Title: House of Salt and Sorrows
Author: Erin A. Craig
Genre: Fantasy, Retelling, YA, Mystery/ Horror
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Format: e-arc
Release: August 6, 2019
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn’t sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?
When Annaleigh’s involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it’s a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next
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This is a spoiler free review.
As you may know in April I participated in the OWLs Magical Readathon , striving for the librarian career. I read this one for the Defense Against the Dark Arts: Set at Sea prompt. Even though it isn’t technically set on the sea, it does takes place at their home/city that is directly on the ocean and they worship sea gods so I felt it counted.
This books really came as a surprise to me. I went into it not really knowing much but came out really admiring it overall. I didn’t know that is was a lose retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses until a good bit in. I absolutely loved that fairytale growing up so I loved that aspect. I really liked that element because it was very losely based on that story and that allowed this book to still keep it’s own story. With that said I had no idea this book was going to have aspects of horror and I am a big wuss. However the mystery was just so intriguing that I was able to get through it.
What I Liked: I have to say that my favorite part was the family aspect and the way the girls interact with one another. I felt the descriptions for each was very well done and we got to see a lot of each. I also was totally here for the romance. I love having romance in my books especially slow burn like this one felt. & the love interest was soo swoon worthy (in my opinion). I also love plot twists in books and there were definitely things I didn’t predict which was fun. It definitely keeps you guessing on what was gonna happen and made me keep trying to come up with theories of how it would end.
What I Didn’t Like: Overall, I gave this book 4 stars. The only reason I deducted a star was because I felt the beginning was slightly confusing. I did a buddy read with some girls on instagram and we stopped halfway to discuss and we were all so confused. However, some of that was part of the mystery we would find out later but some was just due to sloppiness. But after about halfway the pacing and story really picked up. I know that some people didn’t really like the ending but honestly I loved it and maybe I am a sucker for “happy” endings because I just felt that the characters in this book go through a lot and they deserved it.
I really admired that it wasn’t your typical fantasy. It had such a unique plot with beautiful characters, great family aspects and a killer ending (no pun intended). Definitely recommend if you like darker retellings and a story that makes you want to keep reading! & of course thank you to Netgalley and Delacourte Press for granting me a copy of this book to read and review. Thank you for checking out my review and happy reading everyone.
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