A review by acitygirlsthoughts
House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

4.0

Trigger Warnings: Rape, sexual assault, assault, mild gore, mild violence

I'm usually not a fan of horror but this is mild enough for me to read. The violence and gore are pretty much minimal and not specifically graphic (except for one scene). This is a retelling of Grimm's 12 Dancing Princesses, but darker. The pace flowed properly - not too fast or too slow - and the ending took on a thriller-esque feel as Craig used the unreliable narrator trope, forcing us to question whether everything really happened or not, but there are discrepancies that leave a small hole within her plot that's too big to ignore, especially one towards the end. I can't post it because it's a spoiler but I don't understand if the curse happened before the deal was struck (when Annaleigh's older sisters' died) or after? It throws off the whole mystery. In conclusion, the writing is excellent (even though the epilogue is kind of corny) and kept me engaged. I didn't expect Craig to use the unreliable narrator trope but it made this retelling even better!