A review by carefulfearanddeaddevotion
A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

a sapphic folklore retelling set in the past but not based on any specific historical event? a sapphic folklore retelling set in the past, not based on any specific historical event, and reworked in such a way that im not expected to root for a creep protagonist???? Rose Sutherland, if every book you write is like this, I'll be forced to read them all.

I would not have been happy if she'd
made Ida Mae die in childbirth because Jean forgot about her duties by becoming so wrapped up in Múirín (in the acknowledgements she mentions how one of her editors told her not to write - paraphrasing - Jean making a thoughtless unforgiveable mistake, and I have a sneaking suspicion it would have been this one
but she didn't, so I really have no complaints plot wise. Well-paced and non-monotonous sentence structure. The characters felt very real and 3D. Love love a prickly ass stubborn ass woman, Jean Langille you ARE that bitch.
RIP Honey, you were too sweet for this world <3



Looked up Barquer's Bay only to find that it doesn't exist, but I went on a google maps journey to find Jean's home anyway. Turns out, Sutherland wrote the setting off of memories and feelings and not actual locations. Howeverrrrrr, before I read this in the author's note, I believed that I found the rocks in Mahone Bay that Jean uses to cross the stream, and after reading the author's note, I believe I'm right regardless. 44.45787N, 64.37865W, for anybody who cares. <a href="https://imgur.com/a/D5UobAB">couldn't embed image so here's a link</a>
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