This book blew me away. The story swept me out and tossed me around in a sea of emotions. The characters feel as if they are reaching out and grabbing me by the throat. I felt the world was incredibly realistic and stunningly build. I would read a thousand books in this voice!

First of all, I love the cover on this one. It was so beautiful. Second, I was very drawn into this novel. I’ve always wondered about the story and myth of the selkies and what they stood for. Was it a way for women to express feeling trapped in relationships and being able to finally be free?

This novel was extremely gripping. I love the sea and the stories that are told surrounding the sea. This was a unique novel in its setting and background. Jean’s story is slowly told in bits and pieces throughout the novel and helps inform her actions throughout the story. As we see Jean’s and Muirin’s relationship develop, those familiar with the story of the selkie will start to see some foreshadowing as the novel progresses. I’ve marked this with a spoiler warning, but I think it’s not necessarily a spoiler as it’s a fairly large theme of the novel to pick up on. I did think there was one portion of the book that was a little slower but there was a lot of suspense and mystery in the novel that I enjoyed. The book ended strong and I would recommend it.

Please be advised I received an advanced readers copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Salty, as affectionately called by Rose, is a lesbian retelling of the Selkie folklore. However, there really aren’t any obvious signs until close to the end. The beginning of the book is a slow crawl, for about 50%, BUT it’s enrapturing and pulls you in. You can’t help but love (most) of the characters and they’re all fully fleshed out. You feel their terror and their excitement and tension. You feel the fatigue they feel. It’s impeccable.

For Rose’s first book, this is an amazing start. This book almost made me miss being in a relationship again. I did dock a half point just because it’s quite slow in the beginning, but it truly is worth getting through to the end. As far as lesbian love stories go, this is probably one of the best well written ones I’ve read to date. Thank you Netgalley and Rose Sutherland for gifting me this ARC in exchange for a review. Looking forward to future books from you, Rose.

Wow. I felt transported back in time to a beautiful little village near the coast.
This story was brilliant & beautiful.
A Sapphic retelling of Scottish folklore with a mix of historical fiction.
I absolutely adored the main characters in this book & was on the edge of my seat for most of this book. I had a hard time putting it down for sure.

Had some very gothic vibes which I wholly loved.

Read- and I cannot stress this enough- the authors note! I really enjoyed learning more behind the inspiration for this book.

This might be my favorite book of 2024 and it’s not even 2024 yet!!!

I can’t thank NetGalley enough for this e-ARC & the publisher for granting my wish!

What a gorgeous story that so vividly captures the loneliness of the protagonist and her beloved, tragic in their circumstances and exclusion. This tale of domestic abuse and tender sapphic love had me captivated.

Going into this I didn't know the original folktale, but I sometimes prefer that so I can have my own expectations. Unfortunately, I think knowing the original story would've parts of this more enjoyable.

While I liked the characters, where they ended up, and how they got there. The pacing kind of killed this book for me. It felt very slow going for much of the book. Some of what was happening felt a little meandering for me.

I did like Jean as a character. She was sure of herself when it came to her profession of being a Midwife. But when it comes to people in town she is very unsure of what they think of her because of something that happened when she was younger. She feared the rumor mill and kept to herself for safety. She is stubborn and I like that she wasn't entirely meek when it comes to others.

Muirin, her character took longer to get to know for several reasons. She didn't talk much for most of the book because of language barriers. The biggest issue for me with her character is I don't know how old she's supposed to be. She could be anywhere from 17 to 25, but I have no idea and I can't remember if it was ever addressed. But not knowing how old she is gives me a little bit of "the ick". Since she only speaks Scottish Gaelic, her husband treats her a little bit like a child.

Things do end kind of abruptly, but on a good note. I would've liked a little more closure with some things, but overall the ending was satisfying. Just getting there felt like it took ages.

Having a tough time deciding on a review for this one. The sapphic love story was sweet and the pain of a town who sees you as an outcast felt true and deep. However, so much of the plot relies on the main character’s misunderstanding and making assumptions. A miscommunication trope is my least favorite and there were just so many times Jean made blatant assumptions that I as the reader could see were so obviously wrong it was frustrating more than anything. As a known take on the Selkie Wife story, an author would have to be incredibly subtle to keep these miscommunications from being obvious and irritating- this author didn’t quite achieve that. Overall I enjoyed it, I might recommend it in certain circumstances even, but not one of the best books I’ve read lately.

I enjoyed this retelling of the silkie wife. This was a good spin on it. It is more modern so more people will want to read it.this was a good book and I enjoyed it.
I just reviewed A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland. #ASweetStingofSalt #NetGalley
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I’ve never heard of the fairytale of Selkies and really enjoyed this interpretation. I loved the setting of 1830s Nova Scotia in a little wintery town. The pacing of the story was just right and kept me intrigued.

A gorgeous tale of sapphic yearning laced with a slow-building sense of Gothic dread. Sutherland’s captivating debut is an intensely beautiful experience you won’t soon forget.

That’s the blurb, but it’s not even the half of my feelings about A SWEET STING OF SALT. If I could give it ten stars, I would! I could go on and on. Filled with achingly beautiful prose and based on the Celtic legend of the selkie wife, this novel is a feat of artistic mastery. Muirin’s love for Jean is both tender and fierce, and Jean is the kind of strong, resilient heroine you can’t help but root for. I adored both of them. And the setting! The wind-tossed shores of Nova Scotia are the perfect location for a tale replete with mystery, romance, and gothic intrigue.

When you read it, please make sure you check out the author’s note. The ghost ship and the history behind it were particularly fascinating.

Note: the heat level in this book is not spicy in the usual sense of the word, but trust me—the spice is there. My god, the yearning. Think “Darcy’s hand clench” levels of purloined passion and hidden desire. It’s perfection.

I am a sucker for fairytales so it comes to no surprise that I enjoyed this sapphic retelling. It is a bit of a slower pace book with some excitement nearer to the end. But even with the slow pace, I stayed hooked wanting to know more.

The story started out with Jean coming across a pregnant woman in the middle of the night in the middle of the storm. She didn't know who she was, but as the towns midwife she knew what to do. After the whole drama of birthing a child, Jean assumes the mysterious woman must be the mysterious bride of her neighbor.

And thus the inconsistencies start. Why does Muirin not speak English? Why does her husband doesn't bring her into town? Why does she loose her spark when her husband is around?

If you know the tale you can guess some of the story, but there was enough intrigue that I was delightfully surprised at some points.

Jean's mother figure was the goat. Supportive and taking the young Jean under her wing when the town turned on her when she was younger. Her sea faring friend, who was in love with other man. They were delightful characters to get to know and love. I would have them in my corner any day.

All in all,it was an enjoyable read!

My feelings about this one are complicated -
I enjoyed it so much
It’s sooooo slow
Jean didn’t have as much character development as I hoped

I read this title slowly and found it a very enjoyable and well written debut novel.

Slower paced and lonely, the writing gives off Bronte-esque vibes. My only issue with this is I would have liked to see more character development for Jean. The slow pacing is mostly what led to my taking a while to finish it and not feeling overly compelled to hurry back to it. If you're in the mood for something quick, keep on looking - but if you have the time to devote to a more languorous novel, I recommend it.

Recommended.



Thank you to Dell and NetGalley for the DRC

I loved this book. I could picture this wild land. It was a "quiet" book, with much going on under the surface of the story. Great read!

this is pretty sweet! i enjoyed the mythology aspects and thought muirin's voice was particularly well-done. did feel a bit repetitive at times and the pining near the middle made me want to skip to more substantial plot points, but overall a great debut novel!!

I am usually not very convinced by historical fiction, as it often feels rather samey to me, however this was refreshing and rather delightful.
I am always a sucker for LGBT stories, and this was my first time reading it in a historical context.
I really enjoyed the author's prose, and the development of the story was mostly well paced. I did feel that the ending was a tad bit rushed, and this book may have been able to be a little bit shorter, but the relationships between characters make it easy to ignore the parts that may drag a bit.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this story, and it would have been even better if I wasn't so good at guessing twists. The only reason for my rating being somewhat low is that I don't personally see myself rereading this title, but I can definitely see this being at the top of people's lists once it's released.

Great book!!!! The quote at the end broke me in all of the best ways. I loved the atmospheric northern Atlantic setting— it connected me to the world and characters more. This is a fabulous debut. Thank you for the eARC

I had to pause on reading this a few different times because it honestly made me anxious. The way Rose Sutherland builds the tension and hostility between Jean and Tobias is absolutely phenomenal but it also made my stomach hurt.

The story overall is fantastic. The relationships between the characters are well-built and oftentimes made me feel like I was sitting around with old friends instead of just reading a book. It doesn't shy away from emotion the way some books do nor does it focus on purely physical aspects of attraction. It's very well-rounded and filled with such a need to love and be loved and to protect those you care about.

I cannot recommend this book enough.

This was an ARC I was greatly looking forward to, especially as autumn weather begins. From skimming the synopsis, the set up felt reminiscent of a dark, cozy, atmospheric historical fiction retelling of the short story “The Selkie Wife.” Selkie mythology isn’t something I’m familiar with, so I flew through half of this rather blind—until I took it upon myself to research into selkies, which quickly laid out the plot trajectory of this novel for me. Unfortunately, that plot predictability did steal some of the wind out of the novel’s sails, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying Rose Sutherland’s writing.

I was pleasantly surprised by the novel’s writing style. It was atmospheric, wistful, and lonely, while supporting a classical tone. It felt akin to the modernization of classical novel style (such as, Jane Austen, Emily Brontë) and that helped to welcome a reader into the darker tones of the story. However, the writing did veer too much into introspection and wasn't as well balanced with moments of dialogue or action. Most chapters opened with pages of sitting in Jean’s head as she mused (mostly about Muirin) and provided summaries of how she was passing her days. While that built up the sense of Jean’s loneliness and isolation, it was a taxing reading experience to face paragraphs of text with no dialogue to break it up.

The plot was character-driven, which normally isn’t my cup of tea. At times, I did struggle with the plot knowing it was coming from a character-focused place; other moments, I was enraptured by it and wanted to keep pushing through the novel’s pages. Overall, the plot was slower-paced and inconsistent with its moments of action. I found the middle 50-80% repetitive, with Tobias and Jean playing cat-and-mouse, while Jean obsessed about Muirin. While Tobias’s looming threat got the pulse racing, this was a place where the plot began to drag a bit. It was circular in how a new Tobias threat would reveal itself, Jean would send herself into a spiral about Muirin worries, and it would begin all over again. I wish more subplots had injected themselves here to keep the plot moving a little faster.

With how clever and brave Jean was, I was surprised that she didn’t figure out Muirin’s truth sooner. If we had more set-up or world-building woven in of the town discussing Selkie lore, Jean could’ve had the opportunity to put the pieces together. Instead, we had Laurie being cagey about the truth and few chances for Jean to put the truth together herself. Despite knowing how this plot was going to break down—with Muirin being exposed as a selkie—it still felt a touch out of left-field. The clues were there, certainly, but Jean was actively overlooking these pieces. Having that mythology undertow would’ve strengthened the plot in a way it needed.

With how lonely Jean was portrayed, there was a sizeable cast of characters that each brought something to the page. Laurie was likely my favorite minor character, despite his development becoming underutilized. He was Jean’s foil, and I would have loved to see more parallels between their journeys earlier on in this plot. As for Jean, she had a strong character voice in the beginning, but it petered out in the second half when she began obsessing over Muirin and their relationship. (Speaking of relationships, I wish that had a little more development! We went from attraction to “I-love-yous" quickly.) I truly wanted a bit more development for Jean, as she felt static and one-dimensional toward the end.

Overall, I found this to be a solid debut. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of character-driven plots because I prefer the external plots to place a little more pressure on the characters. While the pacing was inconsistent at times, I did enjoy the hauntingly beautiful Nova Scotia inspired town Sutherland allowed the reader to explore through Jean’s experiences.

TW: pregnancy and childbirth, parent death (off-page), suicide, sexual assault, animal death (on-page), murder (on-page)

Thank you to Ballentine and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

This book was so good! I didn’t know anything about selkies before picking this up but it didn’t matter I was invested immediately

I have never read a selkie related book before and was pleasantly surprised! A great novel I hope many add to their TBR to enjoy!

A huge thanks to our author, and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to reach such a great story!