Book: House of Salt and Sorrows
Author: Erin Craig
My Rating: ★★★★1/2
Synopsis: 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.
Where do I even begin with this book? I put it off for quite some time after receiving it in one of my OwlCrate boxes because I honest to goodness didn't know what it was about and wasn't sure if this was something that would be up my alley. Uhm, y'all. I WAS WRONG!!! Why did I push this off??? I mean, I guess it turned out to beneficial in that I was able to start 2020 off with a bang.
This book really blew me away. Whatever expectations you have coming into the book, throw them out the window. You might think you know where the book will head, but you don't. There are elements of mysticism/fantasy that get incorporated into this story so well that it just subverts whatever expectations you have going into the book.
I don't even know where to begin when it comes to what I enjoyed with this book. The characters, the plot, the romance, the fantasy/myth- it was all great. Our main character Annaleigh makes for such an interesting read because once you get into the last half of the book you start to question everything she's experiencing. And the romance between her in Cassius. Swoon. At first I was hella sus of him and didn't really buy into him, but damn it if he didn't win me over. I don't 100% buy the way their relationship started and it felt instalovey to me, but it grew on me. They were hella cute together.
I can't say too much about the plot without giving a shit ton away, so I'm not going. Just know that this book does a really good job of not making itself too predictable but while also still being realistic and entertaining. I wish more books were able to surprise me like this book did.
Overall I had a really time reading this book. The world and characters were super enthralling and made me want to learn more about the particular mythology that was the focus of this world. Erin Craig did a great job with this debut novel and I can't wait to read more from her.
2020 BOOKISH RESOLUTIONS/GOALS
Well it's that time of year where everyone and their mother comes out with their resolutions/goals for the year. I almost didn't do it this year because I wasn't sure it was worth it. At the end of the day however, I figured it couldn't hurt to come up with some. So, without further ado, here we go.
*Read 60 books*
For my Goodreads goal of the year, I'd like to read 60 books. Last year I read 53 books and that's the lowest amount of books I've read in like 6 years. Ideally I'd like to read 100 books like I've done pretty much every year, but I don't want to put that much pressure on myself. 2020 is going to be an incredibly unpredictable year personally, so I don't know how reading is going to fit into it. I'm go to try my best to get back into the hang of reading more often.
*Do a monthly wrap up each month*
This past year, more often than not, I ended up doing multi-month wrap ups instead of monthly wrap ups, simply because I didn't consistently read or blog each month. This year I'd like to go back to doing a monthly wrap up. Even if I don't read many books in a month, I'd rather take the time to do a quick little post than have nothing.
*Post at least once a week*
This is really my main goal of the year and the one I plan on putting the most energy into. It might not seem like a lot to write a post once a week, but to me it's important. I feel like blogging at least once a week will ensure I remain active and that I use the blog effectively.
*Have a review at least biweekly*
This one might be a bit of a stretch and more difficult for me to obtain, but I really want to make sure I put out a review at least twice a month. While I'm making changes to the blog and the content I post about, I do want to stick to some of my roots. This blog started off as a dedicated place to review books and I still want to review books.
*Be more active on bookish Twitter*
This might seem like an odd one, but it's one that I feel like I need. I see the bookish community and I want to interact with it more, and the best place to do that seems to be Twitter. I'm one of those people that follows others but doesn't really interact with them. I'm trying to change so that in addition to interacting with other tweets, I tweet more as well.
*Make more bookish friends*
I say this every year and it's true every year. I definitely had more interactions with the bookish community in 2019, but I truly want to make more connections. So if you're in the market for a bookish friend, hit me up!
*Revamp the website*
Little but time-consuming thing, I really want to revamp the look of my website. It's looked the same for the past few years and I feel like I need to spice it up more. It's pretty plain right now and I'd love for it to look more like my personality.
*Read more new releases*
Last but not least, I'd like to read more new releases. The majority of books I read are ones that came out in the past. I read maybe 5 books a year that were released that year. In 2019 I slowly started reading more new releases, and that was partially due to me getting OwlCrate. Without OwlCrate, I wouldn't have discovered some of my favorite books of the year. Now I don't want to exclusively read new releases, but I want to incorporate more of them into my TBR.
Well those are my bookish resolutions/goals for 2020. The majority of them won't be too hard to accomplish, but there are some I know I'm going to struggle with. I really want to put more work into this blog and bookish stuff in general this year. If I put effort into it, I know I can do it.
What do you guys think of my list? Do you have any in common with me? What are your lists? I'd love to hear everything down in the comments.
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