House of Salt and Sorrows

Full disclosure: I’m a sucker for retellings, as you may have noticed since this book is the second retelling to make my list.

This book retells the 12 Dancing Princesses, exploring the family’s curse more in-depth. That means it’s filled with gothic settings, plenty of tragedy, and the requisite family secrets. It’s the perfect spooky story to keep you up all night (because you won’t be able to put it down).

The story of twelve sisters disappearing from their crumbling manor one by one, House of Salt and Sorrows was among the first young adult gothic fantasies I read, and I loved every second of it.

Craig is a master of writing spooky, suspenseful novels, whether they’re set in a haunted mansion by the sea or a quiet village on the edge of a dark forest. And readers just picking up HoSaS for the first time are in luck – the sequel, House of Roots and Ruin, will be out on July 25th!

Just when you think you have this book all figured out, it throws a new twist at you. Even familiarity with the 12 Dancing Princesses fairy tale won’t help you decipher who the ‘bad guy’ is. With hints of curses and family deception, you won’t know which way to look to find the answers. I loved how much it kept me on my toes while at the same time pulling me into a world I could fall in love with.