House of Salt & Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

It shouldn’t matter what your parents did, just what you do as a person.

-Erin A. Craig, House of Salt & Sorrows

Ok, it should be pretty easy to tell from my bookshelf that I am a Fantasy reader 90% of the time, Romance 5% of the time, and Murder/Crime 5% of the time. Horror is literally never on this list. And man did I not know just how CREEPY this book would get. But holy shit did I love every sentance. I was happily granted the ARC of the second book House of Roots & Ruin and I started reading it before I realized that, despite it being on my physical TBR for years. So, on a long flight from San Jose to Tokyo I loaded this one up and dove in. I hadn’t ever read a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses or even the original fairy tale, so the whole premise of the story was new to me!

I think my husband lost count of how many times he looked over at me and my mouth was agape at what I was reading! This book was creepy, scary, thrilling, horrifying, and about a dozen other descriptions. And all of them equaled a book I was delighted to fall in love with.

I honestly don’t know how to talk about this book without giving away massive spoilers. Suffice it to say, it made me want to call my sister and tell her how much I love her. Made me want to check all the mirrors in my house and check my shoes in the morning. And made me think Cassius was such a sweet love interest, who managed to support our heroine without her needing him to save her. Now that I’m back home from Japan I can’t wait to dive into House of Roots & Ruin.

Book Particulars:

• Page Count: 403 Pages
• Publisher: Delacorte
• Edition Read – eBook – checked out from library via Libby
• Release Date: August 6, 2019
• Dates Read: Started and finished March 12, 2023

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.