House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
In a Manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.
Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor with her sisters. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short, each death more tragic than the last.
Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sisters’ 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.
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Think about a world full of fairytales come to life, a world where mythology is more history than myth, a world that revolves around an untameable sea, a world with glamorous masquerade balls, a world with a ghost story as beautiful as it is haunting. Imagine a world with all of that and you get House of Salt and Sorrows. I’d heard through Bookstagram that this was like a YA/fantasy rendition of Haunting of Bly Manor. Given that I absolutely love that series, I had my doubts, but this book was so much better than that (sorry Bly, the jury has spoken). I love a good ghost story, but this one combined all the spectacular things I love most and still retained that haunting feel. I couldn’t put it down and the dark gloomy skies at the lake helped make the ambience for this read EXTRA spooky, I’m almost tempted to reread it this October already.
This book starts off with a funeral and it’s not the first one that we will be attending as readers. Right from the first paragraph the haunting tone has been set. From the watery crypt where four sisters of our heroine have already been put to rest to the old drafty seaside manor that is her families legacy, isolated from the other islands, the settings in this book were perfect for the story that unfolds. Annaleigh and her older sister Camille are the most at risk as sisters have been dying off from eldest to youngest. The islanders think that the family is cursed, and the sisters are almost ready to believe it. Not a single suitor will go near them. So they find a magic door that leads them to every ball they could ever dream of, all across the land, dancing every evening with eligible bachelors….. or something else? While their nights are filled with dancing, their days are filled with trying to uncover what’s happening to their family. The entire time I was kept guessing. This was definitely a psychological ride.
There were twists and turns that kept me guessing but this book wasn’t just all about the thrill. There was a deep rooted theme based around family and grief. The main characters have been grieving for years at this point so it’s only natural that a good portion of this book would be focused on those stages of grief and the terror that can often come along with that grief. Terror that can totally upend your life or your emotional health. I liked that we focused on a more psychological aspect of it without being too trippy. I liked how the author also brought mythology into it so seamlessly and had these “gods” roles so closely knit within the roles of family dynamics and community. I think there were probably a lot more ties and metaphors between the human world and the gods they worship but I was too shook to notice (hence the need for a reread).
I really loved the MC. Annaleigh was such a mature heroine. For being a teenager in the middle of many older and younger sisters and in a time where women were kept quite naive and in the dark about things, Annaleigh was such a breath of fresh air. She wasn’t overly accomplished or “plain” (she didn’t know she was beautiful is the worst trope). She was an average, level-headed girl who had been through too much trauma and whose disinclination to trust managed to help her wade her way through the horrors of this novel. The love story was also something that I think blew this book out of the water. So unexpected! I know it hints to it in the synopsis but it was nothing like I expected. Truly, loved it, loved them, loved every character (except the parents maybe…)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I would read a sequel in a heartbeat. Highly recommend this one if you’re into folklore and/or light horror. However, definitely not for the faint of heart. It wasn’t scary per say, but there were some shocking scenes worthy of a some horrified gasps. 5 stars!