House of Salt and Sorrows

 Annaleigh and her sister's used to have a charmed life as the daughters of a duke.  Their days at Highmoor manor were happy, and they loved the salty air of the sea.  But shortly after the birth of her twelfth daughter, Annaleigh's mother died.  Then the lost one sister to the plague, one to an accident, and one...to madness.  They have been in mourning so long, the younger girls only remember life in somber black.

Their father's recent marriage to a much younger woman has stirred frustration in the older girls, but the little ones are happy to have a mother figure in their lives again.  Annaleigh isn't sure how to feel about Marella.  The young woman says and does foolish, even maddening things, but her heart seems to be in the right place.

When another sister dies, Annaleigh is shocked to discover the family doesn't want to observe another year of mourning.  Her father practically forbids it.  The villagers have been gossiping about the cursed sisters for years, but when they see the girls out of their mourning black, people are scandalized.  

In an effort to ease their minds, the sisters decide to search for a magical door from a story that will take you anywhere you want to go in an instant.  They are shocked to discover the door is real, and with the now oldest sister Camille worried she will never find a husband with all the mourning and gossip, they discover the portal will take them to a different sumptuous ball every night.  

Their father can't understand why they are wearing through their shoes so quickly and always exhausted every day.  She can't really explain it, but something about these balls doesn't seem quite right to Annaleigh.  

Then one of the little girls starts talking about seeing her dead sisters.  Annaleigh worries something is wrong with Verity, but then she begins to see the spirits, too.  They are terrifying specters who bear the marks of their deaths.  It is then that Annaleigh begins to suspect the last sister's death might not have been an accident.

Is Annaleigh uncovering a mystery, or is she going mad?  What is really happening at Highmoor Manor?

Erin Craig's new book is a gothic romance with a fantasy element thrown in, and it is good creepy fun.  I really enjoyed this book with all its twists and turns and gothic allusions to the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale.  It feels like a traditional English gothic tale, but the addition of the gods gives the story an interesting twist.  The romance was a little too instalove for my taste, but that is literally my only complaint.  This one is definitely for more mature readers for references to bedroom activities and some pretty horrifying revelations at the end.  Highly recommended for grades 8 and up!