Name: What the River Knows
Series: Secrets of the Nile #1
Author: Isabel Ibañez
Publisher: Hodderscape
Format: Kindle
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Romance,
Noted Tropes: Rivals to Lovers, Forbidden Romance, Slow Burn, Forced Proximity
Steam or Spice: Steam
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns for the her globetrotting parents – who frequently leave her behind when they venture off on their exploring adventures.
When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archaeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.
With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance-or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.
Review:
What the River Knows checked off a box on my BINGO board as it is set, mostly in Egypt and completely outside of the UK or the US! Still no completed line, but I do now have 2 boxes checked off in the same line!
Isabel Ibañez is a new to me author, this was the first time I’d heard of her but not the first time I’d heard of What the River Knows! My friend Kay over at K-Books read and loved this last year! And so unspurprisingly, it got added to my TBR and then promptly forgotten about. Honestly, I’m awful for seeing something and being excited by it and either purchasing it there and then or forgetting about it… However, thanks to an amazon email I was reminded that I wanted to read this, and February was chosen to be the month!
Firstly let’s start with: Inez is a brilliant FMC. She knows her own mind, and will not let anyone tell her what to do (even if it’s for her safety…) and if you try to she’s more likely to do the complete opposite! She isn’t perfect, and she knows that, but she’s trying to do her best without compromising on what she wants. And what she wants is to find out what happened to her parents when they were in Egypt and went missing, presumed to be dead.
Inez spends the book trying to learn about her parents other life because they essentially lived in Egypt for long periods at time without her… And we’re on the ride with her. It was rough reading about the tidbits of information everyone was slowly revealing to Inez about her parents lives away from her! She meets people who knew her parents pretty well, in passing and worked with them whilst feeling like she knows nothing, herself. It was a well written element of the story, and I (like Inez) was also itching for the next piece of information because ultimately the mystery resolved around them…
The mystery element of What the River Knows, I felt, was done really well! I was never sure how I felt about any of the characters we were meeting in Egypt because I was never sure if we were being told the truth! I was completely invested in the mystery of this story! There were two mysteries going on at once, the first being what happened to Inez’s parents and the second being the Cleopatra mystery! As someone who has been following Dr Kathleen Martinez’s real world quest to find Cleopatra’s tomb, I loved this in the book!
Alongside the mystery, we did have a brewing romance between Fren-imies, Whit and Inez and I adored it. These two had great banter, they worked well together! I love these two together, and if this romance takes off, I really don’t want them to lose the back and forth they have as fren-imies because it’s excellent. On the note of Whit! Guess what! He has his own bloody secrets (naturally), and I’m intrigued by his story! The epilogue left me wanting more – I can’t wait for answers.
Whilst I was caught off guard by the mystery, twists and turns – I was not surprised at how much I loved this book. I absolutely got The Mummy vibes, and loved them! I can also understand why Indiana Jones is mentioned as another ‘vibe match’! What wasn’t to love! I’m planning to buddy-read the sequel with Kay when she gets her copy of Where the Library Hides which I’m really looking forward to!
Overall, this was brilliant. I loved the vibes, the story, the characters! The mystery and the romance is done well (without being too much!) and I can’t wait to see what Isabel has in store for us.
“The Nile knew everything, had seen the best and worst if Egypt.”
Reading With Tyler 
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