I adored this book. Yes, there are some dark elements to it, it is a kind of retelling of some fairytales (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan). But I really, really liked these characters. I love Lampie and her tenacity and drive to do what's right above what is just expected. Even when dark or upsetting things happen, Lampie knows what's wrong and what to stand up against. The black and white illustrations and little chapter additions are beautiful too. This was a book that swept me away just like the sea and its pirates and merfolk inside the pages.

Absolutely brilliant read. Clever, creative and unique with a cast of imperfect, damaged and deeply relatable characters. Loved it and have already recommended it to everyone I know!

I received a digital arc copy and I’m so glad I read it. It was such a sweet heart filled book. There is a bit of suspense as you want to know what is going to happen next.

This story, by Annet Schaap, is a dark middle grade book inspired by the story of the Little Mermaid. The lighthouse keeper's daughter, Emilia, who goes by Lampie, helps man the lighthouse, but one night she doesn't have the matches. There is a terrible storm and a ship runs ashore. Lampie must work of her debt as a servant for the Admiral. She befriends the sick, deformed boy in the house, who is the son of the Admiral. He has a mermaid's tail! The adventures begin. There are dark moments, but characters are likeable. The story is beautifully written. I really enjoyed the book. Thank you Netgalley and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Of Salt and Shore can be read as an imagined follow up to the original version of The Little Mermaid, and I’m pleased to say it retains the contrasting menace and charm that characterize classic fairy tales. We follow Emilia, nicknamed Lampie, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. When she is held responsible for a terrible accident that takes place during a storm, Lampie is sent to work off her debt at the Black House, the ominous home of the absent Admiral. It is said that a monster resides within the Black House, but what she finds is much stranger and far more complex.

I found this such a thrilling and enchanting read, with Lampie and the ragtag group she meets along the way endearingly flawed characters. Schaap both indulges in and subverts fairy tale tropes, creating an atmosphere that is somehow both befitting of the classic tales that came before it, and refreshingly original. I also appreciated the bigger themes she managed to weave into the story to add extra resonance for contemporary readers, with commentary on the likes of parental abuse, finding family, othering, and self-acceptance all enhancing the narrative.

Though the climax was suitably dramatic, I did think things came to a rather abrupt end, with a couple of threads left hanging a little too loose for my liking. This felt like an especially unusual choice for a novel that is both fairy tale inspired and middle grade, both of which tend to favor neat resolutions. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent with this whimsical story; grateful that it neither shied away from the dark lifeblood that runs throughout authentic fairy tales, nor lost the messages of love and light that make them timeless.

Of Salt and Shore by Annet Schaap is a beautiful but dark middle grade book inspired by the story of the Little Mermaid. The book tells the story of Emilia, more commonly known as Lampie, who lives with her father and helps him to man the lighthouse. Her life is hard, her father has turned to alcohol to dull the pain of his past, and his amputated leg, and a lot of the responsibility for the day to day running of the lighthouse falls on Lampie's young shoulders. When Lampie goes into town for matches but is trapped by a terrible storm, her father is unable to light the lamp and a ship founders. In punishment he is locked into the lighthouse and Lampie is taken to work as a servant in a local house. The house is supposed to be cursed and home to a monster, and Lampie is lonely and terrified at first, but eventually learns that the monster is nothing more that a sick boy, the son of the Admiral. The boy has a mermaid's tail and strange black eyes, and his father is ashamed and embarrassed by him, just as he was by the boy's mother, a mermaid. He is determined that the boy must be hidden away, but Lampie wants to try to help him, thought that help at times leads him right into danger.
As I said the book is inspired by the Little Mermaid, but instead of the familiar story the author focuses on how the child of a union between a man and a mermaid could survive. There are some darker moments, especially involving a trip by the children to a carnival , and I think the book is probably more suited to the older end of the middle grade age range. I also saw parallels to another childhood favourite of mine, The Secret Garden, with the sick child hidden away, and the young girl who moves into the house as a stranger but becomes a catalyst for growth and change.
The characters are all very good, but Lampie in particular is well executed and very believable. She is easy to relate to and that makes it easy for the reader to be drawn into the story.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and I would definitely read more by this author.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This was a lovely twist on The Little Mermaid. I found the story highly engaging, and I like the dark tone. This is the type of book I would have loved as a preteen, and I know several students who will love it.

I really enjoyed this story. It's pretty dark for being labeled as a middle-grade book, but not so dark that I wouldn't let my kids read it. Lampie is a really sweet and endearing main character who grows throughout the book and overcomes her numerous obstacles, and this story feels like one of those old-school timeless Grimm-Style fairytales. (which are my favorite).

The only thing I didn't love was the ending. It was pretty abrupt and I still had some questions. Not sure if there's going to be a sequel or not, but if there isn't, then that's a bummer. Overall though, I would absolutely recommend this book to middle-grade students or anyone who likes a dark twist on old-fashioned fairytales.

This is a well-written and engaging book that pulled me in from the very beginning. I loved the descriptions and style of the writing. There was the perfect amount of detail, emotion, action, and character development. It is a treasure of a book that will be loved by many!

I was drawn to this book from the beginning. I love fairy tale retellings because its so nice to see such a different spin on the classics and to see how the author makes it their own at least in the first few chapters. This book is a retelling of the classic story of the little mermaid. It is all about our main character Lampie who lives with her father who is charge of the light house. When our character forgets to light the lighthouse one night it unfortunately causes the death of a local sailor. This leaves her father and her on bad terms and things only get worse. In order to save face and pay off the debt that has occurred, Lampie and her father, are split up. Her father is left where they are and Lampie is sent to a new house with a new family. I was expecting this story to be a lot more about the mermaids and fantasy that way when it wasn't about that as much at all. Not my favourite book and I found the direction a little lacking. It was very hard to even figure out what the author was trying to say and the plot was all over the place. Its almost like the set up and the actual novel were two different books written by two different authors. The first half of the story wasn't the best however it wasn't until about half way through that we got to meet the mermaids that was when it really started to take off for me
at least interested wise however I still found the story line to be all over the place and really hard to follow. I really enjoyed Lenny AKA Fish's character it was nice to see a mythical creature portrayed with such a bad attitude instead of all rainbows and such. There were so many things that I liked about this book that it is so hard to narrow it down. This is one children's book that I think will really find a place with all children as well as the parents that read them out-loud. I'm so glad that I got the chance to check out this book it was really magical.

I only read about half of this book. However, I really enjoyed what I read! A dark, mysterious tale with a wonderful main character, Lampie. The illustrations added more depth to the mysterious feel of the story. A perfect story for those who love a fairytale with a bit of mystery!

This book has wonderful prose, gorgeous illustrations and a lot of heart to it. While the subject matter means I can't personally finish reading it, I'm sure this will be a treasured story for many.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

This was so much fun to read! The atmosphere created in this book was indeed like a fairytale.
This book has reminded me very often of childrens classics. I would say Lampie deserves a seat on a table with Alice and Dorothy.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I stayed up tonight to finish this book and honestly although I really enjoyed it, I found the last few chapters to be 'meh'.

I love the characters of Lampie and Edward and I was really hoping to read a lot more about them. The first half of the book is very drawn out as we are introduced to Lampie while the other half feels so rushed.

There's so much excitement and movement going on in the second half ( maybe even just in the last quarter) that, you don't know whether to stop/slow down when reading or keep going. Everything is thrown at you all at once, there are so many changes in such a short time.

I wish some parts were fleshed out a bit more and I had hoped there was more to the ending, but I suppose it leaves it open for anyone's imagination and for the possibility of another book ( but I doubt it).

I have a personal vendetta against Md Amelia, mostly because she reminds me of a teacher I once had.

I'm indifferent about the father and whether I think he deserves what he got in the end. A happy ending for someone who constantly abused his daughter? It just didn't sit well with me.

Nick's character intrigues me and I wish we got to learn more about him. Penny and Martha are also really well built characters in my opinion.

I'd like to have read what happens to Lampie though, the book just feels like there's something missing without this piece of information. Does he go to find other of his kind? Does he find his mother/is his mother still alive? I would have loved to see a scene or chapter with him and Lampie sailing out for one final adventure together to reunite Edward with his people.

All in all though, a pretty good book with a unique plotline.

I really enjoyed this middle grade novel!


This was such a cute little read, I really enjoyed the narrative and the characters. It gave me Brothers Grimm vibes with some of it's more gruesome aspects.


I think my favourite thing about this novel was its fast pace! It stomped through the narrative taking no prisoners. The chapters were short  and punchy and overall a nice easy read as they transitioned really easy through each one. The characters were distinctive and I enjoyed the subtle nod to The Little Mermaid.

Of Salt and Shore is an atmospheric and dark fairy-tale of a story. It starts out with a grim premise-Lampie,- a 12-year old lighthouse keeper's daughter struggles to take care of her angry, crippled father but due to a series of misfortunes including being hit by her father, is sent to live as a servant in a foreboding mansion. She meets the ornery housekeeper and her mentally disabled son, and learns of a monster that lives on the top floor. Lampie eventually meets and befriends the creature, who is half-boy and half-mermaid, and by the end of the story, we're thrown thick into mermaids, pirates, circus side-show characters, and saving both family and friends. The writing style is visceral and immediate, immersing the reader in the character's worlds and thoughts.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. It is currently set to be published in September 2020.

This book was an awesome read, starting out at a slow pace, like a proper fairytale, and then gradually picking up its pace, building up to the final climax.
In its darkest pages this novel managed to pleasantly surprise me, because I didn't expect a children's book to touch on such sensitive issues as abusive parents (and the conflicting emotions their kids suffer from), persecution of the different, self-hatred and the difficult journey to self-acceptance.
The author bravely tackled these and a few more thorny problems, and she did so in a very respectful and gentle way that never crosses the line between what's age-appropriate for middle-grade readers and what is not.
I think this book is an excellent read not only for children, but also for grownups, and that everybody can learn something from this story and be enriched by it.
I've just finished it now, but I'm definitely going to re-read it someday.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3294006252

I'm honestly not sure who the intended audience for this book is--the "new" take on a Little Mermaid fairy tale leans it towards children but the rambling narrative, uninspired characters, physical abuse of children had me second guessing. If this was intended to be a story about friendship, I didn't see much of that either. The story is primarily told through the eyes of Lampie, the young daughter of the lighthousekeeper, but the perspective jumps periodically to other random characters and feels more like a way of writing another chapter rather than being an integral part of telling the story. And then the story itself? The fairy tale take doesn't feel like the primary focus of the story, which is fine--we all know the story of the Little Mermaid and when it was touched on it was more in the vein of the Andersen original--but this just lacked that magic feel.
Overall, the book's description describes a far more interesting book than this ended up being.

I love the premise of this book. It has the potential to be a great mix of fantasy and mystery, but it takes so long to really get into the story that it's difficult to maintain enthusiasm or interest for the main character, Lampie. The other characters in the book aren't well-fleshed out either (the teacher is too mean, the housekeeper is too worn down, the admiral is too absent, the father is too drunk) and what could be an interesting tale full of pirates and mermaids turns into a slow, plodding narrative that wraps up surprisingly quickly and easily at the end.

Wanted to like this, but it just fell flat to me. I love books about the ocean whether it’s mermaids or pirates. The cover seemed like such an interesting story, but I was mesmerized.