I appreciate the opportunity to read this book for my review. I live in the mountains of western North Carolina very near the places mentioned and was familiar with the setting of this novel. Every character was so well developed and felt like I knew them well. In some instances I could anticipate what a character might do and in others I was very surprised. The author describes Appalachian poverty and some of the choices people made to survive. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from 'this author.

A debut novel & an arc. Thank you Net Galley for this advance copy in return for an honest review.

I wasn't sure at first when this story took place but through bits & pieces & finally a date, we learn that is 1970. The main character is Sadie Blue, 17 years old. Lover of Loretta Lynn. Poor, alone, no one to care for her & no education, she starts to "date" the local bad boy. This is a back wood, scrappy story. She takes up with Roy & he is not a good person. Times are hard, life is hard & Sadie really has no one to help her nor does she even know that life doesn't have to be like this.

A new teacher arrives in this small Appalachian town & this teacher gives Sadie hope.

The chapters go back & forth between a variety of characters ( some are real characters!) & we get a glimpse of parts of the back story of a few of the main characters.

It really was a sad story, & I am sure there are parts of this area where people still live like this- poor, uneducated & without hope. It was an engaging story & I was rooting for Sadie all the way...

What a fascinating story! If the Creek Don't Rise is a very raw and real novel about the townspeople of a small Appalachia town in North Carolina called Baines Creek, in the early 1970's. From it's lack of formal education to it's painful secrets people want to sweep under the rug, Baines Creek's residents have be reluctant to change in any form. So when a new face comes to town, some are apprehensive (to put it mildly), but for some, the possibility of change the exactly the lifeline that they've been dreaming of.

I have to say that I was complelty captivated throughout the entire book! I was so immersed in the stories and lives of the townsfolk of Baines Creek that I couldn't put my kindle down. Each chapter Leah Weiss alternates characters perspectives, which I felt worked perfectly with storyline. Leah Weiss has a gift for writing strong, determined females who strive for "better" even when at times the likelihood of "better" is slim. I love it when an author can pull off an ending I did not see coming--wowzer!! If the Creek Don't Rise is hands down a 5 star book! A MUST READ! I cannot wait to read whatever Leah Weiss comes out with next!

Heartbreaking tale of abuse, but there's hope in the end. This was a little hard to read because of the wording, but I see why it was worded the way it was, to stay true to the setting, story, and characters. I received an advance copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Free ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.

One of my favorite settings combined with a parade of characters with intertwined stories made this a home run for me.

I started off liking this book. I liked the way the story grabbed me from the very start. I liked Sadie Blue and wanted to know more about her and her story~past and future. The second chapter is from her Grandmother's prospective and then someone else and someone else until Sadie almost gets lost. It's difficult for me to become totally interested in a characters story when there is so many side stories going on. It is well written I would read others by this author but not right away. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review. This book is not on Goodreads or Amazon for me to leave additional reviews.

At first I didn't like the format--the skipping to different perspectives and time periods. But then I realized I was reading a tapestry of life during a specific time and place in history, and I got hooked. It's not an easy book to read, and the reader will feel ambivalence towards many of the characters. The author does a beautiful job of creating characters that both tug at your heart and repel you. Above all, the characters burrow into your soul and cause you to question your beliefs and suppositions about other people.

Haunting, exquisitely painful and with a powerful sense of place, Leah Weiss's 'If The Creek Don't Rise' is a story I know I will return to again. Weiss's command of dialect and idiom only adds to the beauty of her prose.

Appalachia is a much-misunderstood region and although Weiss's novel doesn't offer a wildly differing view to the well-established one of poverty, insularity, inbreeding and lack of opportunity, she does offer solutions over the long term via Kate, a teacher who is given a post in the mountains as a kind of banishment for her own transgressions against the moral codes of the time. Kate loves these mountains and is prepared to grow and adapt, a quality seen in Sadie Blue, the protagonist of the book whose intended escape from the ties that bind drives much of the narrative.

I loved this book, there are sentences that will remain with me. A must-read.

Great book! It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I did I couldn't put it down! This book left me wanting to read and know more about the characters lives.

I truly adored this book. Everything about the book - setting, tone, characters, etc. - is right up my alley but this is also a very well written book. Others have given an overview of the story so I'll just skip to what I think sets it apart from other books. Characters, characters, characters.....this book is full of them. Some are endearing and others are mean and unlikeable. But what each character has in common is that they are fully formed and multi-layered. Even with the unusually high number of narrators in this book you can really tell each one of them apart from the others.

Fans of southern fiction, Appalachian stories, or books with a rural setting with really enjoy this work.

Every now and then a gem comes along and you want to show everyone around you your good fortune at having found it. This novel is such a gem.

There's a certain musicality to the language as the mountain air is pure and the conditions are bad. The story is told from ten points of view, with Sadie Blue being the central character. Vividly drawn, the characters leap off the page. You see the goings on in little Baines Creek, a town in Appalachia. It is a town in which moonshine is a thriving business, men misunderstand Ephesians 5:22-23 and the women are left to pick up the pieces.

This novel explores a town steeped in such poverty its hard to remember that its set in 1970's and not in the 1930's. Its as if the Great Depression never lifted for Baines Creek. Seventeen year old Sadie Blue finds herself in the family way to Roy Tupkin, probably the worst guy in the town. We follow her story from their marriage to the point in which, seventy-one days later, Sadie finally understands that she deserves better than the domestic violence that she is enduring. We are told her story through the eyes of nine other characters, each very different from the next, who give us insight into the world in which Sadie lives. We hear from Sadie's grandmother, older, wiser friends, a teacher, a preacher a child and a quirky old 'witch' and even Roy himself.

This novel gives an authentic slice of Appalachian life with a constant dialect and language. It takes some getting used to, but 'won't' instead of the word 'weren't' keeps the voices and language clear in your head. The characters feel real as does the story. Weiss has written a brilliant debut novel. She makes an unknowable community very real. Her work is sure of itself, grave and comical all at once. It made me ache to reach out to the community as the teacher Kate does, trying to make a difference to a place that time forgot.

I eagerly await Leah Weiss' next book.

A gritty, realistic Christy.

Leah Weiss does an incredible job showing the hard life in 1970 Appalachia. The Appalachian people are different from all others and Ms. Weiss shows their strength as well as their weaknesses.

If the Creek Don't Rise gives you a small glimpse into this unique segment of American society.

Thank you Net Galley for this advance copy in return for an honest review.

Leah Weiss has hit it out of the ballpark with her debut novel "If the Creek Don't Rise". After viewing the cover, I had to know the story behind the waify girl sitting and looking so forlorn by the derelict truck.

"If the Creek Don't Rise" is a myriad of stories: love, anger, jealousy, murder and redemption. It begins with Sadie picking herself up off of the floor of a trailer after being savagely beaten by her husband of only a few days. The book is the story of her deliverance. Many characters are introduced and play a pivotal part in how she got to this point in her life and how she can carry on. The many facets of how these Appalachian mountain folk get by day to day is woven throughout the story; but it is also inspiring and very interesting.

The story is written in first person and chapters switch to different characters. With some books, this makes the story very hard to follow, but Ms. Weiss makes the transformation seamlessly while telling the back story of that character. The dialect may make the book a bit hard to read for some, but as I am from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains it did not for me. The vernacular only adds to the authenticity of the story.

She writes a great, unexpected ending that is truly satisfying. My only complaint is that I want to know more about some of the characters! This would make a great and compelling series. Readers need to know what happens to Preacher Eli, Kate Shaw, Prudence, Birdie and her crows, Tattler Swan, Jerome Biddle and even Sadie later in life. Perhaps some characters will get their own book.

Be sure to read the conversation with the author. She discusses the inception of the book. She entered a writing contest that had an opening prompt of <i>I struggle to my feet</i> and the book blossomed from there.

i really liked this book, the story was well written and the characters and setting was described in great detail

This is a debut book that is an awesome read, I could not put it down! The story takes place in the backwoods of Appalachia country. Many characters enter throughout this storyline, some you will like and some you will not. With the introduction of each new person, you get the story from a different perspective and it all starts to fall into place very nicely. The main character, Sadie Blue, who is seventeen, has nowhere to turn. She is of little education, poor and has no one to take care of her. Sadie has made some bad decisions in her life and loses hope until a "stranger" moves into town. The story of hard times and the struggles of life can be a bit of a tear jerker but with people on your side and some inner strength there is always hope. This is definitely an endearing story that is well worth the read, I recommend!

Awesome story and characters. Interesting information on Appalachia. A whkle undercurrent of social beings. Unfortunately it ended too abruptly..

This is one of those books that will stay in your memory for a long time. It was written in first-person, but each chapter was a different "first person". I wasn't sure where the plot was going and midway through I was beginning to think it was getting a bit tedious. But when things came together.... WOW!

The story starts out with Sadie Blue and the hardships endured in the Appalachian mountain rural community of Baines Creek in the early 1970's. Sadie hears the voice of her daddy's spirit as he offers encouraging words for her to get out of the clutches of her abusive husband. As she recalls how she got into this situation, I just wanted to pull her into my heart. When you hear the thoughts of Gladys Hicks, Sadie's grandmother, in the next chapter, you get even more insight into the lives of the people in this community. This goes on for awhile with various situations being presented from the perspective of different people within the community. It is deeply southern and as a reader, I was soon pulled into the desperation of a poor, illiterate society and I also felt the compassion many of these people felt for one another.

I was a bit surprised when I learned that this is a debut novel by this author. Leah Weiss writes like a seasoned author with fabulous world-building and the ability to make her characters come to life. It is heart-warming and heart-wrenching at the same time.

I loved this book and would heartily recommend it as a Book Club pick because there is so much that could be discussed with this one!

Thanks to Sourcebook and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC copy.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this debut novel by Leah Weiss.
It appears that Ms. Weiss has taken a short story, Crossing the Line, that she wrote years ago and developed it into a powerful and believable novel about a small pocket of Appalachia and its people. Ms. Weiss has clearly done her research. This story is told from various characters’ viewpoints, using realistic local dialect in a way that enhances the reader’s experience and is not demeaning to the culture it represents. The reader is pulled from page to page to piece together the plot and find out what will become of the main character, Sadie Blue. Sadie, who is presented in the beginning as a weak, silly, girl, matures throughout the story and will surprise you in the end. Moonshine, haints, murder, and secrets abound! This is a must read!

Thank you Netgalley for this advance copy in return for an honest review. If the Creek Don't Rise is the best book I have read this year. Leah Weiss has created memorable characters whose voices ring sad and true as they relate the struggles to survive the poverty and hardships of life in Appalachia. The storyline is that of Sadie Blue a victim of brutal beatings by her boyfriend. It is about the unlikely people who help her and the unexpected results. These are beautifully written characters that I will not soon forget. "We all deserve hope and possibility." I highly recommend this book and my fingers are crossed for much more from Ms. Weiss.

If the Creek Don't Rise is a heartbreaking novel about the life of 17 year-old Sadie Blue. Her momma ran off and her daddy did his best to raise her in poor North Carolina Appalachia. Life doesn't come easy in this region and when Sadie's daddy dies she becomes pregnant and marries no-good abusive moonshiner Roy.

Sadie is a sweet and innocent girl who you just can't help but feel for. Her story and the story of Bains Creek is told by several interesting characters who inhabit the region- including Sadie's grandmother. If the Creek Don't Rise is a tale of hardship, love, hatred and murder- with a little redemption thrown in. The ending of this story threw me for a bit of a loop and that doesn't happen very often. All in all, a wonderful debut title that I had a hard time putting down.

The compelling story of of a few weeks--with glimpses of a long history-- in a small community in rural Appalachia. The story is told in first person narration by many, rotating characters, a narrative device that usually annoys me, but here it works well to give different perspectives on current and past events. The characters are all complex and it was interesting how diverse people's views were of the same events. There is an interesting interplay between violent conflict and selfless giving, beliefs and fears, traditions and change. This book asks some hard questions-- Can life change in a place that has not changed for generations? Is your life path determined by the choices your parents and grandparents made? --and leaves the answers undetermined.

This was interesting in the way that each chapter was a different characters chapter written in the first person. At first I didn't think I was going to like it very much but soon changed my mind and it kept me totally entertained. My favourite part would have to be the ending.......gave me a good chuckle.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Thank you.

This book. Wow. I couldn't put it down. What a story, so richly told through varying points of view, that is neither repetitious or abrupt. I can't wait to read more from this author. Bravo!

Beautiful prose, deeply developed characters, engaging story-line, unforgettable read.

I wish I could adopt the blurb and make it to my review. It has absolutely everything that a reader needs to know to decide if it is worth it to read this book or not. Honestly, just read the blurb and you will know.

This book is a pure beauty, in words and in a way the story is told. It has a very unique structure, a multiple first person pov. I'm not a big fan of changing POV, and I have never imagined that a multiple viewpoint novel could be such a satisfying read, and even less that a debut author can master the challenge with such ease and style.

Set in a small provincial community, in North Carolina, in the Appalachian mountain, in the 1970s, If The Creek Don't Rise: A Novel tells the story of Sadie Blue, of finding hopes and strength to be able to take fate in her own hands.

Breathtaking nature as an astonishing contrast to the terribly poor living and social conditions.

I absolutely LOVE this book.

"We learned the important key to good storytelling - add real people to the mix." ... Which is exactly what Leah Weiss does in 'If The Creek Don't Rise'. She captures a people of true grit that resonate in a solid structure of a good story. The timbre of their language rings hypnotic and true, as Weiss crafts a voice of extraordinary texture. You can't help but pull in close to enjoy the details.
Each chapter is named after the eponymous character it focuses on. They center, in a kind of circular flow, around a few main events - the domestic abuse of a pregnant woman, the arrival of a new school teacher and the disappearance of a local girl. When we read a new chapter, we circle back to those events from the new characters first person POV, offering new insight, keeping the narrative stream clear and fresh.
There are almost a dozen to meet - every one of them unique. Weiss maintains a good command over this list of dimensional characters, most of whom are never lost in the layers of the narrative.

Thank you, Ms. Weiss, for "Sadie Blue" - the prettiest color thread weaved throughout your story. And thank you for "Marris" - for being its heart.

Sadie Blue. Pregnant, seventeen, still a newlywed, if maybe a little less optimistic about her hopes for her marriage since her husband Roy Tupkin knocked her around a bit. Her only weakness, if you can call it that, is her love of Loretta Lynn. She can’t read the magazine she carries around with her since she only knows how to read but a few words, but she knows all her lyrics from listening to her on the radio. Her daddy, Otis Blue, has passed on, but continues to give advice to Sadie on saving herself from Roy’s temper. Her mother, Carly, left Sadie’s father when she was just a baby, leaving town with a “fancy man full of flashy promises and little else.”

In the here and now of 1970’s Baines Creek, the person Sadie counts on most of all is her grandmother, her mother’s momma, the first of their family still living to come to live in Baines Creek. Mary Harris Jones, named after Mother Jones who once upon a time visited their little town of coal mine families. Born in 1898, she’d lived in Rock Bottom, West Virginia with her parents and brothers, a coal mining family among other coal mining families.

When Mary Harris Jones, called Marris as those two names slid into one, arrived in Baines Creek at ten years old, she saw colours for the first time, having never seen any in Rock Bottom where the sky and everything else was always coated in gray. The blue sky and white clouds seemed to be a glimpse of heaven.

"When I was born, my folks don’t live in Baines Creek in the highlands of North Carolina like now. Baines Creek don’t have coal to dig in its heart that breaks a man in two. When I come along, we live over Rock Bottom way in West Virginia, on the airish side of the mountain where coal dust sifted through slits around the windows, and spindly houses can’t be scrubbed clean. Where we lived looked the same inside as it did outside. Gray."

Part of her family left behind. Coalmines are dangerous work. Their family is smaller now.

"Rock Bottom cut the heart outta folks and let em walk round thinking they was alive when they won’t.""

Sadie is still a bit of an innocent, hard to believe anyone could be in this place where moonshine is a primary source of income. Her heart is still open to people, despite everything life has tried to teach her, and when Miss Kate Shaw comes to Baines Creek to be the new teacher, they bond quickly. Sadie wants to help Kate, and Kate wants to help Sadie, help her learn to read and more. Others join in, an alliance, each intent on helping Sadie, but also the “others” within this group.

Each section shares a perspective of time and place and people, and there are many different perspectives. Amazingly this flows effortlessly, and you see their views, how those connect with young Sadie’s life, all of their stories lead you right back into Sadie’s story, a group consciousness, if you will, which reads as though you were sitting in the room with them. Narrated in a stream-of-consciousness type flow, with a uniquely Appalachian colloquial essence, which really adds to the joy of reading this unforgettable story. The narration might require a very slight adjustment. Words such as won’t instead of weren’t, writing by the sound rather than the standard spelling.

I loved this story, these wonderfully authentic characters, with a setting so purely raw, wild and gritty I could see it, the language so convincing I could hear the measured lilt of the drawl.

The ending is the cherry on top of the best sundae you’ve ever wanted to have. After a carefully concocted blend of flavours, it ends with that bit of zing you weren’t quite expecting.

This is Leah Weiss’ debut novel, which is hard to believe. I’m hoping she’ll return to these people in her next novel!

Interesting story told through different viewpoints of life in Appalachia. The characters are engaging and the story unfolds smoothly. Great ending.

4 1/2 Stars

A gem of a story, richly told and beautifully woven together. This novel was cleverly written by using a different voice for each new chapter. With the storylines overlapping, we really got a feel for each unique character. A haunting debut that was very hard to put down with a doozy of an ending! ❤

If the Creek Don't Rise is a book about a girl name Sadie Blue and the town she was raised in.
There are fourteen chapters in this novel and eleven are told by a different character, three told by Sadie Blue. This is about a poor town and how the people live by relying on each other but also trying to get away from the bad town folk.
Each chapter weaves the tale of the characters giving a little back story and coming current. It all ties together in the end but at the same time leaves so much to the imagination. Is there going to be another book letting the readers know what happens to Preacher Eli or Miss Shaw? Or any of the other characters? We can only hope.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32804703-if-the-creek-don-t-rise" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="If The Creek Don't Rise" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478043967m/32804703.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32804703-if-the-creek-don-t-rise">If The Creek Don't Rise</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16013248.Leah_Weiss">Leah Weiss</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1864642826">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
It is 1970, and we follow the story of a young Appalachian girl, Sadie Blue age 17, pregnant and newly married to an evil young man who is abusive.<br /><br />This story takes place in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina and we are introduced to quite a cast of characters.<br /><br />I really enjoyed this book. I hope there is a follow up to learn more about the people we met in this town.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/12851291-karen">View all my reviews</a>

This book is absolutely BREATHTAKING! It's been quite a while since a book has had such an impact on me that I forgot that books could actually do this! Leah Weiss is an absolute GENIUS and I couldn't recommend this book more to fellow book lovers. This is definitely a book I will share with my friends over and over again!

I am from a small town in the south so all these southern drawls and references made my heart melt. Her description of people and their situations felt so real. I was pulling for Sadie all the way. I give this book 2 thumbs up. heartfelt writing

Leah Weiss does an incredible job showing the hard life in 1970 Appalachia. The Appalachian people are different from all others and Ms. Weiss shows their strength as well as their weaknesses.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I didn't know "if the creek don't rise" was a saying. The phrase is "God willing and the creek don't rise".

I'll be honest. It was hard for me to stay with this book at first. The main characters speak a dialect that is hard to understand and to follow. However, please stick with it. This is a stunning debut. I nearly gave up, and I would have missed this.
The novel is set somewhere in Appalachia. Sadie Blue is facing a terrible future. She's married to a dangerous drunk named Roy. She thinks that this is her only future, but something may change. She's had a terrible life and has been abused by so many. You are rooting for her. There is hardship, murder, love, hatred, and some redemption.

I am surprised that this is a debut as Weiss is fantastic. I am a fan of fiction set in the south. A good read.

If The Creek Don't Rise By Leah Weiss

This story takes place in the mountains of Appalachia in the 1970's. What struck me was how insulated this world really is. Sadie Blue young and pregnant is newly married to Roy Tupkin who beats her on a regular basis. My favorite character's are Sadie, Marris and Kate Shaw, the new school teacher from the valley.

In this story Baines Creek, which is a fictional town of North Carolina the setting comes alive and is as richly drawn as the characters. I enjoyed every page of this book from cover to cover. The character's were all vivid and came alive on the page to me. Marris, who was always ready to help any of the character's in this community was a favorite for me. I truly enjoyed seeing Kate Shaw adapt to the community of Baines Creek. I thought Kate Shaw was brave to live up on the mountain by herself and was warmed by how kind she treated the children that she taught, giving them penny candy for answering a question. Watching her learn and have a desire to learn and respect the way of life of Appalachia.

I don't remember the last time I read a book that I loved some of the character's so deeply and intensely, as some of the characters of this story. This was a debut book for this author and would love to read more of her future work. This book is one of the reason's I enjoy reading so much. I can't praise this book high enough and do hope reader's enjoy it as much as I did.
Highly Recommended. Five Stars Plus!!!!!

Thank you to Net Galley, Leah Weiss and Sourcebooks, Inc. for the pleasure of reading and reviewing this book for a fair and honest Review. Leah Weiss you have talent more than words could describe.

This is a VERY strong four rating. The only reason it didn't earn a five is that I was so tempted to abandon it at about the 12% mark. The first chapter opens with the beating of Sadie - pregnant, 17, and married. The abuse is hard to stomach, but her situation is the entire purpose of the story - and the story is exceptionally well done.

Appalachia in the 70s was grim and hard; I'm not sure there was a time that it wasn't a challenging place to live. The eight years I lived in NC were not in Appalachia, yet to this reader's ear, the "voice" in each chapter rang true. Several of the characters have settled into my heart, and I hope we hear from them again in future books.

Relate-able these days. 17, pregnant and newly married to a young man who is abusive. How many kids go through this today? This book is set in 1970's in North Carolina in the Mountains. The characters are really alive in this book. I loved this book through and through and will reread it! netgalley review!

A bittersweet story of a poor Appalation town told through the voices of characters living there. Written in the first tense we get to know all the good and bad of each person. Sadie Blue is a young girl who ends up married and pregnant to an older man who beats her regularly. The story revolves round Sadie and all her friends and family. Introduce a new school teacher and will things begin to change?The characters are all interwoven and fascinating. A great book about small town America in the 70s

Bio:

A strikingly sincere portrait of a town and its buried secrets from an outstanding new voice in southern fiction.

In a North Carolina mountain town filled with moonshine and rotten husbands, Sadie Blue is only the latest girl to face a dead-end future at the mercy of a dangerous drunk. She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife.

As stark and magnificent as Appalachia itself, If the Creek Don’t Rise is a bold and beautifully layered debut about a dusty, desperate town finding the inner strength it needs to outrun its demons. The folks of Baines Creek will take you deep into the mountains with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.

Review:

This story is extremely character driven. The author has strong three dimensional characters that feel so real they literally jump out of the pages at you.

Sadie Blue, the main character, is seventeen and pregnant. Newly wed to Roy Tupkin, a wife beater.

Most of the people in the town are uneducated, as is Sadie, but it doesn't stop them from leading what can be considered extraordinary lives.

As you meet each character, you can literally feel your heart warming and opening to love another one.

This story combines strong characters with strong voices, a bit of drama, and a town full of secrets to make an amazing southern fiction. This is the story you take with you and never forget because the characters felt so real.

*I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ - Five Hearts

Wow! This was an extremely enjoyable read! I absolutely loved the southern voice of these characters throughout this book. It is a breathtaking and gritty portrayal of hillbilly life from the year 1970 which is set in the Appalachian Mountains.

“Regular folks buckle under the piss and vinegar in this world.”

IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE by LEAH WEISS is an interesting, compelling, and beautifully written novel that has a really engaging storyline and characters that grabbed my attention from the very first chapter.

Being a Loretta Lynn and country music fan I absolutely loved Sadie Blue’s respect and adoration that she had for Loretta Lynn. The references to Loretta Lynn were quite appealing and enjoyable!

HE’S GONNA BE SORRY HE EVER MESSED WITH ME AND LORETTA LYNN

“She’s got a hard life. Sings hard songs. She found a way up and out of her Kentucky holler. Miss Loretta is a miracle to me.”

LEAH WEISS delivers an impressive read here told in the first person from the perspectives of quite a few different relatable and likeable characters that was easy to follow along with the storyline and all the characters involved.

The ending was a complete surprise!

To sum it all up it was an entertaining, steady-paced, and an easy read with a very satisfying ending. Highly recommend!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Leah Weiss, and Sourcebooks, Inc. for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

I liked the way Leah Reiss, gave each character such a distinctive voice by alternating the narrators of the chapters. I enjoy this style as it allows us to get to know them all separately. The character's stories tragic and seemed to be firmly rooted in a time and place - Appalachia in the 1970's. But, at the same time, they are human stories that take place in communities worldwide. There may be cultural differences but the tales remain the same, allowing us to identify with the characters and their stories. Beautifully written, evocative book.

It was a great read. I feel the character development was good and I would recommend to friends.

A moving story of poverty and desperation! Sadie Blue lives in Baines Creek, NC, a small town deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Baines Creek is full of secrets. Sadie is married to Roy Tupkin who takes pleasure in beating her up, but violence has always been a part of Sadie’s life. This story is told by several members of the community who each gradually reveal the town’s secrets. In a place where people depend so much on each other for survival, betrayal runs deep.

I was completely captivated by this story. The characters are carefully crafted and they develop in the reader’s mind as the story grows. I thought that the author’s choice to tell the story through the eyes of different members of the community, each revealing their part, was very clever and engaging. This story is dark at times but it captures well the life of the residents. This is a beautiful debut novel and I highly recommend it.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Set in Appalachia, this is more than historical fiction. It is culturally and emotionally driven. From family secrets to marriage dynamics. Sadie Blue, love the character name is married to Roy. He likes to speaks with his fists. We will just leave it at that. As we venture through the story we learn about her parents, her Grandmother and the questions that begin to represent themselves to Sadie. I couldn't put this down! Powerful! I will say you have to get used to the dialect, but it won't hinder the story. In fact, it puts you right there on the mountain.

An exceptional book with believable, relatable characters. Wow, what an ending. I'm hoping for more from this author so that I can continue to follow the characters I got to know. A must read!

This review is going to be a bit gushing because I was completely blown away by this book – I absolutely loved it. I’m split between finding it hard to believe that this is Leah Weiss’s first novel and shouting, Leah, why did you wait so long? Did I mention that I adored this book?

There are a number of different narrative voices but they are each distinctive and convincing in terms of characterisation and tone.

The central character in the story is Sadie Blue. The reader is immediately drawn to her – not much more than a child herself, pregnant and saddled with a no-good husband who beats her up for the slightest reason:
‘Fifteen days has gone by since that piece of paper got signed. Roy beats on me pretty regular cause nobody stops him. I thought we got married for a mighty reason. I thought I was special to him. I musta made it all up, cause none of it’s true.’

Despite all she suffers, Sadie’s resilience is incredible as she looks for a way out - any way out - of the situation she finds herself in. Channelling the voice of her dead father and her singing idol, Loretta Lynn, she finds the strength to do this.

Sadie is just one of the incredible female characters the author has created. There’s Gladys, who also endured marriage to an abusive husband until his death in an accident, and finds herself alone and every day a struggle but still carries on because she knows no other way.

‘Life’s too shitty. For a old woman, it’s more shit that I can shovel. I can’t remember if I ever had a choice but to put one front of the other and walk the line on a rocky road to nowhere.’

Gladys has secrets that she thinks nobody knows but her friend, Marris, knows different. Marris, a widow, is a lovely warm character who looks out for the less fortunate in Baines Creek.

In case you’re thinking all the male characters are bad and the female characters good, the author redresses the balance with Eli Perkins, the preacher, and Prudence, his sister. Eli feels an immediate affinity with the new schoolteacher, Kate Shaw, an older woman who left her previous position under a cloud but whose passion for teaching shines through.

‘Kate is a magician, a pied piper who has absconded with our children’s hearts. Mine too.’

Eli recognises in her a kindred spirit, someone who is prepared to fight against the low expectations of the townspeople for their children, who can be ‘an ally to instil hope and possibility in my good people’. However, as an outsider and single, independent woman, Kate attracts the malicious attention of Prudence, made resentful by her harsh upbringing in a familyof several generations of preachers.

‘Everything I did was coated with the Lord’s slippery words. I almost drowned in verse. I learned to breathe underwater was what I did, being the daughter of an Eli.’

The close of the novel sees Sadie Blue’s story return to centre stage as she draws on all her strength of will to bring about a change in her situation.

This book will stay with me for a long time – even more so because of that devastating final line. I’m not sure my review can do justice to this book but I’ll just say that if you love southern fiction, superlative writing, a compelling storyline and wonderful characterisation, please search out If the Creek Don’t Rise. I just hope Leah Weiss doesn’t wait as long to publish her next book.

I feel beyond lucky to have received this ARC by Sourcebooks Landmark in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book I truly want everyone to read. It is an ODE to women, the strength of women, the suffering of women and how they are much more affected by the lack of education than men are.
It is brilliantly written by a woman. The story is reminiscent of ‘The Glass Castle’, ‘Crooked letter, Crooked letter” or “Same kind of different as
me”.
Set up in rural North Carolina in the 70’s , Sadie Blue is pregnant, marry too young because she wants to be ‘legal’ and quickly gets knocked around by her new husband: bad boy Roy Tupkin.

Contrary to traditional story telling, the author is using all the character around young Sadie Blue to tell us about her, to lead us through sadie’s story. On the journey we learn about Sadie’s grand mother Gladys who raised her, about her aunt Mary Harris Jones, about Priest Eli Perkins and his sister Prudence, about the new teacher in town Miss Kate Shaw, about Roy and his sidekick Billy Barnhill and about the mystical Birdie and her crow.
In the small Appalachian village of Baines Creek everyone is connected to each other and plays a pivotal role, though a chain of events, into Sadie’s Blue unforgettable story.

This is Leah Weiss’ debut novel, which is really hard to believe.The whole story is masterfully crafted until the last sentence.
A well deserved 5 stars which I very rarely give out !

This book claims to be about Sadie Blue, a poverty stricken country girl from Appalachia North Carolina. This story is not about Sadie Blue. It begins with her and ends with her, but the bulk of the book is taken up by the teacher, Kate Shaw, and her struggles to fit into this town. I'm not saying the story was bad. It wasn't. It actually got better the farther into the book I got. It just wasn't about Sadie Blue.

This book deals with poverty in Appalachia in the 1970's. Kate Shaw comes to this mountain town to teach, and discovers a whole new world. The town is stuck in time, with no real advancements, and they even have their own "language" a southern dialect so foreign to me that I found myself having to Google some of the words. I live in the Kentucky Appalachia, for crying out loud and I still had a hard time reading the dialect. This lead me on a research kick that last for several hours. Reading about the poverty so close to my home that I was completely unaware of. It still exists today, just a few county's over from my own. I was baffled. I simply couldn't wrap my head around how a town could get so stuck in time. Upon researching, I learned that I had heard some of this Appalachian dialect before, from my own family growing up. Some of it was still new to me, however. I did not know that a "cathead" means a large biscuit or that a "poke" is a bag.

This book is from the view point of several different characters, each having a turn at their part of the story. I particularly liked the chapter about Prudence, though she was the most deplorable character in the book. It's insightful and it seems outdated, but it's not, apparently. I would recommend this book to anyone that was interested in the Appalachian lifestyle. However, you should know that towns like this are very isolated and while it's not a common occurrence, it does happen. Towns like this still exist today, and this book opened my eyes to that.

An unusual story that rings of truth. It took me a little time to get into it but once I got hooked it was hard to put it down. A surprise ending.