The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian
This story is told in two different time periods with two different women. Nell’s story set in 1971 and Becca’s story in the 1930’s. As you read their stories it’s clear they’re somehow connected yet you’ll have to wait till the end to see how. Nell remembers growing up with her single mom back in the 30’s, moving from one place to another. Then one year when she’s 6 years old she remembers a man dropping a little 2 year old girl (Evie) off into her mother’s care and she never leaves. They grow up as sisters but her mother refuses to talk about the past. Even now nearly 40 years later. Becca is recently widowed with a newborn to somehow support thru the depression. Life and the search of work send them to some interesting places. Eventually she places her baby in an orphanage temporarily so she can go to school to become a nurse. Of course nothing ever goes as planned. It takes awhile before you start to see how these stories weave together, still a great story to read.

Although this book was intriguing and a bit haunting, it was really slow for my liking. The plot was interesting enough to keep me reading to the end, but I do wish the pacing picked up. Many times I was confused by the amount of characters and I continuously had to go back and reread who did what and who said what.

The back end of the story was exceptional and pulled everything together nicely, hence the 4-star rating.

The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian, published by Sourcebooks Landmark is a historical novel that spans decades.
A story of secrets, betrayal, love.
Nell, Becca, Evie, Lottie and Hazel, these women are united in a way they couldn't have dreamed of. An intriguing read, 4.5 Stars.

The River Knows Your Name is a pilgrimage through time, wrought with emotion and a river flooded with secrets.

📖 I thought the plot was really good. It was interesting and I enjoyed the then/now format. Like the river referenced in the book, it weaves and bends the plot in ways that keep you turning pages, and as it approaches its thrilling conclusion - that's when I got super into it. And that's part of why it's not quite a 5 star read for me. I enjoyed the first +/-75%, I just didn't love it.

I also found the number of characters to be a bit confusing, their voices didn't feel quite distinct enough for me to quickly and easily orient myself. It pulled me out of the story multiple times before I was able to get a better grasp. The time jumps and which characters belong in each - I felt the voices could've been more distinctly different early on to aid the reader.

The last +/- 25% I loved, though. That's when it really brought out emotions - when the stories come together.

✍️🏼 I enjoyed the writing. It's clear and reads smoothly. The dialogue reads as natural.

⏳️The pacing is consistent, a bit on the slower side of medium up until the last 30% or so.

👥 The characters are well developed and dimensional.

🪟 I read a lot of this book via the 'read aloud' feature in the netgalley app. The AI voice certainly didn't help me orient myself with the characters. Since that's at least a small factor, I tried not to let that impact rating too much.

Thank you to @netgalley for the opportunity to read the eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

I loved this authors debut novel so I was excited to get an ARC for this one. I really enjoyed the story and how it was wrapped up at the end. I had an idea what happened but couldn’t put it all together completely. This story was engaging and well written. I would read more books by this author..

I had enjoyed the way Kelly Mustian wrote this and thought everything worked with the storyline being told. The concept worked well overall and was engaged with how haunting this was. I enjoyed the overall feel of this and glad I got to read this.

A beautiful and moving southern story about a mother and daughter and the story of both their comings of age against the backdrop of both the Depression and the chaotic 1970s

A great read. I loved the haunting atmosphere and the detailed story. All of the characters were perfectly crafted.