Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Content gets notably more mature in haunting sequel.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In HOUSE OF ROOTS AND RUIN: SISTERS OF THE SALT, BOOK 2, Verity still lives at her family home at almost 18 and is itching to see the world. The perfect opportunity comes along when the Duchess of Bloem offers Verity a commission to paint her son's portrait. She's ready to pack her bags for the mainland, but her sister Camille, the Duchess of Salann, is dead set against it. That's when the truth finally comes out: Verity can see ghosts, and she's in danger of being exposed for this macabre gift if she leaves home. Verity weighs the dangers and still decides to leave, but in secret. Her life awaits. At first, it's all a beautiful dream as she's welcomed to the estate of Chauntilalie and meets Alex, the family heir. Soon, she's besotted and hopeful about her future with him. But then Verity starts hearing screams outside her room at night. Her gift is trying to tell her something vital about the shocking mysteries hidden at Chauntilalie.
Is It Any Good?
This thrilling sequel keeps readers up to their bugged-out eyeballs in the same haunted manor mayhem as the first book, dialing up the romance and shock factor. Readers who are eager for the sinister will have to wait until the incredibly charming courtship between Verity and Alex is over and their wedding date is set. Blood-curdling screams at night? Just the peacocks. That strong hallucinogen Verity inhales in the duke's botany lab? Honest mistake. The warning from her dead sisters to leave immediately, those weird pink candles...
Okay, so there are some clues early on in House of Roots and Ruin that something's amiss, but it's hard for Verity to focus on them when she's so in love. Readers, too, will dismiss those moments, all the while wondering when the darkness promised by the first will arrive. Well, wedding planning brings out the worst in everyone. Controlling future in-laws are on a whole new level here -- a truly shocking one. Readers will either be all about the shock value or turned off by its exploitative nature. Verity's choices can also be baffling -- why drink wine that smells poisoned or trust (and lust) after someone who's clearly unstable or rifle through someone's creepy office, drink their absinthe, and expect them not to notice? Can Verity really survive a house like Chauntilalie? That's as much a twisty mystery as all the rest.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the shocking mystery in House of Roots and Ruin. When did you suspect something wasn't right at Chauntilalie manor? How did Verity's perseverance help her uncover the truth? How did her desire to be considered normal keep her from asking the right questions sooner?
Alex, Verity's love interest, is in a wheelchair. How many stories do you read with main characters in wheelchairs? How many of those stories are focused on the disability instead of romantic relationships?
Which Thaumas sister do you want to read about next? Mercy? Lenore? Honor? Do you think there will be another creepy manor for them to explore?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , STEM
- Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Delacorte Press
- Publication date : July 25, 2023
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 544
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 18, 2025
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