Not a genre I usually reach for, but I had a great time with Salt Water Blood. It hooks you in with a compelling mystery and keeps things fun and light while weaving in some really lovely themes around connection to nature, land and memory. There’s also a thoughtful exploration of the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous communities. You will find a lot of heart in this book.

A sweet & entertaining read with a great sense of place and plenty of warmth. Definitely worth picking up if you’re looking for something fun that also has some depth under the surface!

Heinrich’s debut is thrilling, romantic and unsettling. Beneath its page-turning plot is a powerful meditation on Pacific belonging, Indigenous knowledge, environmental injustice and inherited trauma. Salt Water Blood insists we begin to listen and intuit the deep messages of ocean, body and land. It's an excellent and compelling page-turner on Indigenous lore with a bit of historic truths.

Salt Water Blood manages to mash together a murder mystery, history and magic and does so well.
Set in a fictional island in the French Polynesian islands, where Moana and Aru rule the ocean and the forest, where a second hand clothes shop gives you fleeting moments of pervious wearers hopes and a shop that you leave with what you need, not just what you want. But underlying that is the racism the natives receive from police and tourists and the long lingering affects of the nuclear testing that happened not so long ago. Moemoana is a child of Moana, chosen to receive her visions of the future but desperately trying to escape, when her brother is accused of murder. Now Moe must work to find out what really happened, before her vision of her brothers death becomes a reality.

This really was an excellent blend of mystery, history and magic, everything worked well together and nothing overpowered the other. The fantasy element to this story worked so well and felt real. Moe's desire to flee the island and then having to come to terms with her own history worked really well and the twists in the story had me hooked.

This was a great read and I can't wait to see what Manuia brings us next.