How does Craig do that? Her writing is so lyrical and poetic even when we have a horror sequence (there are lots of these, don’t worry), she makes it beautiful (haunting and creepy, but beautiful nonetheless). This is just a description of the climate, and it’s so gorgeous. Pine needles and cold, crisp air, bonfires and moldering leaves, the world dying as it readied to be reborn.” – Erin A. Oh, and the writing style? Let me give you an example – Probably the best end this kind of novel could have.

The ending left me with many questions, but it was still satisfying. It gives the readers time to experience that feeling of anxiousness as they wait for the large sword hanging over the characters’ heads to fall finally. Though the time is appropriate, as it allows us to get better acquainted with all the characters, their manor, the island, and the myths about gods that the people of the island of Salten (get it? Salt-en as in the ‘Salt’ in the title? I am so smart!) believe in. The book doesn’t start slow, but it does take its time to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the deaths of Thaumas girls. The title is also smart and poetic, and I appreciated the title’s brilliance even more after finishing the novel. It’s honestly all so perfect that I don’t even have words. The darker highlights surrounding the title are about the darkness surrounding the said house. The beautiful blue shades depict the water, referring to the sea by which their house is situated. A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Grimm Brothers, House of Salt and Sorrows is a hauntingly beautiful gothy fairy tale.Īs I said, the cover won me over. I instantly fell in love with this book’s cover, and I am glad I judged the book because I am absolutely floored. You know how they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Well, I would like to plead guilty here. Until she starts feeling her dead sister’s presence in the manor, one that starts to make her believe that she could be the next princess to die. Annaleigh is sure she is diving headfirst into an accident, but while the glamour of this world so enchants her, she really couldn’t care. However, her investigation is put on hold when she and her sisters discover a portal that leads them straight to a magical garden ball. But when Annaleigh finds some clue about her last sister’s death, she realizes the deaths might not have been natural. And the whole village treats them as cursed. So now there are only Annaleigh, her eight sisters, her father, and her new stepmother left. Or she used to until her older sisters started dying one by one. Annaleigh lives with her father and eleven sisters at Highmoor by the sea.

The house of salt and sorrows book 2