HOL

Title: House of Salt and Sorrows
Author: Erin A. Craig
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Retelling
Series: No

Brief Summary:
The book is a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Brothers Grimm. The main character of the story, Annaleigh, is a resident of Highmoor Manor, along with her seven sisters, father, and step-mother. Though beautiful, the Highmoor girls have neither suitors nor close friends. Everyone is too frightened of the infamous Highmoor Curse to get too close to any of them. The Curse has already claimed the life of their mother and four of their ever-dwindling number of sisters, so one can hardly blame the townspeople for being wary.

Highmoor has been under a veil of mourning for years. Yet even the mourning period for their sister, who is the last victim claimed by the Curse is thrust aside when the stepmother finally intervenes. Highmoor has been swathed in black for far too long. When the girls convince their father to buy them each a pair of dancing shoes, the madness begins, and Annaleigh is caught in the epicenter. As the lines between reality and nightmare blur, her behavior becomes more and more erratic. Ghostly visions, divine meddling, and mounting horror rule the day. And as the madness spreads, the girls dance on...

Here is what Goodreads had to say:

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

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.

My take:
I love fairytale retellings and this one did not disappoint. Admittedly, being familiar with the original is a bonus, but even if you are not, the book is wonderful all on its own. I won't say that it scared me, but some of the imagery was definitely unsettling (in a very deliciously spooky sort of way).

The one negative I have is that many of the characters were never fully fleshed out properly. Nor are all of the questions answered in a satisfactory manner. Issues (such as the death of some of the girls) are built up to be a major plot point and then drop away to nothing, But those points aside, it is an excellent read.