What the River Knows - Isabel Ibanez

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆
Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents—who frequently leave her behind.

When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe.

With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent’s disappearance—or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her."

 Before we get into the book, I'm just going to say it. This is classified as young adult, but it is fucking not young adult. Publishers, just because a book is fantasy, written by a woman, and has a female main character DOESN'T MEAN IT'S YA! Stop with that shit.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I am glad this book was included in my FUCKING YA subscription box even though IT IS NOT YA, because it probably wouldn't have been on my radar otherwise, and HOLY SHIT was it good. For starters, the cover is gorgeous. The dust jacket is beautiful and has a hidden illustration on the inside, there are incredible sprayed edges, the inside covers are illustrated...I mean, any one of those things and I would have been swooning. All of them together? How was I to resist?

Add to that Inez's determination and grit, her curiosity and unwillingness to settle for what others told her she should be doing with her life, and I'm sold on this main character. Then there's the incredible descriptions of Egypt, the inscrutable and mysterious Whit, the fact that you don't know who you can trust, or if you can even trust anyone, and I'M SORRY, WHAT IS HAPPENING?! This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, and I'm sorry that this review is rambly and unspecific and all over the place, but I literally just finished reading and am still reeling. I need the next book to be out, like, NOW, because I have so many questions, and I need all of them answered. WOW, what a journey I've just been on. I'm still on. If anyone needs me, I'll be thinking about this book.