House of Salt and Sorrows

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My Opinion

(2 / 5) That. Was. Terrible. It is a 12 Dancing Princesses retelling and don’t get me wrong, it started with great promise. About half way through it started taking a weird turn then really twisted ugly after that. With a ghost story, I like it to be believable on some elements so that it’s creepy and fun. The creepy element was there until I got more information, then it was lost to me with the bizarre twist it took. Craig definitely kept me guessing which is why it’s 2 stars and not one, but I finished and was just so confused, I couldn’t figure out what had fully happened.

For the content, there was not a lot except the intense themes. Potentially intense themes are events that happen that might be troubling to some readers but that don’t fit in my other categories. There were ghosts, so some readers will do better with those than others. The ghosts tended to have violent deaths and some still looked how they died (such as limbs bent the wrong way). There are also many deaths, often very troubling.

House of Salt and Sorrows

Erin A. Craig

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls’ lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last— the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge— and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is cursed by the gods. 

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. 

-Excerpt taken from book flap. 

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

Detailed Content Review

Language 

F***-

H***- 

S***-

A**-

B****- 1

D***- 6

Bas****-

Religious Cursing-

J****-

Chr***-

G**-

L***-

Derogatory terms etc-

Alcohol, Drugs, Smoking

A young woman drinks wine. 

A young woman downs a couple glasses of champagne. Another young woman does the same.

A man gives glasses of wine to 3 young women.

Wine is served at a celebration.   Many people are very drunk. 

Men drink a special spirit that is very potent. 

Wine is served from a fountain at a party. 

A man smokes a cigar. 

A man swigs from a flask. 

Intimacy, Sex, Immodesty

A story tells of a woman lying naked in her bed except for a necklace. 

A young woman walks in on her parents in their bedroom. The drapes are closed on their bed and she hears cries of ecstasy. 

A man stares at a woman’s cleavage. And a young woman’s. 

“(I need a man who) can maneuver his ship into any port, however tempestuous.” A woman says as she slides a hand down her hip speaking in a husky voice. “One with a very large, very thick, very hard….mizzenmast.”

A young woman comes upon a street where women are dancing in the windows “selling merchandise” and were scantily dressed. “Come to drop anchor, sailor?”

A man softly kisses a young woman while he cups her face. He kisses her again. 

A man and young woman kiss. She plays with his hair. She grabs his face and pulls him in again, his tongue explores her mouth, she nibbles his lip. They kiss again. Later, again. 

A man kisses a young woman. 

Violence, Weapons, Crime, Blood

A young woman tells a story of a woman being beheaded. 

A man is found in the street, his body broken and smashed, blood pooling underneath him. It is said he fell from a window. 

A man breaks a glass with his hand, sending shards to cut another man’s face. 

A man attacks a woman. She screams in pain but is soon quiet. Her bones are visible. 

**Spoiler** A woman admits to poisoning another woman. And killing others. She tells a young woman to bash her head in for it. 

A woman hits a woman with a metal fireplace poker over her legs. 

**Spoiler** How the people have died are typically very violent and a person has caused it.

Potentially Intense Themes

A young woman is at her sister’s funeral trying not to think of her body at the bottom of the sea. 

4 sisters have died. One fell off a library ladder, her limbs at odd angles. One was found floating in a bathtub, waterlogged and bleached of color. One was found at the bottom of a seaside cliff. One dies of a sickness. 

A young girl draws pictures of her dead sisters doing every day things but with their bodies in the way they were found. One picture had them all in nooses while watching her sleep. Later, a pic of a sister (who is alive) is found but all her limbs are bent at wrong angles.

A young woman has visions of a large octopus attacking her in the tub. She then thinks she sees a hand reach out and grab her sister. 

A young woman sees her dead sister’s ghost. 

A young girl sees a man’s death and says her dead sister showed her. Then her dead sister grabs the shoulder of another sister and she sees he broken nails and waterlogged fingers. 

A young woman sees her dead sisters. 

A man dies of scarlet fever. 

**Spoiler** Two young women are missing. They are found frozen in a snowstorm. Their sister cries and touches their frozen bodies. Rumors say the girls were torn apart by wild animals. A man suspects foul play. 

A young woman sees her dead sisters. They lock her in a room and she bangs on glass doors til she is bloody and spent. 

Some punch looks to be made up of blood. A feast turns gory in front of a young woman. Fish gore and maggots are everywhere. 

A man’s body is found twisted with rigor mortis and darkened with decay. His limbs were wrenching unnaturally, eyes staring, neck twisted. His body then rights itself and stands. Tar spews from its mouth, his lips peel away, his body splits open **spoiler** a woman comes out. She attacks a young woman and straddles her, cutting off her air.

**Spoiler** A woman goes into labor far too early. Sheets are covered in blood. A baby is born stillborn. Blood appears from between her legs and spreads. She admits infidelity and something else, not human, is born. 

A house is on fire, people are still inside. Many make it out but a few don’t. There are intense moments during the fire.

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**As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.