Compelling story. Engaging reading with good character development and an enjoyable plot. Worth checking out.

I loved this one . It’s a book about loss and change and how we evolve over time and what home really means . I loved Camille and felt the setting was almost another character. I love coastal ala so this spoke to my heart .
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review the book

Camille had the perfect life. She and her husband lived in DC with their daughter. But that perfect life ended suddenly one day when her husband died. Camille tried really hard to pull the pieces together and continue on. But things kept falling through the cracks. So she packed up her daughter and they headed back to her hometown on the coast of Alabama. She really didn't want to go back but she felt her daughter needed the time away. So she puts the differences she has with her parents aside for her daughter. The trip home is not without its troubles. Her dad is being sued for destroying the gulf. She knows that can't be right because her dad has always worked to protect the landscape. And did she reconnect with an old friend?

This was an unexpected book for me, I wouldn't put it in my top lists but this was a decent read.

Camille is a high efficiency lawyer in DC when her husband expectantly dies leaving her a single mother of 6 year old Willa. When Camille starts sufferings panic attacks she ends up in the ER and has the walkup call that needs to change her pace and focus on healing instead of keeping herself distracted. This leads her back in her hometown in southern Alabama reconnecting to her roots and showing her daughter another way of living away from the crowds.

Some comments that I had which made me wary of this book was Willa vernacular. I understand that she is supposed to be a rather advanced 6 year old however her sentence structure and word choice is too similar to her 30 something year old mother which made reading this had because I couldn't distinguish characters.. It didn't sit quite right with me and made envisioning the characters hard.

When I read about this book I thought it would be a sweet story and it didn’t disappoint. They way the reader wrote about loss and change.
I really enjoyed it.
Thanks for the advanced copy.

The River Runs South ended up being a really sweet read. We follow Camille, a woman who suddenly loses her husband and is left to raise her young daughter Willa alone. As a busy lawyer, Camille has been used to a busy lifestyle and is now forced to slow down and face the challenge of what's next. In a move to try and heal and focus on her daughter, Camille packs them up to her hometown of Mobile Bay, Alabama where they live with her parents. I loved the southern setting in this book, it was descriptive and added such a cozy, heartfelt feeling to the story. Of course Camille meets a handsome fisherman who happens to be the source of a major sore spot in her parents' life. This story explores the effects of development on our precious ecosystems, on family, motherhood, healing, moving forward, and finding happiness after loss. I rooted for Camille the whole time and I adored her relationship with both Willa and Mack. The pace was consistent throughout the book and I was satisfied with the ending. Overall, I would give this 3.5 stars. It was sweet, heartwarming, touching and romantic!

This is not the typical type of book I go for but I'm really glad I picked it up. What starts off as sad blossoms into something more positive and hopeful.

As a result of an unexpected event in their lives, Camille and her daughter Willa return to Camille's childhood home in Alabama. They need time to re-evaluate and plan for the future and Alabama and Camille's parents provide the opportunity to do this, despite Camille having fought to escape the small town as soon as she could and never look back. Sometimes though you need to go back for a reason and no-one, certainly not Camille could have foreseen how life changing this would turn out to be.

Thanks to NetGalley, Audrey Ingram, and publisher for the ARC!

I loved The River Runs South! It is well written and gracefully navigates loss, grief, and picking up the pieces of your life after losing someone you love. I highly recommend reading this book, I can't wait to read the next book Audrey writes.

This is a wonderful debut novel about a young woman and her daughter as they learn to move forward each day when tragedy strikes and their world has changed.
Going back to her hometown to try to heal, Camille takes her daughter Willa back to Alabama where she grew up.
It is not an easy decision, yet once Camille realizes that just maybe "There is no place like home", she begins to like living in this little southern town once again.
There is also work to be done here and as a lawyer she realizes that she has a place and perhaps a job!

This is a light, anytime read that really was well done! The descriptions of this Alabama coast had me feeling the breeze as we stood on the dock!

Thank you to @NetGalley and to @Alcove for this ARC and allowing me to read and to provide my own review.

This book blended some of my favorite aspects of fiction - family drama, motherhood, romance - with an ecological issue, which is something I am interested in.

Camille and her daughter Willa move back to Camille's hometown. Camille's mom is annoying and her daughter is precocious and a little bratty. The family drama was relatable.

Camille discovers that there is an ecological disaster in her hometown and she works with a love interest/local fisherman to shed light on it. Compelling story if a little predictable at times.

Camille had a happy, albeit busy life, in Washington D.C.. Tragedy strikes and she and her daughter, Willa, make their way back to Camille's hometown of Fairhope, AL. Camille immerses herself in a case involving her father and the Alabama ecosystem. Camille learns how to move on and make amends. This is a story of rediscovery, family, and second chances. I felt a connection to Camille and the struggles she is facing. I felt her to be a genuine character who needs something good.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this advanced copy.

What a great story about loss and starting over! I liked the characters and the setting of the book. It was a quick and easy read that I enjoyed! At times it seemed a little wordy and I got bored a few times. Overall a good book. 3.5 ⭐️

This is a sweet story about grief, family relationships, and love. Set in coastal Alabama, the reader shares Camille's journey to rebuild her life after the death of her beloved husband; does she forfeit her fast-paced life as a partner in a DC law firm or does she remain in small town Fairhope and build a relationship with her parents and reclaim her roots? Camille and her parents are drawn in a relatable manner, but the precocious Willa is difficult to believe. Regardless, the environmental law suit offers an informative look into the ecosystem and helps to make the plot a bit more interesting. It is a predictable plot with a feel good ending; a perfect, light summer read.

I loved this story! My heart broke for Camille as she looses her husband and moves back to Alabama with her daughter. I loved watching Camille and Willa build their mother daughter relationship as they both grieve. I loved the environmental piece of the story and watching the slow burn of Camille and Mack.

I had mixed feelings about this one. I liked the setting and how soothing it was. But I really noticed how the author was trying to show us how we are damaging areas like this.
This is a good book about starting over and trying to do what's best for you and your family.

I think this book will have a lot of discussion around it.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

I don’t have an enough words about this book. It encompasses heartache, grief, finding a new normal after loss, fighting for what is right and new love. If I could give it five plus stars I would.

Camille suffers a heartbreaking loss and in devastating times she must find a way to move on and through her grief with her daughter. She takes a leave of absence and spends time with her family.

As time goes on she finds new chances at love but what will be right for her and her daughter? Saving her fathers living is also at the top of her list but will it be at the cost of one of her new found attractions?

So good and I couldn’t put this one down!

This book can be read as a shallow and predictable beach read or it can be read for what it really is: an in-depth look at the society we’ve become and what we’ve lost along the way. I admire Ingram’s cleverness in sneaking her ecological message as well as her message of our lost humanity in our quest to become super humans.
Willa’s precociousness juxtaposed with her lack of respect for her mother was a perfect example. Six year old Willa was demanding, in charge and totally self serving. But then it was easy to see how she got this from her own mother, Camille.
Camille had wanted a life better than she had growing up so she took the path of becoming a super-woman in today’s fast paced world. She left her small town family home filled with love and gracious living only to find later that that’s what life is all about.
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher, Alcove Press, in exchange for an honest review. This was a beautifully written and gentle book with several beautiful messages. I loved it and hope that it will be well received. I’m looking forward to further books by Audrey Ingram.

The story was fine. I am very familiar with Fairhope Alabama and her descriptions were on point. The story was okay but I found predictable. The little girl Willa had a ridiculous vocabulary for a six year old (having taught Kindergarteners for 25 years). I also am annoyed by the thirty five year old who makes a bigger deal of anything her mother says. I wish she, Camilla, showed a little more maturity and sought out therapy. I'd like to see Willa judge Camilla as harshly when she is an adult in her parenting skills.

Such a good relatable read filled with heartache, intrusive parent, emotional support, small town gossip, big deal drama and love. This book covers it all!
Loved that this book was not predictable and the flow was so nice and easy to follow along and relate to the characters.
Thank you netgalley, publishers and author for this nice favorable read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read The River Runs South by Audrey Ingram. Southern literature at its best! Engaging and likeable characters, wonderful setting, timely premise.