A sweet story about a young girl losing everything. battling her way through and finding comfort and friendship. I found this quite a basic story, and so much bad stuff happened to Ellis that it was quite draining for me,
I also found it very annoying that the author kept commenting on the 'nickering' of the horses!

'Ellis River' by Nicki Ehrlich is a coming of age story set during the American Civil War. The 15-year old Ellis sets off with her beloved horse Billy to reunite with family members. During her travels she has to withstand many adversities but also experiences kindness. This story is beautifully narrated by Madeleine Norton. I would recommend this book for lovers of horses and historical fiction.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bay Feather Books for giving me the opportunity to review this audiobook.

This was a beautiful story about a girl and her horse. Ellis and her horse Billie find their way across the south disguised for safety. She learns about herself and deals with loss along the way. It's a great story, and I'm not surprised it was nominated for awards!

Ellis River tells to story of 15 year old Ellis Cady during the American Civil War. Her father and older brother left to sell horses to the soldiers and her twin brother also went to try and find them. When her mother dies, Ellis buries her body and sets off on her own.
This is a heartbreaking story of resilience and the strength of family bonds. It offers an insight into the harsh life of Ellis and her ability to overcome adversity.

As the Civil War raged, Ellis’ father and older brother had left to deliver horses to the army but they failed to return. Her other brother left to find them but he too never came back. Shortly after, her mother died, leaving her alone to tend the farm until Union soldiers came and took the horses. When her favourite horse, Billie, returned, fifteen-year-old Ellis disguises herself as a boy and sets out on a journey to find her father and brother. This journey will take her across a war-torn landscape and she will encounter many dangers. But she will also meet many people who will help her on the way and who will become, for her, a new family.

Ellis River by Nicki Ehrlich is a beautifully written historical coming-of-age novel that kept my interest throughout. The story gives a compelling portrait of life during the Civil War, the loss, the grief, the racism but also the willingness to aid strangers and the bonds that could form despite the constant threat of violence and death. Ellis is a strong and resilient protagonist making it easy to care about her. That this is Ehrlich’s first novel makes it even more impressive and I look forward to any future books by this author. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Madeleine Norton who does an excellent job of bringing the story to life.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bay Feather Books for the audiobook version of this novel in exchange for an honest review

Really liked this book. It has such a unique POV - a 15 year old girl on her own during the Civil War due to her father and brothers leaving and then her mom dying. She is extremely courageous and self-sufficient. The love and loyalty between her and her horse is beautiful. Monotonous at times but still a great book that I would recommend to lovers of historical fiction.

Unfortunately this audio title disappeared from my library when I had to do an update on my NetGalley app, or it has been archived and I no longer have access to it.

I have the ebook on my kindle, and look forward to reading it some time in the future.

'Ellis River' written by Nicki Ehrlich and narrated by Madeleine Norton is a beautifully written story about a 15-year-old girl, Ellis, and her search for her father and brother during the Civil War.

From heartbreak to loss during the Civil War, this story provides a thoughtful and detailed experience from the perspective of a young daughter and sister, Ellis. As Ellis suffers various losses, she continues to move forward with hope and love.

During the Civil War, Ellis' father and brother left home when selling horses to the army. Neither returned. Later her twin brother left to look for them and Ellis was left alone with their mother who passed away leaving Ellis all alone. She decided to leave in search of her father and brothers and along the way dressed and acted as her twin brother for safety purposes. Ellis' story in the search for her family allows you to enter her world during the Civil War. The twist later in the book was unexpected and allowed me to continue to think about this book long after I had completed it.

This is a nice literary historical fiction book. The interweaving of the Civil War, family and the perseverance of Ellis, makes this an enjoyable read. I did find that there were too many coincidences that occurred, that made the story unrealistic given the numerous accounts of coincidences. However, the book does provide unexpected circumstances that are unpredictable that make this book a work of fiction and unbelievable for a true story, but it does make the read very enjoyable. If you enjoy historical fiction and horses, you will likely enjoy this book. The connection between Ellis and the horse is magical and shows the great relationship she has with the horse.

The narrator did an excellent job with narrating this book and I'd enjoy listening to another book that she narrates. The narration was excellent and allowed for easy listening.
 
Thank you #NetGalley and #MacmillianAudio for the opportunity to listen to this early audio version in exchange for a review. All opinions and thoughts are those of my own.

I really liked this book! Loved the characters, the story, the historical part of the book that we don't here about in the history books. Beautifully written and recommending it to everyone! Well done Nicki Ehrlich and I will be looking forward to more books, I hope there is a sequel to this one. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This was an enjoyable read. It followed Ellis's journey to find her surviving family during and shortly after the American Civil War. Her flight touched your heart, and you hoped throughout the story that she was reunited with loved ones at the end of her plight.
This book has really made me want to explore and read other books based on and shortly after the American Civil War.
If I could I would give this book 3.5 stars.

What a great book! If you like historical fiction (civil war), stories about family, strong female characters, horses or nature this book is for you. The writing is moving and the characters are amazing.

Ellis River is about a family during the Civil War that raises and sells horses. This family loves horses which made it extra special for me. Fifteen-year-old Ellis has her family torn apart by the war and is looking for family members that are missing. She has to make many tough decisions during her journey and is constantly caught up in the war.

She does end up with her favorite mare as her companion during her impossible journey. Her mother has given her and her twin brother journals and encouraged them to write from a young age. She uses writing in her journal as a therapy for what is going on in her life, Ellis spends most of her journey disguised as a boy to stay safe. When she is at times safe, she feels better keeping this information secret since she has done it for so long.

Ellis meets some extended family and makes friends with some different and interesting people. Some of the people she meets along the way become family.

Madeleine Norton did an excellent job narrating and telling the story.

At first I really enjoyed this story, it was a cozy story about finding your family and moving on and progressing through sad and difficult times. I enjoyed the civil war setting. I especially LOVED the story of the horses and I identified with the main character finding her horse and connecting with other horses along her journey. This story was well written, and the audiobook was well done as well. However up until close to the end there was something that I was not prepared for during this book and felt that our main character was taken advantage of when she didn't need to be put into that situation.
Overall this book had great potential and I was enjoying it greatly until something happened near the end of the story.

Historical books are not normally my first choice but when I saw this available on Netgalley as an audiobook I thought I would give it a try.
It was set in the civil war based on those left behind by the soldiers who have gone to war. Mostly the woman, faced with providing for themselves and worrying about those at war.
An enjoyable audiobook.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest review.

This was not my favorite cup of tea. The story was good but a bit too obvious for me. Good if you need something to listen to to put you to sleep.

I recently stumbled upon Nicki Ehrlich's work on NetGalley and I have to say, I was completely captivated by the audiobook version narrated by Madeleine Norton. The story takes place towards the end of the Civil War and follows the emotional journey of Ellis Cady, a 15-year-old girl who sets out to find her missing father and brothers with her horse, Billie. After the loss of her beloved Mama, Ellis departs western Tennessee with only Billie, her letters, and journals. Disguised as a boy, she begins a perilous quest to locate her family, who have failed to return home as planned.

While I found this story to be beautifully written and expertly narrated, I couldn't help but feel that it might be more suitable for younger readers than adults. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and I appreciated the audiobook format, which truly brought the story to life in a way that reading it on my own simply could not have accomplished.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bay Feather Books, for the opportunity to listen to and review this great audiobook.

This story is set at the end of the Civil War and is a heartbreaking tale of survival as 15-year-old Ellis sets off to find her missing father and brothers. I enjoyed the history woven into this story - I love learning more about the civil war era and there were so many details and situations that I was unaware of, some of which are hard to comprehend. I loved everything about Ellis’s character and felt her heartbreak, pain, and hope. Her bond with her horse Billie is just beautiful. I was so sad to reach the end of the book and can’t wait to learn more about Ellis’s journey in the next book. I listened to the audio book of Ellis River and enjoyed the narration by Madeleine Norton.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a new author to me and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book about a young girl that loses most of her family and has to journey west in search of family. I loved the relationship Ellis had with her horse and the author did a great job detailing it. The narrator did a great job and had a pleasant voice. I would recommend this book to anyone that loves historical fiction and to also young adults. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

http://onereadingnurse.com/2023/09/23/alc-audiobook-review-ellis-river-by-nicki-ehrlich/

I don’t normally read Civil War era historical fiction. The fact is that I read far too many history books and letter collections and just tend to find historical fiction too easy to nitpick. Ehrlich kept actual historical facts pretty vague, which overall made for a pleasant reading experience without giving me a lot to pick apart.

I picked up Ellis River, an award winning debut novel, on NetGalley as an advanced listening copy. All it took was a horse on the cover and the knowledge that the author incorporated her love of horses into the story. That of a young girl born on a ranch, in Quaker populated Tennessee at the end of the war. The book has garnered lots of praise and I have to agree, especially from a young adult perspective, that it’s a solid c choice.

What she did the best was capture the war-torn feeling of a state that never wanted to join the war. Peaceful folk whose families were ripped apart and devastated and the importance of letters and storytelling between families at the time. The war was over but there were still skirmishes and racial tensions were super high. The country and land were absolutely destroyed. This is a lot of what we see through Ellis’ eyes.

It’s also a great story about horsemanship and the special horses in our lives. Ehrlich has enough of an equine background that I think she does a wonderful job mixing historical fiction and horse crazy. I actually didn’t know that ranchers would round up struggling horses that the army turned loose, but it makes sense. I also liked how Ellis (the main character) handled Billie (her skittish mare) and they grew and became more confident together.

This would be a great YA read as the main character is only 15. She survives things that no one should have to see and then decides to tell her story at the end of it to support the idea of women’s capabilities and the suffrage effort. Watching her have to put her identity back together once she was safe was something that many soldiers and citizenry had to do. I read a LOT of cavalry history books as well and it’s interesting because those books don’t talk about the horses left behind, how they were managed, and some of the sheer logistics involved that were just crazy.

Overall I think this would be a good book for YA or adults looking to try post civil war historical fiction. There is a lot of it out there but this is a good surface scratcher without being too sad or intense, and content is appropriate for a high school reader. Definitely recommend for a coming of age during wartime story, and for horse crazy people!

To touch on the audiobook – Madeleine Norton was awesome. I love her accents and level of excitement. She’s very pleasant to listen to and generally delivered the story in a great way. I think letters are meant to be read aloud and really enjoyed the book in this format!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5845955807

Ellis River is a historical fiction novel by Nicki Ehrlich that follows a 15-year-old on her journey to find her father and her brother at the very end of the American Civil War. I listened to the book as an audiobook, narrated by Madeleine Norton, and wonder now if the reason the story felt so naive was because of her delivery. She spoke clearly and had a voice for all the characters, but it felt to me like she was speaking to young children. I think the book would be very good directed towards children and YA though, so perhaps the narration is a good thing!

We follow much of Ellis's thoughts through her diary and unposted letters, which give us a good idea of who she is and what her life has been like. When she takes off from home to try and find her remaining family, she not only finds her brother fairly easily, but she finds her relatives as well. I found it a bit far-fetched. Still, the environment at that point in the war was brought to life, and small details in her relationship with horses was interesting. The characters surrounding her could have had a bit more depth and story in them as they were an interesting group of characters.

Although this wasn't enough of a layered read for me, I will say that I won't forget the book (that's a big one for me) and it left me feeling like I'd experienced a few things alongside Ellis.

Thank you to the publisher and Net Galley!

This was an enjoyable book, but it lacked something. I normally become quite invested in the characters and plot, but I felt disengaged while listening to this one. It often felt like so much was happening while nothing was moving the story forward. I was rooting for the main character the whole time though.
It was just ok for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Bay Feather Books for allowing me early access to the ARC audiobook edition of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.