What a beautiful, unique love story.
Following the local midwife and a surprise, heavily pregnant woman - who doesn't speak the same language and confusingly is determined to run into the marsh while giving birth. As tragedy and confusion unfold, a mystery awaits readers to find out who this woman really is. and her quiet, gentle husband may not be the man the town thinks he is.
Overall this story was written so beautifully. I wish the folklore was explored more indepth, as the 'tell all' at the end felt a little flat. I wish Jean and Miurin's relationship was explored more fully. I loved watching them learn to communicate despite the language barrier. I think I would have felt more fulfilled if we had more of that and less of Jean playing detective.

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland was a luscious atmospheric sapphic retelling based on the Celtic retelling of the Selkie Wife.

What appealed to you the most in this story?

I love folklore, but this was my first-time hearing about this Celtic story. It's a fascinating tale, and I definitely now want to read the original. This retelling had a serious bite, and the mystery with a background steeped in dread made this story an experience I won’t forget.

Read if you like:

Sapphic Retellings
Fantasy
Mystery
Romance
Atmosphere
Gothic Intrigue
Fierce Characters
Tender Moments

How was the pace?

The slow burning tension kept me turning the pages while the climax had me on the edge of my seat.

Do you recommend this book?

Truly an achingly and enchantingly beautiful debut from start to finish!

Make sure you check out the author's note. The ghost ship and the history behind it were particularly fascinating.

Thank you, Dell for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest opinions.

This book is stunning—from the cover to the setting to the growing sense of narrative dread and the pining between Muirin and Jean. Absolutely gorgeous. This is one of those novels that I will never stop talking about and recommending.

A Sweet Sting of Salt is folkloric fiction at its best. Sutherland has created wonderful characters—women whose strengths are distinct and complimentary, a villain whose humanity allows readers to imagine a different path for him even though he doesn't take it—and her prose, which strikes the perfect balance between poetic and spare, begs to be read aloud.

I cannot recommend this novel strongly enough. If you're looking for what to read next, stop looking. You've found it.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this new take on an old folk story. I got drawn into the characters and all they had to do to find love and truth. I'm really glad I got this book and will recommend it to my friends.

I really enjoyed this book. I think it needs to be read more like a short story being more quickly vs taking it slow or the reader could lose interest. I was not familiar with the tale it was based off of so wasn’t sure what to expect. I thought it was a sweet story. While I caught on to some of things happening right from the beginning leaving no room for a surprise. I read the book in basically one sitting. I would give this one 3.5 stars and would recommend to those that like folktales. Thank you to the author publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this charming tale for my honest opinion.

This story is a retelling of the Selkie Wife, which was a huge drawing point for me. It had everything that I love: folklore, beautiful writing, and sapphic elements. I like how the author describes characters and the world she builds. It's beautiful and meditative. However, there are some things that do fall short for me.

Jean's relationship with Muirin is sweet but I cannot help but that it is hard to buy into their romance? In contrast, Jean's relationship with Jo had more substance. As Jean and Muirin's was the main relationship, it made it a little hard to buy into. Furthermore, I expected a bit more of the folklore elements. Yes, this had to do with the day to day life of a selkie being forced to live on land. But this island has superstitions and a history of honoring certain practices, this is something that is established at the outset. I would have liked to see more of this throughout, it feels like it just disappeared at some point? And given that Muirin's family was so near, I'm a little surprised that certain characters weren't able to help Jean piece the puzzle together sooner.

Nonetheless it was an enjoyable read. Would recommend for a cozy day inside by the window.

This debut novel, A Sweet Sting of. Salt, was an easy to devour and engrossing read. Don't let the weirdly confusing painting on the cover throw you off. My chosen genres are usually Fiction or Historical Fiction, I am surprised how much I enjoyed this novel that leaned toward a mystic fable retelling and had elements of romance, a predictable genre I usually avoid. The strong female seeking her own version of life and family and the adventures that ensued to that end are fresh, and comfortable, but not predictable, The story is brilliantly built around an old fable/fairy tale topic as its foundation. I will be following Rose Sutherland and hoping she creates more of these retellings of old school legends into real life adult adventure tales for our reading pleasure!

This cover has been on my mind since I first saw it and I think it being based on a folktale about Selkies makes so much sense. Sapphic, Gothic and worth every second of my time.

This is a reworking of the tale of the Selkie wife with an LGBTQ+ twist.

Jean is a midwife who lives alone since her father died. One night she hears a cry outside and finds a woman, Muirin, in labor but she speaks a strange language. She helps her with her labor and delivery and they become close friends.

The story started kind of slow and I had thought about giving up but I was interested in finding out what as up with Muirin and I'm glad I kept going. I liked Jean. Her life hadn't been easy, she lived alone but she had her mentor, Anneke, and all of her family as a support system. Anneke's son, Laurie, is particularly close to Jean. Muirin was delightful. She was trying to make the best of a bad situation and keeping her son and Jean safe while being curious and trying to learn everything about this new life. The atmosphere was particularly desolate and isolated, especially in the winter time. I shivered through some of the storms depicted.

At times the dialogue seemed off. I didn't have a sense of the time frame but it was 1813 and sometimes the language seemed more modern like "she landed on her a$$."

I'm not a big fan of magical realism but I really enjoyed this story. I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Ballantine for providing me with a digital copy.

This book was beautiful and haunting. I loved the chaotic beginning and how it spun into an understanding between these two women. I loved the slow creeping ominous sense that something was not quite write. The prose was beautiful, but the pacing was a little bit slow for me. That said, I really enjoyed the sense of feelings that snuck up on Jean and caught her by surprise and the way that this town felt claustrophobic and remote all at once.

This was good in theory but not executed well. Half of the story was there for no reason and it was just unnecessarily long. I made it to the end, but just barely.

Thanks to Netgalley for this incredible arc! I can't believe that this is the author's debut book. The roller coaster I went on reading this book was incredible. I was stressed nearly the whole time but the soft tender moments in between were achingly beautiful and I fell in love with this story. When Muirin finally told her full story to Jean it felt like I was reading a true sapphic fairytale. I will definitely be buying a physical copy to add to my collection!

DNF at 31%.

I really wanted to like this book, but I unfortunately just couldn't get invested in the story. Something about the writing style felt disjointed for the time period it was set in and I never felt IN it. I was excited about this book, I loved the idea of it being a Celtic folk tale retelling, and I hadn't read much about selkies, let alone with a sapphic twist. In addition, I couldn't connect with the characters. Essentially, this didn't make me excited to pick it up and I have so many other books I'm looking forward to reading right now that I can't justify continuing on with this one.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rose Sutherland for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for A Sweet Sting of Salt. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author. I thought the book was beautifully written. I enjoy the small village feel and the sea imagery. I thought the plot was interesting at first. However, the story wasn’t really for me. There wasn’t a ton of action or drama. I felt a little bored reading it after a while. I just wasn’t really in the mood for it. There was just a lot of description and I prefer more dialogue and character interaction. I didn’t feel connected to the characters because it was hard to see into their motivations.

I was blown away by the hauntingly beautiful way this story unfolded!

Jean is a midwife and is out one evening when she hears the cries of a woman in labor who can barely speak any english at all.
After coaxing the woman inside, delivering the baby =, and helping look after this mysterious woman, Muirin, Jean begins to sense that something is different! When Muirin's husband comes calling for her Jean convinces him that she must stay and be taken care of.. from there our story unfolds!

I love finding books that just feel different, and this wonderful debut did just that! Based on the Celtic legend of the selfie wife, but with a sapphic twist, Rose Sutherland did an amazing job at making a familiar story all her own. This novel was slower, full of beautiful one liners, with longing prose, gothic intrigue, an immersive Nova Scotia setting, characters you can't help but root for, and so much heart, this story is one i'll recommend over and over!

This story isn't spicy in the way that books currently are "spicy", but trust me the yearning and romance is THERE! You could feel the chemistry these characters have with one another! It was giving Darcy hand clenching passion, which makes sense for a historical fiction folklore reimagining! I will be screaming about these two for a long while!

This book is just not for me and that's okay. I enjoyed parts of this book. It's an interesting concept. The thing that I'm struggling most with is it is such a slow burn. I don't want to hear about the manatane of their day to day life. The author writes in such details that though it does set the tone for the time period and location well, it's just hard to get into the story when it feels like not much is really happening. I'm going to give this book a 3 star rating. I do think it's a good book. It's just not my kind of story. Thank you netgalley for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

This was amazing! I loved the friendship between Jean and Muirin and how it grew into a beautiful love story. A love freely given can never be held.
* I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

This is one of those books where it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. It's more fun that way, trust me. The TLDR review: this is a cozy, sapphic read that's full of longing, and magic. Definitely give this a try if you're looking for a lighter read for spring. I can confirm that this book pairs well with your favorite tea.

Below, I'll go into more detail regarding what inspired this book. Stop reading review if you want to leave a bit of mystery.



Detailed review:

This was a retelling of The Selkie Wife fairytale. I have to say I enjoyed this so much more than the original story. Like the author, I found the original a bit creepy. This brings attention to that and adds new elements that make the story better.

The queer representation in this felt like it fit perfectly into the story. I thought the love story was well done, although I would have wanted more time with Jean and Muirin.

For the most part this had a cozy atmosphere with beautiful descriptions of the setting. There were tense moments where they were necessary. The adversary was also well written.

The only real criticism I have is that the middle of the book dragged a bit. One of the side stories had a mystery that seemed obvious but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. I would have also just liked a bit of a longer epilogue. It's one of those books where you want to see more of the characters.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if you're looking for more sapphic books, fairytale retelling, a cozy book for spring, etc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the ARC for review.

Midwife Jean is a bit of an outcast, but she knows everyone in town and its outskirts, so when she hears a cry in the night and finds a woman in labor who speaks almost no English. The woman must be the wife of Tobias, her neighbor up the road. Jean helps deliver the baby, and begins to question many things as the days go by. Why would Tobias keep his wife a secret? Why doesn’t she speak any English? Why does Muirin’s open personality close up when he is around. Jean should mind her own business, she knows, but she can’t help but want to help the woman, but she can’t pusher growing feelings for Muirin aside, and she’ll have to come up with a plan to save the woman she loves.

I loved so many things about this book. Despite my personal aversion to pregnancy and childbirth, stories about midwives are one of the random things in my reading wheelhouse. Often, they are portrayed as radical because they are women who help other women in worlds dominated by men. So, I liked Jean. I could also identify with her feeling the outsider. Muirin was fascinating, and I loved how their relationship grow as well as the supporting characters. There are stories of mythology weaved throughout the story, and I’m also a sucker for folklore. This book had me from jump. It’s my first 5-star read of 2024.

Not my usual kind of book i’m not a hugeeee historical fiction person (i don’t think i realized it was when i requested) but i did like this! a pretty fast read with good writing and fast pacing.

thank you to netgalley and random house for the arc!!