A River Enchanted was extremely fun to read overall, but it took me a while to read it
Many Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for an eARC Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Review:
Plot- I predicted a lot of the plot, but the story itself was really interesting and since moving to Scotland a few years ago I love reading folklore inspired stories so this was a really great mood read. Pacing wise was a bit strange for me, it felt like a drag but it actually wasn't in a way.

World building-This was actually done really well, it's quite a hefty book and it needed this to go through the folklore notes- probably the best part of the writing style.

Characters- Now for something I could take or leave. I had zero interest in any of them and the romance didn't have me invested- which made most of the story kind of not hit me as a reader. Personal take on that as I can imagine a lot of people will love it- just not working for me though. I feel like there's just no development and it was a bit sad.


Final Thoughts,
A good solid book idea that will work for some people and not others- I will probably not pick up the sequel but I can see a lot of people loving this.

I was offered A River Enchanted as an ARC by NetGalley and was keen on the premise of a celtic inspired fantasy novel. The underlying, arguably, broken magic system of Cadence was cleverly thought out and I found the novel an enjoyable read. There was only one thing that knocked me out of the story - chocolate cake (definitely mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 17)! The suggestion throughout the novel is that the island is self sufficient with little contact with the mainland and to me read as if it were a mythical version of one of the far flung Hebrides especially when the inhabitants are in constant fear of being raided for their food supplies. All I could end up thinking was "Where did they get the chocolate from?" I admit this is being really pedantic over what is otherwise a fun read but I find it can be the small inconsistencies that stick in your mind more than the key plot points.

Such an atmospheric and beautifully written story!

This book had my attention from the very beginning - with its lyrical prose, distinctive world building, unique story telling, and slowly unraveling plot. I loved the premise and the mystery aspect of it, and the character arcs were well developed. Everything just felt very intentional. The pacing was slow but it fit the story perfectly and I never felt bored - I was utterly enchanted by the fairytale-esque vibes, the atmosphere was so cozy and comforting.

I will say, it did feel a bit YA at times and the romance part wasn't quite as strong as I would've liked (and not exactly the enemies-to-lovers romance I expected going in), but I'm sure book 2 will deliver more on that front. A River Enchanted has definitely put Ross on my radar and I look forward to reading a lot more from her.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for a copy of A River Enchanted to read in exchange for an honest review.

The story follows Jack Tamerlaine who has been studying music for 10 years on the mainland away from the isle of Cadence. However when you young girls start disappearing from the isle Jack is summoned back by the heiress and his former nemesis Adaira.

She wants him to play for the spirits that rule the isle, wind, fire, earth and water as they only answer to a bard's music. She hopes the spirits can help them find the missing girls.

However upon working together it turns out the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they expected with the secrets of Cadence threatening to reveal themselves.

I really enjoyed this fantasy novel, I had been in a bit of a reading slump and this book brought me straight out with it's charm and whimsy.

I loved the magical world Ross created and the characters within it and the inspiration from Scottish folk tales. I felt the main characters were well developed and I enjoyed the switch of perspectives throughout and found that I couldn't put the book down waiting for the mysteries to unravel themselves.

A title I would definitely recommend and luckily for me the sequel is already out so I shall be getting that to read next.

A stunning novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Huge thanks to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this on my honeymoon, and it was the perfect book for it.

It's cosy, warm and enchanting (pun intended).

Rebecca has beautiful writing, characters/relationships that have you routing for them, and a pace that makes you need to know what happens.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I love whimsical magic, and this book is full of it. I would describe this as a whimsical eldritch fantasy. And for the most part, it works well.

Sidra and Torin are definitley more compelling to me than Jack and Adaira, but to be honest, the characters are not what drive the book. Ross is a beautiful writer and the atmosphere and worldbuilding of the book is what kept me interested.

The characters are not anything incredible and the plot is very slow, and at times not well done. The twists are surprising but only because they seem to come out of nowhere. The reason behind the kidnappings is very random and doesn't seem plausible or smart.

For me the characters are nice, except Mirin who I hate. She lies about everything and accepts none of the blame for essentially being the catalyst of most of what goes wrong in the book. And everyone else lets her get away with it because she's nice, I guess?

The clan itself is incredibly changeable and move from loving to hating our main characters in seconds, which is incredibly frustrating, especially when excuses are constantly made for them. The clan just comes across as stupid and easily manipulated..

Aside from this, the writing again is just gorgeous and the world building is a lovely tribute to Celtic, especially Scottish, traditions. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.

This book had a beautiful fairytale feel. The characters were very lovable and well written and the writing was beautifully poetic. The plot started out simple but slowly built into a complex story with an excellent ending that made me want to jump into book 2 immediately. I have since read A fire endless too and loved it just as much. Would definitely recommend this duology to anyone who loves whimsical fantasy books and I will be looking out for more books by this author too!

There were so many little bits of this I loved but I'll start by saying I was unsure of it all when it started.

The story opens with Jack going to the island, and I'll admit I thought it was going to be like "mainlander goes to this island and can't cope". Then it quickly was revealed he's actually from the island, so it was more of an unwanted homecoming. At this point I was now groaning thinking "Oh it's one of those I moved beyond my homeland and now I have to go back with my big, mainland plans on hold." Now admittedly, it kinda was but then it quickly became a lot deeper.

There's a very good cast of characters. I was also on the fence with Adaira, especially the whole "Old menace" thing but that fortunately stopped after a bit.

Torin also grew on me, mostly when he stopped being all honour and soldier focused. Sidra was good from the start and I hope to know more about why she can communicate with Donella.

I loved the magic of the world, coming from 'the folk' and being weaved into items. Or the folk manipulating the island to shorten or lengthen journeys. I'm a sucker for a classic Celtic folklore inspired story when you revere but try and avoid faeries and spirits. On that note, I hope the woodcarver in the woods comes up again. I would love more of that entirely. (I mean I think the duology is fully published by now but I haven't started Book 2 so I can have some wishful thinking until then.)

The missing girls, the use of magic in finding them, the whirlwind of spirit encounters and the difference among the encounters set up a very good story. Especially the earth ones.

I'm not sure if I'm hoping for a happy ending with reconciliations and an island united or something more bittersweet but I can definitely say I will start on the next book once I've cleared a few off my next up shelf.

I really enjoyed this book and I want to get a physical copy to add to my collection. I loved the characters and I loved the main characters. This has Marriage of convince which I love.

❝but now i realize it is better to live, to feel and have a clean break than be half-dead and cold, cracked from resentment.❞

★★★★
4.21/5

whimsical tales have a way of softly sneaking into your heart and quietly occupying a small, yet prominent part there. it could be the prose that glimmers on the pages, the characters that swiftly saunter out of the pages, the plot that ambles along steadily, and the gorgeous atmosphere that lures you right into the tale. ‘a river enchanted’ is quite possibly the most whimsical of tales.

the book is narrated in third person through the four protagonists’ point of view — jack tamerlaine, adaira, sidra campbell, and torin tamerlaine.

the book first follows jack tamerlaine, a bard, as he journeys back home to the isle of cadence after spending ten years away studying at the university in faldare on the mainland of cadence. he does so for he believes he has been summoned by the laird of the east to help the dwellers of cadence figure out why their girls are going missing.

to do so, he has to work together with his childhood nemesis, the heiress of the east, adaira. adaira herself has way more secrets than she brings to light — for she herself is involved in a political upheaval between the western and eastern sides of cadence; the western side led by the fiery breccans, the eastern side led by the tamerlaines.

on the isle of cadence itself, there is the captain of the east guard, adaira’s cousin, torin tamerlaine. torin is bound to the island by blood and devoted to his job, doing it remorselessly without a second thought lent to the blood spilled in doing so. in his own way, he, too tries his very best to aid the inhabitants of cadence decipher the mystery behind their disappearing lasses. soon enough, however, torin realizes that the ghosts of his past have unearthed themselves and returned to haunt him.

joining torin, is the healer of cadence, torin’s wife, and the guardian to torin and his first wife donella’s child maisie, sidra campbell. sidra, in her own quiet way, gives a helping hand to cadence’s residents. however, in the midst of doing so, an unexpected tragedy befalls her family, which leads to tensions rising between torin and her.

apart from the protagonists, other major characters which make up the remarkable cast of the book include torin’s daughter maisie, jack’s mother mirin, and adaira’s mother lorna. these characters with (most of) their distinct personalities and each’s own storyline and legacy, add greater depth to the book.

this book’s greatest strength is its atmosphere and setting. the beauty of a mystical island inspired by scottish folktales is well and truly appealing. the magic system is gorgeous and pleasantly simple. with charming descriptions of its baronial castle and picturesque village and quaint cottages, the book doesn’t fail to use stunning imagery.

though the book has an admirable number of virtues, it does have a handful of flaws nestled in it. the characters alone, firstly, though delightful within its pages, lack the potential to leave a prominent impression on one’s mind once they’re no longer immersed in the story.
the plot itself, though with its own share of supple twists and turns, doesn’t exactly offer anything original.

‘a river enchanted' is a beautiful, mellow book, and all in all, certainly worth reading.

An enchanting Scottish-inspired fantasy which grabbed me from the first page!

Jack left the magical island of Cadence a decade ago to study university on the mainland. Away from his home, he has almost forgotten what life on the island is like. When he is summoned home by his Laird, Jack intends to do whatever is necessary to get back to the university as quickly as possible, however girls are going missing from their half of the island, and no one knows who, or what, is responsible. His childhood nemesis Adaira, his mother, and the younger sister he never knew existed complicate the matter, and Jack quickly finds himself absorbed by the mysteries of the isle.

I was immediately enthralled by Cadence, and loved the way we were thrown into the story and the island’s magic from the off. Jack (and others) felt very vivid and real - his motives and the changes in his feelings were all rooted in his experiences and discoveries throughout the story and earlier in his life. I enjoyed seeing the relationships developing and rekindling between various characters, and the perspectives were mixed in a way which kept the story flowing nicely.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed A River Enchanted and will definitely read the sequel.

I am unconvinced by the liberties the blurb takes in comparing this to House of Earth and Blood, but okay.

The River Enchanted is a very slow, atmospheric, enemies to lovers, fairytale romance. Kind of. Adaira is Heiress of the East and the last of her clan; her people are diminishing and she needs help from Jack, a boy from her childhood she'd gladly punch in the face who has a pretty harp and plays for the "folk" - a magical being you'll easily be able to imagine if this isn't your first foray into the genre. Torin is a guard, married to Sidra, a really likeable healer. Their marriage isn't perfect - what marriage truly is - and the book considers whether they can keep the fire alive between them. All four characters want and need to figure out why Adaira's people are going missing and what price they are willing to pay to save them.

The magic is cool. It feels very much a part of the world, rather than a wand-waving exercise - and it makes you feel quite distrusting of the environment, which I loved. It very much feels like a dark fairytale from a Grimm's memoir.

Torin and Sidra are far more likeable characters than Jack and Adaira, although that may be because I'm not a fan of the trope, but mostly its because the author really handles the emotional component behind marital struggles with a believable but firm hand.

But, it's bloody slow. So slow that I had to pick it up multiple times because it called for many motivational chocolate breaks. Negative point? I'll let you be the judge!

Not my favourite read of the year by a long stretch, or deserving of some of the compelling comparisons publishers may be suggesting for it but the atmosphere might be just good enough to sway me into reading the next one.

A River Enchanted is a cosy, charming read, it actually took me back how charming this book was because I really just thought it was about feuding sides of an island and magic. But the true heart of this book is in love and family written in a very tender way.

Jack is a bard, he’s been loving on the mainland for the past decade but is summoned back to Cadence to help investigate missing girls on the island. The island of Cadence, divided between warring clans the Breccans and the Tamerlaines, is an enchanted place where the spirits of wind, earth, water and fire, are part of life. Jack is asked back by the Tamerlaine laird to use his music to speak to the spirits and find out where the girls (or lasses, as this is Scottish based) are.

Like I said above, the true heart of this book is Iin the relationships between the islanders. Jack in himself isn’t my favourite character, I just don’t find him as engaging and he’s got a little bit of the victim complex in him (he remembers everything people did to make him feel unwanted on the island but little acceptance of his own behaviour). That said when Jack returns from his many years away, he discovers he has a little sister, Frae, and him getting to know and love her, and form fresh bonds with his mother Mirin are lovely to read.
Likewise, there’s Adaira (my 2nd favourite character), the laird’s daughter who has been acting in the role since her father became ill. Adaira was Jack’s childhood nemesis but on his return he finds a woman he comes to respect and in turn love while she tries to find the lasses. Adaira is a strong character and I really liked her, she’s noble, brave and gentle with those around her. While I don’t know if I necessary felt Adaira and Jack as a couple, Adaira by herself is magnificent.

What truly set this book apart for me though was the love story of Torin (the captains guard) and his wife and clan healer Sidra. Together Torin and Sidra raise the daughter he had with his late wife, a wife Sidra feels she could never compare to, she doesn’t ask to be called mother, she just made a vow to protect Torin and his family and feels a failure when his daughter is taken. Torin, likewise, feels a failure because he works so hard to serve and protect the clan that he barely is home. There is a huge divide between this couple, they love each other but not themselves and yet they struggle to let the other know how much they mean to them. Throughout the story, you get to watch Sidra find her strength and worth, and Torin accept his vulnerability and need to be looked after, and honestly this love story is so intimate and engaging I fell in love with these 2, particularly Sidra. There’s a particularly special moment where Torin loses his voice due to magic and is injured and in this moment he can only accept the care of Sidra with no guard ho and she can speak her truth without interruption, and with one side of dialogue so much is communicated between these 2. I really rooted for them and I was so happy to see there was another book so I could spend more time with them because what they have is beautiful. You want these people to heal, you want them to know how much they’re loved.

The world building is well done, while Cadence isn’t a real island you really feel the Scottish landscape, the sub plot of Adaira trying to forge peace between the clans, the spirits and the whereabouts of the masses, are engaging stories. But again, the true charm of this book is in how the characters, their families and their love for each other are so magically written on the page. It’s an engaging, comforting read that I found very easy to curl up with and very hard to put down.

I loved this book and can’t wait to read the 2nd. Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rebecca Ross is a completely new author for me. While I had heard of her before, as one of my friends is one of her biggest fans, I had never actually picked up anything by her before. When I saw on Instagram that she was running a read-along of A River Enchanted, ready for the release of the second and final book in this duology, I thought it was the perfect time to start. Holy crap! I am officially a Rebecca Ross fangirl! I cannot put into words just how much I freaking adored this book!

A River Enchanted is an adult Fantasy novel, set on a small fictional island called Cadence. While this world is fictional, it is heavily inspired by Scottish culture and their Folklore tales. Right from the start I was absolutely obsessed with this. While Scottish culture isn’t as big of a change for me, as I live in England not too far from the Scottish borders, I absolutely loved all of the magical creatures that were inspired by their tales and myths. I loved the idea of the children going missing and the characters turning to the magical folk of the island to help them find them. I seriously could not put this book down.

Everything about this book is just phenomenal! The world building, the mythology, the characters… I just adored everything. From reading the blurb, I was fully on board to fall in love with Jack and Adaira. Which, don’t get my wrong, I did. But I was not prepared to fall head over heels in love with Torin and Sidra. Their relationship is so complex, and beautiful! They have been married for years, in a marriage of convenience, yet still go through this incredibly journey of accepting how deeply their feelings for each other run. And I just adored every single second of that journey. I adore them both, and I am dying to dive into book 2 to see how everything plays out with them.

A River Enchanted is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year. I loved every second of it. Rebecca Ross is such a phenomenal talent and I can’t wait to go back and read her entire backlist. If you want a beautiful fantasy world, a heart-pounding plot that will make you speed through pages as fast as possible and a romance to die for… then you MUST read this book. It was absolutely stunning in every way possible!

trigger warning
<spoiler> kidnapping, child disappearance, trauma, grief, mention of death of a parent </spoiler>

The bard Jack is called home on urgent business, but only goes out of duty. He'd rather stay at the university, where he is on the way to become a professor - a steady job with steady income in an unsteady world.
But it turns out there still is something for him on the magical island of his youth.

The island Cadence is split in half: The east is ruled by the Tamerlaines, who live in fear of the people of the West, because they are unpredictable and prone to raids when their stores run low.
Magic is a very real thing on this place, as are spirits tied to the four elements. You either know the island very well, or you are in danger of becoming a plaything for powers beyond your ken.

Girls are going missing. No traces of the deed are left, so of course, people think the spirits are to blame. This book is about the search, while Jack has to come to terms with old problems, left as he was sent to the university, but never solved.

While overall I think this was an okay read, I feel the characters have grown on me a lot, and I look forward to the next installment. The world just felt so real, and you never knew what would be coming next. I am eager to learn more about the dreaded enemies of the West, if they're really as bad as the legends and rumours make you think.

Recommendation if you want adult fantasy but without the mainstream Tolkien-knock off. No dragons and dwarves here, so far.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

A River Enchanted was a lyrical read full of magic, relationships and character depth.

The folklore inspiration and magic systems felt refreshing without stepping too far from common fantastical elements, which makes this an easy to read and engaging story.

The importance of working with others and understanding others, putting aside prejudice is a main theme running through and one important to see reflected in books.

While it’s an adult novel, it felt somewhat YA to me so I would say it might be accessible for new adult readers.

Overall, a fun fantasy and a strong start for this series!

Thank you netgalley and publishers for letting me read this.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. It was just not my cup of tea

A River Enchanted is a sweeping tale of romance, magic, and mystery. Set on the enchanted island of Cadence, a place heavily inspired by Scottish myth and legend, bisected by two ancient clans locked in an everlasting and bitter rivalry.

Jack has been away from Cadence for ten years studying and teaching music at the mainland university, but when young girls begin vanishing from the island, he is compelled to return and help his childhood nemesis, Adaira, uncover the truth behind their disappearances. With the aid of two other Cadence natives, Torin and Sidra, Jack and Adaira will not only unravel the dark secrets of the island and the clan rivalry, but also their true feelings for one another.

There were many things I loved about A River Enchanted, but the atmosphere and sense of setting Ross created with her rich and sumptuous prose was at the top. Ross swept me away entirely to the Highland setting; I could feel the salt spray of the ocean and smell the woody scent of heather on the wind as I turned the pages. This book was a true portal to another world.

I loved all four of the main characters, as well as the secondary cast. Every character was well developed, with backstories and relationships that pushed the stakes of the plot higher, and built a sense of community that comes from living in such an insular setting.

The slow burn romance between Jack and Adaira was a delight to watch unfold. The pair share a backstory that layered their relationship with passion, humour, and the perfect amount of angst. I also enjoyed the fact that we got to see an established relationship in the book between Torin and Sidra. Sidra being Torin’s second wife, raising the child of Torin’s late first wife. A wonderfully complex pairing full of emotional weight.

A River Enchanted is an atmospheric light fantasy read that is perfect to get lost in this season.

I loved this book. I really didn’t know what to expect but as the story grew my intrigue grew too. I really liked the strong female characters especially Sidra. And I felt each character was unique and not at all stereotypical. I am hyped for the sequel and delving into Adaira more.