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My Review:Title: House of Salt and Sorrows
Author: Erin A. Craig
Series: Sisters of the Salt #1
Published by: Delacorte Press
Release Date: August 6, 2019
Format: Audiobook, ebook
Narrator: Emily Lawrence
Pages: 406
Length: 12 hours and 50 minutes
Genres: Young Adult, Fairy Tale Retelling, Fantasy, Horror, Historical Fantasy
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Fall, Lenoreo's 2021 Fraterfest Readathon
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository ✩ Libro.FM
My rating:
Blurb:Get swept away in Erin A. Craig's mesmerizing House of Salt and Sorrows. As one by one her beautiful sisters mysteriously die on their isolated island estate, Annaleigh must unravel the curse that haunts her family. Be careful who you dance with. . . .
Four of Annaleigh Thaumas's eleven sisters have returned to the Salt, the brackish water that surrounds their lonely island home, their lives cut short, each more tragically than the last. Whispers throughout the Highmoor estate say the girls have been cursed by the gods.
When Annaleigh finds out that her sisters have been sneaking out to attend glittering midnight balls and dance until dawn, she's not sure whether to stop them--or join them. And when she begins to see a series of horrific, ghostly visions and more sisters die, she realizes she must solve the mystery--with the help of Cassius, a sea captain who knows much more about her than he should--and unravel the Thaumas curse before she descends into madness or . . . it claims her next.
4.5 stars — Oh look, another strange disjointed thoughts review…you’re welcome.
Very atmospheric. I could imagine the world and the people and the mythology. Loved the whole existence of Gods, but not really present as much anymore.
I enjoyed the narrator — found it was one of those rare books that I enjoyed reading and listening, so I switched between the two.
This book kept me guessing SO MUCH. I honestly kept changing my mind and never really settling on one certain theory. There were so many little twists that went this way and that, but they all worked for me in the end.
Totally thought this was going to be a Poe retelling, what with Annaleigh and Lenore characters, but turns out it was somewhat based on a Grimm tale. Huh. Definitely had a “Grimm”-er fairytale feel. Like original Hans Christian Andersen Little Mermaid feel.
The psychological aspect of this story, especially as we got closer and closer to the end, was fantastic. I mean, I was pretty certain and settled in what I thought, but wow — I could see the impact that had on Annaleigh, and it was just…wow.
I know some people think it’s not very horror, but it was horror-y enough for me. Scared me quite a bit, and made going to the bathroom after listening in bed an exercise in terror…but I’m a chicken. It was basically the right level of scary for me, because it pushed my boundaries but didn’t traumatize me.
I really enjoyed some characters, and was aggravated by others. It was hard to watch because of what was authentic to those characters and what wasn’t. Loved having a character with my name…go Lenore!
I didn’t mark this one as a romance, but there was a teensy bit there…and I really enjoyed it. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel, but it was perfect. Without the epilogue, I would have been singing a completely different tune though.
COYER Scavenger Hunt #8: Read a book for October or November book club — October YA.
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