The Salt on Our Skin

by Rhea Ellis

A sapphic story of desire and despair, flawed mothers and daughters, and two Mediterranean summers separated by decades, each leaving a different mark on the women who lived them.

When Willow's mother reconnects with an old friend from her past, an unexpected invitation pulls them both into a slower world that proves hard to leave behind. Amid her own quiet struggles with loneliness, Willow finds herself drawn to Enya, who has returned to her hometown for the same fleeting month. Over the course of four weeks, Willow must decide whether to leave the summer behind as a sweet memory or fight for something more, despite the ocean between them and the heartbreak that may follow.

As their families become irrevocably intertwined, Enya's name resurfaces at every family dinner, and with it comes the loneliness Willow thought the summer had cured. Like her mother before her, she finds herself bound to a summer she cannot seem to leave behind.

How do you move forward when part of you never quite made it home?

Genres: Lesbian, Summer, Fiction, Queer, Gay, Romance, LGBT

Paperback

Published June 1, 2026

Reviews

[Emmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written poetic novella about finding love in a place you least expected to and fighting against the odds to keep it. The Salt On Our Skin will probably stay in my heart forever, and I’ll gladly keep it. The love story of Willow and Enya deeply captivated me, and I just couldn’t put the book down even if I tried. Which I didn't. Ellis meticulously painted Greece in a way that felt like I spent the summer there, and I didn’t want to go home. Their families and friends felt realistic and each stood out in their own way, so I fell in love with them too. All the affection, yearning, and love had a vice grip on my heart that wouldn’t let go until the very end. Willow and Enya won me over and fans of sapphic love stories where you can emotionally connect with the characters will enjoy it too. I highly recommend giving this a read.


“I could feel her whole body rising and falling with her breath, and I found myself breathing in time with her, without trying to.”

[Joce (squibblesreads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

cause of death: the yearning in this book

[em :p · Rating 4 out of 5]

greek queer love stories will always do it for me.
this book was so so beautifully written; i was truly invested from the very first chapter and finished it in only two sittings.
all the characters in this story feel so real – its impossible to not love them, not care for them, not feel every little emotion they feel. within the first 15% of the book, i had already been transported to that beautiful house by the beach.
im trying very very hard to be subjective, because the little greek lesbian inside me is fighting to not scream about how much i loved this love story.
( i was very kindly given an arc for this book by the author. )

[Elizabeth Knowles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would like to thank the author who sent me an ARC of this book to read and review! Book is now available on Amazon and KU :)
This book was mesmerising. The structure was so poetic, and I genuinely had to force myself to put it down when I had work to do. The relationships between the various characters were amazingly written and felt so genuine and realistic. The love, the longing, and the YEARNING… omg, I am in love.
Such a perfect book to read, especially on a sunny day (The book is mainly set in Greece).
Genuinely such an amazing novel, and I can’t wait to read any future works.

[Polaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC yesterday and actually expected for it to take some time until I finished it, since I don't have much free time at the moment.
That was, until I started reading it. I was immediately captured by the story and literally didn't manage to put it down until it was done.
I didn't even stop to eat - that's how wonderful this book is and I feel honoured to be one of the first people to ever have the chance to read it.
I can't wait to read what else Rhea will publish in the future.

[mali · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you're looking for one of the best sapphic romances you'll read, this is it. the salt on your skin is one of the most beautiful and well written books i've read in a long time, and i was completely shocked to discover this is the authors debut. As a novella, it is a bit shorter than the average book I read. however, the author managed to squeeze in more detail and raw romance than a 500 page book could dream of. every single word and moment was intentional and built a beautiful scene every single time.

to start, the imagery in this book is incredible. the amount of detail pulls you into their world. it made me yearn for another southern europe summer, LOL. i saw a lot of myself in both enya and willow and their love story. i would gladly read an entire series about their lives together.

everything felt so authentic, from the pacing, the yearning, their families, and how it all came together. i'm honestly not sure if this story would have worked if it was a longer novel; the brevity of it all only adds to the feeling of their fleeting initial summer together.

there is a bit of spice referenced throughout the novel but nothing overt, another aspect that works in the storys favor. this is truly a story about all encompassing, poetic, authentic, raw love and attraction, and i will gladly read whatever comes next from ellis.

(is the cover AI?)

[⋆˚࿔ kirsten ˚⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

Ik mocht dit boek als ARC lezen in ruil voor een eerlijke review, dus bij deze mijn gedachten :)

Enorm speelse en ontzettend mooie schrijfstijl! De zinnen vloeien echt lekker en ik vond het taalgebruik heel sfeervol. Het was lekker fast-paced en ik heb het boek binnen 1 dag uitgelezen en heb er oprecht van genoten.

Qua romance vond ik het wel vrij vlot gaan, maar dat paste eigenlijk prima bij de luchtige vibe.

Dit is echt zo’n boek dat perfect is voor op het strand; je wordt heerlijk meegenomen, het leest makkelijk weg en je kunt het daarna ook weer prima afsluiten met een fijn gevoel. Is het een literair meesterwerk? Nee, maar dat hoeft ook niet en was ook niet wat ik verwachtte in dit geringe aantal pagina's.

Er zitten ontzettend veel tropes in, maar ze waren voor mijn gevoel net niet diep genoeg uitgewerkt om écht een sterke connectie met de personages te voelen. Daardoor was ik emotioneel niet mega invested in de zwaardere momenten en las ik daar ook vrij makkelijk overheen. Vandaar dat ik dan toch op 3.5 uitkom.

Dat betekent niet dat ik het geen leuk verhaal vond! De schrijfstijl is een groot pluspunt en voor zo’n 200 pagina’s was het echt een lekker, luchtig verhaal dat gewoon fijn wegleest en je even helemaal meeneemt naar Griekenland.

Ik zou absoluut nog een volgend boek van deze auteur oppakken!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for gifting me an arc!
I keep saying it but queer/sapphic love stories are soooo important to me. While reading the I kept thinking I want to be on a beach in the sun, that would be the perfect experience for the book. The first half of the book really got me. The looks, the tention, the will they won’t they, the finally giving in to what they both want. In the second half the time jumps kind of confused me, I didn’t understand what happened for a little bit, but caught up eventually. The ending was absolutely beautiful and they both deserve all the happiness in the world

[Luna Babai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to receive an ARC of this book, and it was absolutely worth it! I was completely transported to warm summer evenings in Greece and drawn into the love between Willow and Enya. I couldn’t put the book down. Definitely a highly recommended read!

[Blanche Maze · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and poetic story

- I would like to thank the author for the eARC -

STANDALONE
Years ago, Willow and Enya's mothers were friends, until life pulled them apart, despite themselves. Now, they decided to spend one summer together, in Enya's family house in Greece. Willow had not planned to fall in love, but then Enya arrived, and she did. And even as they explore this irresistible, natural and obvious thing that links them together, they know it can never last. That it has to fade with the summer. Even if both of them would rather hold onto it forever.

This book is the kind that doesn't leave you. The kind that you fall into from the very first chapter and never want to end. What struck me the most about this novel was the writing. I felt like I was reading a classic, and I have no doubt that students would find a lot of things to say if they studied it. It was poetic, raw and powerful, in a way that really stayed with me. There was little dialogue, because it wasn't needed. The author told Enya and Willow's story through unsaid words, lingering glances, small touches and shared looks. It made the story softer, warmer, more real and immersive, in a way that surprised me. I fell in love, in Greece, with them, for one summer, and it was everything. This is a story of love, longing, grief, need and poetry, one that I will remember for a long time and will probably reread one day, just to bask in its beauty once more.

I highly recommend if you like beautiful stories of love that leave a mark.

TW: homophobia, domestic abuse (mention), death, grief

[Leah Papp · Rating 5 out of 5]

LESBIAN YEARNING!!!! more people need to be talking about this book!!! it had the essence of ‘Sunburn’ but a more adult version. and a sunburn was mentioned multiple times. ahem. “The memory lingered in my skin like a sunburn. Warm, insistent, impossible to ignore.” i am also a sucker for any book that includes love letters. and it perfectly captured how sweltering summer is which i CRAVE from summer books. i just wish it was longerrrr i need more!!!

p.s. it made me very happen to learn at the end that the author is living in greece with her girlfriend and their four cats <3

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found a snippet of this book on TikTok, and just had to read it. Needless to say, after buying the book I stayed up all night reading it.

It was such a smooth read, and it keeps you hooked. The stories, the characters, the falling in love - the slow burn of it actually makes you fall in love with this book.

The build up and the storyline is SO GOOD. It leaves you feeling all the emotions, the longing, the stolen stares, the love, the butterflies, the heartbreak, the grief and of course all of it while painting the perfect picture of the surroundings and the settings.

[Gerrica Clouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written poetic novella that captured me right from the start. The writing made me feel like I was apart of the story and I was able to so closely connect with the characters’ emotions. I cried from the beginning of Part II all the way until the end so you know it’s a good book

[Niamh Gallagher · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

I am honestly so so grateful to have been able to experience this beautiful piece of writing!!

Enya and Willow captured my heart and although short, their story really had a lot of impact on my emotions, I just really wish it was longer 🥺

[zoriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this book in one sitting on a beach in croatia and wow, this novella is so poignant and magical
ellis’s writing feels like it’s jumping off the page with the descriptive language, i could feel willow and enya’s yearning deep in my chest

[Willow Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful book lots of lesbian yearning my fav😍

[Natalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the honor of being an ARC reader and received a free ebook copy from the author.

I just finished reading this book and I loved it!! The writing style is sooooo good and really smooth. I went through the text so easily. I’m also very impressed by the overall quality; for a self-published debut without a full editorial team, it’s really amazing! Any minor errors were barely noticeable and didn’t take away from the story at all.

I loved the slow burn, the characters, and the intimate scenes. I usually don’t read romance, especially when it has sexual content in it, but this one was really good!! I’m excited to see this author grow and will definitely be looking out for future releases 💗 Genuinely recommend to anyone who is looking for a good wlw romance.

[4tahyun · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ "Liking girls wouldn’t be so difficult, if others didn’t make it so."

This made me feel so understood and absolutely fall in love with Greece. Every single word pulled me into its spell.

[aphrodite · Rating 4 out of 5]

many thanks to rhea ellis for sending me an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

the salt on our skin is a lesbian novella majorly taking place in greece, and telling the story of two women thrust together due to their mothers’ rekindled friendship, decades after they first met. it is fast-paced, easy to read, quick to finish, but god, is it also devastating.

the writing reels you in slowly, methodically, the scant plot is photographic, you follow the relationship of the two women as though you are an innocent bystander privy only to small glimpses of their grant relationship. you follow the two as they circle each other like atoms drawn together by an inescapable bond, like the opposing ends of two magnets, which you can’t keep apart from each other because the draw is just too powerful. the pages come and go and the feelings gather and gather and keep on gathering until you feel the physical weight of them on your chest.

if you have loved a woman, you feel that love simmer underneath your fingertips as you read, you feel it darken your vision, suddenly that longing is the only thing you have ever felt in your life, and whenever willow stares at enya underneath the glare of sunlight you are her. of course she’s mesmerized, of course willow is so wholly taken by her, to love a girl is to be destroyed, so singular it is, so forceful.

i once had someone compliment my own writing by saying my prose is “such a quiet power, it just pulls you in.” it is a compliment that has stuck with me for every sentence i have strung together since then, and a feeling i hope to evoke in every piece i write going forward. so i’m going to use the same compliment for rhea ellis here; her writing pulled me in, and this is only her debut. i can’t wait to see what will be next.

[bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rhea Ellis’s debut, The Salt on Our Skin, is nothing short of magnificent. It’s rare to find a first novel that feels this confident, moving, and technically brilliant all at once. While the story is set in Greece, the author captures the "irrelevant" details of a Mediterranean summer with such vivid precision that I was instantly transported back to my own childhood summers in Italy. She has this uncanny ability to turn small, sensory moments into something deeply personal.
Specifically, her description of an outdoor shower, it unlocked a memory engraved in me that came with growing up with sunny weather and the sea a few meters away. The way the water starts off almost too hot because the pipes have been baking in the sun all day, only to turn bracingly cold just as you start to feel clean, hit me with a wave of nostalgia I wasn't expecting.

It’s those "small" things that make the world of this book feel so lived-in and real.

The plot itself is incredibly original, but the way it advances is what really blew me away.

It managed to be completely unexpected while simultaneously feeling like the only way the story could have possibly unfolded.
It gave me exactly what I needed, even when I didn’t know I needed it.

As for the characters, they felt less like fictional constructs and more like versions of myself. I found it amazing how deeply I was able to connect with both protagonists; I saw my own flaws, hopes, and history reflected in them both.


If you want a book that stays with you long after the final page, this is it. Rhea Ellis is a major new talent, and I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

[J.S Donkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Rhea Ellis for sending over the e-ARC.

This book follows two young women who meet through their mothers as they reconnect during a Mediterranean summer, navigating desire, loss and whether their connection was fleeting or lasting.

This was such a fun, yet emotional story. It is incredibly well written, and I was fully immersed in the story from the beginning. It perfectly encapsulates the feeling of a new crush without it becoming stale, predictable or overtly, aggressively sexual as some books of this nature can fall into and Willow’s inner monologue feels incredibly similar to my own.
It also perfectly balances what it shows us and what it doesn’t, every scene is important to the characters in some way, but we still gather information about the scenes we don’t see. This is exactly what I needed at this point in my life, both in terms of romantic and familiar relationships. Incredibly well executed and I can’t wait to see what Ellis comes out with next.

This review has been cross-posted on StoryGraph and Goodreads.

[Lieke van Vliet · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all I would like to thank the author for kindly letting me read the eArc!!

Wow. This book was simply stunning, so captivating and I couldn’t put it down. I loved the writing style, it’s so poetic and it felt like the exact right length. Not a word too many, yet every important detail was there. I could picture the summer house, smell the summer and feel hot sun on my skin. This book will stay with me for a long time, and I’ll gladly have it

[Ronja Rosé · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a debut novel by Rhea Ellis, about two women falling in love during vacation, and going through ups and downs.
This was truly amazing. 🫶🏼
The characters, the story all well written.
I felt like part 2 was a bit rushed. I really adored such a good story. 🌺
I‘d like to read more written by such a wonderful person.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was drawn to this book and lucky enough to receive an ARC. For fans of "Hot Milk" and people who have made deep, unforgettable connections with people while traveling. Absolutely loved following this story that gave me about a million flashbacks from my own life. 10/10 would recommend!

[Gyubrik pilled]

voy a ser honesta: me gustó mucho su relación pero me pareció mucha descripción y poca acción. me explico, siento que muchas conversaciones entre ellas queda como implícito, como 'pasaron muchos días así' más que mostrarlo y pienso que, sobre todo al principio, cuando se conocen, es cuando más diálogo me debes mostrar, más momentos entre ellas, ver cómo se enamoran y enamorarme con ellas de su relación. así que en ese sentido me faltó, pero sí sentí amor en la obra así que kudos a la autora ^^

[AM · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friends are going to get sick of me talking about this book . It was so beautifully written and the characters felt so real . I already miss Enya, “Lowie “ and Dominic. This was my first 5 star read of 2026

[bookluvr23 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall fine. It was not what I had expected it to be but it was still fun. There were some parts that were so so good and others that just sort of fell flat. Overall it was an easy read and fine. So, 3/5

[No Thank · Rating 5 out of 5]

sunburn with a happy ending 😜😜

[Hayley Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this as a quick read to read in one sitting! Enjoyed that is was set mainly in Greece, getting me slowly into the summer reads

[Elliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact this is a debut is crazy! so beautifully written. The characters feel so real. ugh loved it