House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
Published: 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.
OK, so…what was this!? It was so good! I wasn’t expecting it AT ALL. Like it came out of NOWHERE and just kept me in it’s clutches.
House of Salt and Sorrows takes place in Highmoor. A manor by the sea, everything is nautical themed and everything about this setting as perfection. It had creepy vibes throughout and all I could think of was this house by the sea that just felt like it was on the verge of just being dark and damp and just the smell of salt permeating every crevice. This book was SO well written, I couldn’t believe it.
It has a very like gothic vibe, I felt like I was reading something almost like the Netflix show Haunting of Hill House or Bly Manor. The writing style was new to me, so it took some time to really get the ball rolling but holy cow was it worth it. This story was such a breath of fresh air in terms of retellings I thought it was a completely original story. The writing was so good, and I didn’t even realize it was YA until a good chunk of the way though, it felt like an adult gothic horror. And Craig’s writing helped really bring the setting and story alive. When I tell you there were times where I had goosebumps or was so creeped out I didn’t want to leave my chair, I’m not lying! It was THAT crazy.
Everything felt so well described, the characters developed in amazing ways, the story has twists and turns that kept going and going and I couldn’t put it down, honestly. There was so much second guessing and not being able to trust anyone in the story, and I mean ANYONE. I literally had to pick my jaw up off the floor. Everything was so intricately put together and pieced together that it was shocking to me that the complexity of this book happened in firstly, YA and the second in such a short span of time. I felt like this book almost should have never ended.
The characters my goodness. Annaleigh is great, she makes great decisions, sticks with her gut, amazing MC. But her sisters were all so different, and I didn’t feel a redundancy at all, even with there being triplets. All of them were different and great in their own way, even the descriptions of sisters who passed, it was phenomenal.
It was all so different for me, in the best way possible, I won’t stop talking about it. I swear. It all was like the height of a great book for me. It did things like kept me guessing, it had great characters, ghost stories come to life, unique ideas, curses, love, monsters, magic….literally EVERYTHING.
I want more of this, I don’t know where or how to find it. But PLEASE if you know anything that feels similar to this book, send it my way. Please, I need more. I didn’t realize I was gothic horror kind of woman, but I need it.
Rating: 5/5 Stars
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