Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC of this book!

This queer reimagining of The Selkie Wife starts out with Jean finding a pregnant woman outside in the middle of the night. After she helps deliver the baby she figures out that this woman, who can barely speak English, must be the new wife of her neighbor Tobias. Things only get more suspicious from here as Jean tries to figure out why Tobias hid his wife, her pregnancy, and gets increasingly possessive when Jean tries to befriend Muirin. Her growing concern for Muirin starts as a safety concern and evolves into love as she tries to free Murin from Tobias' grasp. Tobias becomes increasingly unhinged and the story has a bit of a thriller element as his threats become more and more violent. I enjoyed this book a lot and it held up really well as a retelling of The Selkie Wife. Knowing that story doesn't detract from the overall experience of the story.

REVIEW DOES NOT CONTAIN SPOILERS!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jean has aided in her fair share of strange births, but nothing comes close to finding a pregnant stranger screaming outside her home at midnight. Upon helping the woman-- Muirin-- bring her son into the world, Jean learns that the mysterious woman is her neighbor's new bride. Unable to communicate due to a language barrier, the two women become closer each day through body language and a mutual trust. It quickly becomes obvious that everything is not as it seems when it comes to Muirin's marriage, though. Jean can't quite put her finger on it, but something is deeply, deeply wrong...

As your local sapphic who loves all things fantasy and mythology (but lets be honest, I think all sapphics do...) I have to say I truly loved this book.
I find it hard to root for relationships in stand-alone novels because it almost always feels rushed and half-baked. However, Tobias served as an amazing foil to Jean's character. Where he failed to be a good partner, Jean shined, thus making it more obvious how right her relationship with Muirin was. The two women were endlessly gentle with each other but neither was afraid to fight ruthlessly for what they love. Their story provides a perfect blend of soft yearning and heart-wrenching angst.

I deeply appreciated the simplicity of the world-building. The exposition was light and required very basic knowledge of the time period that nearly every reader already has. Again, I often find myself drowning in exposition in many stand-alones, so I loved the easy glide into this world.

The atmosphere was fantastical but still realistic, slightly gothic and certainly romantic. A Sweet Sting of Salt is a beautiful transportation onto a rocky shore with grey skies and curious seals at your feet.
If you enjoy retellings, mythology, fantasy, sapphic relationships, period pieces, and a little bit of angst-- this is for you!

Will absolutely keep my eye out for more of Rose Sutherland's work in the future.

3.5/5
This book is so atmospheric and cold. It perfectly captures the feeling of safety and warmth you feel when you’re out of the rain or when you find your lover. I went into this with expectations of coziness, queer love and belonging, and seaside adventure. This did not disappoint. The writing is gorgeous, but the pace is slow.
I loved the relationship between Jean and Muirin. I loved how powerful the tension felt with such little words. I loved the friendship between Jean and Laurie. Their friendship felt very realistic to finding someone similar to you in a world that is so different. This book is perfect for people who enjoy books about domestic drama, longing, and fairy tale retellings.
The only reason this is not a 5-star for me is because it felt a little too slow in the first half, but historical fiction tends to be a bit slower for me. I will think about this book every time it rains and on every seaside cliff. #JusticeforHoney

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I felt neutral about this book. I enjoyed it but was not totally immersed in the story. I thought the writing was great and very poet and I enjoyed the folklore aspect but there was something missing for me.

Lots of fun reading this one! I enjoyed the folklore aspects of the historical fiction. Reminded me a bit of the fox wife by yangsze choo

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I was drawn to the premise of A Sweet Sting of Salt, because, while I’m not familiar with its source material, the folktale, “The Selkie Wife,” I love the idea of retelling a folktale from a more feminist and even queer lens, not to mention being steeped in selkie lore. It also has a Gothic feel that immersed me in the story from the first pages.
The choice to focus on a more peripheral character to the action, midwife Jean, serves the purpose well. She senses something is wrong when she encounters Muirin, and later meets Tobias when he comes looking for Muirin. And while Jean is hardly the typical Gothic heroine, preferring to stay out of other people’s business rather than poke into it, she’s also rather perceptive about something not being right between the couple.
And things get even more complicated as she and Muirin begin to bond. I loved the expression of yearning between the two, and how they were both caught in this intense situation, with Muirin’s husband literally holding her captive and keeping her from the sea, never mind keeping her and Jean apart. I deeply rooted for them to find a way to be together, and/or for them to help Muirin to her freedom.
This was a deeply moving book, and I’m excited to read more from Rose Sutherland in the future. If you’re interested in a sapphic folklore retelling, especially if you enjoy selkies, I’d recommend checking this out.

I’m so sorry to say but this book was just not good. The writing is sub par and the plot line is un exciting. I sadly would not recommend this book. With better writing I maybe could’ve gotten into it… at 85% through it had to be a DNF for me… I couldn’t force myself to keep going.

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a retelling of the folktale, The Selkie Wife. Note I have never heard of this tale.

This is part historical fiction, mystery and fantasy. This story progresses very slowly, challenging the reader the stay vested. The setting descriptions, through Jean's experiences, were hauntingly beautiful.

Thank you, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Dell

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
4.8/5 🧜🏻‍♀️🦭💔💞🌊

This retelling of the classic, selkie wife folktale was fantastic - I couldn't put it down! This book is written beautifully and sucks you into the story with beautiful world-building and storytelling. To also have this be a queer retelling was about 40 cherries on top - we need more of this in the historical fiction genre! To have a protagonist who understood the journey one has to take when fighting for your sexuality was refreshing. I fell in love with Jean and Muirin, as I'm sure you will too. There were moments when reading this that I could feel my heart cracking apart for these two women, and moments when I was on the edge of my seat and needed to know what was going to happen. I loved this so much and I hope you love it, too. And look at that cover!

Thank you to the author, Rose Sutherland, publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this ARC (and for granting my wish!) A Sweet Sting of Salt publishes on April 9, 2024!

This retelling of the selkie wife folktale was fantastic! As a fantasy reader, I loved the lore with a sapphic twist. The writing was beautiful, immersive, and refreshing because of the historical context. Definitely worth adding to your TBR! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

An excellent ‘modern’ (since the story takes place in the mid-nineteenth century) fairytale and queer reimagining of The Selkie Wife folktale.

This story is fast-pasted and full of drama from almost the first chapter as our main character, Jean the homebody midwife, finds Muirin in labor on the beach near her house. I loved the acceptance of queerness among the people in Jean’s life and the absence of homophobia from anyone that mattered.

I also loved that this book didn’t shy away from the darker aspects of the original folktale—which romanticizes kidnapping and sexual abuse. Instead, Jean realizes what has happened to Muirin, is appropriately horrified and refuses to let that be glossed over, and absolves to rescue her.

Excellent pacing, with some genuinely tense moments, and even if I got frustrated with her at times, it was reasonable that Jean didn’t connect the dots any faster than she did.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
A lovely sapphic historical romance with entrancing nods to folklore and village life. I found myself enchanted by this soft, mesmerizing book.

An incredible debut novel blending folk tales of selfies, nautical history, Mi’kmaq traditions in 1830s Nova Scotia, with the painful traditions of homosexuality exclusion from traditional village life. Hiding in plain sight is a woman kidnapped from her family and friends who is forced to wed an irascible man who imprisons and sequesters her and stalks his nearest neighbor putting her, and a somewhat domesticated wild fox in fear for their lives. An edge of the seat retelling for the modern reader.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

I'm not particularly interested in mingled marriage with different love interests. This is usually not the type of books I generally read too.

It's beautiful, it's gothic, it's SAPPHIC!!! It's everything I never knew I needed. The story is rich with folklore and culture, a beautiful work of art.

Supernatural tale that reads like women’s fiction/literature. We spend all our time with Jean, who has rebuilt her young life after a teenage scandal and is now a midwife for the small town where she lives. She doesn’t have family after the death of her father, but has a great native mentor that has advised her through the years and made her a better midwife. Along comes a mysterious bride whose baby Jean delivers, but there’s something not right about her and there’s definitely something less than upstanding about her husband. Loved the tie to nature and the book was somewhat dark with the weather and setting. Truly enjoyed it and finished in the same day.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!

God, I loved this book. Jean and Muirin and so good and so perfect individually and together. This was just a fun, easy, sweet read and I really enjoyed it! Jean is incredibly relatable and instantly likable and you can't help but root for her. I do wish she weren't so impulsive but if someone I loved was literally locked up inside a terrible man's house, I would also be pretty reckless trying to rescue them so I get it. I do wish the pacing was a bit better; the middle portion of the book felt at times like it was dragging on for no real purpose and didn't really do a great job of building the suspense for the last portion of the book. Otherwise, I really had a good time reading this book!

I absolutely LOVED this book and read it in one sitting because I just had to unravel the mystery. If anything, this is an even more ringing endorsement for a retelling of a folktale, since I was already familiar with it and thus wasn't surprised by the big reveal (though I'm not sure if you're meant to be, since again, retelling), but I was so invested in the characters and their town that I didn't need a plot twist to keep me hooked. The prose was fantastic without being overbearing, and the prevalence of queer characters (and /some/ accepting parental figures and characters) was a welcome inclusion, though it was tempered with historically accurate homophobia.

Wow! The tale of The Selkie Wife is already very intense but very good. However, this author took this fairytale and created a Sapphic, illuminating, just brilliant retelling. Honestly, I couldn't ask for anything better. This is just brilliant.

Jean, a midwife in the early 1800s in Nova Scotia, meets Muirin and her husband Tobias. After getting to know them, she realizes there is definitely a problem in their relationship.

I really felt the isolation and unsettling feelings that the author created in this book. The characters and the atmosphere were phenomenally done. I really was taking by how much I felt a part of this story through the author's descriptions.

I definitely recommend this!

Out April 9, 2024!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!