House of Salt and Sorrows

 

Stars: 3. I am not a gothic, horror fan, but this was still a good read, so three stars. I don’t need to read it again, but it was worth the time. 

My Thoughts:

What grabbed me was the title and the quote “In a manor by the sea, twelve sisters are cursed.” I also realize that as an island person myself, I like to read novels where the sea is a prominent character. This did not really pan out to be the case, however, the mystery and horror was pretty intriguing. 

This is a first person narration story from the point of view of one of the older sisters, Annaleigh. There is a little bit of discombobulation as a reader because of the first person POV, but that makes for a good read to not always know as a reader what is real and what is imagined. 

I believe there is another book with younger sisters Verity, but I am ok leaving this book as a stand alone. I think the dead should stay dead. 

From the Publisher:

Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters, their father, and stepmother. Once they 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 the deaths were no accidents. Her sisters 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.