I DNFd at about 20% as the writting style really wasn't for me. I found it to be a bit jumbled up and I really couldn't get into the story. I may try and pick it up again in the future as the premise is very intriguing but it felt really messy to read. Giving it a 2 star as I don't think I can fairly rate it.

Slow progress, but interesting characters. Now I know what a selkie iWorthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. s. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile. Worthwhile.

A fantastical and tender sapphic love story, and a reimagining of the story of the Selkie's Wife. I was surprised at how this one gripped at my heartstrings, and was more romantic than most romances read!
Absolutely stunning for a debut, and found myself wanting even more flowery writing from this author.

I came for the Nova Scotia, stayed for the beautiful sweeping story by the seaside. It's not often a book can make you feel wistful for a place you already live, but somehow Sutherland made sleepy, rain-drenched towns by the sea seem so mysterious and romantic. When I read a story like this I'm often taken back to my teenage years, when queer fantasy just wasn't readily available in bookstores; how glorious is it that someone like me, a married lesbian and mom, can stumble on a title like this without having to search dark indie bookstores for it?

got an arc from netgalley!

honestly, didn't love this one. it just didn't grab me, which is really sad because i wanted to be grabbed. i found the first chapter to be severely infodump-y, and honestly i don't think i needed the information anyways? it could all have been woven into the text much more smoothly than the way it was done. as for the main character, i have Issues with jean. mostly with how she is just constantly making the most insane assumptions. not like once or twice, but several times. i understand that humans love to think wrong things about other people, but the way jean just misinterprets things that are so clearly laid out was really frustrating to me. like, she keeps assuming tobias is a good guy and has good intentions when he acts in the most suspicious of ways. jean isn't presented as a trusting/oblivious person, so these misassumptions make no sense. i also think that any character who is that obvious about "i can't get close to anybody because of that one time i lost someone" is boring. i mean, it's great when it is done well, and with complexity. jean did not do complexity.

muirin is like fine, i guess. i really felt that there wasn't much to her, especially because her communication with jean was so hindered by uhhhhh not knowing english. the connection between them was just vibes, which would have been great, if i had been able to sense the vibes myself too to get why they cared about each other so much. alas, i did not get it.

i've spent what feels like a lot of time recently complaining about books that think they are all clever and subtle when really they are just annoying, and somehow i think what this book needed was more complexity and subtlety, and to know that about itself. if this book was just a bit more arrogant, it might have worked a lot better.

early on in the book, there is a dream sequence where a past event has a very different ending than what actually occurred. it took me quite a while to understand that that was what was happening, and i don't think it was well communicated to the reader (i could just be stupid. i am often stupid). this isn't a major thing, since i did figure it out, but it didn't endear me to the book.

also: people in books have horrible timing for when to have sex. like get a move on ladies! you don't have time for this!

also also: i hate an epilogue that is just several pages of summary about how everything is just so perfect now. especially when it doesn't add anything to the satisfaction of the ending of the book. i found the epilogue in this one to just be frankly boring and unnecessary.

all in all, this book was fine. i didn't care for it but that's partially my problem. i probably won't be reading more by this author unless it comes recommended to me but hey, you never know.

Folklore retelling? Check
Canadian Setting? Check
Queer love story? Check
Strong female characters? Check

As a lover of historical and queer romance I just had to give this. book a read. Plus, as a Nova Scotian, I was really excited about the setting as well. It was a lovely retelling, with. a unique twist and is definitely worth the read!

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a queer re-telling of The Selkie Wife set in Canada and is author Rose Sutherland’s debut novel. It has all the folklore and fantasy and sapphic yearning you could ask for and more. My first thought while reading this book was how it could possibly be the author’s first. The words are so atmospheric that they pull you right in and give you a front row seat to the relationship between Jean and Muirin. Their bond felt so genuine and had a depth that could not be rushed, only beautifully nurtured, giving it a very organic feel, quite unlike the relationship between Muirin and her husband. The pacing is perfect and never felt rushed or dragging, so I became easily immersed in the story quickly.

Having the shores of Nova Scotia as the backdrop only added to the book’s allure with vivid descriptions that only a local could write. I’m thrilled at the amount of wonderful Canadian debuts lately that are actually set in Canada. We have a wonderful history and deserve to have our beautiful country front and center as often as possible. I’m thankful for all the authors who are doing exactly that, a long with showing off the unique voices that are on offer here. Bravo.

A Sweet Sting of Salt was published on April 9, 2024.

4 stars.

I feel like one of the things I loved most about this book was just ... the VIBES. The cold, damp middle of nowhere by the sea vibes. I didn't really feel all in on the romance until we got to Muirin's story, and something about that really made it click on for me. The pacing was a little slow, but that worked for me, in that I enjoyed the atmospheric vibe of it.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book as it turned out to not be a good fit for me. It might work well for someone else though!

Hello,

Unfortunately, this book ended up not being my cup of tea, and I would prefer not to review it, as I had to DNF it.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book

Thank you to the author and the publisher for giving me an early arc of this novel! I’d rate it 3.5/5 stars ⭐️

Set in 19th century Nova Scotia, the main character Jean is a midwife who meets a strange woman named Muirin, who shows up at her doorstep, about to give birth, and throughout the ordeal learns that the woman’s husband may be up to something and/or hiding a big secret.

Overall I did end up enjoying the book, I really loved that it was based in Nova Scotia, and I liked the characters (absolutely hated Tobias but HEY he was meant to be hated) and I really liked the ending and that it was queer reimagined take on the selkies wife.
I did however find it a bit drawn out in the beginning, it was slow to start and at certain points I kept thinking “okay sooo when is something gonna happen to get the plot rolling?” so it took me a while to read and finish it because I did find it hard to stay focused sometimes. Once I got through that though I really did enjoy the plot and how it all played out! I also really loved the little vixen in the book who kept Jean company, that was a good touch to the story imo 🥺

I wanted to love this book, especially being from NS; but I’m sorry to say I struggled to get into it. About 50% through it picked up and I found my interest piqued, but the ending seemed to drag on as the beginning had. Magical realism is becoming a fave of mine, but sadly this one fell short for me, I found it quite boring and almost did not finish .. perhaps I’m just not in the right mind set at the moment, as I’m a mood reader!
I apologize, it pains me to give a negative review, but honesty is key, and reviews at etirely individual

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.