F/F Friday: Summer of Salt

I liked the first two-thirds of Katrina Leno’s Summer of Salt a lot. The story takes place on the little island of By-the-Sea, where the Fernweh family has long lived - ever since their many-greats grandmother Annabella turned into a bird three hundred years ago, in fact. The Fernwehs have lived on the island ever since, each generation developing different magical gifts, which are appreciated by the other islanders - but never spoken of.

Quaint magical small towns are something that I like in theory, but the execution doesn’t always do it for me. But here, I thought there was the perfect balance between the quaint magical aspects and the “ugh, everyone has known me since I was a baby, and also known my mother since she was a baby” aspects; it made the town charming without being cloying.

I also really liked the main cast, which includes:

17-year-old Georgina Fernweh, who has not yet come into her power, and is afraid that she won’t before she turns eighteen, which is the cut off;
Her delightfully snarky twin sister Mary, who has been able to float since birth, but insists she’ll renounce her power if Georgina doesn’t develop a power of her own. Georgina sometimes complains that Mary is a bitch, which I find baffling. Was the snark meant to be bitchy? If yes, then boy did Leno miss the mark on that one;
Their mother, who runs an inn, which is mostly occupied by the bird-watchers who come every summer to study Annabella, who still summers at the island every year in bird form;
And Prudence (Prue), Georgina’s love interest, who would have been more compelling if she got a little more of Mary’s snark, but she does have A++ baby lesbian fashion sense so I can’t complain too much.

But then the last third happened.

( Spoilers )