"The River Keeper and Other Tales" is a fantasy short story collection set in the Kingdom of Imlay. The book contains seven stories exploring well known but profound themes explored through a magical narrative. The collection offers original tales that feel familiar but still manage to engage the imagination (with lovely sketches sprinkled throughout). Each story guides characters through making difficult choices, sacrifice, telling the truth, the consequences of our actions, pure love. and using magic to help others.
The stories all have a magical quality that blends fantastical elements with moral lessons, creating a timeless fairy tale feel that you won’t want to miss! This is a great option for a short story to read with children of any age before bed.

Story Highlights
- Set in the imaginary Kingdom of Imlay
- Features characters like the inquisitive child Ya, an ambitious king, and a mischievous dog
- Explores themes of personal sacrifice and moral decision-making

I really enjoyed each story in the book: I was able to read it within one sitting. Loved each short story and was transported into each story with every page.

I enjoyed this as a collection seven stories, it had that feel that I was looking for and enjoyed getting into this collection. Nancy Joie Wilkie was able to create unique stories and keep us reading each story. It was everything that was promised and am excited for more from Nancy Joie Wilkie.

All in all it is a good story and well written too. Unfortunately for me it was not it, I didn't quite got into it. But I have to say that the storyline is well thought through and it isn't hard to follow, which allows an uncomplicated and undisturbed reading flow.

- [ ] The River Keeper
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] The tale of a girl whose love for nature has the ability to save her friends and family. This story was beautiful and wholesome. I loved the ending.😌
- [ ] The Morning Song
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This is a story of compassion, forgiveness, and coming together for one another. Another lovely ending. ☺️
- [ ] A Dream For A Dream
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] Wow, this story was right up my alley! Very dystopian, children live in their own community, adults live in their own community. Each does not have a recollection of the other(their child,parent,sibling). This was a great story with a great ending 🫶🏻
- [ ] Aurora’s Ring
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This was much like The Hobbit and I absolutely loved it!! Dragons, adventure, action, what’s not to love?
- [ ] The Pit Of Truth
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] This was not at all what I was expecting but not in a bad way! The ending had me so confused and shocked 😬😅
- [ ] The Day After Tomorrow
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] A great tale of why you should be careful what you wish for.
- [ ] The Innkeeper
- [ ] ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- [ ] Although this was not my favorite story, it was thought provoking.


- [ ] Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It has BEAUTIFUL illustrations for each story 🥹
It had a little bit of everything; great sci-fi, fantasy, action, love and maybe an adventure with a fire breathing dragon 😬

I thought this book was cute. Well written and no grammatical errors or typos. The storyline was unique and cute. I think this would be a good fit for YA.

A collection of short stories with fable/fairy tale qualities. In each story the characters had to overcome emotional challenges, which was intriguing. I also enjoyed the fantasy elements woven throughout. I would have liked a little more worldbuilding and development, as the stories are supposed to be set in the same world, but they didn’t feel very connected.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc.

The River Keeper and Other Tales was such a cozy, enjoyable read. I have found myself really liking collections of short stories, and this book has a great collection of tales touched by a bit of magic. This is definitely a book people should read together and the stories would be enhanced by being read aloud.