2.5 stars rounded up. I really enjoyed the premise and the characters but the writing itself is a problem. The first 30% or so was hard to get into as the writing is a little odd - a lot of extra words that read like Duplessis really utilized their thesaurus instead of writing in a natural flow. Some of the words are also used in a contextual or grammatically incorrect way for a North American reader. It was hard to really understand what was being expressed/thought/said by the characters. However, after that 30% or so point, I must have just gotten used to it because I started to really get into and enjoy the story.
Both Tom and Theo are very sweet and their relationship felt organic though it does have trauma as the catalyst - be warned if you're sensitive to suicide ideation and mental issues.

The next book in the series focuses on David who I have no interest in. He was a bit of a non-character in this book and I'm not interested in his father issues so I probably won't be moving forward here. I would like to read more about Paul and Alistair like the end of this book seems to tease.

Overall, if you want a book that challenges your vocabulary, this might be for you. Unfortunately, the magical and selkie elements are almost an afterthought so don't expect much there - but that might be explored in more books if Duplessis continues.