Title: House of Roots and Ruin
Author: Erin A. Craig
Released: July 25th, 2023 (Hardcover, B&N Special Edition)
Series: Sisters of the Salt
Trigger Warnings: Poisoning, murder, death, physical assault
Rating: ★★★★★
Description: 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…
Please keep in mind this review contains spoilers for the entire book. Read with caution. If you click on “Read More”, it is under the assumption you either don’t care about spoilers or you’ve already read the book!
Honestly, I did forget about what happened in the first one but thankfully, there were some parts that were more or less a recap of what happened so that helped. I wish more books would do that, especially those with huge gaps in between publications.
First, I want to say that because of the amount of sisters still around that this gave a good chance to get to know Camille which was nice; I’m glad this book gave her some decent characterization, especially in the aftermath of everything that happened. I think because she was neither the antagonist in both books so far, you can see how she willed herself to be strong for all the remaining sisters.
Surprisingly, I do like Verity as the main character because she’s so young when the first book happened. It ties back to how I appreciate the recounting of the first book; it felt like I was re-discovering how good the first book is. Though, some could make the argument that it might have relied a little too heavily, considering Verity’s survival (along with her sisters) is important to the grand scheme of it. I can understand that but I do think that since this is part of a series now created, it works. I mean, of course an event like what happened in the previous book would impact the sisters forever. But with her powers, honestly, she’s too interesting of a character not to take advantage of it.
But as for the plot itself, I love how creepy it is and how it always kept me guessing with every turn. It’s way more of a slow burn (though faster than the first book) and it makes me want to yell at Verity to get out of that house! However, I will say near the end, the pacing does become a bit too ridiculous because it did somewhat feel that she’s sitting around waiting for the plot to happen to her.
When it comes to the climax, and inevitably, the pacing is better than it had been for the past couple books I’ve read of hers. Without giving much away, the pacing could have been a bit better in introducing and revealing certain characters (or maybe even earlier) but for what it’s worth, at least the plot remains interesting for the duration of it.
And when everything happened, oh man, I honestly love how fucked up the family is and how one should never jump into a marriage, no matter who they are. Gonna be honest, this gave me Anna and Hans from Frozen vibes but actually explored into. Along with a twist that I definitely didn’t expect, I honestly had a good time. There were other times where, normally, I want the character to make mistakes – this one, it felt weighted. This felt the wrong step, the wrong choice, the wrong words would be detrimental to what Verity wanted to do.
I will say that even after everything settles and is safe for her… that ending tease. Man, that ending! I cannot wait for the next book but I have to be as patient as possible!
Astronomy Of My Dreams 