14 must read YA book releases to kick off summer right this June
By Lacy Baugher
June 2021 release – The Sea is Salt and So Am I – Cassandra Hartt
Author Cassandra Hartt’s debut YA novel is being described as I’ll Give You the Sun meets Normal People, a stunning, multi-POV story that paints an intimate and unflinchingly honest portrait of three teens ensnared in a web of unspoken feelings.
A compulsively readable tale of secrets, loyalties, and lies in a small town, The Sea is Salt and So Am I follows the stories of a small group of teens living in a hurricane-battered coastal town named West Finch. There’s Harlow, who wants to save her small Maine hometown from eroding back into the sea. There’s Ellis, Harlow’s best friend, who’s struggling to manage his troubled home life. And there’s Tommy, Ellis’s twin brother, who recently went for a swim he didn’t intend to return from.
As the three struggle navigate the fallout from Tommy’s suicide attempt and changes brewing in between and amongst them all, more than one kind of storm is brewing.
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"West Finch is one hurricane away from falling into the sea. Yet sixteen-year-old Harlow Prout is determined to save her small Maine hometown. If only she could stop getting in her own way and find someone, anyone, willing to help. But her best friend Ellis MacQueen “fixes” problems by running away from them―including his broken relationship with his twin brother, Tommy. And Tommy’s depression has hit a new low, so he’s not up for fixing anything. In the wake of the town’s latest devastating storm, Tommy goes out for a swim that he doesn’t intend to survive. It’s his unexpected return that sets into motion a sea change between these three teens. One that tests old loyalties, sparks new romance, and uncovers painful secrets. And nothing stays secret in West Finch for long."
The Sea is Salt and So Am I is available on June 8.