What a phenomenal book. I was originally drawn to requesting the novel when receiving a promotional email from Net Galley because I saw it was based in Nova Scotia where our family is from. After reading a couple early reviews and starting the first couple chapters I was hooked on the premise which centered around a folktale I had never heard of before.

The plot was perfectly paced while also holding on to all the tension and yearning of a beautifully written romance. Well done.

Jean is a midwife for a coastal area of Nova Scotia and she hears a cry in the night. She finds a woman about to give birth, delivers the baby and then finds herself involved in the strange woman's life much to the dismay of the woman's husband. Muirin speaks no English and is only known as the strange wife of Tobias. After giving birth to her baby boy, she finds friendship with Jean but things are incredibly complicated and Muirin has a secret that she can't talk about and that Tobias never wants anyone to learn of.

A Sweet Sting of Salt had a really interesting concept and had me very intrigued at the start. It felt mystery/thriller at times, and I think it would have benefited from leaning more into that. There is a lot of repetitive parts of this book and times the pace was slower than I could manage. I think because I am well versed in Selkie mythology, I didn't feel very compelled to get to the end of the book because I knew exactly what was coming and nothing in this book surprised me. And perhaps because it felt very predictable to me I had less patience for slow parts of the characters figuring things out. Also I always disagreed with the way Jean goes about things and never listens to her mentor. She acted very selfishly and could have/did cause a great deal of harm.

The best part of this book was the setting and environment. It was very well described and I could picture the exact places this could be filmed for a movie. Unfortunately, there was just too much about the plot and pacing that didn't work for me.

As an isolated midwife in Barquer’s Bay, Nova Scotia Jean Langille is shocked to find a woman in labour in the middle of the night who can’t speak English. As she assists the woman named Muirin with her delivery of a healthy baby boy, she learns she is the new wife of her fisherman neighbour, Tobias Silber. As Jean helps Muirin after the birth and becomes closer and closer to her, more questions about the Silber family dynamic start popping up and Jean starts to worry for her friend’s safety.

As a captivating queer reimagining of a classic folktale, I really enjoyed Rose Sutherland’s storytelling and writing style. Although the timeline takes place in the 19th century, Sutherland still made the characters relatable and modern without seeming out of place for the time period. I also feel like this book is a perfect start for readers who wish to dip their toes into the genres of fantasy or magical realism, while also being a great read for historical fiction lovers.

Thank you Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the copy to review.

A sweet tale with plenty of yearning, cozy fantasy adjacent. Had some slow bits in the middle but they were needed to balance out the more tense last third of the book.

Sometimes it takes me a while to get through a book because I want to savor it.
It wasn't the case for this book. Honestly, I kinda just wanted to get it over with. I started it, read a couple of pages and then put it off for days.
I liked the atmosphere of the book and the setting, I think the writing was generally nice, but I just couldn't get into it.
I think I might have liked it better if it had been in Muirin's POV.

But the thing is, I'm a dialogue girl and this was a description book. So I don't think this was a bad book. It was just not for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Read this straight through on a red eye flight, because once I started I couldn’t put the story down! Despite knowing the main trope (selkies) going in, it was still delightful and not frustrating to follow as the protagonist gradually unveils the truth.

Sutherland has brought to life an incredible cast of characters, resulting in a delightfully real community as a backdrop to the novel.

This book is a captivating blend of mystery, romance and suspense that will keep you hooked, from the start.

In this story, the characters have their motives and secrets, which add layers to the story. One of the aspects is Jean's transformation from a hesitant observer to a fierce guardian, as well as her growing affection for Muirin adds an emotional depth. She navigates through the waters of small-town gossip and suspicion while unravelling Muirins past with palpable tension.

The stormy night setting heightens the drama adding urgency and peril to the unfolding events. Love, sacrifice and redemption are expertly intertwined themes that make this story a gripping read that will keep you on edge until the end.

In essence, it's a thought-provoking narrative that delves into the intricacies of connections and the lengths we would go to safeguard our loved ones. This fresh take on a tale leaves a lasting impact.

It's worth checking out.

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland is a Sapphic historical fiction with a sprinkle of folklore and fantasy.

Jean is the local midwife in a coastal Nova Scotian town. When she meets Muirin, during her delivery and subsequent care, she is drawn to the married woman in ways that have resulted in her ostracization in the past. Now that she is a respected midwife, she can't afford to lose her reputation again.

An atmospheric slow burn romance that has you immersed in the story and the Gothic fishing village from the start.

This was such an enjoyable read! Rose Sutherland wrote a great queer retelling of the selkie bride. The characters were all well written to go along with an interesting plot. I look forward to reading future works by this author.

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a queer reimagining of The Selkie Wife, set in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, and full of the fishing culture and small town historical imaginings one might associate with that. Jean is the town midwife, living a bit on the fringe after an incident with her former best friend, and one stormy night, she finds her neighbour’s new wife on the shore, in labour and desperate for something.

Jean helps Muirin give birth, and their lives become entwined, first by friendship, and later by more. But Muirin is trapped somehow, and doesn’t speak English well enough to tell Jean what’s going on. Regardless, Jean hatches a plan - with dangerous consequences.

This is a lovely story, though maybe a little too neat and happy in the end for me (but I like mixed endings, even in happy books). It’s very dreamy and magical; Sutherland cultivates a great tone for it. I also liked the ways she tweaked selkie story, it was very well done.

NOTES NOT FOR PUBLICATION. IT IS MY POLICY NOT TI PUBLISH NEGATIVE REVIEWS.

Apologies. I am very late with this feedback.

On the positive side, I did enjoy Ms Sutherland’s writing style and she has obviously done her research. And as I live in Nova Scotia, the areas described are familiar to me.

However, I found I could not become immersed in Sweet Song. The story moved slowly and I found myself skipping very quickly through pages. At about the half way point I’d pretty much sussed out the remaining half. There were no surprises.

I’ve read and enjoyed changling stories, but couldn’t reconcile my thinking with Ms Sutherland’s depiction of her characters carrying their second skin with them.

Sorry!

A beautiful and heart wrenching sapphic love story. Set on the shores of Nova Scotia, the story of the selkie wife comes to life. A wonderful debut novel that gave me all the feels, and was near impossible to put down.

3.75/5 ⭐

Firstly, I want to thanks NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing me with an eARC.

I thought the beginning was a bit sluggish, but I'm grateful I persisted. The writing style of this sapphic novel pleasantly surprised me. Its enigmatic, lyrical, and somewhat gothic essence, as well as the setting, in Nova Scotia, makes it captivating once it grabs hold of you. Muirin immediately drew me in; she's probably the primary reason I stuck with the story. The evolving dynamic between Muirin and Jean, as their relationship gradually unfolded, was truly beautiful to witness.

Midway through my reading, curiosity got the best of me, prompting me to delve into the tale this novel is rooted in. In hindsight, I regret it—I inadvertently spoiled certain aspects for myself. While some suggest researching the subject beforehand, I beg to differ.

Overall, if you're a fan of folklore and enjoy picturesque reads, this book is a perfect fit for you. What a remarkable debut novel for Sutherland!

CW :
- Suicide/Death
- Abusive relationship
- Marital rape (reference)
- Animal death
- Pregnancy/Childbirth
- Kidnapping
- Homophobia
- Violence, blood

The story may have been slow to start with, but it kept me going and loving the characters. Despite their silliness in some situations, their love grew and I always love a good selkie story

this was such a well-woven tale of the intertwining threads of many different lives, set in the early 1800's.
The main character is Jean, midwife to the local village. She meets up with Muirin one dark night, when she finds Muirin in labour and drenched, out in a storm.
These lovely ladies bond through the birth of Muirin's child, and the new mother seems to be trying to speak with Jean, but without knowing much of the language. Her husband, Tobias, comes looking for her the next day, and Muirin's demeanor changes drastically. Jean decides to tell Tobias that the new mother needs to stay with Jean so that she can learn how to care for her new baby .
As we progress through the story, the womens' bond becomes closer, Tobias becomes more possessive, we meet many villagers, and a delightful little red vixen (who I secretly hope is the star in the author's next book).
The finale is exciting, nerve-wracking, and frightening in parts. Over all, a fun book, and I learned how to make cheese!!

I love the idea of selkies, the ability to shapeshift at will. the sad part is the wicked men who steal their sealskins to capture them.

This is a story of Jean Langille, a young woman living alone on the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. As the village midwife, she is trusted and highly respected by her people in regards to her work. However, she has suffered loss in her life, and there are whispers and rumours about the type of woman she is, which isolate her from having any ties to the community. Therefore, when a very heavily pregnant Muirin appears not far from her house, distressed and in labour, Jean not only delivers her baby, but is happy to build a friendship with the woman. Muirin is mysterious and converses in Gaelic, a language foreign to Jean, as well as minimal broken English. Still, Jean quickly learns that Muirin has a secret about who she is and whom she is married to.
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While the first 20% of the book was interesting, I grew extremely bored not long afterwards. I have to say that it was beautifully written, but because there was very little dialogue, the majority of the book was focused on describing the weather, the different states of snow, seagulls, and Jean’s two goats, and vixen. I was expecting a lot of magic and folklore, just based on the synopsis of the book. The selkie content was almost non-existent, save for the last few chapters of the book. The rest of it was about Jean’s yearning (see: obsession of) for Muirin and the need to rescue her.

If scenery is your thing, and you enjoy a slow-paced book with sapphic romance, you will like this story. Unfortunately, I did not feel connected to this book nor its characters. In addition, I anticipated the ending from the very beginning, so there was no element of surprise, no climax, and a somewhat confusing epilogue. I do appreciate that the author highlighted the stories from both the queer and Mi’kmaq communities in 19th century Nova Scotia, Canada.

It’s a 2.5 ⭐️ from me.

Huge thanks to Netgalley, Rose Sutherland and the publishers for the ARC.

A Sweet Sting of Salt has everything you want in a great book. A fast paced folk story retelling with romance, intrigue and a few surprise twists culminating in a beautiful ending. Found family, queer representation, a hint if neurodivergent representation, The characters felt well rounded and familiar, like you could be sitting in the kitchen with them having a cup of tea.

Set in Nova Scotia in the 1800’s, "A Sweet Sting of Salt" is a sapphic take on the classic folktale, The Selkie Wife. Coastal, atmospheric and deeply character based, I adored this debut novel by Canadian author Rose Sutherland. I enjoyed getting to know Jean and Muirin and their Atlantic community. I felt the landscape was just as much of a character as the people through all the lush, beautiful descriptions. I wish there had been a tad more Selkie folklore woven through or that Jean might have done some research or something more to put the clues and secrets together but overall this was a slow-burn, aching love story and this it what we got! I very much look forward to reading more by this author in the future!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for sending me this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

An atmospheric historical fiction blended with Selkie folklore.

SInce watching the movie The Secret of Roan Inish in the '90s, i've been waiting for a literary Selkie tale. Then along came A Sweet Sting of Salt and it does a fairly good job of filling that niche.

Sutherland does a great job of creating the atmosphere of 1830s Nova Scotia. I could feel the wind, hear the crunch of the snow and smell the sea and I loved every description. I also really enjoyed the depiction of the daily life of a midwife in this setting. She also successfully conveyed the small-mindedness that can exist in small, isolated communities. However, she also captured the warmth and sense of community through her main character Jean's found family, Her mentor was one of my favourite characters.

Regarding the Selkie storyline, I wanted more Selkie folklore. Jean does not discover Murien's secret until late in the book. We the readers may have guessed Murien's secret but since Jean has not, there isn't a lot of Selkie in the book and I wanted more. I loved the moment when Murien is introduced in the book. It was dark, stormy and perfectly moody.

My only real issue is the appearance of a character near the end that conveniently resolves a critical point in the conflict.

Overall, an enjoyable book and I look forward to more from this author.

The writing is beautiful but the pace is super sonic slow and I couldn't handle that. I almost gave up on it because I literally felt like the book was going to take me ions to get to the end but it was worth it. If you love historical fiction with a slow melodic pace, this will win you. If you are like me and need the book to be faster than a sleeping snail, you will really need to make sure you have no distractions.

The story is lovely and I think would be enjoyed more via audio. That's a personal thing for me but hearing the words would have made up for the speed.