House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig

3.5 stars! This review will be spoiler free!

Synopsis:

Annaleigh used to have twelve sisters, now four are dead. Her family has been dealt more grief than any family should and now the surrounding villages are starting to believe their household at Highmoor is cursed. Annaleigh becomes suspicious that the most recent death of her sister was no accident, and now disturbed by ghostly visions, she is even more convinced of foul play. To escape the tragedies, Annaleigh and her surviving sisters have been going to balls, dancing until dawn, but strangers and secrets start to crop up and it’s up to Annaleigh to uncover the darkness that has befallen her family.

Thoughts:

This book wasn’t what I expected. It was darker and even a little scarier than I thought it would be, but I really enjoyed all that. I’m terrified of horror stories, so this was likely the closest I’d get to a “scary book.” The imagery that the writing conjured up was vivid and atmospheric. So I’d say the writing style and setting were my favorite parts. The plot was interesting. I don’t know the original mythology/classic this story is based off of, so I had no way to predict what was coming. I was engaged the entire time I was reading it and I was driven to finish the book mostly to figure out, alongside Annaleigh, what in the world was going on. The ending was a RUSH too.

Something I didn’t care for were the characters themselves. The characters were just okay for me. I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of them, which makes me sad because the ending was honestly really cute. Still, I wasn’t really invested in the romance nor the family relationships.

Overall:

I’m not 100% sure if I’d recommend this book to everyone, I think I’d have to ask what things you want out of it. If you enjoyed seaside stories, ghostly visions, mysterious plot points, and a “slightly scary” feel -- you’d enjoy this. However if you’re more of a character driven reader -- I don’t think you’d like it as much.