User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
5 SPOOKY, TERRIFYING, OH MY GOD MY HANDS STILL TREMBLING , CONTAINING GOTHIC ELEMENTS, GHOSTS AND CURSES KINDA STORY, PLEASE LEAVE YOUR LIGHTS ON BEFORE GO TO SLEEP AFTER THIS BOOK AND DON’T BE AFRAID OF CREAKING SOUNDS, THEY MIGHT BE ONLY RATS DANCING ON YOUR FLOORS STARS!
You know Brother Grimm’s fairy-tale named “Twelve Dancing Princesses”: Those girls each more beautiful than the last, sleep in twelve beds in the same room. Every night their doors securely locked by their father. But in the morning THEIR DANCE SHOES are found to be WORN THROUGH as they had been DANCING ALL NIGHT! So this book’s quite great, horrific, roller coaster riding version of retelling.
As you consider how Grimm Brothers’ vulgar, harsh tones and merciless writing on those books and depressing, grimacing things happened to their characters, you may understand how this book could give you creeps, stomach churning, eerie sensation. THIS IS REALLY SCARY AND MIND BENDING BOOK! If you’re not ready to read something spooky, twisty, surprising, giving you nightmares, please put the book down and choose something lighter like your chic-lits or summer reading you could grab to read at the seaside while you’re sipping your cool drink and totally forget about this dark story forever!
This book might be 12 Dances Princesses’ retelling, a different approach, newer version but it also reminded me the “Inception” with its mind confusing, head hurting, dream into-dream into- dream sequences. You’re really getting lost what’s real or what’s a nightmare. There are some parts of “7 Ravens” which is originally about 7 brothers but we had our heroine Annaleigh ( which is so amazingly melodic and capturing name, if I ever have a child, I named after her without thinking a second) and her 7 sisters! And also we had some glimpses of Little Women in this book as we read the sister’s stories and character analysis. Rosalie reminded me Amy and Verity had a little Beth, a little Amy inside. And Camille, know-it all, pretentious elder sister reminded me a little Meg, at least Annaleigh and her struggles had great resemblances with Meg and Joe’s fighting about their differences.
WHAT I REALLY REALLY REALLY LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK:
BIG FAN OF RETELLINGS AND THIS GREAT DEBUT :
It’s real defying and challenging thing to write again with brand new, fresh, crystal clear, visionary perspective and create a new story based on Brother Grimms’ works. The author chose not one of the famous works of him and she definitely achieved dexterous, adroit, refined job by adding horrific, gothic, mysterious elements and a poignant, lyrical romantic story.
FAST PACING TEMPO, HEART-THROBBING TERRIFYING SCENES:
Verity acts like Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment and claims she’s talking with the ghosts of her dead sisters and draws so many scary paintings which contain too many gory and harmful details about the way how her sisters have died. There is no way she can know these facts without being crime scenes (which of course she hasn’t!)
I really jump out of my seat, throw the book away as if my hands were burned, screamed non-stop when I caught a monster looking back at the me(then I realized that’s my morning self in the mirror before I had my morning coffee so I shut my mouth!)
AMAZING LOVE STORY:
We need romance after jumping out of our seats and taking few breathes to ease our heavy heart rates! So this love story was a medicine for the pain this book gave me. I love Annaleigh and Cassius’ slow-burn, passionate, tender, devoted, growing love story.
ENDING:
The part about the villain’s identity was foreseeable but last twists about delusions were clearly mind-bending, brain cell burning, head thudding kind of experiences they had to endure for finishing this book. I enjoyed those twists, mind games that the author professionally played with us. She was my great winner.
SUMMARY:
I want to read more retellings and surprising stories if Erin A. Craig intends to write. This year, I discovered too many new writers and I enjoyed their works so much which gave me hope, we’ll have more amazing literary works in near future. I LOVE THIS BOOK TOO MUCH. If you’re big fans mysterious, horrifying, Grimm Brothers style fairy-tales, that’s definitely a “Yes, this book is truly for you!”
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Rating: really liked it
...and the award for
Exceptional New Voice in YA Horror goes to...
ERIN A. CRAIG!!!!
((the crowd goes wild))
I loved
House of Salt and Sorrows so, so much. Truthfully, it wasn't at all what I expected, but I am so damned pleased with what it turned out to be.
In one word:
EVERYTHING
Annaleigh lives at
Highmoor, a remote manor on the sea with her father, stepmother and many sisters. Where once there were twelve sisters, however, only nine remain.
The most recent to die, Eulalie, plunged to her death from a high cliff to the sea. It is rumored she was out to meet a lover on the night she fell and that she was planning to run away.
Tragedy has struck the family so many times, the villagers whisper they are cursed.
While some of her sisters believe in the validity of a family curse, Annaleigh doesn't. She also doesn't believe that Eulalie's death was an accident.
Perhaps her other sister's deaths weren't accidental either?
Teaming up with a handsome and mysterious stranger, Annaleigh begins to investigate what is truly happening at
Highmoor.
As many of you may know,
House of Salt and Sorrows is a retelling of the classic fairy tale
The Shoes That Were Danced To Pieces, or
The Twelve Dancing Princesses.
Going into this, I expected a typical YA Fairy Tale Retelling. Fortunately, there was nothing typical about this book.
Truth be told, a lot of this story creeped me the heck out.
There was one night, I was up late, reading this on my kindle with all the lights turned off, I got to a section where there is a particularly lucid scene involving one of Annaleigh's dead sisters and I legit almost put that bitch in the freezer!
I had to switch to something light and fluffy just to be able to go to sleep that night. Now that's a great book.
As someone who is a great fan of the dark and macabre, I must say, I was beyond impressed with Craig's writing.
Her ability to conjure truly terrifying moments and atmosphere is absolutely fantastic.
I am calling this a YA Horror, because even though the story isn't exactly a Horror story, I am calling out Erin A. Craig as a Horror writer!
I really hope she continues more in that vein with her future stories.
There was an ominous feeling surrounding this. (view spoiler)
[The fae-like feeling of the portal door bringing the sisters to the balls (hide spoiler)], it was all incredibly visceral.
I have never read the original source material, so I cannot weigh in on the merits of this as a retelling but I imagine, most folks who have read the original will be impressed.
In my opinion, this book has it all and if you are a fan of gothic stories, you CANNOT miss this one. Pick it up, you won't regret it!
Thank you so much to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I cannot wait to see what Craig comes up with next. You better believe I will be buying it as soon as it releases!
Rating: really liked it
well this was trippy, weird, & unexpected! i've never read the story this book is based on so maybe had i read that i wouldn't be as surprised as i am, but here we are. the only downfall for me was the romance... shocker!
Rating: really liked it
barbie walked so this book could run
Rating: really liked it
4.5* (might be just a 4, have to think on it a bit more!)
Rating: really liked it
guess who is single and ready toread this retelling of "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and reinject myself in with this fictional world and its characters to avoid engaging with my very real responsibilities
Rating: really liked it
‘show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.’ uhhh… theres definitely gonna be nightmares. how come no one told me this would be so creepy?!? wow. im such a wimp. lol.
also, early side note. i had no idea this was a retelling before i picked it up. ive never even heard of
‘the twelve dancing princesses,’ so im coming at this review with the perspective that this story is wildly original and one of a kind, because i have no idea which aspects are part of the retelling and which are craigs own invention.
that being said, if
‘to kill a kingdom’ and
‘the wicked deep’ created a hybrid world, it would be the atmosphere and setting of
‘house of salt and sorrows.’ its not exactly enchanting, because the story is actually quite dark. but there is something so captivating about a mysterious island kingdom, a family curse, and unreliable events. the writing easily transports the reader into this world, filled with ghosts and secrets, and that alone made this story worth it to me.
however, i am a little disappointed with the ending. there are a couple of things that relate to their religion/gods that come into play and it had me very confused. im not sure if i missed their introduction earlier on in the novel, but i felt like that key component was quite rushed. could just be an oversight on my part, though.
regardless, this is a hauntingly impressive debut!
↠ 3.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
2.75/5 ⭐
Full review on my Blog: The Dacian She-Wolf 🐺
“We are born of the Salt, we live by the Salt, and to the Salt we return.”
Hmm.
HMM.
Hear me out, the premise of the book is
quite interesting.But the whole thing as a
whole? Kinda weak.
At first, it reminded me of that beautiful H.C. Andersen tale about the eleven princes who were turned into swans by their evil stepmother and quite frankly, I loved that story and I wanted this book to be like that.
But oh well. I wasn’t lucky enough, apparently.
This salty and sorrowful story did have that young, two-faced stepmother cliché and the ungodly amount of children a lowkey royal family has in fairy tales (twelve children!! TWELVE!!), but that was about it.
That was where my fairy tale ended, sadly.
There is something I find unappealing about the idea of someone being cursed and they acknowledging that and making it sound like a fabulous tragedy (“Oh, yes! I’m cursed! Cursed for life! And there is nothing to do about it! Nothing!! I’ll have to sit here and wait until this curse takes me too!”). It seems forced and superficial. Just saying.
Also, even though the story somehow manages to become more gruesome (it’s labelled as horror somehow??), I wished the plot was more
substantial.The book seems
endless because of the slightly unimportant passages that could have been better cut down to only a few phrases instead of whole chapters. Because of this, I lost interest in the storyline, the narrative became dull.
Given the fact that there was a ‘mysterious killer’ hiding through the pages of this book, when the moment came and the big unmasking scene was in its full moment of glory, I can honestly say I was (still) unimpressed.
I saw that coming from miles away.
Honest to the god of sea and salt now, I wanted this book to be badass but, unfortunately, it wasn’t.
I wanted something to hold on to, and I found only crumbs. Which were better than nothing anyway.
I needed more from this, because the whole idea was so interesting and could’ve definitely been better speculated.
All I have to say now is that for a book about the sea, the whole plot was missing depth.
But hey. On the bright side – just look at how gorgeous that cover is!
“All the dreamers are castle-bound. At midnight’s stroke, we will unwind, Revealing fantasies soft or unkind. Show me debauched nightmares or sunniest daydreams. Come not as you are but as you wish to be seen.”
(Book-styled)
Rating: really liked it
BOTM YA selection August 2019!3.5 STARS"As they whispered their strained condolences, I noticed the guests were careful to not get too close. Was it in deference to our station, or were they worried something might rub off? I wanted to chalk it up to the lowbrow superstition, but as a distant aunt approached me, a thin smile on her thin lips, the same question lingered in her eyes, just below the surface, impossible to miss: Which one of us would be next?"
Oh yes, I love a good book that is unafraid to pull a few punches. Here's the thing; initially, I was drawn to this book for three reasons: it's a fairytale retelling, it has a gorgeous cover, and it's got the whole romantic horror aspect down pat.
Is this a sub-genre? YA romance horror? If not, it certainly should be. Overall, this one delivered, and I'm intrigued to see more from Erin A. Craig in the future.
Like I stated above, this is a YA retelling of a somewhat obscure fairytale by the Brother's Grimm called
The Twelve Dancing Princesses. In the original version, things are much more tame and boring, so naturally I prefer the author's reimagined tale to the original. Instead of princesses being caught sneaking out and then given in marriage to the man who was able to solve the mystery of the worn out shoes, we have sisters who are dying in disturbing, and somewhat unbelievable ways, which explains why our protagonist is so determined to figure out just what in the beard of Moses is going on. Part fantasy, part murder mystery, this is an ambitious book, especially for a debut author, and I think she pulled the entire thing off rather well.
The most controversial topic surrounding this book, at least that I've seen, is the amount of disturbing content included in this novel, so let's start there. Personally, I loved it, but if you are sensitive to disturbing violence, gore, blood, and discussions of suicide, this may not be the book for you. Many scenes are quite descriptive, and there are tons of difficult, yet necessary themes discussed here that may be more appropriate for the upper end of the YA spectrum. There is a definite gothic fantasy feel to the story, which gives it an appropriate darkness, but this is contrasted with an equal dose of romance-complete with a HEA!
I think my main concern is that this is the slowest of slow burns until about 2/3 through the novel. I appreciated all of the atmospheric setup, but it also felt as if there wasn't a bit of action until the explosion of a climax. However, the twist was excellent, and the entire reimagining was creative and unique, which makes me glad I spent the time plowing through the slower moments. A solid, beautifully written debut, and I hope to see more from the author in the near future. Also? I hope we get more retellings from Craig, because she clearly has a knack for dark fantasy.
*I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
Rating: really liked it
August Owlcrate Unboxing! Click under the pic to see all of the goodies!
THE GOODIES LINK
I would say a 3.5 stars. I liked it well enough. I loved the characters and the overall craziness of the book. I don’t think I would read it again though so it’s going in the trade in box. I would buy it on kindle if it was ever on sale though 😉
Happy Reading!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Buddy read with For Love Of A Book.
Rating: really liked it
This started out pretty good but went downhill towards the end in my opinion.
First of all, I really enjoyed the atmosphere the author created here. It was perfect for a cold, stormy October night. I also liked the way how stuff (especially clothing) was described, it was easy to imagine how things looked like.
The characters themselves were okay overall, nothing special but not terrible either (gotta say though, I never quite remembered who was who so that's kinda bad). And sadly the love story was completely unnecessary and underdeveloped.
Especially the mystery is where it went wrong for me.
I was intrigued in the beginning, came up with a few theories myself. But unfortunately the way it was resolved was just weirdly boring and over the top at the same time. I don't want to say "I could've done it better" because I definitely couldn't have regarding writing and stuff but I did prefer one of my theories over what actually happened.
So, overall a mediocre read for me.
Rating: really liked it
In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed..3.5 stars
Annaleigh, (who BTW, doesn't love this name?) lives at Highmoor, a Manor by the sea with her father, his new wife and her eleven sisters. Tragedy seems to be hitting this family hard, perhaps it is cursed? The villagers think so. This used to be a big happy family. But after their Mother died, the family went into mourning, then four of her sisters died one by one. Annaleigh begins to believe that her sister's deaths are not accidents.
After the latest death, her Stepmother convinces her father that they should stop mourning and dress in beautiful clothing again, have balls and embrace life. Everyone but Annaleigh is on board, but she finally agrees to make her father happy. The new clothing and fairy shoes are not the only new things...the girls also become aware of a secret passage. A passage, or crevice if you will, that will take them to another place, a place of balls and dances, new encounters and new adventures.
But tragedy strikes again when another sister goes missing....
Put me in the camp of enjoying re-telling of fairy tales. In this case, this book is an atmospheric retelling of the Brother Grimm's "The Twelves Dancing Princesses" also known as "The Worn-out Dancing shoes and "The Shoes that were danced to Pieces." Sometimes re-telling’s can be campy but this one was not. I loved the atmosphere. The Manor overlooking the sea, the water, the sea creatures, the sisters, the balls, etc. This one felt atmospheric, Gothic and enchanting all at the same time. Is the family cursed? Why are the women of this family dying?
The book does get darker at the end, but I enjoyed how the book built up to the ending. This book also had me questioning what was real and what wasn't as Annaleigh begins to question what is happening to her family. This is a great rainy day/escape book. It's full of atmosphere, magic, a little romance, mystery, and ghosts. Parts felt a little predictable, i.e. the love triangle, but this is YA so that often goes with the genre. I found this to be a very visual book as in, I could easily visualize what was happening as the Author did a great job with her descriptions.
The Author is off to a very solid start with this debut novel.
I received a copy of this book from Random House Children's and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Rating: really liked it
”The very delight of such an evening is being your complete self with a total stranger, don’t you think? Spilling your innermost thoughts – ones too dark and deep to ever speak in the light of day, confessing sins of passion and pleasure, maybe even misbehaving, and none of it matters, because if you don’t know who you’re toying with, then what’s the harm in it?”Ahhh this was so much fun! When I went into this I already knew that
“House of Salt and Sorrows” is a retelling of “The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes” and I’ve been intrigued by this fairy tale ever since I read it for the very first time. What Craig did with it was marvellous and on an entirely different level than I expected, though. For a debut this was definitely more than just amazing!
I loved the super dark and eerie atmosphere, the island setting and the world building. I mean our MCs live at Highmoor – a manor by the sea – they believe in gods and their entire life is built around them. The salt is where they come from and where they go again and instead of burying their dead, they let them sink in some sort of salt grave grotto where their bodies are taken back to the sea with the next flood. Or decompose through the sea? I don’t know the specifics but it sounded kind of unpleasant? XD
”You mean when you remember her?”
She shook her head. “When I see her.” Another thing that was really awesome was the super creepy atmosphere of the island, its people and the darkness as well as the salt that crept through every corner of their manor. I don’t know about you but a secluded manor next to the sea and a curse that kills off the daughters of the lord who owns it just has the right amount of creepiness for me. *lol* And let’s not forget about the magical and mysterious balls all the daughters sneak to in the middle of the night when everyone else is already asleep. ;-)
”The hairs on the back of my neck prickled, rising in defense against an unseen horror. It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t shake the look of fear in Verity’s eyes.”Because of the aforementioned curse 4 of the initially 12 daughters are already dead and went back to the sea. They all died sort of mysterious deaths and you can’t help but wonder who’s going to be next. ;-) The story is told from Annaleigh’s POV - the second eldest daughter, now that all the others perished. I’ve to admit that to tell them all apart wasn’t easy at first. I had to write down their names and the group names some of them went with. I mean there were the triplets (Lenore, Ligeia & Rosalie) and the three Graces (Honor, Mercy & Verity) which where the smallest of the lot. And we had Camille the eldest and Annaleigh as the second eldest daughter. The four that died were Ava, Octavia, Elizabeth & Eulalie and as far as I could tell they were all older than Anna and Camille. XD
”Thank you,” I murmured, finding my voice. “That was very kind. Most people would have kept it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of keeping something that didn’t belong to me.” I sensed he was about to smile. “Besides, it’s only a copper florette. I’d rather lose the money and seize the chance to talk with the pretty girl who owns it.”And speaking of the characters I’ve to mention the romance too: What I really liked was that Anna’s love interest was a part of the story but not an all too big or all-consuming part. I’ve to admit that due to that their relationship felt kind of insta-lovey, though. So yeah, I really would have wanted more interactions between them both before they fell head over heels. I suppose you can’t have everything though, so I think it worked well enough with the story line. ;-)
For me the only real drawback of this book was that my copy was defective and that from page 344 on thirty-three pages of the story were missing. The book went up to page 344 and then there were 33 pages of an entirely different book right smack in the middle of my copy and on page 377 the story continued like nothing ever happened. Which was such a bummer! The book had about 403 pages in total and I missed a really crucial part of the plot and was thrown right into the finale. >_< I still don’t know what happened during those 33 pages, I could reconstruct a few happenings by reading the ending but it feels like there’s a huge part of the story missing. So ... meh.
I really wish my library would have had a copy to borrow because my budget didn’t allow me to buy a second one. And even if I would have bought a new copy there would have been no guarantee that it wouldn’t have had the same defect. (Due to our lockdown I can’t even go into a bookstore and open a book. So I would have had to order it online which might have resulted in the same problem.)
This said, I really enjoyed
“House of Salt and Sorrows”! It was a very eerie and haunting book and at times even creepy and unsettling. There were parts that were pretty gory as well, so if you like spooky fairy tale retellings with the right amount of spine-chilling moments this should be the right book for you. It’s a pity my copy was defective, but I guess I’ll have to live with it. XD I still had a lot of fun reading this book and in the end that’s everything that counts. ;-)
________________________________
I finished this yesterday and it was really great!
If my copy wouldn’t have missed 33 pages of the finale it probably would have been even better.
Such a shame that I missed those crucial revelations. >_<
It is like it is though. *sighs*
Full RTC once I had time to think about it.
________________________________
I’ve been intrigued by this book from the moment I realized that
“House of Salt and Sorrows” is some sort of
“The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes” retelling.
Funnily enough I never heard of this fairy tale in my own childhood and only discovered it by reading bedtime stories to my kid. XD
Anyway, the original fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm already felt slightly dark so I’m pretty curious what Erin A. Craig made of it. Judging by the reviews I saw this is super dark and creepy, which makes this a perfect book to read. *lol* At least for me. ;-)
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to visit the
“House of Salt and Sorrows”!
Put on your dancing shoes! ;-P
Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars*I was LOVING this book at the start, but as the story went on I started to lose interest in the story and was honestly waiting for it to be over. My favourite thing about this book was definitely the atmosphere (very dark and eerie and I
loved the setting).
I do think I would have enjoyed it more if I read it physically (the audiobook wasn't my favourite)/ if I wasn't in this weird reading slump (I was forcing myself to read it at times since I really just wanted to finish it).
Maybe I'll reread it physically sometime in the future to see if I enjoy it more that way, since I really wanted to love it and it had SO much potential!
Rating: really liked it
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I have developed my following by being 100% honest, whether or not a book is popular. I think this is especially important in the YA genre, when many books are over-hyped in a way that comes across as incredibly artificial and manufactured at times. I'm sorry, but you can't all be the #1 best-selling YA book, especially not if you're all doubling down on the BLANK of BLANK AND BLANK forgettable title game. I mean,
come on. I can barely remember my own name half the time, let alone a baker's dozen worth of best-selling YA titles that all sound virtually the same.
HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS appealed to me, in spite of my misgivings, because of several things. 1) it's a faerie-tale retelling and I love those. I love them a lot, in fact. I was raised on faerie-tales from all over the world, and I will never stop feeling that same magic and mysticism from reading them. 2) it is a gothic novel and if you have been following me at all, you
know how much I love me a dark and creepy novel set in some crumbling manor home on a cliff and peopled with ghosts. It's bomb. Combined? That's a c-c-c-combo breaker to the MAX.
The book is about a girl named Annaleigh. She and her sisters are the daughters of this incredibly rich dude who lives in a crumbling manor home on a cliff. Her sisters are dropping like flies, beginning with the death of their mother, and some say it's because of a curse. We meet them when they're all gathered at the funeral of their latest dead sister, and mood is grim. Helpful and oblivious stepmother Morella thinks it's time that morning be over because she's preggers and wants to party. Never mind that she is the same age as her stepdaughters and they'd so Parent Trap her sorry behind if their mother was still alive. As it is, they're stuck with her, but at least they get new shoes out of it.
Mysteriously, the new shoes end up tattered within a week. And other weird things start happening. Images of their dead sisters. Parties that nobody remembers. Suspicious deaths. A love triangle-- oops, scrap that last one. That's not weird at all, just par for the course in YA land. A whole bunch of other stuff happened, too, but I skimmed the middle of this book pretty heavily because I wasn't really amused by the sad descriptions of the heroines lackluster attempts at Nancy Drewing.
In the last act, the book manages to valiantly rise to the task of bringing this book to conclusion. There are some truly creepy scenes in here, and honestly if the whole book had been like that, this could have been a four- or even five-star read for me. If you've read this, you know what I mean. That ballroom scene. YES. I also think the author could have played up the use of the creepy masked man, instead of having him pop up only twice and immediately be a figure of suspicion. That's the problem; if the middle is SUPER boring, I'm going to jump on exciting things when they happen, and everything is going to seem super obvious. I figured out the "surprise" twist right away.
The writing in here is decent and the author is capable of setting the mood well when she so chooses. But someone-- the editor-- should have cut about 100 pages from this book and had the author rewrite the beginning to be more suspenseful. Likewise, there was some inconsistent characterization in this book, as Heather pointed out in her review. Morella was all over the place, as were several of the sisters, and the father went from being an oblivious patsy to kind of abusive and scary? As I said, foreshadowing would have fixed ALL of this and made the ending feel less... convenient.
I was going to give this book a 2-star review, but the ending sufficiently wowed me enough that I feel like I can be generous and award a paltry half-star. I'm definitely not blown away by this like some of the other preliminary reviews were, though, and while this author is definitely a cut above the rest when it comes to some of the other BLANK of BLANK and BLANK authors, I'm not sure I loved this enough that I'd instantly race out to acquire anything else she writes. But maybe. The jury is still out on this one. My rating, however, is decided.
Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review!2.5 stars
