Book Review: Down the River (River City Book 2)

Down the River: River City Book 2 by J. Scott Coatsworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Down the River is the sequel to The River City Chronicles, which introduced many of the characters in this second book in the series. If you haven’t read the first one, you can still dive in, as the author makes sure new readers are gently brought up to speed on situations and relationships they need to know about. But I’m sure you’ll also enjoy the first book and I recommend you take the time to read it.

The chapters in Down the River are short; there’s 63 of them plus a bonus bit that puts a pretty button on the story. It’s easy to nibble a few chapters here and there throughout a day, they are like literary potato chips. I kept the book close by, and whenever I had a moment I’d scurry on back to Sac. 🙂

The story deals with various tragic events, but they are presented in balance with plenty of love – much of it well-aged, but there’s fresh relationships too. It’s all tempered with a needful laugh here and there, and many genuinely warm moments are shared within this large and diverse found family.

There’s another love affair going on that’s really obvious but never mentioned. Author J. Scott Coatsworth is clearly smitten with Sacramento. He’s given East Sacramento (but call it “East Sac”) a trendy restaurant called Ragazzi, which serves as the main stage for his characters to interact. But we also spend time at local art galleries, trendy local businesses, at the river’s edge, and to my delight, we are whisked off to Italy!

It would be absurd for such a food-centric book to not include some recipes, and the author does not disappoint. A collection of Italian recipes ranging from appetizers to desserts is included at the end of the book.