Iris Aqua: The Stolen River

by Kasia Nowak

Thirteen-year-old Isabella Bennett has always believed she was just your average everyday adopted kid with no special quirks whatsoever. But on the day she finds a strange blue conch shell in the ocean, everything changes.

Pretty soon, she discovers newfound magical abilities, including breathing underwater, and hands acting like garden hoses! And when a pair of mysterious exchange students show up to her school the next day, Isabella begins to learn about her true The kingdom of the Fae.

The few downsides to that is she is being hunted by demons of shadow, and the fact that the kingdom's sacred river is disappearing. Without it, the future of the Fae (and human) race is in jeopardy. Isabella must figure out how to bring the river back, all while coming to terms with who she really is, and if she could ever live up to her given name... Iris Aqua.

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 4, 2024

About the author

Hi! I’m Katherine Nowak, but please call me Kasia. I was born in Chicago, but raised in a Polish household. My passion for writing began the moment I was given my first dream journal in the second grade. And ever since, its pages were filled with daily entries, short stories, poems, letters, and even detailed travel lists. Fantasy has always been my favorite genre since middle school, and I have longed to write a fairy story of my own. When I’m not busy jotting down new ideas in my sketchbook, I can usually be found curled up with a good book, trying to beat video games to 100% completion, playing on my typewriter named Geoffrey, or daydreaming about visiting the places I wrote about. The Stolen River is my debut middle grade fantasy novel in the Iris Aqua series.

Reviews

[Alyssa Garcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not really for me. DNF over 50% in. I wanted to like it but it just came off too juvenile. I love YA books but this felt a bit younger than that. I will still give it 3* The story and premise was good.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an interesting story with some good character development. Had a good amount of action and plot points. Is a bit more for a younger audience but can still be appreciated by an older crowd. I did have some criticism of how the queen character was so distant to her children. There were some genuine moments between characters. Will be interesting to see where it's taken for the next book.

[Kayla Gluck · Rating 2 out of 5]

I DNF about 50-60% of the way through. It is a YA book but as someone else commented, maybe geared a little younger. I really wanted to love this story but the writing made it difficult to get through. The story was good but the execution was not it.