Summary:

Avery Roe is destined to be New Bishop’s next witch. But her mother, who denied her own opportunity to be the island’s witch, refuses to let her Grandmother teach her and places curses around Avery that prevent her from running away. For four years, Avery lives in her mother’s world, and uses her limited magic to read dreams for the sailors and whalers at the docks.

When Avery dreams of her own murder, she becomes desperate to reach her grandmother. The only one who can help break her mother’s curse is Tane - a harpooner with his own dreams. Avery and Tane struggle to work together, and learn that the answers they are desperately seeking may not be what they truly want.

Review:

Salt and Storm is a book that sat on my classroom shelf for a few months before I finally picked it up. Then it took only a couple days for me to read this one (I read about 300 pages in one day, but we won’t talk about that). There was a lot I really enjoyed about this book and a few things that fell a touch flat.

I enjoyed Avery’s change from someone who despised even the idea of love and marriage to someone who understood what it really means to love and trust. I think this is an important thing to teach young people who may not always have the best examples of love and marriage. A major theme touched on is that love requires sacrifice and may bring pain, but is worth holding on to. Avery definitely did not reach those conclusions unscathed, but it required her to be honest with not only herself but those around her in order to open herself up to real love.

The family dynamics in Salt and Storm are fractured as a result of the Roe Witch lineage and their tie to New Bishop. Yet again, love was able to conquer that fracture in the end, bringing the characters closer together and challenging the desire for power over family and love.

There were a few instances where the writing and Avery’s reactions and emotions felt juvenile and slightly unrealistic, but overall this was an enjoyable read. It was not a mushy gushy romance, but brought just enough honesty and love to the character’s lives, as well as heartbreak and strife, to form an enticing and fast-paced read.

Teacher Recommendation:

I borrowed this off my classroom shelf, and I will happily put it back for students to read. It discusses the need of love and family over power, and forces the main character to grow up and look critically at her choices in life. There are a few kisses between Avery and Tane, an implied sex scene, and some romantic confusion that forms between the characters, but nothing explicit.

Happy reading!