Name: samantha lias's review of House of salt and sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Item: House of salt and sorrows
Rating: 4.5
Author: samantha lias

Erin A. Craig

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...


House of salt and sorrows

Elin Hakvoort

“I’m fine. Are you hurt?” ~ Annaleigh

jana 

I'd befriended this woman, and all along she'd been killing off my family with no greater pain than crossing items off a list.

Ligeia had reached her free arm out into the snow, searching for the hand of her sister, looking for Lenore, desperate to leave the world as they had entered it. Together. 

Cassius was at my back, trying to pull me off the bodies. No. Not bodies. Rosalie. Ligeia. My beautiful, carefree sisters. They weren't bodies. They couldn't be dead. They couldn't be...

"Step inside a fairy tale."--Stephanie Garber, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Caraval Get swept away by the New York Times bestseller that Melissa Albert, author of The Hazel Wood, calls "eerie" and "lovely." As one by one her beautiful sisters mysteriously die on their isolated island estate, Annaleigh must unravel the curse that haunts her family. Be careful who you dance with... 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. Get ready to be swept away. "An eerie, lovely Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling full of ghosts and gods and a fascinating waterfront world and I'm reading it from behind my fingers."--Melissa Albert, New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

House of Salt and Sorrows

Reagan Davidson 

samantha lias

On a remote island estate, Annaleigh Thaumas, the sixth-born of twelve sisters, enlists the aid of an alluring stranger to unravel the family curse before it claims her life in this twist on The Twelve Dancing Sisters.

I’m giving this book three stars. The main reason for this rating is that I wanted to DNF (did not finish) the book multiple times. First, I had to listen to this as an audiobook and read along to finish it. For some reason, the author’s writing style just didn’t resonate with me. Second, I disliked the stepmother and the father in the story. The stepmother took attention away from the death of the girl’s sister and didn’t honor the traditions of the family she recently married into. Additionally, the father dismissed Annaleigh’s concerns about things going wrong, instead of believing her. I also found it disgraceful how he treated his second wife and daughters.

Chulandon leanday Bradley 

Spooky Twelve Dancing Princesses? Yes, please!

sharkie

Jennifer Gosnell

I wanted to like this book more than I did. So I’ll start with the good. It was atmospheric, and painted a cool portrait of the islands and the dancing and everything. And I was overall satisfied with the ending. However, it felt like the plot finally got started about 60% in. And the characters were all a bit flat for me. 

It was a good book, but not a great book. I liked the writing though, and I would definitely check out this author in the future.

Linara K.S

I thank the spirits for my choice! I read this book as an audiobook and let me tell you... The thriller/horror factor was marvellously executed. I had chills and I'm ashamed of admitting that I may have stopped breathing once or twice in the night before getting up from my bed in the middle of the night just to check if no demons have wandered into my room. I know... I was that scared. Highly recommend this book only for the intrigue and atmosphere. I veritably thought I was in the book with the main character. As I am a paranoiac, I kept throwing suspicions on everyone Annaleigh (the main character) met.

VERY FUN!!! Loved the horror scenes. The author gave the unreliable narrator feeling in some scenes very well. Loved the romance. Overall, very cool book.

Pleasantly surprised how drenched in horror this was. The slow descent to madness was great and Cassius can do whatever he wants 

Florence

Maria

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand the atmosphere in this book is so well done, all dark gritty and always keeping you a little on the edge. I also think it had a very good start and it hooked me in right from the first page. But on the other hand I feel like as a mystery novel it kind of lacks, mostly because for a long while the entire murder investigation seems to have been entirely forgotten. By the time I reached the 50% mark I was kind of bored, and the lack of characterisation that the other characters (apart from our MC Annaleigh) get, kind of played a lot into this. I wish more attention would've been given to the relationships between the sisters and the whole family as a whole, than on the (rather unnecessary) romance plot. This way I think the mystery and atmosphere could've been amped up. I did love the worldbuilding though, and loved hearing tidbits about the other parts of the kingdom, apart from Highmoor. Also, can we appreciate how pretty this cover is?

Overall, a promising debut and I'm definitely going to book up Craig's next works. I kinda expected to give this a higher rating, especially since it was so promising giving the premise of the story and how easily it hooked me in at the beginning.

Christine

WWHAHT THE FRICK I REGRET READING AT NIGHT

Sandrin

WOW. This book took me on a wild ride.
I was promised a dark fairy tale but I got so much more. Starting from the first paragraph I was hooked and couldn't put the book down. It had it all - mystery, creepy ghosts, beautiful balls, romance, and murder. 

The story was unpredictable, the characters endearing and believable (would fight for those thirsty sisters any day). I also loved how I narrowly managed to avoid a love triangle because if there is something I cannot stand that's the love triangle(the mere thought makes me wanna scream).

5/5 fairy shoes for sure

Janice

*3,5*

So after I bought this book I saw a lot of comments saying that this is a horror book. For the chickens among us, including myself, it is not really a horror book but features ghosts at times. However, these ghosts are quite passive so while it is still super scary (like I said, I'm a chicken), I would not classify it as horror. But tip from me: do not read it in the dark, that is still a bad idea.

Onto the story. The beginning of the book promises some detective-like features but it takes very long before this is actually worked out and then I still wouldn't really classify it as detective but more as "look what I happened to find out". While the beginning of the book is interesting there isn't much happening. Only when the story nears its final 100 pages the plot gets really good. 

While the story appears to be about the twelve dancing princesses (as most of us will know from the Barbie movies), this is hardly used in the story and could in my opinion have served more purpose. It is not really a fairytale, like Stephanie Garber claims on the cover, but just a story.

Oh, my darling Annaleigh, remember when you let the turtles go? Some things can’t be kept. 

Let me spell to you, this book is: S-P-E-C-T-A-C-U-L-A-R. House of Salt and Sorrows really creep me out. I can't put it down—the mystery within it literally hooked me till the end. Thaumas households and their girls... I always curious "what will they do next?"

When you read HoSaS, you will always suspected everyone as the murderer. I couldn't even slept peacefully at night because of this, not gonna lie. 

So in conclusion, if you want a lush spooky read, go read this book!

I’m struggling so much deciding how many stars to give this book and what to write in this review.

The horror: 4/5. Loved it, but I was sad it was fake sometimes. 

The story: 4/5 for the beginning and 3/5 for the end. I loved the way the author described the deaths of the sisters. All so different but all so sad. But I was a little bit sad about the reveal. I wanted to know more about how they exactly died. normally I don’t like it when it’s all blamed on some magical god, but with this book I can live with it. I’m just sad the end wasn’t explained further. I wanted to know more about Morella and Ortun (and his mixed personality. When he found out about the baby, did he eventually learned to love Morella truly?). I also wanted to know more about the ‘curse’, how did the older sisters die? What was Viscardi’s direct role in this? Why from oldest to youngest, but then suddenly the triplets? And wouldn’t the sisters talk about their deaths when speaking with Cassius? Didn’t Eulalie know who pushed her? Was she actually going to elope or was she planning on telling everybody about Morella first?

I did love the dancing part. It creeped me out, in a good way. I can imagine them dancing in their rooms with no one. So creepy. Loved it.

I’m struggling so much deciding how many stars to give this book and what to write in this review.

The horror: 4/5. Loved it, but I was sad it was fake sometimes. 

The story: 4/5 for the beginning and 3/5 for the end. I loved the way the author described the deaths of the sisters. All so different but all so sad. But I was a little bit sad about the reveal. I wanted to know more about how they exactly died. normally I don’t like it when it’s all blamed on some magical god, but with this book I can live with it. I’m just sad the end wasn’t explained further. I wanted to know more about Morella and Ortun (and his mixed personality. When he found out about the baby, did he eventually learned to love Morella truly?). I also wanted to know more about the ‘curse’, how did the older sisters die? What was Viscardi’s direct role in this? Why from oldest to youngest, but then suddenly the triplets? And wouldn’t the sisters talk about their deaths when speaking with Cassius? Didn’t Eulalie know who pushed her? Was she actually going to elope or was she planning on telling everybody about Morella first?

I did love the dancing part. It creeped me out, in a good way. I can imagine them dancing in their rooms with no one. So creepy. Loved it.

Samantha gust 

So This book was my Book Clubs September Pick and I have to say I loved it. A bit of mystery, add a pinch of romance and a dash of horror and you get House of salt and sorrows. This story is about the Thaumas sisters. In the beginning, we see them struggling with loss as we go on in the book we find things are not what they seem there ln salann. With a new stepmother and step siblings on the way and people dying you never Know who to trust. We see this story from Annaleighs point of view as she tries to find out what really happened to her sisters but when you make a deal with a trickster you better be ready to pay they price.

 this book made me so very dizzy and i wish i didn’t finish it. i wish i could live my silly little life in that silly little world post-everything being sorted with the silly little sea turtles 

Vicky (A City Girl's Thoughts)

Trigger Warnings: Rape, sexual assault, assault, mild gore, mild violence

I'm usually not a fan of horror but this is mild enough for me to read. The violence and gore are pretty much minimal and not specifically graphic (except for one scene). This is a retelling of Grimm's 12 Dancing Princesses, but darker. The pace flowed properly - not too fast or too slow - and the ending took on a thriller-esque feel as Craig used the unreliable narrator trope, forcing us to question whether everything really happened or not, but there are discrepancies that leave a small hole within her plot that's too big to ignore, especially one towards the end. I can't post it because it's a spoiler but I don't understand if the curse happened before the deal was struck (when Annaleigh's older sisters' died) or after? It throws off the whole mystery. In conclusion, the writing is excellent (even though the epilogue is kind of corny) and kept me engaged. I didn't expect Craig to use the unreliable narrator trope but it made this retelling even better!

4 Stars   *A sinister spin on a classic fairytale*      

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my favorite fairytales. I’ve always loved the idea of all those princesses sneaking about – not for boys – but because they simply wanted to dance the night away. Retellings are tricky things, but the premise of House of Sale and Sorrows definitely grabbed my attention. In this version, twelve daughters of a Duke live in a grand manor house on a remote island. But someone or something is causing the sisters to die one by one.   I was hesitant because of it being YA, and because of the plug by Stephanie Garber prominently featured on the front cover. Garber’s writing represents almost everything that plagues the YA genre, so that almost stopped me from reading this book. (Yes, I went there. And I stand by that statement.)  But I really love The Twelve Dancing Princesses, so I soldiered on. Thankfully Craig is a far better writer! So I am glad I went ahead with this book.   One immediately noticeable problem is that this book did not have a map. I love looking at maps, and I frequently reference them when reading books that include them. If your story is set in a fictional world it should always have a map! Yes, most of House of Sale and Sorrows took place in one small area, but the story frequently references other places, so a map would have really helped!   The worldbuilding was mostly straightforward. At first I was a little confused about the gods in this story. At first it seemed like just religious references but then it turns out that their gods do still make appearances to the humans and occasionally interact with them. It was a little unclear in the beginning. There was definitely some Greek mythology influence here though, so that was cool.   The first half of the story wasn’t atmospheric enough. It was engaging enough, but the scenes I pictured in my head (heavily inspired by growing up on the coast of Maine) were so much more atmospheric than what I was reading. But the second half was much better at building the creepy ambiance and psychological suspense. I think if this hadn’t been a young adult book, then it wouldn’t have been so squeamish about the horror elements. It had the potential to be absolutely chilling in the best way. And when the darker bits finally kicked in, I could not stop turning the pages!   There is some violence in this story, by the way, so this may be more suited to older teens.   House of Sale and Sorrows still featured some of the standard YA troupes: the angst, the love triangle, a lot of overly convenient coincidences. I felt mostly ambivalent about the main character, Annaleigh. She was a bit of goody-two-shoes. I wasn’t rooting against her or anything, but she did have a rather bland personality.  Nevertheless, this was overall a solid, enjoyable story and very impressive for a debut novel. If you like creepy, twisted retellings, then check out House of Sale and Sorrows! I look forward to seeing what Craig comes out with next.    RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 5 Stars Writing Style: 4 Stars Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars Level of Captivation: 4 Stars Originality: 4 Stars

Colleen

4 Stars   *A sinister spin on a classic fairytale*      

   

The Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my favorite fairytales. I’ve always loved the idea of all those princesses sneaking about – not for boys – but because they simply wanted to dance the night away. Retellings are tricky things, but the premise of House of Sale and Sorrows definitely grabbed my attention. In this version, twelve daughters of a Duke live in a grand manor house on a remote island. But someone or something is causing the sisters to die one by one.   I was hesitant because of it being YA, and because of the plug by Stephanie Garber prominently featured on the front cover. Garber’s writing represents almost everything that plagues the YA genre, so that almost stopped me from reading this book. (Yes, I went there. And I stand by that statement.)  But I really love The Twelve Dancing Princesses, so I soldiered on. Thankfully Craig is a far better writer! So I am glad I went ahead with this book.   One immediately noticeable problem is that this book did not have a map. I love looking at maps, and I frequently reference them when reading books that include them. If your story is set in a fictional world it should always have a map! Yes, most of House of Sale and Sorrows took place in one small area, but the story frequently references other places, so a map would have really helped!   The worldbuilding was mostly straightforward. At first I was a little confused about the gods in this story. At first it seemed like just religious references but then it turns out that their gods do still make appearances to the humans and occasionally interact with them. It was a little unclear in the beginning. There was definitely some Greek mythology influence here though, so that was cool.   The first half of the story wasn’t atmospheric enough. It was engaging enough, but the scenes I pictured in my head (heavily inspired by growing up on the coast of Maine) were so much more atmospheric than what I was reading. But the second half was much better at building the creepy ambiance and psychological suspense. I think if this hadn’t been a young adult book, then it wouldn’t have been so squeamish about the horror elements. It had the potential to be absolutely chilling in the best way. And when the darker bits finally kicked in, I could not stop turning the pages!   There is some violence in this story, by the way, so this may be more suited to older teens.   House of Sale and Sorrows still featured some of the standard YA troupes: the angst, the love triangle, a lot of overly convenient coincidences. I felt mostly ambivalent about the main character, Annaleigh. She was a bit of goody-two-shoes. I wasn’t rooting against her or anything, but she did have a rather bland personality.  Nevertheless, this was overall a solid, enjoyable story and very impressive for a debut novel. If you like creepy, twisted retellings, then check out House of Sale and Sorrows! I look forward to seeing what Craig comes out with next.    RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 5 Stars Writing Style: 4 Stars Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars Level of Captivation: 4 Stars Originality: 4 Stars

Lacy W

Thank you to Delacorte Press and Netgalley for allowing me to read this eARC early. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

TW: stillborn children, murder, suicide, use of word whore 

Friends, I have no idea how to even begin to write this review. This book has absolutely captured my heart with its beautiful setting and lush descriptions. I found that I was drowning in the story in the best possible way. Just writing this review makes me want to read it again. 

What I especially loved about this was the religion system. I know what you are thinking. Lacy, you don’t like religion. You would be correct to say that. But I love learning about different religions. And the religion system here was no exception. Annaleigh’s (the MC whose name is so gorgeous) people are from the Salt or the ocean basically. So whenever they die, they are returned to the Salt. See, Annaleigh and her people believe they came from the god, Pontus, which I think is similar to Poseidon. I’ll let you guys read the book to find ore more because it’s seriously so cool to learn it all. It was one my favorite things about this book. 

Annaleigh was great and I would die for her. Her love for her sisters was heartwarming. I love my baby sister with my entire being and cannot imagine losing her like Annaleigh lost several of hers. The grief was portrayed so well. Annaleigh still lived her life but never forgot her sisters. I also appreciated that she tried to get along with her step mother even though she wasn’t the biggest fan of her. Even though I had a bad experience with a step mom, it bothers me to see them portrayed negatively. That wasn’t necessarily the case in this book. The step mom tried her best and that’s all I can ask for. 

The romance between Annaleigh and Cassius was swoonworthy, if a little instalovey. But I found I didn’t mind that too much. After all, Annaleigh is a teenager. I’m pretty sure when I was a teenager, I fell in love with someone everyday. I was a messy teenager, honestly. 

Overall, I cannot sing this book’s praises enough. It was perfect, from the cover to the last word. The twists and the turns had me screaming. The romance made me swoon. If you only read one book this year, make sure it’s this one. Erin A Craig, you have a fan in me.

Sloan MacDonald

finally, a happy ending! 

I loved this world. I loved this plot. I loved the ending. 4 stars.

When I tell you I was so hyped for this god damn book, twelve dancing princesses retelling??? With spooky murder mystery elements??? I just HAD to read it!

I struggled so much to figure out what to rate this oh my god??? The very beginning was amazing and I was so excited to see what’d happen. About half way though, I was kinda losing my will to live as it felt just so romance heavy and just…boring for a bit? Plus the horror elements just weren’t quite captivating me (which low-key stayed for most of the book) I was so sure I’d rate it a solid 3*…BUT THEN THAT FINAL 1/3??? WHAT THE F*CK???

I genuinely haven’t read a book with that many twists and turns nearing the end as this one I genuinely couldn’t put it down and had to binge the entire last 100 pages all in one go…I’m sat here just omg??? Every time I thought I had it figured out I was so thrown!

I’m giving it 3.5* purely for the thrill I just experienced in that last 100 pages.

Shawna Delellis

I loved this book! It was so easy to read and kept you wanting more. I loved the dark fairytale aspect!

Ana Paula

I've read a fair bit of retellings by now, I enjoyed the We hunt the flame duology and loved the lunar chronicles.
But this book was spectacular, it was amazing to see the 12 dancing princesses story turned into this dark, magical version (speciallly I think, since I can't think of the story without imagining the barbie movie and this was so different from that)
And the ending! 😭 I loved it

House of Salt and Sorrows – Só és bánat háza

Kalmár Kitti

4,5⭐
A könyv elején nem nagyon értettem, hogy hogy lehet ezt a sztorit "gyönyörűnek" nevezni. Oké, nagyon jó a könyv, de, hogy gyönyörű? 
De aztán a könyv végére megértettem. Teljesen magával ragadott a könyv és a karakterek, illetve maga a kis világ is

giorgia :)

SOOO GOOOD!!!
i loved the darkness of this book and that we had no way of knowing who was behind the “curse”. this book broke my heart and stitched it back together. loved it so so much, recommend to everyone!!

samantha lias &
House of salt and sorrows by Erin A. Craig

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