Reviews with content warning for Death - House of Salt and Sorrows

I loved this! The Gothic elements were fantastic, and made for such a rich, spooky atmosphere and really tightly maintained tension. The worldbuilding was so thorough, and though the Twelve Dancing Princesses story was more of a jumping off point, the mystery that emerges from it was super well done. I generally agree that the romance here wasn't the strongest, but it had some really sweet moments, and for me it justified its presence in the novel.

I had a couple of initial qualms when we started getting some real answers, but the payoff pulled it back. On the whole, I had a great time reading this, and will definitely keep an eye out for future titles.

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feb_books's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.

I read this book because I need a book that will give me a nightmare. Some people on Goodreads said this book is spooky, full of death, ghost, and mystery-no doubt about it! This book is indeed spooky. If you search for an enchanting and haunting book, you can try House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig.

But if you're not a fan of dark mystery fantasy books, you will find this book is a little bit boring.

Trigger Warnings: Death, Child Death, Grief, Suicide, Blood, Miscarriage, Gore.

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shaybrawner's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

"A shooting star danced across the opening, but before I could point it out,
Cassius's lips descended on mine,
and I forgot all about the sky."

This book is for you if... you want a darker fairytale that's also a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses.

This was soooo good! I think this will definitely be a book that's rating could raise with a reread of it. The story of The 12 Dancing Princesses was always one of my favorite as a child, I would beg my mom or grandma to put on the barbie movie or read it from the story book we had, so I wasn't sure how I would feel about one of my childhood favorites being retold in a dark way. But I loved it, it was done so well and I didn't want to put it down except when my eyes needed a short break.

The romance in this book was perfect. And I'm not usually a crazy fan of romance in my books like leave me with my fantasy and keep the romance, but this pairing, just made sense to me. I will say it has a bit of an insta love feeling so if you aren't into that you might not like it as much as I do(I usually don't like insta love but I liked this one).

My main issue with this book, was the pacing in the first half, it just felt so slow and like things were happening but not happening. That probably make absolutely no sense. Is this book perfect? Not in my opinion no. Is it a damn good book that I would recommend? Absolutely. I felt like I was pulled into this beautiful seaside world, filled with ghosts and gods.

CAWPILE Rating: 7.43/10
Stars: 4/5 Stars
Felt like living a fairytale.

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emma16701's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

I was so excited to read a twist on the fairytale of The 12 Dancing Princesses and while this mostly kept me interested, I wish it leaned into the fairytale more. The twists were good but it felt like there was nothing going on from page 100 until the last 20 pages. The romance felt unnecessary and I found myself skimming those parts so that I could get on with the rest of this book.

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