Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rose Sutherland for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for A Sweet Sting of Salt. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by the author. I thought the book was beautifully written. I enjoy the small village feel and the sea imagery. I thought the plot was interesting at first. However, the story wasn’t really for me. There wasn’t a ton of action or drama. I felt a little bored reading it after a while. I just wasn’t really in the mood for it. There was just a lot of description and I prefer more dialogue and character interaction. I didn’t feel connected to the characters because it was hard to see into their motivations.

I was blown away by the hauntingly beautiful way this story unfolded!

Jean is a midwife and is out one evening when she hears the cries of a woman in labor who can barely speak any english at all.
After coaxing the woman inside, delivering the baby =, and helping look after this mysterious woman, Muirin, Jean begins to sense that something is different! When Muirin's husband comes calling for her Jean convinces him that she must stay and be taken care of.. from there our story unfolds!

I love finding books that just feel different, and this wonderful debut did just that! Based on the Celtic legend of the selfie wife, but with a sapphic twist, Rose Sutherland did an amazing job at making a familiar story all her own. This novel was slower, full of beautiful one liners, with longing prose, gothic intrigue, an immersive Nova Scotia setting, characters you can't help but root for, and so much heart, this story is one i'll recommend over and over!

This story isn't spicy in the way that books currently are "spicy", but trust me the yearning and romance is THERE! You could feel the chemistry these characters have with one another! It was giving Darcy hand clenching passion, which makes sense for a historical fiction folklore reimagining! I will be screaming about these two for a long while!

This book is just not for me and that's okay. I enjoyed parts of this book. It's an interesting concept. The thing that I'm struggling most with is it is such a slow burn. I don't want to hear about the manatane of their day to day life. The author writes in such details that though it does set the tone for the time period and location well, it's just hard to get into the story when it feels like not much is really happening. I'm going to give this book a 3 star rating. I do think it's a good book. It's just not my kind of story. Thank you netgalley for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

This was amazing! I loved the friendship between Jean and Muirin and how it grew into a beautiful love story. A love freely given can never be held.
* I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

This is one of those books where it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. It's more fun that way, trust me. The TLDR review: this is a cozy, sapphic read that's full of longing, and magic. Definitely give this a try if you're looking for a lighter read for spring. I can confirm that this book pairs well with your favorite tea.

Below, I'll go into more detail regarding what inspired this book. Stop reading review if you want to leave a bit of mystery.



Detailed review:

This was a retelling of The Selkie Wife fairytale. I have to say I enjoyed this so much more than the original story. Like the author, I found the original a bit creepy. This brings attention to that and adds new elements that make the story better.

The queer representation in this felt like it fit perfectly into the story. I thought the love story was well done, although I would have wanted more time with Jean and Muirin.

For the most part this had a cozy atmosphere with beautiful descriptions of the setting. There were tense moments where they were necessary. The adversary was also well written.

The only real criticism I have is that the middle of the book dragged a bit. One of the side stories had a mystery that seemed obvious but that didn't affect my enjoyment of the story. I would have also just liked a bit of a longer epilogue. It's one of those books where you want to see more of the characters.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone, especially if you're looking for more sapphic books, fairytale retelling, a cozy book for spring, etc.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the ARC for review.

Midwife Jean is a bit of an outcast, but she knows everyone in town and its outskirts, so when she hears a cry in the night and finds a woman in labor who speaks almost no English. The woman must be the wife of Tobias, her neighbor up the road. Jean helps deliver the baby, and begins to question many things as the days go by. Why would Tobias keep his wife a secret? Why doesn’t she speak any English? Why does Muirin’s open personality close up when he is around. Jean should mind her own business, she knows, but she can’t help but want to help the woman, but she can’t pusher growing feelings for Muirin aside, and she’ll have to come up with a plan to save the woman she loves.

I loved so many things about this book. Despite my personal aversion to pregnancy and childbirth, stories about midwives are one of the random things in my reading wheelhouse. Often, they are portrayed as radical because they are women who help other women in worlds dominated by men. So, I liked Jean. I could also identify with her feeling the outsider. Muirin was fascinating, and I loved how their relationship grow as well as the supporting characters. There are stories of mythology weaved throughout the story, and I’m also a sucker for folklore. This book had me from jump. It’s my first 5-star read of 2024.

Not my usual kind of book i’m not a hugeeee historical fiction person (i don’t think i realized it was when i requested) but i did like this! a pretty fast read with good writing and fast pacing.

thank you to netgalley and random house for the arc!!

I went into this one pretty blind (the title/cover/brief description intrigued me) and I was not disappointed!

Jean, the neighborhood midwife and a bit of an outcast, comes across a mysterious neighbor in trouble and helps her get through it. When her husband comes to find her, Jean can tell something is off but she isn't sure what. Throughout the story Jean learns more and more about their relationship and grows closer to the woman. Can she handle the secrets of her mysterious friend and her husband??

(I may have guessed some of the surprises, but the story was still very well written and incorporates folklore beautifully!)

This was a lovely debut of folklore and fantasy and a love story I was not expecting. I don’t think there are enough stories about selkies so I was excited when I realized that was what this one was about. It’s such an interesting part of folklore and I thought this story did justice to what I know of that folklore while making a story of the author’s own. I’m impressed this was a debut and I am excited to think what else this author will come up with. Jean is surprised one night when a stranger who speaks a strange language is running by clearly pregnant and in labor and heading for the water in a very dangerous fashion. Being a midwife Jean gets her inside and helps her with the birth of her son. When her husband comes Jean fears something is wrong with Muirin and convinces her husband to let her stay for the week. I loved this sapphic retelling of the selkie folklore and while the sapphic story may not be historically accurate I loved it anyway. This book was excellent and I devoured it in a day. I’m only disappointed I left this one my TBR for as long as I did.

A Sweet Sting of Salt is a lesbian retelling of the story of the selkie wife. In case you need a refresher, selkies are creatures who can shift between seal and human forms. The wife bit comes from the legend that if a man can find a female selkie in human form and take possession of her seal skin, she'll be unable to transform, and he can marry her. So, from a life shifting between forms to enjoy sea and land, the selkie becomes a prisoner of a man as long as he can keep her seal skin hidden from her. Probably not a good way to begin a happy marriage.

Rose Sutherland's retelling of the selkie wife, focuses on, Jean, a village midwife, but also an outcast because she once fell in love with another woman; Muirin, a mysterious woman who Jean finds in the snow in the dark of night in advanced labor; and Tobias, who appears after the birth and claims both Muirin and the child as his. You can figure out the plot from that bit of summary.

What a summary won't reveal is the wonderful world-building that Sutherland does and the intensity of her characters. A Sweet Sting of Salt is capital-g Gothic in all the best ways. Endless snow storms, animals who seem to be a bit more than animals, menace, and silences.

If you're a reader of Gothic fiction or a reader of queer fiction, you'll take great pleasure in A Sweet Sting of Salt. You'll struggle with the bad (and good) choices you know the characters will make. And you'll explore a folk tale both dark and light. Most of all, you'll ache for Jean and Muirin and will regret every moment you'll have to spend away from them if real life is unkind enough to interrupt your reading.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

A haunting and beautifully written tale that truly feels like sitting around a table listening to folklore. As someone who loves the sea and all of the mythos surrounding it I found this book thoroughly enjoyable

I was offered an arc copy of A Sweet Sting of Salt by Random House by Random House Publishing Group for review purposes and initially I was very intrigued by the idea of a sapphic retelling of The Selkie Wife. I had read previous selkie based romances, but they were all between male and female characters and never really captured the true feeling of the fairy tale.

While I thought the middle of the book was slow, I was still captured by the characters. Jean is a prickly sort and she has good reason to be. Her previous relationship was ruined, and she became a victim of vicious gossip and slandering of her reputation by the girl's mother. Muirin was almost more laidback with a zest for living and drive to experience new things while staying with Jean. The romance develops fairly quickly, but it takes some time for Jean to sort out her feelings for Muirin. She's been hurt before, and Muirin's situation is precarious. Her husband, while on the surface seems kind enough, but Jean has an underlying unease. Tobias isn't all that he seems, and the situation isn't one she understands.

The historical setting of Nova Scotia worked well for this story. Sutherland's writing really made me see the characters in this untamed land. Weaving in an actual historical ship sinking disaster as a prologue set the tone for the story and Jean's character development. I also liked how Sutherland used the setting to create an air of menace in Tobias's characterization and the isolation that Jean feels through the harsh winter.

I'm not as familiar with the fairy tale of The Selkie Wife, but I liked how Sutherland weaved the tale into her own story. While A Sweet Sting of Salt is firmly grounded in historical fiction, there exists an element of mysticism and magic that kept me reading even through the slower parts.

Overall I enjoyed A Sweet Sting of Salt of I bought into the romance of Jean and Muirin. Their story was tender and developed naturally.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for the arc for review purposes.

3.5 rounded down to three.

The beginning of A Sweet Sting of Salt captured my attention pretty quick. Why was Muirin out in a storm when she was in labor? Why was the baby born with webbed feet and hands? Why did Jean seem so uneasy around the other people who lived in town?

After the birth I got bored. I don’t feel like there was enough growth of Jean and Muirin’s relationship- especially nothing beyond just friends. They were staying together and we’re learning to communicate and not much happened.

The last 20% was really good. There was suspense and we finally got the answers we wanted from the beginning. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy to read and review.

A queer retelling of the folktale The Selkie Wife - going to be honest, I've never read The Selkie Wife. That being said, I really enjoyed this novel. Jean is such a great character - full of strength and conviction. Muirin is an enigma, but also a delight. The ending was lovely.

"When a sharp cry wakes Jean in the middle of the night during a terrible tempest, she’s convinced it must have been a dream. But when the cry comes again, Jean ventures outside and is shocked by what she discovers—a young woman in labor, already drenched to the bone in the freezing cold and barely able to speak a word of English.

Although Jean is the only midwife in the village and for miles around, she’s at a loss as to who this woman is or where she’s from; Jean can only assume she must be the new wife of the neighbor up the road, Tobias. And when Tobias does indeed arrive at her cabin in search of his wife, Muirin, Jean’s questions continue to grow. Why has he kept his wife’s pregnancy a secret? And why does Muirin’s open demeanor change completely the moment she’s in his presence?

Though Jean learned long ago that she should stay out of other people’s business, her growing concern—and growing feelings—for Muirin mean she can’t simply set her worries aside. But when the answers she finds are more harrowing than she ever could have imagined, she fears she may have endangered herself, Muirin, and the baby. Will she be able to put things right and save the woman she loves before it’s too late, or will someone have to pay for Jean’s actions with their life?"

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Sensuous and dark, this mythological retelling and exploration of historical queerness is a feast for the senses. I think you’ll love the atmosphere of mystery and the intriguing characters. A beautifully told modern day fairy tale!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy. These opinions are my own.

I will give A Sweet Sting of Salt the credit it deserves by saying that this is a beautiful book. The writing is lovely.

Unfortunately it just wasn't for me! I thought it would lean a lot more into the fantasy aspect of it so I spent the entire book waiting for that to happen, only to realize the real villain... is man. *gasp*

I will say, for a book I would mentally put as a historical fiction with a touch of fantasy, it did take a long time for me to get invested, but again, I'm not sure if that was because I wanted the fantasy element to go that way or if I just wasn't a fan overall.

Thank you to Dell and NetGalley for a chance to read and review!

Jean is a midwife who finds herself wrapped up in a bit of a mystery as Muirin appears near her home, ready to give birth. Jean develops feelings for Muirin despite the fact that Muirin is married.

The pacing was really challenging for me in this book. I was interested at the start of the novel, but then there just seemed to be no action but the melting of snow and then it snowing again. I thought the ending just re-explained the whole novel in a few pages.

Though the description for Rose Sutherland’s recent release, A Sweet Sting of Salt were what first caught my eye, it wasn’t until I started reading it that I registered the fantasy genre it had tagged on alongside the historical fiction one. As I continued reading and began to recognize the Celtic tale that Sutherland notes as an inspiration and influence, I grew increasingly excited to see exactly how this take on the tale would unfold. While there were times when events seemed a little more drawn out or melodramatic than necessary, the story as a whole and the characters proved to be compelling. The initial build up to the conflict was well paced and the climax and resolution were incredibly satisfying. It was really just a stretch towards the middle that felt like treading water that proved to be the only element I found frustrating.

Jean lives outside of her local community, in more ways than one. She is entirely on her own since her father died, despite being in her early twenties. Her status as unmarried became the subject of gossip and rumor around the time that her best friend was forced by her family to marry – gossip and rumors that had a nugget of truth to them. But in the past few years, Jean has built her reputation back through her skill as a midwife. Then one stormy night as winter approaches, a strange young woman appears in Jean’s yard speaking no English and about to give birth. Ushering the woman into her house and delivering the child, Jean quickly forms a friendship with the new mother, Muirin who, it turns out, is the mysterious wife of Jean’s closest neighbor, Tobias. Jean’s concern for Muirin and her baby begin to shift from being purely professional after she sees the interactions between husband and wife. Something about the situation is off and Jean is determined to get to the bottom of it, but what might that truth end up costing her?

One of the elements of the novel that I enjoyed most was the commentary of communication (and miscommunication). The language barrier between Jean and Muirin is mirrored many times by the way that the Jean and the other English-speaking characters talk around one another despite sharing a language. While Jean and Muirin struggle to make one another understand even when they’re trying to be as direct as possible, there’s a great deal of underlying understanding when others – like Jean and Tobias – go out of their way to speak in allusions and metaphors, making threats without being direct or obvious. Later in their growing conflict they drop pretenses and actions begin to take the place of speech entirely, almost as an inverse of how Jean and Muirin’s communication progresses with miming and actions illustrating what they mean until they are able to develop a greater understanding of each other’s languages.

Ultimately, what so much of the story comes down to is not just understanding in terms of communication, but understanding in terms of trust in relationships. Romantic relationships are where it gets explored most broadly, but it also creeps into the novel in terms of friendships and the relationships between individuals and their community. Jean is always reluctant to believe that the people of her town truly trust her given the rumors spread about her years before but her skill and careful attention to her patients have earned her that trust and respect. Of course, there are those whose secrets make it that much more difficult for them to place their trust in others and Jean is not alone in confronting trust issues on that front. The relationship between trust and love is explored throughout the novel as well, and perhaps most especially on that same front – keeping secrets out of a fear of losing love, love helping to heal broken trust, the feeling of betrayal when a loved one has kept a secret… all of which also intersect with communication (or the lack thereof).

This book was alright, but I found it a bit slow. I enjoyed the mysterious dynamics and enjoyed the journey to the end, I just wish the pacing had been a it quicker.

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I learned that this sapphic historical fiction was inspired by the folklore The Selkie Wife and I knew I had to read it. There's not a lot of novels about selkies out there, but I really enjoy the idea and want more!

Jean is a midwife in a coastal town that appreciates her services, but hold her at arm's length due to her "oddness." She spots a young woman on the shore one night and discovers the woman is not only in distress from her crying out, but she's also in labor. Jean is confused and appalled that no one brought the woman by for checkups throughout her pregnancy. The woman, the poor thing, can't speak any English, but Jean is able to safely deliver the baby in her own home.

From there, Jean learns the woman's name is Muirin and she is the wife of a neighbor, the fisherman Tobias. Jean tries to pry Muirin's story from Tobias, asking why he didn't let her get the care she needed, but Tobias is tight-lipped. The only thing he is concerned about is if his son's webbed fingers are a disease...

Jean slowly uncovers Muirin's origins and her story, all the while falling for the odd beauty that is present in the young mother. Jean loves her strange laugh, her eagerness to learn English (which is another thing she chastises Tobias about). It quickly turns foul as Tobias claws his wife back into his home, refusing to let her out. Jean is determined to not let that happen and determined to help Muirin escape to her family that is Gaelic--at least Jean thinks they are.

This was a slow-moving story, but I enjoyed it. There was a lot of yearning and pining from Jean as we discover that her oddness is that she likes other women. Other secrets of the town are uncovered as Jean fearfully and bravely tries to help Muirin be free. At its core, there wasn't a ton of fantasy elements; the novel had more of a gothic tone, but the folklore of selkies that I've read sort of held the same vibe.

I'll definitely read another book by Rose Sutherland and I'm surprised this was her debut novel.