•In 1992, Sarah Lingate fell to her death on the cliffs of Capri. For the last thirty years, there’s been suspicion surrounding the family. When the family visits Capri this year, they arrive to a surprise— Sarah’s necklace from the night she died.
Sarah’s daughter, Helen, is determined to figure out what happened to her mother all those years ago.

•While I enjoyed this book, I felt disconnected from most of the characters. I felt like the middle of the book was a little longer than necessary, but the ending was spectacular. There were multiple twists at the end I didn’t see coming.

•Saltwater will become available on March 25, 2025. Thank you to Random House Publishing, Ballantine Books, Katy Hays, and NetGalley for this ARC.

Wow, wow, wow! I cant say enough good things about this book! The writing is spectacular. The story is amazing. Its a lot of twists and turns. This story will keep you guessing until the end! Five stars!

Saltwater
Sarah Lingate was the wife of one of the brothers in a wealthy family. She and her husband, Richard had been having marital problems. Then one day in 1992 Sarah’s dead body was found under a cliff in Capri. The death was ruled an accident but it was believed that someone in the family had murdered her.
Sarah’s 3 year old daughter, Helen, was left motherless. The Lingate family kept her guarded for the rest of her life. Helen met Lorna, another young woman who started working as a personal assistant to Helen’s uncle. Eventually the girls became close friends and planned a way to extort money from the family and escape from the villa in Capri. This all changed when Lorna’s dead body was found in the water near the villa.
This story has many surprising twists and turns and the causes of both deaths are not revealed till the end. The story is told from the points of view of Sarah, Helen and Lorna.
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Saltwater
Author: Katy Hays
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Bantam
Genre: Family Drama, Women’s Fiction
Pub Date: March 25, 2025
My Rating: 3.4 Stars
Pages 336

Story is promoted as a summer read in beautiful Capri Sorrento, Naples about rich people behaving badly.

In 1992 Sarah Lingate is found dead leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen and her husband.
Sarah’s death is ruled an accident even though most people think her in-laws the Lingates and perhaps her husband were involved.

Now thirty years later the Lingates arrive back at the same villa in Capri for their annual vacation. When they arrive they find a package containing the necklace Sarah was wearing on the night she died.
Helen decides perhaps this is a way to escape from the hostile treatment from the family.
She finds an opportunity to talk to Lorna Moreno who has worked many years for the Lingates. …….
Now she is missing!
Where is she and what happened to Sarah? It is the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah’s death, the Lingates find the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.

Have to admit the story was more a slow-burn family drama than I expected.
I am a big thriller fan so was curious. Yes the ended was a surprise.

Want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group ~ Ballantine Bantam for this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 25, 2025.

<b> “It’s not about the money… That’s what everyone gets wrong. It’s never really about the money.”</b>

Genuinely better than I expected! The book gives me white lotus vibes, which I loved. And can fully see this doing well as a movie tbh.

The early book POV and timeline swaps made it a little hard for me to connect immediately with who was who and when we were in the story. I’ve also been sick this week so it could be I’m just operating with less brain power. So take that as you will.

There were also bits where I don’t necessarily think the words on the page were advancing the plot and I tend to get antsy in instances like that. But at no point was I not excited to see the story play out. <b>Katy Hays did a great job at keeping me invested even when some of the overall mystery felt <i>predictable.</b></i> I’d fully come to terms with how I expected the storylines to wrap up.

What I wasn’t expecting, however, was the end. And without spoilers, if you come back and read this review post you reading the story, I mean the last chapter before the epilogue.

<b>Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review! </b>

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this!
I loved the Cloisters and I felt like this had a lot of the same vibes: lingering murder mystery, lots of open ended questions, sex/money/familial stressors: you name it, its here. This goes back and forth between past and present as it investigates the murder of Helen Lingate's mother on a trip to Capri and the current disappearance of Lorna, Helen's friend. This tackles bigger topics like wealth, culture, and dedication to family in a way that really works, and while the predominance of the story is from Helen/Lorna's point of view, we also get to see voices from the original murder scene.
There are a few times in this the narrator is unreliable (not my favorite) and in the end the twists take a good amount of suspended belief, but I genuinely enjoyed it. I also think Capri serves are such a character itself, and the imagery is really well done!

Twisty and turny,
murders galore. All set on
Glorious Capri.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




I give haiku reviews but am happy to provide more feedback.

Thank you to Katy Hays, Random House Publishing-Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for this arc of Saltwater, out March 25, 2025!

📜Quick Summary: Helen’s mom Sarah dies under suspicious settings, yet her death is ruled an accident. Helen is only three years old when she loses her mother Sarah, and the Lingates return to the scene of the crime every year. This year, the thirtieth year of her passing, will be one to remember. When a mysterious package appears with an old possession, something that was never recovered all those years ago. With everyone harboring secrets, who can Helen trust? Her dad, Richard? Her uncle Marcus? Her barely there aunt Naomi? She decides to trust Lorna, the family assistant, to get her out of this family, but does she truly know who she is either?

❣️Initial Feels: This seems like it’s going to be a decent thriller, while stringing me along with lots of family drama and secrets!

👀Trigger Warnings: murder, loss of parent, affairs

🙋🏼‍♀️Moving Character: Gosh, this is a hard thing to decide. Truthfully, it was hard to root for any character fully, as I felt everyone had their own secrets, had rough personalities, and everyone was shady in their own way. The only redeeming character that I can think of that was selfless for me was Renata.

📖Read if you want: mystery, family drama, hidden secrets, beautiful Capri and Italy sights, multiple POV, changing timelines

💡Final Sentiments: This book is a hard one for me to rate. There were times I was definitely in it to win it, and didn't want to put it down. Then there were areas of the book that seemed like I was walking through mud, trying to figure out the time change or character change, and I was thrown off a bit. This one jumped around a little too much for me, and maybe that’s what threw me off at times. Overall it’s a good thriller mixed with lots of family drama, the rich who only use people to keep on climbing up, and so many secrets! I was able to guess two of the twists which didn’t ruin the book for me, but some of it was hard to believe.


🌟Overall Rating: 3.5 stars
This novel was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

A slow burn family thriller set in the glittering island of Capri was a perfect beach read that kept me on the edge of my beach chair. I didn't see the twist coming!

I went into this book totally blind - whew! What a rollercoaster. I'm always fascinated by how the other "half" live.

Saltwater is a story of big family secrets, buried truths, and things that haunt us for a lifetime.

Really really great book to read set in beautiful Capri!

3.5/5.

This book had a lot of potential but it was flat for me up until the end. The last 10% of the book was so good. There were so many twists and turns. Some of them were predictable some weren’t.
The setting of the book was great. Makes you want to visit Capri. You want to yell at Helen to get it together. Lorna is a great character and her ending is amazing. Helen does get her happy ending which she kind of deserves. Kind of not. She’s a morally grey character.

As the second novel from the author of The Cloisters—a book I really enjoyed—I went into Saltwater with high expectations. Overall, I found it even better than her debut. The setting was atmospheric, and the twists were fantastic, keeping me hooked until the end. However, I struggled to connect with the characters. With so many dishonest personalities, it was hard to find someone to root for, which brought down my overall rating a bit.

I don’t have a lot to type about this book, I thought about not finishing this book several times but other reviewers said it picked up 60-80% of the way through (I didn’t feel that way).. All throughout reading I felt like I’d missed parts because the writing was muddy, the pacing was slow, and I just struggled to finish.
Thanks NetGalley and Random House publishing/Ballantine for the eARC.

I was floored by the twist at the end. Somehow it evaded me the whole time reading even while I had noted clues that later made it all click into place. The second twist, so closely resembling the first, while a nice parallel just seemed to push the believability over the edge for me. I felt the first 2/3 of the book were going to lead to slow, somewhat predictable ending, then was really shocked, then somewhat let down by the echo of Lorna and Sarah’s fates.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Toxic Rich People in Paradise

If you like your books filled with beautifully descriptive places most of us don’t have access to…here’s your new read.
The island of Capri becomes the star right from the start. The people are about as toxic as you can get, but very entertaining. Multiple timelines and points of view, multiple sleeping partners, and multiple betrayals. And all the while there’s that island, the lush, decaying beautiful places they live in and its history.
I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just leave you with this. Read it. It’s worth the time and you may find a new place to dream of visiting.
#NetGalley #Saltwater #Summer2025
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Ballantine Books for this copy of Saltwater by Katy Hays

Saltwater is a gripping tale of family secrets, long-buried truths, and the haunting legacy of a mysterious death. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of Capri’s cliffs, the story begins in 1992 with the tragic death of Sarah Lingate, whose fall leaves a lingering question: was it an accident, or something far more sinister?
A fun mystery, that keeps you guessing until the end!

A total page-turner! I really enjoyed that this story flash backed to the past and had different points of view. No one seemed to know the truth about anyone else, so it worked really well and kept me in the dark, too. I'm usually pretty good at guessing plots, but this book had one really big twist that shocked me (yet worked perfectly if you thought back to earlier moments). I couldn't put it down, and I definitely recommend it!

I liked the cover. Slow start and a little confusing at times. Wish it was more suspenseful and less angsty

Wow.. when I started this book, I wasn't sure I was going to finish it, let alone love it. It definitely took me a little to get into the story, which has a lot of characters and moving parts. However I am thrilled I stuck with it. That's all I'll say without giving anything else away.

Saltwater by Katy Hays is your quintessential “rich people behaving badly” thriller set in the sun-drenched luxury of Capri. We’re talking a family so tangled in secrets, lies, and questionable decisions that they practically belong on their own reality show. At the heart of it all is Helen Lingate, a woman with one goal: to figure out what happened to her mother, Sarah, who was found mysteriously dead below the cliffs of Capri in 1992. But of course, when it comes to a family this wealthy, nothing is ever straightforward—except their penchant for covering up inconvenient truths.

The story unfolds through multiple POVs and timelines, which is either brilliantly intricate or slightly dizzying, depending on how well you can keep track of who’s plotting against whom. Every chapter introduces another layer of secrets and betrayals that would make even a soap opera villain say, “That’s a bit much.” And naturally, there isn’t a single character who could be described as “likable” or even remotely grounded in reality. But hey, isn’t that why we read books about old-money families? If you’ve come here looking for relatable, salt-of-the-earth characters, you’re better off reading something else.

There’s a lot to love—or at least tolerate—about Saltwater. The setting is beautifully described, and if you’re not booking a flight to Capri after reading Hays’s lush descriptions, you’ll probably at least want to Google some photos. The plot has enough twists to keep you entertained, even if they sometimes veer into soap-opera territory. And that ending? Well, let’s just say it’s the literary equivalent of a mic drop, leaving you either reeling in shock or wondering why you invested so much in these characters to begin with.

All in all, Saltwater is perfect for readers who love mysteries full of scandal, betrayal, and toxic family ties. Just be ready to lose track of timelines and put up with characters you wouldn’t want to spend five minutes with in real life. If that’s your cup of tea (or should I say, limoncello?), then dive in.