Podos' book was received positively by critics, who commended the author's handling of the characters' sexuality and gender identity as well as the authentic description of living in a small town of New Mexico.

Espinoza's plan was to try applying for a scholarship based on her swimming skills, but at her final year of school, her father learns he has Huntington's disease.

[1] The setting of Like Water is based on the period when Rebecca Podos was studying for her undergrad at an art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

While both reviews found the mix of English and Spanish in the dialogues added authenticity and made it more natural, Gershowitz called the writing, at times, "uneven".

The reviewer still praised how the characters' sexuality and gender were handled by Podos, as well as the "richly and authentically [description of] the culture of a small New Mexico town".