House of Roots and Ruin by Erin A. Craig

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Title: House of Roots and Ruin
Author: Erin A. Craig
Series: Sisters of the Salt #2
Published by: Delactorte Press
Release Date: July 25, 2023
Format: ebook
Pages: 538
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Gothic Horror
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

A modern masterpiece, this is a classic Gothic thriller-fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig, about doomed love, menacing ambition, and the ghosts that haunt us forever.

In a manor by the sea, one sister is still cursed.

Despite dreams of adventures far beyond the Salann shores, seventeen-year-old Verity Thaumas has remained at her family’s estate, Highmoor, with her older sister Camille, while their sisters have scattered across Arcannia.

When their sister Mercy sends word that the Duchess of Bloem—wife of a celebrated botanist—is interested in having Verity paint a portrait of her son, Alexander, Verity jumps at the chance, but Camille won’t allow it. Forced to reveal the secret she’s kept for years, Camille tells Verity the truth one day: Verity is still seeing ghosts, she just doesn’t know it.

Stunned, Verity flees Highmoor that night and—with nowhere else to turn—makes her way to Bloem. At first, she is captivated by the lush, luxurious landscape and is quickly drawn to charming, witty, and impossibly handsome Alexander Laurent. And soon, to her surprise, a romance . . . blossoms.

But it’s not long before Verity is plagued with nightmares, and the darker side of Bloem begins to show through its sickly-sweet façade. . . .

4 stars — Fuck me, that ending.  It’s both perfect given the genre and style, and drives me fucking mad.  Sorry, I needed to get that out.  If anyone fan fictions an extra epilogue, please let me know…

Just like the first book in this series, this one had a great atmosphere that really got me in a spooky/gothic mood.  These books are definitely out of my wheelhouse and push my boundaries, but they’re not super scary so much as trippy and eerie and creepy.  They give me goosebumps, but I’m a chicken who starts getting tears in her eyes when people talk about ghosts…*snort*

Verity was an interesting heroine — she still felt very young in so many ways, and my heart hurt for her being kept in the dark by her sisters about her “gift”.  The way she saw Camille definitely had some teenage overdramatics, but it set things up nicely for her to question herself and feel a bit trapped in her circumstances.

I appreciated that things felt a bit wrong right from the start with the Laurents, but that it was mild at first, and slowly ramped up.  Some of the twists and turns were creepier than I was expecting, and left me a touch uncomfortable at times.

I have mixed feelings about Alex, probably because I started questioning things here and there, as well as her feelings at certain moments.  I don’t want to say too much more about that just because it’s hard to avoid mild spoilers.

There were 2 characters introduced that totally surprised me, though perhaps they shouldn’t.  They definitely served to have me second guessing first impressions, and going back and forth on what was going to happen with them.

I think there were a few things that felt like they would be important and were left unanswered.  Which, when put together with that ending, is kinda unsatisfying.  I guess it depends if that’s really the real ending, or if there will be more.

So yeah.  Definitely loved this venture outside my normal reading, but wow.  I kinda need to talk to someone about it.  Call me!  *smirk*