House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

House of Salt and Sorrows (Sisters of the Salt, #1)

by Erin A. Craig

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Get swept away by this “haunting” (Bustle) novel about twelve beautiful sisters living on an isolated island estate who begin to mysteriously die one by one.

"Step inside a fairy tale." —Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there 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 her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls 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. House of Salt and Sorrows is a spellbinding novel filled with magic and the rustle of gossamer skirts down long, dark hallways. Be careful who you dance with...

And don't miss Erin A. Craig's newest novel, The Thirteenth Child, a haunting and romantic novel about the impossible choices we make in the name of love.

Reviewed by bestmessever on

4 of 5 stars

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I didn't know anything going into this book. I found the way the 12 dancing princesses fairytale was interwoven rather subtle for the first half of the book and I really loved the way it kinda starts dawning on you as you read. I like the way the narration is done and that for a while you become unsure if you trust what you are being told as fact or fiction. The bonds between the sisters are fun to watch unfold and to understand their past as our main character is also finding out more about stuff. I also really liked the way that this book didn't shy away from the grief that strangles our main character even as she is trying to begin living again. It allows itself to be really sad in a way that a book with this much death needs to be.

I really didn't like the very very end just because I think it cheapened all the characters went through.

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  • 27 April, 2020: Reviewed