Book Review: What the River Keeps by Cheryl Grey Bostrom

 

What the River Keeps by Cheryl Grey Bostrom 

4.5 Stars (Rounded up to 5 On Goodreads, Honorable Mention of Fav 2025)

What a powerful story. This is my 3rd Cheryl book and I just love the way she tells layered, in depth stories set in the Pacific Northwest. The setting always comes to life and her characters, while they go through hard things, really tug at your heart strings and you can always see hope between the pages. 

Here, we follow Hildy Nybo, a biologist that specializes in Pacific Northwest fish. She has anxiety, memory loss and a traumatic childhood where her father went missing. When her mother's health declines, leading to a dementia diagnosis, Hildy returns to her family resort on the Elwha River to help restore the Elwha River after the demolition of two century-old dams. Side note, I love how in the beginning, we see Hildy as a young child with her father and she told her Dad she met God in fish and nature. It was such a beautiful detail from a child's POV that reminds us to take in all of God's creation and truly see Him in every aspect of everything. There is also a moment where Hildy as a child can "see shadows" among evil and it felt like a tie in to spiritual warfare, reminding us that children have a greater sense of awareness.

When Hildy returns home, she steps out of her isolation and here meets Luke, a compassionate carpenter with his own tragic past and grief, and together they go through healing in this book. They have a passion for nature, animals, the river and they really connect well.

Hard things about the past resurface, she starts to put things together about her father's disappearance and what she finds is not what she expected....

Bottom line, I really enjoyed Luke and Hildy's healing journey, their romance and God's love, redemption - fully weaved into the story throughout. What Luke had been through was SO HARD and he was such an inspiring guy really trying to do the best he could. Seeing their healing was POWERFUL to me. A favorite quote from Luke “I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m all in, Hildy. Not with some God I tap for favors, but with a living Tsunami who raises the dead. Who washed my sorry carcass onto a better road.” Had me TEAR UP!

Along the way though, we see something happen with separation between the characters and the path Hildy goes down is not a good one...yet Luke is there regardless and I love how he stepped in to protect her and take care of her. 

Moving to the ending, I loved how the mystery was revealed - did NOT see that coming....it was sad, but real, raw and the start to true healing and forgiveness for Hildy to move on. 

Overally, highly recommend. I always say if you liked Delia Owens Where the Crawdads Sing type of story with the nature elements but with a level of faith added, pick up Cheryl's books. I love her stories and looking forward to what she writes next.

*Content warnings: Death of a spouse and children, grief, death of a parent, dementia, attempted sexual assault with details leading up to the abuser's intentions and her trying to escape, domestic violence in that same scene, brief mention of animal abuse/animal death

Thank you to Tyndale House Publishers, Cheryl and TLC Book Tours for a complimentary copy to honestly read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7707349218
Baker Book House: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/617646

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4mkM95a

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