No boring history books for me please! Though, talented writers know exactly what is required to bring forth an engaging story that enthrals readers. Mary Alice Monroe definitely is one of these amazing authors.

The novel is set in two time periods of Eliza in 1988 and sharing her life story with her granddaughter and the granddaughter of her beloved best friend growing up in South Carolina.

The span of her life touches on segregation, the Spanish Flu, the Great War, the Great Depression… and the impacts of the families in Eliza’s early life. Eliza was a trailblazer however not without heartbreak, challenges and living in a man’s world. Eliza made a blood-oath with her two best friends at a young age and we later see these relationships grow; how the early 1900’s influenced them differently.

Mayfield estate is well beloved by Eliza and we know in 1988 she owns the property and is making a significant change to the property ownership… ruffling feathers in her family. In Eliza’s retelling, we see the span of years and how this property was at the core entangled in all that came through its doors.

Well done! Will be looking to read Mary’s backlist books.

📖🎧 Book Review 🎧📖 Mary Alice Monroe delivers a powerful and sweeping novel that is as grand and complex as the land and history of the LowCountry. In her latest foray into historical fiction, Monroe brings her beautiful craft and allows it to shine like never before . Where the Rivers Merge is the first installment in a two part series that captivates and stuns, telling the story of a trailblazer name Eliza who has lived eighty-eight years in South Carolina, from the Jim Crow era, World Wars, the Great Depression, and all the way to the Reagan Era. From familial relationships and friendships to love, Where the Rivers Merge delves into it all, leaving no stone unturned on some difficult topics from our nation’s past. Monroe develops her characters with brilliance depth, and placing them amidst a setting that is wild and enthralling. Monroe’s words are emotive and resonate seamlessly, and the narration is brought to life perfectly in the audiobook.

Thanks so much Net Galley for the advanced audio of WHERE THE RIVERS MERGE by Mary Alice Monroe. In general, I find this author's novels very educational, this one was no exception. This was a dual-timeline family saga so it gave you insights into then and now--which in this story was 1988. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this novel did not disappoint. It tackled a lot of issues that are still relevant today. I loved Eliza and it was great reading how her ideals solidified as she grew up and did not cave to family ideals and/or peer pressure. I love the fact that Mary Alice Monroe narrates her own novels since in her reading of the novel, I got a feel for what was really important.

Where the Rivers Merge is a multigenerational, coming-of-age novel that follows the life of 88-year-old Eliza and her family's beloved land, Mayfield. The novel is a love story to South Carolina and has similar vibes to Where the Crawdads Sing. Eliza recounts her childhood growing up in the early 1900s to her granddaughter and her best friend's granddaughter ,as her childhood land is being passed on to the next generation. This one will pull on your heartstrings as Eliza's family is torn apart by war and broken dreams. The story leaves off with many questions, as the sequel, Where The River Ends, is set to come out in 2026. I am looking forward to continuing to read Eliza's story. The story started a little slow, but Covey's story drew me in. The narrator's southern accent reflects that of Eliza's, who narrates the story. The narrator used different tones for each character and their ages, which kept my attention and made the story easy to follow. I recommend this story to lovers or historical fiction or those interested in the early 1900s. 4.5/5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the advanced copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

What a story!!

This one brings us back to 1908, in the Deep South, with a very wealthy family. Mind you, this was in the times of segregation, when it was not considered “acceptable” to befriend anyone with a dark skin tone.
Eliza is the young girl on the plantation. She has two older brothers. Her family works (or helps) on the plantation…at least Eliza and her brothers…. Her Mom was definitely the one who came from money!

We basically follow along with her story as she grows up… from 1908 to 1988… I think?!

At a very young age, she becomes friends with another little girl when she gets lost. She does not see a difference in skin color… and wants to go back to play with her. Her Mom and Dad are very much SPLIT on this decision….

As Eliza grows up, the war is raging, and she goes through MANY hardships…but for me, the way that her father treated her, as opposed to her brothers… after ALL that she did, was horrible!!!

But, it seems to have made her much stronger… in the ways of life.

This was both a heart-warming and heart-breaking book! It made me LOL on occasion, and then brought me to tears a moment later…

It was also sweet to see that many of Eliza’s traits did not change over the years…

I will warn you that I did not realize that this was book # 1, so when it abruptly ENDED, without giving me answers I so desperately needed, I was shocked!! (And Sad…) I’m not sure when book # 2 is coming out, but it will not be soon enough for me!!

#WhereTheRiversMerge by #MaryAliceMonroe and narrated beautifully by #Jenna Lamia, #CassandraCampbell and the author herself.

**** This has NOT YET BEEN RELEASED, so look 👀 for it on 5/13/25!!! ****

All the stars for me!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫💫💫💫💫🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thanks so much to #NetGalley, #HarperAudioAdult and #HarperMuse for an ARC of the audiobook, in exchange for an honest review.

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I did a combination of digital and audio for this book. The audiobook was narrated by Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell and Mary Alice Monroe. The narration of the younger and older main character, Eliza, were really good. I loved the countrified accent of the younger version and the more sophisticated voice of the older Eliza. It really brought the story to life.

This historical fiction was a dual timeline of the life of Eliza. It is basically the elderly Eliza telling two female family members the story of her life. All this is going on while her son is trying to get her kicked out of her own company because of her age.

Eliza grows up in the south on an isolated manor. Her best friend is African American at a time when that just could not happen. The story gives insight into that complicated, yet simple relationship. It also deals with gender expectations and family conflict because of it.

I really loved this book and hope the author writes more of this type. Her character development was exceptional and these characters will stay with me for a long time.

Thanks to William Morrow and Harper Audio for the copies. All thoughts are my own.