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Salt Sisters
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Against the stunning backdrop of Cape Cod, two sisters reunite and confront their painful past in a powerful novel about family expectations and life’s unforeseen turns.
Twin sisters Jocelyn and Maddy Marx grew up in a tight-knit family on Cape Cod, but they couldn’t be more different. Jocelyn, laid-back and dreamy, still lives in their hometown as a Realtor. Maddy, intense and ambitious, left for New York after college and never looked back. Until the summer they turn thirty-one.
After a dramatic fall from grace in her career, a pregnant Maddy returns to the Cape with her husband and announces she’s back for good. For Jocelyn, it’s less a reconciliation than a reminder of a life that was ripped away from her and the deep grief she’s carried ever since. Back in each other’s orbit, the sisters reopen old wounds and are forced to confront what it will take to heal.
Salt Sisters is a moving exploration of sisterhood and motherhood, and the courage it takes to face the past, forgive, and finally let go.
Against the stunning backdrop of Cape Cod, two sisters reunite and confront their painful past in a powerful novel about family expectations and life’s unforeseen turns.
Twin sisters Jocelyn and Maddy Marx grew up in a tight-knit family on Cape Cod, but they couldn’t be more different. Jocelyn, laid-back and dreamy, still lives in their hometown as a Realtor. Maddy, intense and ambitious, left for New York after college and never looked back. Until the summer they turn thirty-one.
After a dramatic fall from grace in her career, a pregnant Maddy returns to the Cape with her husband and announces she’s back for good. For Jocelyn, it’s less a reconciliation than a reminder of a life that was ripped away from her and the deep grief she’s carried ever since. Back in each other’s orbit, the sisters reopen old wounds and are forced to confront what it will take to heal.
Salt Sisters is a moving exploration of sisterhood and motherhood, and the courage it takes to face the past, forgive, and finally let go.
Audible Audio
Published July 14, 2026
About the author
Lindsey J. Palmer
5 books139 followersLindsey J. Palmer is a writer, editor, and educator. She is the author of the novels Salt Sisters (coming July 2026!), Reservations for Six, Otherwise Engaged, If We Lived Here, and Pretty in Ink. She worked in the magazine industry for many years, most recently as Features Editor at Self, and previously at Redbook and Glamour. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she earned a Master of Arts in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and taught English at a Manhattan public high school. She is currently the deputy editor of BrainPOP, an animated educational site for kids. Lindsey and her family live on Cape Cod. Visit her at lindseyjpalmer.com, https://www.instagram.com/lindseyjpal... and www.facebook.com/lindseyjpalmerauthor.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 74 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Lindsey J. Palmer unravels the twisted psychology behind the bonds of motherhood, sisterhood, and siblinghood, revealing (1) how we are all shaped by loss and (2) how these bonds influence future relationships.
It was good to take a break from an exhausting week and read this therapeutic novel about the cost of healing and the courage it takes to face the past. I enjoyed the reminder that not all wounds bleed.
Twins Jocelyn and Maddy Marx have navigated bumpy roads in life and learn to set expectations aside and face their challenges so that healing can truly begin. I was hooked with the opening and had to keep reading to find out what precipitated the risky move!
This is great book club fiction!
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
It was good to take a break from an exhausting week and read this therapeutic novel about the cost of healing and the courage it takes to face the past. I enjoyed the reminder that not all wounds bleed.
Twins Jocelyn and Maddy Marx have navigated bumpy roads in life and learn to set expectations aside and face their challenges so that healing can truly begin. I was hooked with the opening and had to keep reading to find out what precipitated the risky move!
This is great book club fiction!
I was gifted this copy and was under no obligation to provide a review.
March 20, 2026
This book has my heart and it is one of the best books I have read this year.
I got it as an ARC, but I was not sure if I will like it. Oh, I was so lucky to request this particular book, as I’m not sure I would have stumbled upon it otherwise.
This is a story about sisterhood, grief and family. As someone that never experienced what these two sisters did I was very moved by their story and related so much. Especially with Maddy.
The story is raw, emotional and unapologetic. It portraits these women in the most authentic way possible. I had some parts where I liked one more than the other, but this is the dual pov’s charm.
I loved the descriptions of Cape Cod and the ocean it brought me serenity and I wanted to be there.
As someone that gets easily distracted while reading I was not able to put Salt Sisters down until I finished it.
I got it as an ARC, but I was not sure if I will like it. Oh, I was so lucky to request this particular book, as I’m not sure I would have stumbled upon it otherwise.
This is a story about sisterhood, grief and family. As someone that never experienced what these two sisters did I was very moved by their story and related so much. Especially with Maddy.
The story is raw, emotional and unapologetic. It portraits these women in the most authentic way possible. I had some parts where I liked one more than the other, but this is the dual pov’s charm.
I loved the descriptions of Cape Cod and the ocean it brought me serenity and I wanted to be there.
As someone that gets easily distracted while reading I was not able to put Salt Sisters down until I finished it.
July 15, 2026
This was a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story about polar-opposite twin sisters navigating the joy of welcoming a child and the devastating loss of one, along with all the highs and lows that life brings. I felt deeply for each character, and their emotions and experiences were easy to connect with, even though I'm not a mother.
Set primarily in Cape Cod, the novel creates a beautiful, cozy atmosphere that perfectly complements the story. It's an emotional, character-driven read that's perfect for summer, especially if you don't mind shedding a few tears while reading about a realistically dysfunctional family that ultimately finds its way to a hopeful ending.
Thank you @Netgalley and @LakeUnionPublishing for providing me with the advanced copy of “Salt Sisters” in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #SaltSisters
Set primarily in Cape Cod, the novel creates a beautiful, cozy atmosphere that perfectly complements the story. It's an emotional, character-driven read that's perfect for summer, especially if you don't mind shedding a few tears while reading about a realistically dysfunctional family that ultimately finds its way to a hopeful ending.
Thank you @Netgalley and @LakeUnionPublishing for providing me with the advanced copy of “Salt Sisters” in exchange for an honest review. #NetGalley #SaltSisters
August 3, 2026
Premise is adult twins who have never gotten along and with very different life plans. Some dark moments thrown in on their journey to see if they can ever get over their past and move on. Nothing special in my opinion.
July 27, 2026
I could not put Salt Sisters down. Lindsey Palmer created two main characters who feel so real and relatable that I formed a deep emotional connection with both of them. I flew through the pages and was honestly sad when it ended because I just wasn't ready for it to end. Highly recommend!
July 15, 2026
Salt Sisters is a novel about two twin sisters, very much different from one another, who were estranged for quite some time and now get reunited after a lot of drama and tragedy have come upon them in the past.
The setting is lovely and it brings summer-y and chilly vibes, but the background these sisters have to revisit, and fix, in order to, maybe, move along is harsh and painful. This is not an easy breezy read. It's heavy on drama and it might be triggering to some readers (mothers, especially). These sisters' journey is volatile and dramatically chaotic. Yet, it feels realistic, so that readers might feel relatable to these characters more easily.
It's considerably a short novel, in my opinion. But so much happens that you'll feel like you've spent a long time with these characters. You'll feel for them. Root for them. Be angry with them, occasionally.
I personally enjoyed this book a lot, even in the moments when these sisters infuriated me.
My only complaint about this book - and that is just my personal opinion, it is not a critic of the author's choice - is that...considering all that has happened throughout the entire story, and how the sisters would behave to each other, I expected - or wanted - a more bittersweet ending.
For my personal taste, considering their history, the ending was 'too sweet'. But I'm sure other readers will appreciate more the ending given.
I can easily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction about sisters and motherhood and lots of drama altogether.
*I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was very well done. I already knew and liked the narrator (it's why I requested the audio format, really) and she, Helen Laser, never disappoints me. So, I can also easily recommend the audiobook*
The setting is lovely and it brings summer-y and chilly vibes, but the background these sisters have to revisit, and fix, in order to, maybe, move along is harsh and painful. This is not an easy breezy read. It's heavy on drama and it might be triggering to some readers (mothers, especially). These sisters' journey is volatile and dramatically chaotic. Yet, it feels realistic, so that readers might feel relatable to these characters more easily.
It's considerably a short novel, in my opinion. But so much happens that you'll feel like you've spent a long time with these characters. You'll feel for them. Root for them. Be angry with them, occasionally.
I personally enjoyed this book a lot, even in the moments when these sisters infuriated me.
My only complaint about this book - and that is just my personal opinion, it is not a critic of the author's choice - is that...considering all that has happened throughout the entire story, and how the sisters would behave to each other, I expected - or wanted - a more bittersweet ending.
For my personal taste, considering their history, the ending was 'too sweet'. But I'm sure other readers will appreciate more the ending given.
I can easily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys contemporary fiction about sisters and motherhood and lots of drama altogether.
*I listened to the audiobook and I thought it was very well done. I already knew and liked the narrator (it's why I requested the audio format, really) and she, Helen Laser, never disappoints me. So, I can also easily recommend the audiobook*
July 21, 2026
I was so moved by this beautiful story of twin sisters navigating upheavals in their lives after they reunite unexpectedly in their hometown on Cape Cod. One has gone through an unthinkable tragedy, while the other is returning home with exciting news, but dealing with secret struggles of her own. Because of the stark contrast in their life situations and personalities, they’re like salt in each other’s wounds, a painful reminder of what they lack. The novel brilliantly explores their complicated relationship as it escalates toward a shocking unraveling, and ultimately toward hopeful new beginnings. I appreciated the many angles of motherhood portrayed, including more difficult ones that aren’t often discussed. The gorgeous descriptions of the Outer Cape capture the unique and dramatic beauty of the setting and its significance in the characters’ lives. I loved being transported to this beautiful place and wrapped up in the gripping story. It’s a perfect summer read—or anytime read—if you want something that will hook you from the start, leave you thinking about it long after you finish, and make you wiser for having read it.
July 31, 2026
Thank you to Amazon Publishing for the gifted copy. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed this one. It explores a lot of difficult topics touching on sibling rivalry, grief, motherhood, and child loss. With a high focus on sisterhood, I especially appreciated how it showed that even twins, who share so much of the same life, can experience it in completely different ways.
I found myself connecting with both Jocelyn and Maddy. Neither of them were perfect, but they both felt real; their struggles were real. I could understand where each of them were coming from. The emotions felt authentic, and I never felt like the story was trying too hard to make me sympathize with one sister over the other.
One of my favorite parts was how motherhood was portrayed. There wasn’t just one “right” journey. Instead, it showed that everyone’s experience is different, and I thought that was handled with a lot of care and compassion. The same can be said for the way the book approached grief and healing. It never rushed those emotions and just let the processing happen.
Overall, this was a beautifully done.
I really enjoyed this one. It explores a lot of difficult topics touching on sibling rivalry, grief, motherhood, and child loss. With a high focus on sisterhood, I especially appreciated how it showed that even twins, who share so much of the same life, can experience it in completely different ways.
I found myself connecting with both Jocelyn and Maddy. Neither of them were perfect, but they both felt real; their struggles were real. I could understand where each of them were coming from. The emotions felt authentic, and I never felt like the story was trying too hard to make me sympathize with one sister over the other.
One of my favorite parts was how motherhood was portrayed. There wasn’t just one “right” journey. Instead, it showed that everyone’s experience is different, and I thought that was handled with a lot of care and compassion. The same can be said for the way the book approached grief and healing. It never rushed those emotions and just let the processing happen.
Overall, this was a beautifully done.
July 15, 2026
✨ Book Review: Salt Sisters by Lindsey Palmer ✨
This was my first book by Lindsey Palmer, and I was excited to dive into her writing.
Salt Sisters is a character-driven story that explores family relationships, personal struggles, and the bonds that connect us. While I appreciated the themes and the emotional depth of the characters, the pacing was a bit slow for me, making it difficult to stay fully engaged throughout the story.
Even though it wasn't the perfect fit for my reading preferences, I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience Lindsey Palmer's work and look forward to seeing what she writes in the future.
Thank you, Lindsey Palmer and NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. 📚
This was my first book by Lindsey Palmer, and I was excited to dive into her writing.
Salt Sisters is a character-driven story that explores family relationships, personal struggles, and the bonds that connect us. While I appreciated the themes and the emotional depth of the characters, the pacing was a bit slow for me, making it difficult to stay fully engaged throughout the story.
Even though it wasn't the perfect fit for my reading preferences, I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience Lindsey Palmer's work and look forward to seeing what she writes in the future.
Thank you, Lindsey Palmer and NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. 📚
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Review to come.
August 16, 2026
A satisfying and emotional read that made me at times chuckle AND well up. Also makes a strong case for moving to the Cape, or at least pining for my next visit!
August 5, 2026
A love story to Cape Cod as much as the one between the characters. ❤️
July 20, 2026
Lindsey J. Palmer has written another gem of a novel! Salt Sisters features two rich, complicated, and fully formed characters whom we are rooting for throughout the story. This book is such an apt and authentic meditation on family, grief, and motherhood. Enthusiastically recommend!
August 25, 2026
This was such a New England coastal vibe! The author really captured the essence and beauty and coziness of living on the New England coast year round, right down to knowing the spots that are the locals’ best kept secrets.
This one is about twin sisters with drastically different personalities that have drifted apart, not for lack of their parents’ meddling. Maddy is determined and driven and always likes things to go as planned, whereas Jocelyn is easy breezy. There’s an unspoken envy between the two that is quite enticing to read about, not to mention the painful pasts that they just can’t open up to each other about. The style of writing just casually drops bits and pieces of their pasts into the story, so you’re always wanting to read a bit more. The drama and guilty pleasures combined with wholesome family moments, the sense of homecoming and healing, and the boisterous Cape Cod friends is really a joy to read!
This one is about twin sisters with drastically different personalities that have drifted apart, not for lack of their parents’ meddling. Maddy is determined and driven and always likes things to go as planned, whereas Jocelyn is easy breezy. There’s an unspoken envy between the two that is quite enticing to read about, not to mention the painful pasts that they just can’t open up to each other about. The style of writing just casually drops bits and pieces of their pasts into the story, so you’re always wanting to read a bit more. The drama and guilty pleasures combined with wholesome family moments, the sense of homecoming and healing, and the boisterous Cape Cod friends is really a joy to read!
August 17, 2026
The ARC was provided to me by the publisher, Lake Union Publishing, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Salt Sisters is a beautiful deep dive into the bond between sisters. It carefully and realistically explores love, resentment, rivalry, and forgiveness. There were times I saw myself in Maddy and other times I empathized with Jocelyn, but throughout the entire book I saw how family always comes first.
The writing was beautiful and Palmer did a wonderful job capturing the personalities of twins Jocelyn and Maddy; perfectly encapsulated Nina, the angsty teenager; and made us fall in love with Kyle, the perfectly imperfect man.
I recommend this to any reader who enjoys a contemporary family drama with well developed characters that makes you rethink your own relationships.
TW: loss of child; loss of parent/spouse
Salt Sisters is a beautiful deep dive into the bond between sisters. It carefully and realistically explores love, resentment, rivalry, and forgiveness. There were times I saw myself in Maddy and other times I empathized with Jocelyn, but throughout the entire book I saw how family always comes first.
The writing was beautiful and Palmer did a wonderful job capturing the personalities of twins Jocelyn and Maddy; perfectly encapsulated Nina, the angsty teenager; and made us fall in love with Kyle, the perfectly imperfect man.
I recommend this to any reader who enjoys a contemporary family drama with well developed characters that makes you rethink your own relationships.
TW: loss of child; loss of parent/spouse
July 9, 2026
Salt Sister by Lindsey J. Palmer is an emotional story about twin sisters that had me invested from the very first chapter. The complicated relationship, years of hurt, and family drama felt incredibly real. Both sisters were written so well that I found myself constantly changing how I felt about each of them as the story unfolded.
The surprising realizations throughout the book kept me hooked, and as someone who has a strained relationship with my own sister at times because we’re so different, I saw pieces of us in these characters. That made this story even more meaningful.
This was such a great read, enjoyed every minute of it and highly recommend it to anyone who loves emotional family dramas with complex relationships.
Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.
The surprising realizations throughout the book kept me hooked, and as someone who has a strained relationship with my own sister at times because we’re so different, I saw pieces of us in these characters. That made this story even more meaningful.
This was such a great read, enjoyed every minute of it and highly recommend it to anyone who loves emotional family dramas with complex relationships.
Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.
July 13, 2026
I loved this story! This book is about twin sisters who have been at odds their whole lives. Jocelyn is a 30 yr old grieving mother who lost her only daughter at 15 months old to drowning in the ocean at Cape Cod, her home. Her twin sister Maddie, has recently become pregnant after struggling for years with infertility and has decided to leave NYC and move back home to be around family. Jocelyn doesn’t think Maddie deserves to be a mother and Maddie thinks Jocelyn needs to move on from her grief. Neither of them know anything about the trauma the other has been through but once they finally let each other in, they begin to understand each other more. I didn’t love either of them at the beginning of the book but they both had so much growth by the end of the book that I loved them both.
July 27, 2026
I finished Salt Sisters by Lindsey Palmer while in Maui. I really enjoyed the story because it takes place on Cape Cod. I spent a lot of time growing up there and as an adult on the Cape and it always makes me feel wonderful reading stories taking place there. The twins, Jocelyn and Maddy have not gotten along in years. They are both pulled back to Cape Cod to try to move on in their lives and get over the past. This is a great summer read and a quick one. Enjoy.!
August 21, 2026
Just finished this beautifully written novel, “Salt Sisters” by Lindsay Palmer. I was glued to this story about twin sisters from Cape Cod and their journeys through motherhood. Such a raw story about grief and longing to find yourself after motherhood changes you. As a woman who suffered deeply through post partum depression - this story had me by the throat. Lindsay placed us on the Cape in the most special way, taking me home even just for a moment. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 29, 2026
Salt Sisters is set largely on Outer Cape Cod, in Eastham MA (where I live part of the year) making it sweetly familiar. The characters grew on me, as did the overall story. The foreshadowing incident at the very start of the novel was a smart device to keep the reader "wondering" throughout.
A good summer or I-miss-summer read.
A good summer or I-miss-summer read.
July 21, 2026
4.5 stars
August 1, 2026
Thanks to #NetGalley for an ARC.
I loved this book. I enjoyed all the characters.
I loved this book. I enjoyed all the characters.
August 12, 2026
Such a beautiful insight into sisterhood and grief, with writing so vivid you feel like you’re right there on the Cape. Now I feel like I need to visit!
August 15, 2026
A really wonderful book! I’ve loved all of Lindsey Palmer’s novels, but this one was special. The characters felt so real, I don’t know how to explain it, a truly lovely read!
August 15, 2026
Gorgeous and heartbreaking — a perfect summer read!
August 16, 2026
Great book, good storyline. 🩵
August 11, 2026
Touching, heartwarming story. Loved the Cape Cod References.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
THIS IS A NETGALLEY ARC that was kindly given to me for my honest opinion
In Lindsey J. Palmer’s book, Salt Sisters, she has based her main characters off of two twin sisters who are so entirely different you’d think they were most certainly from different parents entirely. Jocelyn is the twin who will take life as it comes, she isn’t the kind of woman who feels she needs to be a full fledged adult and have reached certain societal norms by a specific age. In fact, she rarely compares her life to anyone else, unless of course her twin is around and sprouting off her accomplishments and all her goal driven qualities she feels are what makes her the superior and better twin.
Madeline is Jocelyn’s A type twin, who has always had goal oriented accomplishments that she would strive for and reach giving herself a specific time line to do so. She takes her marriage, her ambitious New York City career as a glowing example of how much more successful and mature she is than her sister and when she finds herself pregnant and planning her nanny interviews, her school sign ups to get her yet born child into the very best city schools and begins her prefect city life merge of motherhood, career woman and wife she has an uncharacteristic meltdown at work and completely loses her normally unflappable sense and the account her company was planning on and counting on. She literally had a full blown panic attack and walked out of her presentation in the middle of it with all the executives sitting in waiting on her. She never returned to the room but her boss found her when it was finished on the floor of her office still hyperventilating and sobbing and promptly fired her, going as far as having security escort her from the building. She was burning with shame and utter shock and refused to admit to her family or her city group of mothers she had begun to meet up with and even her own husband. She pivoted as quickly as possible and began to say with as much conviction as possible that she wanted to raise her child close to her parents and in the town where she grew up. She said she preferred to be a stay at home mom and couldn’t imagine dropping her baby off to strangers or allowing a nanny to watch it.
Everyone falls for the story, with the exception of her twin who knows far too well that her overachieving and competitive twin wouldn’t ever dream of moving back to their hometown having told anyone who’d listen how uncultured and unstimulatiing it was. How she would never neglect the art, the culture, the access to the outstanding education and all the phenomenal extracurricular activities that the city offered children. She was planning all the things a child could possibly learn while the baby was in utero
When Jocelyn meets the newcomer to the sea side town, a single father, recently widowed and his teen daughter she is attracted to his good looks, his calm and kind demeanor and the priority he places his daughter in. She is his realtor and they search for homes without his daughter and then soon he narrows down his search, brings her in for the approval and he closes on the house. Jocelyn soon begins to see him and they slowly begin to date. He spends half his time in the city where his daughter Megan still is enrolled in school and their weekends summers and holidays on the Cape. She is lovely to her father and petulant towards Joss once she realizes that her father is interested and daring another woman. Joss accidentally gets pregnant and she and her boyfriend are thrilled he wants to marry her and with all the things going on with his daughter and her attitude towards joss they decided to wait until her school year is finished to tell her about the baby.
Meanwhile, Maddy has had her baby and slowly is losing her mind being at home, even if her home is gorgeous and everything she could have wanted in a house just preferably not back in her hometown. The baby cried constantly and she doesn’t know how to calm her. She tries to walk her in the stroller but mostly the baby starts screaming halfway through and she has to hold a screaming baby and push a stroller while half the neighbors look on. She finds a savior in an unexpected woman she could ever imagine herself or her husband associating with that live next door. They’ve multiple kids that run wild it seems and her newfound friend invites her for wine after bedtime of the kids and bond as mothers and she asks her friend if she ever wants to do it all over and not have the kids and her friend as frazzled as she is and as many kids as she has is adamant her love and contentment is real and genuine and she adores her messy home the crazy chaos of the kids and her husband. Maddy struggles to feel this and will keep faking her happiness until it becomes a reality. Yet, her family has noticed her discomfort with her baby, knows she is unhappy and struggling but won’t allow or ask for help.
At a cookout, Joss sees her niece toddling towards the shore, where one of the worst and most scarring regrets and losses and pains Joss has ever been through happened just like that so she grabs the baby and takes off. Neither parent was watching their child! She is incensed and bawls her way around while driving having no idea where she is going or what her plan is she only knows she must keep this baby safe because she was 20 when she joined friends at a party and had left her own daughter in the care of friends to use the bathroom behind some beach grass in the dunes. When she returned her baby was nowhere to be found. She was later found and it was deemed an accidental drowning and she’s kept everyone, men, relationships, children and her parents at an arms length believing she is incapable of caring for or protecting and keeping safe any one in her life and every one is in jeopardy of her immaturity and lack of responsibility and cavalier selfishness. She has punished herself for nearly a decade and cannot handle the fact she is pregnant again. How can she tell her love of her life she is having his baby when. She wasn’t a good enough mother to keep her own alive. She fears once he knows the truth he will make her give the baby to him, leave her and hate her and see her for the evil selfish and incapable and incompetent person she is.
The family is distraught when they realize she has taken Maddy’s daughter. They all search everywhere for the two of them and finally find the baby asleep in her crib with Joss asleep on the floor. Her sister wakes her and tells her to never come back or near her baby again.
They will learn to accept one another for who they are, who’ve they’ve been, how much they’ve changed and support one another as new mothers, respect their differences and learn to communicate effectively with the love they’ve always had but never learned to express properly and their children will grow up together as they’d always used to dream of when they were small.
Such a wonderful book about the relationships between sisters and their glaring differences, their unconscious competitions, their personal struggles and their fierce love and loyalty towards each other.
Thank you to NETGALLEY for this ARC
#NetgalleyARC #SaltSisters
In Lindsey J. Palmer’s book, Salt Sisters, she has based her main characters off of two twin sisters who are so entirely different you’d think they were most certainly from different parents entirely. Jocelyn is the twin who will take life as it comes, she isn’t the kind of woman who feels she needs to be a full fledged adult and have reached certain societal norms by a specific age. In fact, she rarely compares her life to anyone else, unless of course her twin is around and sprouting off her accomplishments and all her goal driven qualities she feels are what makes her the superior and better twin.
Madeline is Jocelyn’s A type twin, who has always had goal oriented accomplishments that she would strive for and reach giving herself a specific time line to do so. She takes her marriage, her ambitious New York City career as a glowing example of how much more successful and mature she is than her sister and when she finds herself pregnant and planning her nanny interviews, her school sign ups to get her yet born child into the very best city schools and begins her prefect city life merge of motherhood, career woman and wife she has an uncharacteristic meltdown at work and completely loses her normally unflappable sense and the account her company was planning on and counting on. She literally had a full blown panic attack and walked out of her presentation in the middle of it with all the executives sitting in waiting on her. She never returned to the room but her boss found her when it was finished on the floor of her office still hyperventilating and sobbing and promptly fired her, going as far as having security escort her from the building. She was burning with shame and utter shock and refused to admit to her family or her city group of mothers she had begun to meet up with and even her own husband. She pivoted as quickly as possible and began to say with as much conviction as possible that she wanted to raise her child close to her parents and in the town where she grew up. She said she preferred to be a stay at home mom and couldn’t imagine dropping her baby off to strangers or allowing a nanny to watch it.
Everyone falls for the story, with the exception of her twin who knows far too well that her overachieving and competitive twin wouldn’t ever dream of moving back to their hometown having told anyone who’d listen how uncultured and unstimulatiing it was. How she would never neglect the art, the culture, the access to the outstanding education and all the phenomenal extracurricular activities that the city offered children. She was planning all the things a child could possibly learn while the baby was in utero
When Jocelyn meets the newcomer to the sea side town, a single father, recently widowed and his teen daughter she is attracted to his good looks, his calm and kind demeanor and the priority he places his daughter in. She is his realtor and they search for homes without his daughter and then soon he narrows down his search, brings her in for the approval and he closes on the house. Jocelyn soon begins to see him and they slowly begin to date. He spends half his time in the city where his daughter Megan still is enrolled in school and their weekends summers and holidays on the Cape. She is lovely to her father and petulant towards Joss once she realizes that her father is interested and daring another woman. Joss accidentally gets pregnant and she and her boyfriend are thrilled he wants to marry her and with all the things going on with his daughter and her attitude towards joss they decided to wait until her school year is finished to tell her about the baby.
Meanwhile, Maddy has had her baby and slowly is losing her mind being at home, even if her home is gorgeous and everything she could have wanted in a house just preferably not back in her hometown. The baby cried constantly and she doesn’t know how to calm her. She tries to walk her in the stroller but mostly the baby starts screaming halfway through and she has to hold a screaming baby and push a stroller while half the neighbors look on. She finds a savior in an unexpected woman she could ever imagine herself or her husband associating with that live next door. They’ve multiple kids that run wild it seems and her newfound friend invites her for wine after bedtime of the kids and bond as mothers and she asks her friend if she ever wants to do it all over and not have the kids and her friend as frazzled as she is and as many kids as she has is adamant her love and contentment is real and genuine and she adores her messy home the crazy chaos of the kids and her husband. Maddy struggles to feel this and will keep faking her happiness until it becomes a reality. Yet, her family has noticed her discomfort with her baby, knows she is unhappy and struggling but won’t allow or ask for help.
At a cookout, Joss sees her niece toddling towards the shore, where one of the worst and most scarring regrets and losses and pains Joss has ever been through happened just like that so she grabs the baby and takes off. Neither parent was watching their child! She is incensed and bawls her way around while driving having no idea where she is going or what her plan is she only knows she must keep this baby safe because she was 20 when she joined friends at a party and had left her own daughter in the care of friends to use the bathroom behind some beach grass in the dunes. When she returned her baby was nowhere to be found. She was later found and it was deemed an accidental drowning and she’s kept everyone, men, relationships, children and her parents at an arms length believing she is incapable of caring for or protecting and keeping safe any one in her life and every one is in jeopardy of her immaturity and lack of responsibility and cavalier selfishness. She has punished herself for nearly a decade and cannot handle the fact she is pregnant again. How can she tell her love of her life she is having his baby when. She wasn’t a good enough mother to keep her own alive. She fears once he knows the truth he will make her give the baby to him, leave her and hate her and see her for the evil selfish and incapable and incompetent person she is.
The family is distraught when they realize she has taken Maddy’s daughter. They all search everywhere for the two of them and finally find the baby asleep in her crib with Joss asleep on the floor. Her sister wakes her and tells her to never come back or near her baby again.
They will learn to accept one another for who they are, who’ve they’ve been, how much they’ve changed and support one another as new mothers, respect their differences and learn to communicate effectively with the love they’ve always had but never learned to express properly and their children will grow up together as they’d always used to dream of when they were small.
Such a wonderful book about the relationships between sisters and their glaring differences, their unconscious competitions, their personal struggles and their fierce love and loyalty towards each other.
Thank you to NETGALLEY for this ARC
#NetgalleyARC #SaltSisters
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Salt Sisters is an intriguing novel about not only relationship drama and petty arguments but also about what women have to go through following a pregnancy. It follows twins Maddy (strong, go-getter and independent) and Jocelyn (bright, content and bubbly) who grew up to develop animosity and an unhealthy level of sibling competition. Because both girls always felt like they were growing up in each other’s shadows, they ended up blaming their grievances on each other, leading to a buildup of unresolved tension. This only intensifies when Maddy (who had been living in New York for a decade) announces her and her husband will be moving back to their hometown, Cape Cod, to raise their new baby, Rose.
Throughout the novel, the twins will navigate their new life paths as they work around their crumbling relationship and their only personal setbacks. Maddy is a new mom and struggles with post-partum depression, accelerated by her ‘all or nothing’ mentality and her feeling lonely and isolated; all the while, Jocelyn struggles with having lost her baby Junie in a tragic accident a decade prior to the story’s events.
My main struggle with this book was how everyone is so incredibly dismissive of Maddy. Maddy is clearly suffering from post-partum disorder for most of the book. She had just quit her job (which she was really good at), upended her life and moved back home to where she had no friends, no stable relationship with her sister, where her husband was working for most of the day, and she was left all alone with a baby that never seemed to give her a minute's rest. You might think that maybe she is just hiding it really well, and her close ones don’t notice this, but they do! Her family suggests she get a therapist, and that is it. No one ever really helps her through this besides her neighbour and her secret babysitter; there is never really any mention of Maddy’s parents being worried for her. When Maddy eventually tries to open up to Jocelyn about how miserable she’s been since giving birth, Jocelyn is quick to snap at Maddy and call her ungrateful. I understand that sometimes characters are not written to be liked, but I could not root for anyone in this story except for Maddy (and maybe the babysitter, too; she was okay). I also felt like the dialogue was weirdly formatted, almost like it was never written to be read aloud. It doesn’t flow in the same manner that an actual conversation does, especially the dialogue between Jocelyn and her love interest. There is also an excessive use of conversations that are trying to pass a life lesson; every few chapters will give another piece of advice in a way that almost seemed like it was trying to be too deep.
The story is mostly set in Cape Cod, and although I’ve never been, I did enjoy the beach environment in which it took place. I also liked the way the prose flowed and how it wasn’t filled with unnecessary filler.
Overall, it is an easy and cosy read that touches on a lot of important topics and has an interesting plot line, as long as you’re okay with finding some of the characters annoying.
Throughout the novel, the twins will navigate their new life paths as they work around their crumbling relationship and their only personal setbacks. Maddy is a new mom and struggles with post-partum depression, accelerated by her ‘all or nothing’ mentality and her feeling lonely and isolated; all the while, Jocelyn struggles with having lost her baby Junie in a tragic accident a decade prior to the story’s events.
My main struggle with this book was how everyone is so incredibly dismissive of Maddy. Maddy is clearly suffering from post-partum disorder for most of the book. She had just quit her job (which she was really good at), upended her life and moved back home to where she had no friends, no stable relationship with her sister, where her husband was working for most of the day, and she was left all alone with a baby that never seemed to give her a minute's rest. You might think that maybe she is just hiding it really well, and her close ones don’t notice this, but they do! Her family suggests she get a therapist, and that is it. No one ever really helps her through this besides her neighbour and her secret babysitter; there is never really any mention of Maddy’s parents being worried for her. When Maddy eventually tries to open up to Jocelyn about how miserable she’s been since giving birth, Jocelyn is quick to snap at Maddy and call her ungrateful. I understand that sometimes characters are not written to be liked, but I could not root for anyone in this story except for Maddy (and maybe the babysitter, too; she was okay). I also felt like the dialogue was weirdly formatted, almost like it was never written to be read aloud. It doesn’t flow in the same manner that an actual conversation does, especially the dialogue between Jocelyn and her love interest. There is also an excessive use of conversations that are trying to pass a life lesson; every few chapters will give another piece of advice in a way that almost seemed like it was trying to be too deep.
The story is mostly set in Cape Cod, and although I’ve never been, I did enjoy the beach environment in which it took place. I also liked the way the prose flowed and how it wasn’t filled with unnecessary filler.
Overall, it is an easy and cosy read that touches on a lot of important topics and has an interesting plot line, as long as you’re okay with finding some of the characters annoying.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Salt Sisters unfolds on the windswept shores of Cape Cod, where Jocelyn and Maddy Marx—twin sisters who once felt inseparable—find themselves circling each other again after years of distance. The novel captures that complicated sibling gravity beautifully: the way love and resentment can coexist, the way shared history can bind and bruise in equal measure.
Jocelyn, dreamy and rooted, has stayed close to home, building a life shaped by the rhythms of the Cape. Maddy, sharp‑edged and ambitious, fled to New York and never looked back—until a spectacular career collapse and an unexpected pregnancy send her home at thirty‑one, husband in tow. Her return isn’t the balm she hopes for; instead, it stirs up everything Jocelyn has tried to bury, including a grief that still sits like a stone in her chest.
The novel shines in the way it handles these emotional fault lines. Their reunion is tender, raw, and often painful, full of unspoken apologies and old wounds that ache in the light. The Cape Cod setting adds a gorgeous sense of atmosphere—salt air, shifting tides, and the quiet pull of a place that remembers everything, even when you’d rather forget.
As the sisters navigate their fractured bond, the story becomes a thoughtful exploration of motherhood, identity, and the expectations families place on us—spoken and unspoken. The writing is warm and intimate, with a softness that allows the harder truths to land gently. By the time the final pages arrive, the novel has traced a path toward forgiveness that feels earned, honest, and deeply human.
A moving, beautifully observed story about the ties that shape us, the hurts that linger, and the healing that becomes possible when we finally stop running. It’s the kind of book that leaves a quiet ache—and a quiet hope—long after you close it.
With thanks to Lindsey J Palmer, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Jocelyn, dreamy and rooted, has stayed close to home, building a life shaped by the rhythms of the Cape. Maddy, sharp‑edged and ambitious, fled to New York and never looked back—until a spectacular career collapse and an unexpected pregnancy send her home at thirty‑one, husband in tow. Her return isn’t the balm she hopes for; instead, it stirs up everything Jocelyn has tried to bury, including a grief that still sits like a stone in her chest.
The novel shines in the way it handles these emotional fault lines. Their reunion is tender, raw, and often painful, full of unspoken apologies and old wounds that ache in the light. The Cape Cod setting adds a gorgeous sense of atmosphere—salt air, shifting tides, and the quiet pull of a place that remembers everything, even when you’d rather forget.
As the sisters navigate their fractured bond, the story becomes a thoughtful exploration of motherhood, identity, and the expectations families place on us—spoken and unspoken. The writing is warm and intimate, with a softness that allows the harder truths to land gently. By the time the final pages arrive, the novel has traced a path toward forgiveness that feels earned, honest, and deeply human.
A moving, beautifully observed story about the ties that shape us, the hurts that linger, and the healing that becomes possible when we finally stop running. It’s the kind of book that leaves a quiet ache—and a quiet hope—long after you close it.
With thanks to Lindsey J Palmer, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
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