If gay selkies are your thing, A Sweet Sting of Salt by Roese Sutherland delivers abundance! Sutherland creates a world teeming with enchanting seascapes and the alluring mystery of selkie lore. The book offers a touch of intrigue, with secrets and schemes bubbling beneath the surface of its aquatic fantasy.

That said, the intrigue wraps up a bit too quickly once the big reveals come to light. The resolution feels rushed, and the plot’s direction is too evident from the start, leaving little room for surprise. Despite these flaws, the story remains enjoyable, especially for those who appreciate queer mermaid and selkie romances.

If you’re in the mood for something light, magical, and unapologetically gay, this one is worth a dip. Just don’t expect it to wade too far into deep waters.

Rose Sutherland writes a beautiful reimagining of a Scottish folktale, The Selkie Wife. With a captivating plot and illustrious writing, this story comes to life.

I've had this arc for awhile but finally picked it up becauase I wanted to read more GCA nominees, and I am so glad I did. While not particularly complex, this was a sweet sapphic historical fiction* novel exploring the fairytale The Selkie Wife and I'd read more from Rose Sutherland in the future.

Hauntingly beautiful and sweetly sad. I fell into this world and became enamored of the characters so quickly. A sweet sting indeed!

I was so excited for this story. But I have spent so much time picking up and putting it down. I had to finally throw in the towel and admit that it wasn’t capturing my attention like I wanted it to. I kept forgetting what I had already read which was incredibly frustrating. Maybe this books isn’t what I want to read at the moment, I’m hoping to come back around to it sometime soon.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Never let your husband stop you from finding your wife. This was a beautifully written, emotionally resonant novel with vivid descriptions and rich character development. I love the way it explored love, loss, and healing. The prose is poetic and compelling and I highly recommended.

This book was such a treat. The cold, seaside vibes are perfect for curling up and reading in the winter. The queer representation is glorious and - there are seals. Honestly I couldn’t put this book down once I started it.

For me to enjoy a romance these days, I apparently need it to be a sapphic romance with a lot of small town drama and selkies. I loved the characters, the lush setting, and the buildup to the dramatic ending. And I thoroughly enjoyed sweet, ignorant Jean seeing her girlfriend who has a husband staring wistfully out to sea to look at and talk with the seals and thinking there is nothing amiss.

Midwife Jean helps her neighbor’s new wife deliver a child, only to learn that all may not be well in the house. There are too many secrets, & Jean only wants to help. But she may end up losing more than just her heart.

This was absolutely gorgeous! The scene setting was so lush and deep! The historical setting was so well fleshed out, I could feel a chill on my skin when Jean was dealing with the snowfall. I absolutely adored the reimagining of the selkie myth. It’s such an interesting fairy tale, and to see it examined in depth was heartbreaking. And all the characters were so interesting, I was entranced by Jean and Muirin’s romance, Laurie’s friendship made me smile, and Anneke’s unwavering support. The entire supporting cast was wonderful. And the queer love, the joy in finding someone you can be yourself with was so lovely.

This is in my top 5 reads of the year, no question. I’ll be buying myself a copy immediately, and keeping an eye out for Sutherland’s next project.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this wonderful arc!

I was so excited for this story. It was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024, but I have spent 5 months picking up and putting it down. It is time to admit that I am not enjoying this and DNF. I honestly wish the focus was solely on Jean and Muiren.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for providing me this Digital Advanced Readers Copy of the book!

A modern retelling of the Selkie Wife (a man steals the skin of a selfie forcing her to become his wife).

Jean has lost her first love and now hides from the prying eyes of the villagers and their judgements.

She is a midwife and hears a scream in the night. After delivering a baby to a strange newcomer who speaks an unusual language, she positions herself so that she can watch over this new mom while trying to unearth the secrets her neighbor is hiding.

This is a sapphic romance set in Nova Scotia in the early 1800’s.

I really like this book. It had all of the elements of a book that I enjoy reading. It was good pacing it had strong, character development, the characters or symbiotic, and they were able to build each other up and provide a lot of tension and emotion in the story. I really enjoyed the main female lead. I thought the author did her justice in the way she of all the character, and told her story. I also just overall enjoyed the whole meaning of the book and the way the lessons and claw in characters and resolution, were all done.

I think I was thrown off by the opening of this book. I will definitely try again soon, as I want to like it so much.

Loved the characters and how the fairy tale was laid out. Would love to see more from this author. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to read this

The creepy cover is what initially intrigued me to request a copy, bc I was immediately immersed in the story once I started reading.

With dark secrets and all the tension, I really enjoyed this!

*many thanks to PRH, Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a little backlogged with my ARC’s but working diligently to get caught up. I really enjoyed the whole concept of this book! It took me by surprise as I went in completely blind, having no idea what it was about. I love the old English and Scottish fairy tales and this book put a whole different spin on things! It was creative and held my attention throughout, I constantly needed to read more to figure out what was going to happen! I would recommend to anyone who likes old folklore stories and fiction about love!

More of a historical with a bit of a fantasy twist, with a lot of attention to building the character and backstory of protagonist Jean. It did take about halfway through the book for me to get invested in the story as the romance plot with mysterious Muirin takes some stretching of the imagination. There's an instant connection between the two women that is told more than shown. However, the latter half has a better pace and development of secondary characters as it brings into focus Jean's relationship with her neighbors (midwife mentor Anneke and her sailor son). This is also the point at which the book becomes more atmospheric and Gothic, which certainly doesn't hurt. Overall, I did enjoy the character relationships, historical setting, and the intensifying Gothic element.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting retelling and I really enjoyed Jean and her story. I loved how she was such a strong female character who was ok with bucking societal norms and conventions in order to be happy. This was a great story and I enjoyed my reading experience.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.