Ava Morgyn

A contemporary YA novel exploring mental illness and mother-daughter relationships.

The Salt in Our Blood

Geneviève Rouleau

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book through the author, in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the author's debut novel, RESURRECTION GIRLS which is why I didn't hesitate to accept this ARC. However, the first thing that hits me after finishing this book is : I REALLY would've appreciated a TW somewhere. It could've been included in the synopsis, at the beginning of the book, ANYWHERE really. Because there were a lot and I might've avoided this book at the time being. 

TW : suicide, child loss, substance/alcohol abuse, overdose, suicide, emotional and sexual abuse

The original idea behind this book is a great one : paranormal fantasy set in New Orleans, with tarot decks (reminiscent of the Caraval books, maybe? 😍), potential witchy powers, etc. What's not to love? But even though this world had a great potential, it wasn't integrated or exploited at all. 

I often felt like every chapter was written individually, without any transition between them. Which often left me feeling confused, thinking I had misread the previous pages. The characters felt flat to me, and I didn't really believe in the romantic development. Especially with the lack of fluidity between the chapters, the one sex scene just felt slapped on and out of place (hey, you know how I usually love myself some [lots of] smuttiness😅) 

Now, for the mental health depiction. I'm so tired of reading books with such negative representations of bipolar disorder. As though these people can never truly lead what is considered a "normal" life because of their mental illness. Or that it's their fault for not reaching out to the appropriate help, sticking to treatment, etc. Anyways, I didn't feel like this representation was accurate at all

RATING : I feel like 1⭐ is too harsh, especially since the author really does have a great writing style and unique ideas. So I'll settle for 2⭐

The Salt in Our Blood

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