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izzys_internet_bookshelf's review
1.0
1/5
I was excited at first but as I read the book it ended up not entirely being my cup of tea.
I was excited at first but as I read the book it ended up not entirely being my cup of tea.
paz_books's review
3.0
I really liked Tommy's character, the way Elis' bisexuality was such a small deal, and the side plot of climate change, however this read was so slow in my opinion. A lot happened without anything happening and Harlow's character may be well written but that does not take away from the fact that she does and says many unforgivable things. I couldn't stand Harlow- and that added to the slow writing really killed this book for me; I was not interested in the romance and everything felt very dragged out.
dame_samara's review against another edition
4.0
THEY ALL NEED THERAPY!!!!
It's also gay, But the need for trauma and mental health therapy for these young adults is paramount.
This book does contain a content warning in regards to suicide and suicidal ideation.
This book will pull you in and throw you around. Much like the tumultuous sea depicted on the cover, it will pull you in and throw you around without any moment to relax. This feels way more like a piece of literary fiction that you would dissect in a class. Rather than a YA book, you pick up for a good time.
Hartt's depiction of mental illness resonated with me; I would say it is honestly the high note of this book. Tommy's growth in this book and watching him gain insight into his mental illness is significant.
Harlow has room to grow as a person, as expected for someone who is still in High School. But she tries hard at what she sets her heart on.
Honestly, I hate Ellis, and there is no excuse for him to be as much of an asshole as he is to both Tommy and Harlow.
Ellis is the Salt.
It's also gay, But the need for trauma and mental health therapy for these young adults is paramount.
This book does contain a content warning in regards to suicide and suicidal ideation.
This book will pull you in and throw you around. Much like the tumultuous sea depicted on the cover, it will pull you in and throw you around without any moment to relax. This feels way more like a piece of literary fiction that you would dissect in a class. Rather than a YA book, you pick up for a good time.
Hartt's depiction of mental illness resonated with me; I would say it is honestly the high note of this book. Tommy's growth in this book and watching him gain insight into his mental illness is significant.
Spoiler
Harlow has room to grow as a person, as expected for someone who is still in High School. But she tries hard at what she sets her heart on.
Honestly, I hate Ellis, and there is no excuse for him to be as much of an asshole as he is to both Tommy and Harlow.
Ellis is the Salt.
chivalricmaiden's review
3.0
Let me say this: Cassandra Hartt is a FANTASTIC composer.
The way she writes prose is magnificent and reels me in with her description and clever use of vocabulary. However, throughout reading this story I wanted to beat all the characters with a hairbrush.
Except Tommy — you're an angel and we're all thrilled to have you here.
I didn't feel like Ellis and Harlow got proper closure on their character arcs, which is why the ending was unsatisfying. I know the characters were meant to be unlikable which hey, I'm actually all for when it's done right. But I don't see their growth for better or for worse. Could've been polished quite a bit more.
The way she writes prose is magnificent and reels me in with her description and clever use of vocabulary. However, throughout reading this story I wanted to beat all the characters with a hairbrush.
Except Tommy — you're an angel and we're all thrilled to have you here.
I didn't feel like Ellis and Harlow got proper closure on their character arcs, which is why the ending was unsatisfying. I know the characters were meant to be unlikable which hey, I'm actually all for when it's done right. But I don't see their growth for better or for worse. Could've been polished quite a bit more.
Spoiler
Okay but the Ellis and Harlow thing at the end was so random. Also how convienient was it that Ellis broke up with Julian so the author could pair him with Harlow? It wasn't even executed meaningfully, Ellis only mentioned it like "oh yeah we broke up lul now do u wanna date bb girl?"ameserole's review
3.0
I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Sea Is Salt and So Am I was interesting. In it, you will meet Ellis and tommy who are twin brothers. As well as Harlow, who is their friend. I'll admit that throughout the entire book I only truly liked/enjoyed Tommy. The other two could walk right out of this book and I wouldn't even notice. I just wanted a huge fan of them and how they treated Tommy in the beginning. Or really throughout the entire book.
Besides liking Tommy, I really adored his friendship with his dog Goose. First off, the name is completely adorable. Second, can I please kidnap Goose for myself? Third, pretty please? My dogs need a dog friend.
Other than that, the book was just okay. The pace was pretty slow throughout the entire thing and I was afraid for things to get repetitive since we just kept going through the three point of views. Two of which I just didn't care for. If they had more growth or likable personality.. then maybe my opinion would have changed. Unfortunately, it didn't.
In the end, I'm glad that I got the chance to dive into this. I just wish things went a bit differently after all the flaws were out in the open.
The Sea Is Salt and So Am I was interesting. In it, you will meet Ellis and tommy who are twin brothers. As well as Harlow, who is their friend. I'll admit that throughout the entire book I only truly liked/enjoyed Tommy. The other two could walk right out of this book and I wouldn't even notice. I just wanted a huge fan of them and how they treated Tommy in the beginning. Or really throughout the entire book.
Besides liking Tommy, I really adored his friendship with his dog Goose. First off, the name is completely adorable. Second, can I please kidnap Goose for myself? Third, pretty please? My dogs need a dog friend.
Other than that, the book was just okay. The pace was pretty slow throughout the entire thing and I was afraid for things to get repetitive since we just kept going through the three point of views. Two of which I just didn't care for. If they had more growth or likable personality.. then maybe my opinion would have changed. Unfortunately, it didn't.
In the end, I'm glad that I got the chance to dive into this. I just wish things went a bit differently after all the flaws were out in the open.
lisathepoetlibrarian's review
4.0
This book contains some beautiful, poetic passages in a drama of romance, friendship, and grief set in a town threatened by global warming and rising sea levels. The tragic beauty of the setting establishes the tone of the story, this sense of washing away and longing to preserve that which may not be able to be saved. The narration alternates between twin brothers Ellis and Tommy and Harlowe, whose relationship with the brothers is best described as complicated. The cast of townsfolk is also engaging. The last third of the book seemed to lag and there are some turns in the plot that come up without any foreshadowing so feel a bit jolting. The ending felt a bit too easy for the protagonists, but wrapped up an engaging and intriguing story.
emc425's review
3.0
I really wanted to love this book. I loved the premise, I loved the first few chapters, and then I started to not love it quite so much.
The Sea is Salt and so am I tells the tale of three sixteen year olds, Harlow Prout, a determined headstrong girl, her best friend Ellis MacQueen, and his brother Tommy. After an impactful event, things start to change between the trio. New love is sparks, old bonds are tested, and secrets are revealed.
There was a lot about this book I did love. I loved the representation, both about mental illness and queer relationships. One of the main characters is bisexual and is portrayed dating both a girl and a boy through the course of the book. Mental illness is also dealt with in an incredibly impactful, thoughtful way. The atmosphere of the book is also phenomenally well done. The tertiary characters are still very well rounded and they feel like real people.
I didn't always love the main characters though, and perhaps this was the point. While I loved one of the main characters, the other two I found frustrating and didn't feel like they really got to be redeemed. There were also times I felt the pacing of the book dragged a bit, though it is possible I was simply overly tired while reading.
Overall I think Hartt's writing is thoughtful, beautiful, and impactful. This book wasn't entirely for me but there were parts I thoroughly enjoyed and I absolutely recommend giving it a try! Just because it wasn't for me doesn't mean it's not for you.
The Sea is Salt and so am I tells the tale of three sixteen year olds, Harlow Prout, a determined headstrong girl, her best friend Ellis MacQueen, and his brother Tommy. After an impactful event, things start to change between the trio. New love is sparks, old bonds are tested, and secrets are revealed.
There was a lot about this book I did love. I loved the representation, both about mental illness and queer relationships. One of the main characters is bisexual and is portrayed dating both a girl and a boy through the course of the book. Mental illness is also dealt with in an incredibly impactful, thoughtful way. The atmosphere of the book is also phenomenally well done. The tertiary characters are still very well rounded and they feel like real people.
I didn't always love the main characters though, and perhaps this was the point. While I loved one of the main characters, the other two I found frustrating and didn't feel like they really got to be redeemed. There were also times I felt the pacing of the book dragged a bit, though it is possible I was simply overly tired while reading.
Overall I think Hartt's writing is thoughtful, beautiful, and impactful. This book wasn't entirely for me but there were parts I thoroughly enjoyed and I absolutely recommend giving it a try! Just because it wasn't for me doesn't mean it's not for you.
mmardybum's review against another edition
okay. obviously i bought this book because of the title. i knew nothing about it back when i bought it a couple years ago, and i knew nothing about it when i started reading it now.
i didnt expect a story about teenagers, beats me why. so i started it, read a bit, i thought the writing was beautiful, but i didnt feel like reading about teenagers, you know. so i read a couple of reviews to find out what to expect. the reviews said this was terrible, so i didnt have high hopes.
but the writing was haunting me, and a couple weeks after, i picked this book up again. and i got hooked. the writing was so, so beautiful. i really loved it.
this story is messy, the characters are so, so messy. but theyre also loveable, and i grew so fond of them, by the end i wanted to know everything. i wanna know what theyre doing now, how their lives turned out.
i was a bit confused by the timeline however. at the beginning of a current part, it will say 'june' for example, and then this will spread through july, and the part thats called 'july' will start at the end of july and things like that. so i gave up on this, and just enjoyed the story as it is unfolding.
the audiobook sucked, so i do not recommend. i thought switching between ebook and audio will be the way to go with this one, but the narrators read this story like really bratty teens, and tommys narrator sounded to me like a 40-year-old, so... no. the interpretation of the text is really important with this story, because it could easily go into a direction where you hate all the characters if you cant sympathise with them.
i wanted more from the ending, though. i kinda expected this to happen, but i also didnt want this to happen, so i wanted the ending to validate my vision for this story as the correct one. alas, the last couple of pages didnt give much clarity, except
but yeah, i loved this.
i didnt expect a story about teenagers, beats me why. so i started it, read a bit, i thought the writing was beautiful, but i didnt feel like reading about teenagers, you know. so i read a couple of reviews to find out what to expect. the reviews said this was terrible, so i didnt have high hopes.
but the writing was haunting me, and a couple weeks after, i picked this book up again. and i got hooked. the writing was so, so beautiful. i really loved it.
this story is messy, the characters are so, so messy. but theyre also loveable, and i grew so fond of them, by the end i wanted to know everything. i wanna know what theyre doing now, how their lives turned out.
i was a bit confused by the timeline however. at the beginning of a current part, it will say 'june' for example, and then this will spread through july, and the part thats called 'july' will start at the end of july and things like that. so i gave up on this, and just enjoyed the story as it is unfolding.
the audiobook sucked, so i do not recommend. i thought switching between ebook and audio will be the way to go with this one, but the narrators read this story like really bratty teens, and tommys narrator sounded to me like a 40-year-old, so... no. the interpretation of the text is really important with this story, because it could easily go into a direction where you hate all the characters if you cant sympathise with them.
i wanted more from the ending, though. i kinda expected this to happen, but i also didnt want this to happen, so i wanted the ending to validate my vision for this story as the correct one. alas, the last couple of pages didnt give much clarity, except
Spoiler
that theyre gonna be alrightbut yeah, i loved this.
aelbergan's review
5.0
This book, much like a hurricane, sucked me in and didn't let me go. What a gripping read.
kthornette's review
2.0
“In my head, I’ve dismantled every last stone, brick, plank of wood. It’s easier to leave something that doesn’t exist. The Atlantic can swallow them all.”
Okay aside from the star rating, I got some pros: I love the name Harlow and I love the setting. I always have a spot in my heart for small coastal towns. Funny enough, this is probably the third book I’ve read where the town is on the brink of being swallowed by the sea.
Also Goose. I love that dog.
But there were also major cons: The characters were meh — mostly melodramatic and boring. I kinda liked Tommy though. I would’ve liked more with the climate crisis and the diner, those places as their homes about to be flooded and the idea of the sea since it’s also in the title. I zoned out for a good chunk of the teen drama (which I why I skimmed the last third).
Okay aside from the star rating, I got some pros: I love the name Harlow and I love the setting. I always have a spot in my heart for small coastal towns. Funny enough, this is probably the third book I’ve read where the town is on the brink of being swallowed by the sea.
Also Goose. I love that dog.
But there were also major cons: The characters were meh — mostly melodramatic and boring. I kinda liked Tommy though. I would’ve liked more with the climate crisis and the diner, those places as their homes about to be flooded and the idea of the sea since it’s also in the title. I zoned out for a good chunk of the teen drama (which I why I skimmed the last third).