HOT
DAMN.
Oof y’all this book was AMAZING. It’s DARK as heck, and messes with your mind like crazy but DANG! It’s gorgeously written. Im honestly speechless?? A little bit scared?? But also it was just so good.
Basically this book is a super dark retelling of the twelve dancing princesses set in a fantasy country steeped in mythology about twelve sisters who are dying one at a time.
LIKE WOW OKAY HOW DOES THAT NOT SOUND LIKE A GREAT CONCEPT??
I honestly can’t even word things right now? Like I can’t even figure out words to describe how gosh dang GOOD this book is.
Okay we’re going to break this down so I can describe how great things were. Get ready for me to probably switch between the same 5 words to describe everything and also a fair amount of flailing.
this book is written like a mystery, ghost story, fantasy, horror, murdery all in one. It’s thrilling to read, and builds so well into a crescendo that is so twisty you don’t even know what to think. There are some seriously trippy parts and it’s amazing. My head kind of hurts and it was confusing at parts but like that’s part of the charm. I’m still not sure exactly what happened haha. (jk. maybe,) it’s just SO GOOD y’all. Like a Quality™️ book. Oof.
this also has a romance which is just really great. I didn’t like Cassius at first because he sort of felt like every other YA boy love interest but he really grew into something more than just a YA boy I’d read a million times before. I adored the relationship and cried a little bit too, not gonna lie.
I adored the family aspects of this. The relationships between the sisters, the grief poured out on the pages, and the connection they all shared. Each sister felt different, not like copies of each other. They really lit up the story, rather than just being the same girl 8 times like some stories with lots of sisters can be.
I can’t really describe how great this is. It gets real dark at times, fair warning, and you probably shouldn’t read it if you’re not in a great head space because it kind of messes with your mind. But I think it wraps up really well. Without the ending it has I think it would just be a “what the frick” kind of book. It adds the resolution that is so desperately needed. So. To sum up: this book is great. Also kind of terrifying. But there’s a cute boy and not everyone dies. I really liked it.

A true depiction of how life tears you apart and brings you lower than you thought and how it is up to us to persevere and survive it all.

This was such a haunting retelling of the 12 dancing princesses. It definitely had a Gothic feel to it. The plot pacing was good and I really enjoyed the intricate sister relationships. This book was really good in a terrifyingly eerie way.

House of Salt and Sorrows is a wonderfully creepy retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. I loved the writing and the atmosphere was super spooky!

A gothic YA murder mystery inspired by The Twelve Dancing Princesses, with a dash of classical-inspired mythology. There's a LOT going on in this book, and some of does get to be a bit much, but good writing, a mostly good use of gothic tropes, and a very likeable MC carry the whole thing through.

Annaleigh was somewhere in the middle of 12 sisters, but at the start of the book she is the 2nd eldest, after the varyingly mysterious deaths of the first 4. While already balancing the family's grief, some possible ghostly haunting, the public's belief in a family curse, the remaining sisters' strained relationship with their new stepmother, the fairy-tale Dancing, and a burgeoning romance with an eligible young man, Annaleigh embarks on uncovering the truth about her elder sisters' deaths and attempts to protect the remaining younger ones.

While there are some slow sections and some predictable beats, there were also elements that kept me on my toes. The last few chapters go at a clip, as they contain many big reveals -- some of which don't necessarily make sense in light of earlier information (or lack thereof), but most of which are nonetheless quite satisfying. This is a credit to the author's writing style, and also how good she is at describing gross stuff. Her created mythology is interesting too, though I wish it had been a little more developed as it's mainly there for background... until suddenly it's not.

There's also a bit of subtle meta embedded in the tale, with references made mainly to fairy-tale trope expectations, and this works due to Annaleigh being a strong and resilient girl and not at all a stereotypical fairy-tale-princess type. (Though it should be noted that most of the other characters are not nearly as well-drawn; some of the sisters, for instance, seem interchangeable and unmemorable, and as such, way more the fairy-tale-princess type.)

So, not without flaws, but a quite enjoyable and imaginative YA novel. Seems like it could be a gateway book for younger readers, too, to more "adult" gothic mysteries and/or unusual fairy-tale retellings.

This book was such an incredible, spooky, deliciously dark read. I loved how mysterious it was and certain chilling scenes had me checking over my shoulder while reading. It was very atmospheric and a lovely retelling of one of my favorite fairytales, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Definitely recommend this one!
The book itself is also so beautiful and the art details throughout were perfect!

Oh boy. I'm going to be the Debbie Downer in a sea of positive reviews.

First, the really good: the atmosphere is fantastic and I was intrigued by the world the author built. This world that dealt so much with the sea was terrific.

However. Yep, however...

This was YA tropeville. From Insta-Love to Love Triangles to young women who, when surrounded with darkness, death, and possible betrayal are more concerned about balls and dancing and suitors.

I just think that YA has moved so far beyond the tropes. We had an awesome setting, a world where girls can rule based on birth order rather than gender, and all sorts of magic. And we get moon-eyed yearning for this boy or that.

I was disappointed.

I would try the author again, but hope for a little more substance next time.

"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"

-Dark, mysterious, horror filled greatness! This book was so amazing I couldn't put it down! Super creepy story! I enjoyed this book so much!

This book definitely took me by surprise, I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did. I loved the story line and the characters!

Oh man, I'm stuck between a 3 and a 4 star rating for this one.

I REALLY enjoyed my time with this book. With all of the world building and history of the Gods and Goddesses that the people of the Salt worshipped. The balls, the dancing, the primping for the balls. Even the ghost story and mystery of all of the deaths of each sister but...


WHAT WAS THAT ENDING?!!!

I literally don't understand. I feel like I was slapped in the face by Mr. Viscardi himself.

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig is a great and entertaining book. I loved all the unexpected twists and turns.

I love a good retelling, and since this one was retelling a rather vague tale, and Craig makes it very much her own, it worked very well. Craig does get a little bit purple at times, waxing a bit more than necessary, but overall the prose is clean and the story was well told. I'd pick up another book by her for sure.

This was really good and entertaining. I loved all the twists it took. The characters were great! I loved the atmosphere too!

This retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses starts off with a grim, unsettling scene and offers an intriguing twist. Annaleigh is the oldest surviving sister, determined to break the curse that's slowly taking her sisters. The more she uncovers, the spookier the story gets. There were plenty of unexpected twists, and her romance with Cassius offers a nice layer to this story.

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you for the eARC.

House of Salt and Sorrows was an amazing fantasy read! The whole story, the intense plots, the likeable characters are really amazing. I love love the story so much

I knew I would enjoy this book. I love retellings and I've always loved the 12 Dancing Princesses. I didn't expect just HOW MUCH I'd love this story and how I'd fly through it! It was so dark and twisty and I love the nod to Poe.

House of Salt and Sorrows is that YA fantasy that I have been searching for. An all consuming and intense story that kept me riveted to each page.

This was a book that I was really excited to pick up and read. I got about half way through it and put it down.... For months. I don't know why it took me so long to pick back up, but first novels in fantasy series or just fantasys in general seem to take me a bit longer to read, just because of all the world and character building. This book had tons of characters to keep straight and the world wasn't all that interesting to me despite the hype it was getting.
Like a lot of fantasy novels a huge portion of the plot takes place in the last 20 percent of the book which seems a bit rushed and made some of the relationships seem forced.
I do have to say in the last 20 percent there were a ton of twists and turns that I was really not expecting that let me breeze through the last few chapters. It also was a bit confusing on the direction of the book and where the author was going with the story. Whether or not it was going to end with just this novel or she was going to expand it and do a cliff hanger for a series. Overall it did keep my attention and allow me to finish it up.
I don't necessarily agree with the all the hype this book received. However I do know, I personally end up with really high expectations for fantasy novels that can sometimes be unreasonable. Overall an enjoyable read, but not any rush to continue if it becomes a series.

I didn’t have high expectations going into this book, I did like this book more than I expected, and I did enjoy how dark this book ended up being, but I still have some issues.

I never became invested in any of the characters. I was not a fan of Annaleigh’s character, I found she really couldn’t do much on her own. The only reason she was able to find out what was happening to her sisters is that she had someone guiding her through everything, and she was left to figure out the very last part herself.

My favorite character in the book had to have been Cassius, I found him the most interesting, I was sad to see that he didn’t have a bigger effect over the story as I would have thought. One of my other issues with the character is that there were too many sisters to keep track of, and that meant that I could connect with any of them. I often found myself getting confused about which sister was which, and I can tell you the age order at all.

I did struggle a little bit in the very beginning of the book, but the story did pick up pretty quickly and I flew through the last 75% of the book. The plot and mystery was probably my favorite part of the book, I was unable to predict most of the mystery, I did guess who was behind it but not why. There was one aspect of the story that I felt was added to make the book more identifiable as a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling, but it was quickly discarded and had no effect over the storyline.

Ultimately I did really like this book despite my issues, it’s definitely worth picking up, and I look forward to picking up more books by author in the future.

This book was definitely an interesting twist. A little darker retelling than so many others out there but very fresh and unique! A fun read.