A Review of House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig Narrated by Emily Lawrence

Genre: Murder Mystery Romantasy. The bulk of the book is focused on the murder mystery aspect of the story. While the romance and the fantasy take a back seat and show their colors more fully toward the end of the book.

Spice Level: Mild. Very mild. There are a few vaguely sexual comments and kisses but nothing like some of the other books that have been popular lately.

Looking for more spice then check out one of these:

A Court of Thornes and Roses series | Adrian X Isolde series | Blood and Ash Series

Narration: Good. No complaints here. The story is from first person perspective so there was no need for the narrator to attempt a male voice save for a small handful of occasions and nothing so impassioned that it required something with more weight.

1. I’ve been consuming audiobooks like a crazy person lately. It’s a nice escape from the background noise of children. The convenience of being able to read again is so wonderful even if I’m not actually holding the book and reading it myself. I’ve also taken to listening to them as if they were bedtime stories which is kind of fun to relive a childhood experience in an adult context.
2. Begin with a brief summary of the book. The main character Annaleigh believes her sister’s recent death was not an accident but a murder. No one else seems to believe that’s the case. Due to this, she starts searching for answers and she finds some but not enough to put together the whole picture. There’s the romance and fantasy aspect while present for the most part they play a supporting role in the narrative. She has to decide who to trust and solve the mystery of her sister’s death before she is next. In the end, Annaleigh does discover the answers she seeks.
3. Pick out the most important aspects of the book. … The two main aspects of the book are truth and trust. What is true? Who is telling the truth? Who can Annaleigh really trust? Those are questions that she asks herself throughout the book and with the way it’s written I asked myself the same questions repeatedly. As a reader, we are kept in the dark about many things and while I think the building of the life at the manor was well done the author kept the fantasy aspects down to such a subtlety that I wasn’t sure if the gods were real or if they were just icons of worship.
4. All in all, I enjoyed the book. I never felt irritated with unrealistic storylines. I did feel some irritation when the main character didn’t say what I thought she should have, but in her position, she didn’t know who she could trust. So, her actions do make a fair amount of sense. Will it lead me to a cultish love of re-listening? No. It’s not ACOTAR or ToG or Adrian X Isolde… hmmm lol seems like I have a preferred genre. Don’t judge me. They are amazing. I’m not backing down from that statement. I will say I am not usually a fan of murder mystery books. Too much running around and finding clues. I don’t even like the game or move Clue. So, you won’t find many of those in my reviews.
5. If you liked this book I would suggest checking out the other book in the series, House of Roots and Ruin, or The Snow Child.