Book Review: Go as a River by Shelley Read

March 13, 2026

* typo disclaimer: I am luck to even have the time to write on my blog at all with how little ( and needy ) my baby is, let alone have time to edit them, and lets be honest, I have never been that goos at editing anyway. please be patient with me at this time.

This book was completely heartbreaking and beautifully meaningful. There was a chunk of this book that I was crying page after page. There is just so much heart here in these pages. Though I will say, I will warn you of some pretty hard to read things in regards to racism and murder. Please check the warning before reading this if you are particularly sensitive.

We follow the story of a woman named Troie Nash in a small Colorado town that no longer exists. We meet her when she is just seventeen years old and is meeting the love of her life: Wilson Moon. Never has she ever been interested in boys before, but Wilson instantly captures her attention. But this isn’t a love story in the way that you might think. We are in 1948 and there is still a lot of blatant racism, especially in small towns, and Wilson Moon is not white. There are a lot of people that don’t want Wil in town. Tories brother Seth being one of them. He is an unkind spitfire of a man that Torie was going to fetch from the bar on this fateful day. Little did she know, this day was going to change the course of her life forever. We follow the course of Tories life as she navigates first love, familial expectations, huge life changes, regrets, and losing loved ones over and over. By the time our story here ends we are in the 1970s and Torie is a grown woman with a lot of life that she has lived.

I am not usually one for historical fiction, but this one drew me in and kept my attention the whole time. Like I have said in past blogs, I have been trying to branch out of my comfort zone of mystery/thrillers the last few years and it is really paying off. I have found some really wonderful reads, this being one of them. I was crying for Torie, rooting for her success, and hoping for a life that she longed for with her. I would defiantly suggest this coming-of-age story that was filled to the brim of familial ties, the family we create, and understanding the simile beauty of life. This story felt like I was sitting on Victorias couch, sipping coffee, while she tells me her story.