Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno



Summary from Goodreads:
A magic passed down through generations . . .

Georgina Fernweh waits with growing impatience for the tingle of magic in her fingers—magic that has been passed down through every woman in her family. Her twin sister, Mary, already shows an ability to defy gravity. But with their eighteenth birthday looming at the end of this summer, Georgina fears her gift will never come.

An island where strange things happen . . .

No one on the island of By-the-Sea would ever call the Fernwehs what they really are, but if you need the odd bit of help—say, a sleeping aid concocted by moonlight—they are the ones to ask.

No one questions the weather, as moody and erratic as a summer storm.

No one questions the (allegedly) three-hundred-year-old bird who comes to roost on the island every year.

A summer that will become legend . . .

When tragedy strikes, what made the Fernweh women special suddenly casts them in suspicion. Over the course of her last summer on the island—a summer of storms, of love, of salt—Georgina will learn the truth about magic, in all its many forms.
Review:
I’m a sucker for magical realism. I’m also a sucker for a good YA LGBTQ book. And then there’s the island (Cape Cod like) setting. And the main character is a twin…This book appeared on my radar like catnip.
I wish I loved it as much as I was hoping to. I didn’t hate it. It was just a strange one. I tend to like strange books, but this was a little out there, even for me. A twin sister who sometimes didn’t notice she was floating….Feathers left everywhere. And everything revolving around a magical bird. This was not the typical summer beach read.
I loved the setting. It felt very Cape Cod to me. Like the main characters, I live in a place that changes drastically every summer when the tourists come. I related to the locals in this book in a big way. It also kind of has this sisterly/women power/ Charmed tv show kind of feel. One of the characters is even named Prue…And I’m all about that.
I wish it was harder to put down. I read it kind of slowly, for me. Nothing like bird funerals and islands of depressed people to not motivate me to keep reading… I also never really fell for the love story. It felt a bit insta-love to me. And I never really liked Prue as much as I wanted to. I also wish it wasn’t quite so predictable. Georgina’s power was so clear to me from the beginning. I also knew something was wrong with Mary before her twin did…like, shouldn’t Georgina have figured that out sooner, when they are so connected?
All in all, I wanted a little more suspense, I guess, to mix with the uniquely interesting mystery. I loved that magic was a thing, but in a subtle way. I loved the Charmed-ish magical elements to the plot and characters. I really enjoyed the island setting. But, I wanted more to the love story than what I got. This was a weird book with lots of weird bird things going on. I read it a little too slowly. I give it a 7/10.

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