content warnings: violence, loss of loved ones, discussions and descriptions of sexual assault, slut shaming
representation: lesbian main character, bisexual side character, aromantic/asexual side character, side characters of colour


“Because there was nothing in a girl’s history that might negate her right to choose what happens to her body.”


This was quite possibly the most melancholy book I've ever read and I loved it. The entirety of this book is just dripping with beautiful sadness, mixed with unexplained magic and good people caring about one another.

Summer of Salt is about Georgina, a girl who comes from a long line of magical Fernweh women but shows no sign of magical powers herself despite her sister having the ability to float from birth. The Fernweh's own an inn on the island By-the-Sea and every summer the inn becomes overrun with birdheads all there to study Annabella, a bird that has supposedly come to roost on the island for centuries. When tragedy strikes, Georgina's family - specifically her sister - are the prime suspects and Georgina needs to try to prove her family's innocence.

Everything about this book is beautiful, from the writing to the setting to the crafting of the characters to the various relationships to the themes, absolutely everything. I genuinely don't have the words to express how much I loved this so I'm not even going to try.

I now want to pick up everything Katrina Leno has ever written because if it's even half as good as this, I can't wait to read it.