A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland is a beautiful, atmospheric debut novel and a modern retelling of the Selkie wife folktale. This book is a telling of a beautiful budding romance, the kind that would not commonly be spoken of in the time period this book takes place in. It was a refreshing take on an old folktale, carefully merged with a romance that would be more frequent in modern day settings.

Within this novel we are introduced to Jean and the mysterious Muirin. These women meet in the most wild of circumstances. Despite their chance encounter, they begin to have mutual feelings for one another. This is dangerous for them being from the 1800’s. Muirin does not speak any English in the beginning of this story, but with Jean’s help she quickly picks up on the language. We follow these women through hardships and being separated, which is no choice of their own. Both women persevered, keeping hold of the glimmer of hope that they would be reunited again.

I personally have never read a novel like this one and I absolutely loved the setting, the darkness and mystery surrounding Muirin, and the dynamic between these two women. The way the author tells the story of an old folktale is refreshing but still familiar. The addition of the same sex relationship to this story creates a sense of newness and makes the story relatable despite being set in a small fishing village in the 1800’s. The writing is beautiful and descriptive and although this is very much a slow burn, it keeps the reader’s interest. This isn’t a book that contains spice in the normal sense, but there is a perfect level of spice to this story which unfolds between Jean and Muirin. The ending of the book provides answers to questions readers acquire along the way and the ending is satisfying. The author did an outstanding job with this debut novel and I can’t wait to see what more is to come from Rose Sutherland.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for providing me with this Advanced Reader’s Copy ebook in exchange for my honest opinion and review!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine/Dell for my copy of A SWEET STING OF SALT by Rose Sutherland, out 4/9/24!

This book was AMAZING! A queer reimagining of the classic folktale, “The Selkie Wife,” this book was so unexpectedly glorious. I was unfamiliar with the tale, so it was all new to me and I adored it.

A sharp cry in the night awakens Jean and she finds a woman in labor, drenched to the bone in the sea and bitter cold who is unable to speak a lick of English. She assumes she must be the new mysterious wife of her neighbor Tobias, a loner fisherman. When he stumbles upon her house after she helps his wife give birth, the questions keep coming. Why did he hide her pregnancy? Why has he hidden her away? Why does his wife change her demeanor when he’s around?

This book is definitely a slow burn, but the payoff is worth it. I love a sweet, gay love story! I’m so happy I stumbled upon this book. Definitely add it to your queer tbr!!! I loved the ending so much!! Everything about this book is too, too perfect.

4.5 Stars

A Sweet Sting of Salt is an entrancing debut that snared me from the beginning, crafting a potent air of mystery surrounding the main characters’ circumstances.

When we’re first introduced to one of the MC’s, Muirin, there’s an undeniable atmosphere of mystery that draws you into the story and keeps you turning the pages as quickly as possible. Then, dig a little deeper into the story and you see the heartwarming friendship develop between Jean and Muirin, creating an emotional anchor of sorts. Seeing their relationship progress also made me, as a reader, feel a fierce protectiveness over Muirin and her newborn baby, Kiel, as their lives with Jean become more and more intertwined.

Spoilers ahead! Although if you’re familiar with the folktale that this novel is inspired by, perhaps you won’t be too spoiled.

Muirin’s husband, Tobias, is a somewhat one-dimensional villain, but the ease in which I found myself rooting against him says wonders about the author’s ability to elicit strong emotions. I felt a very strong connection to Muirin, Jean and Kiel, and it was so easy to root for their happy ending.

Unfortunately, I also felt that the climactic moments of the book were underwhelming, with an already anticipated reveal eliminating the element of surprise. Despite this, the resolution to Jean and Muirin’s was relatively satisfying and definitely well-earned.

Overall, A Sweet Sting of Salt is an impressive debut novel that seamlessly blends dark atmospheric elements with nuanced, authentic character development & relationships. Thank you so much to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC!

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for giving me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a wonderful love story wrapped up in an atmospheric, beautifully written, retelling of the The Selkie Wife.

I found this take on the tale to be fairly unique. The setting of 1800s Nova Scotia complements the story really well, giving it an edge of gothic dread. Jean and Muirin are both quite likable as characters (the bit near the end from Muirin's perspective was just the best thing) and their relationship has me thoroughly invested.

My one real issue with the book is that it slows down a fair bit in the middle, and feels a bit bogged down. However, the beginning and the ending are much better paced and mostly makes up for it.

If a gothic sapphic romance steeped in folklore seems interesting to you, then I highly recommend picking this up.

This review was made possible via an ARC through NetGalley.

A Sweet Sting of Salt is the Sapphic historical fiction retelling of the Selkie wife set in Nova Scotia of my dreams. It’s atmospheric and feels true to the original story while also recognizing that the Selkie is the one who had her whole life stolen from her when her seal skin was taken. There’s a real poeticness to the love story which feels true to the time period.

Jean is sharp and kind MC who is trying to help her neighbor’s reclusive wife, Muirin after Muirin gives birth to a son with webbed hands and feet and her husband behaves quite oddly.
I appreciate the care that went into depicting life in Nova Scotia at that time including Sutherland’s inclusion of the Mi’kmaq people through several characters and a variety of reactions to Queerness, which feels accurate because people, historically, are not monoliths.

Sutherland’s strongest point for me was the way yearning was depicted as well as the character interactions. I learned a lot about characters, their values, and their relationships via the dialogue and how they played off each other and new information that was presented to them.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for more Sapphic retellings of classic fairy tales. I would not recommend this to someone who is looking for more fantasy and less historical because this is very firmly grounded historical fiction with a fantastical element.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an e-arc

Wow this story was everything I wanted it to be! The writing was wonderful, it built up the atmosphere of this little town and its surroundings so well. I love Sutherland's prose.
I was familiar with The Selkie Wife and selkie lore in general going in to this, so I knew generally what to expect with the story. This predictability did not take away from my enjoyment one bit, in fact I think it added to it as I found myself excitedly waiting to see how the book would handle what comes next in the tale. The characters were all fleshed out beautifully, and the dynamics between them were delightful to read. Laurie might be one of my favorite side characters of the year.
I can't wait for this book to officially release so I can get my hands on a physical copy of it. This will be one I hand out to friends for a long time to come.

I love a fairytale retelling and to make it a sapphic reimagining I was all in. This was a debut novel and I very much enjoyed the atmospheric writing style. It had a very gothic and almost suspenseful. quality. It was a perfect read for winterer/cold season. The seaside village and cold winter months were the perfect backdrop to the story of Jean and Muirin.
While at heart this is a romance there is actually very little interaction between the two main characters. As the whole story is told from Jean's POV we aren't really seeing what is happening to Muirin and for most of the novel you don't even know if she is ok. The spaces in between seeing her you are on the edge of your seat hoping she is ok. There was a lot of build up to the final climax. I know this is billed as a romance but to me it was way more of a gothic horror, with the setting on the winter beach and the slow buildup of the stalking, the escalation of terror that Jean dealt with while trying to rescue Muirin.
Overall, I found the entire reimagined very well done. The incorporating of a midwife into the tale was a great idea and I loved that Jean was such an activity member of the town even if she felt that she was an outsider. Her growth of believing in herself and learning to ask for help showed real growth for her. She was able to trust in her love of Muirin and find true happiness.
  I would recommend this to someone that likes fairy tale retellings, great settings with descriptive writing and a slow burn very fairytale romance.

When I started this book I was fully prepared to not love it but this book is a lyrical, sapphic work of art. I have thought of this book countless times since I finished it, and I utterly devoured it in a single day. I couldn’t put it down. I have told countless people how excited I am for them to read it so we can talk about it, though they will have a bit of a wait. I love how strong and capable the FMC is and her drive to do the right thing. I love the adorable interactions between Jean and Muirin, they are the most heartwarming, sweet moments that made me chuckle out loud multiple times. I highly recommend giving this book a try even if it doesn’t seem like your cup of tea because it is phenomenal!

What a strong debut from this author! I was hooked from the beginning.

If you like period pieces, strong, female protagonists, and Gaelic folklore, this book is for you. The characters are beautifully drawn alongside Canadian winter landscape.

Jean, a small town midwife, meets a mysterious, pregnant Muirin in the middle of the night during a storm. Through helping Muirin with the birth of her child, teaching her English, and checking in on her when she's with her volatile husband, they develop feelings for one another. Set in a time when LGBTQ+ romances were forbidden, these two work towards finding a way to be together safely.

A wonderful mix of characters and folklore intertwining to create a beautiful love story.

I can't wait to see what else this author will create!

3.75 stars

Very interesting premise, definitely not my normal sort of read. I thought at times the writing got a little too deep where the point got lost so that caused me to read this a smidge slowly. However the world building was at times taking a back seat and that’s a pet peeve of mine as when you’re in a fantasy world (or any non-modern world) I expect like 40% to be world building. This was like 20% and I found that caused me to have a bit of a difficult time getting into it but once I stuck it out to approximately 60% through it picked up and really grabbed me. So overall good, unique, needs a bit of reigning in at times but I liked it!!

I really enjoyed this book. It was magical yet real ( I was previously not aware of the Selkie Wife) of the hard and lonely life of a midwife on the rocky shore of Nova Scotia. It was beautifully written and full of courage and passion. I definitely will look forward to more work by this debut author, Rose Sutherland.

Wow.

What a gorgeous tale of love and yearning.

I wanted to wait to read this one because I had an inkling that this would a beautiful story. And it did not disappoint.

Jean and Muirin’s story is so poignant and a lesson in compassion and trust.

Thank you so much to Random House - Dell for this digital arc. I can’t wait to continue to rave about this novel closer to its pub date.

I loved this book so much. I don't always like historical fiction but Sutherland blended the mundane with the magical in a way that was breathtaking and kept me hooked until I was reading the last pages with tears in my eyes. There aren't nearly enough Selkie stories but A SWEET STING OF SALT is honestly perfect. I loved the characters, Jean had me in the first chapter and I was invested in her heartache and her love. I've never wanted a happy ending more in a story.

I really loved this book! I'm not even usually a big fan of historical fiction, but the blending of mythology and folklore into this story really had me engaged with the plot and characters on a deep level. The characters were well developed and the plot kept me hooked until the end!

My first historical fiction in awhile. I was sucked right in and couldn't put it down! Highly recommend checking it out!

What a debut novel this was! Truly entrancing and such a beautiful story. I am not a huge fan of historical romance but after reading the description and then actually reading this novel, I think I might have found a genre I can truly appreciate.

This story is a slow burner but with that given, it was needed to get to truly know the characters and their stories, how they navigated through the world during this time. I truly love how this novel ended on a happy note but to get to that happy ending they had to deal with truly difficult situations and some nasty characters. I enjoyed the fact that each character, especially the main characters Jean and Muirin, were given so much detail as to who they were and what brought them together, that alone made me truly appreciate the story.
This is worth the read and is a very solid debut, I look forward to future projects from the author.

I was given the opportunity to read an ARC via NetGalley, this is my honest review. Many thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for this fantastic debut.

I have read many versions of the typical selkie story of the woman losing her sealskin robe (or in eastern asian mythology, her robe of feathers!) and the husband hiding it away, forcing her to marry him and have children with him. So I was intrigued to see how this story would play out as it had LGBT elements to it. I think I would have enjoyed the story a little bit more if there had not been a language barrier between Jean and Muirin. Im some ways I see how it helped move things along but also how it hindered. I was pleasantly surprised the child was NOT a focus in the story for a retelling of this particular fairytale for once and greatly appreciated it, though the child did help move some things along for the plot. The author did well in relaying the fear and disgust of how Muirin's husband viewed and treated women, not mention other villagers attitudes toward Jean herself. I found the small moments of time Muirin and Jean had together some of the most tender hearted scenes I've read in a long time. From start to finish, I didn't know what to expect for this retelling and enjoyed every minute of it. Definitely would recommend this to my friends!

A build so slow I honestly wondered if it was going anywhere... While I did enjoy the retelling of a known tale and the sapphic relationship, there were times I had a hard time picking it up to keep reading. If you're looking for an extremely slow-burn, then you've found the right book. I prefer novels that are a little faster paced.

*** I received an advance copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.

4 stars


A Sweet sting of Salt is a very captivating book, it is a historical fantasy retelling with LGBTQIA+ romance. It is a character driven book, along with a focus on a mystery woman who shows up in the middle of the night at the midwife's door. The perspective of this book follows Jean, who is a prominent and important person in her small town near the ocean. But she keeps herself and everyone else at a distance, until Muirin arrives in her life. This story is a slow build, really focusing on Jean developing and helping Muirin and having Muirin there for Jean as well but in a very manner, I thought their relationship was sweet and really heartfelt and I loved their journey together. Fantasy elements of this story were new to me, so I found it fun, surprising, and new. The book does pick up speed and action at the end and I thought the story was wrapped up really well. I would recommend this story especially if you are looking for something with a slow build mystery, romance and fantasy elements.
Trigger warnings: Sexual Assault
I received an advanced ebook, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

This was a stunning debut. I really enjoyed this story, and I loved reading about the Selkie folklore. The writer kept me interested, and I feel she wrote a beautiful story.