Traveling Sisters Group review: If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

If The Creek Don’t Rise by Leah Weiss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Traveling Sisters Group review by Brenda with Jennifer, PorshaJo, Sarah and Mary Beth

I read If The Creek Don’t Rise with four of my Traveling Sisters and we all really enjoyed reading and discussing this one.

If The Creek Don’t Rise is a gritty, heartfelt, and character-driven story with realistic and a colourful range of characters that gives an insightful look into the lives of a small Appalachian mountain community. Leah Weiss’ descriptions of mountain life right away gave us a good sense of place and time, right down to the grammar she used for some characters and the references to Loretta Lynn. The references to Loretta Lynn brought back some memories for some of us and we enjoyed sharing our love for her.

The story centers around pregnant teen Sadie and her abusive, husband Roy. Leah Weiss does a great job introducing us slowly to some mean and dislikable characters and with some who work for the good of their community, giving us a good sense of community. She weaves together the large cast of compelling voices, as they tell us their stories we begin to see how some added to the darkness in Roy and the strength and hope for Sadie.

We all really liked the little twist in the end that cleverly gave a wow moment and that brought out some discussion from us. We all were very satisfied with the ending but it did leave some us wanting more from some of our loved characters. We recommend finding your comfy place with this book and finding if “he’s gonna be sorry he ever messed with me and Loretta Lynn”. We highly recommend for group reads.

Thank you to Edelweiss, Sourcebooks and Leah Weiss for a copy to read and review