This is a retelling of the 12 dancing princesses and you bet I picked it up as soon as I could, because I was so intrigued by it!

I loved the mystery, the creepiness, the plot twist, the author surprised me pleasantly with her ideas and the way she executed them! I was always guessing, always trying to predict what would happen next, because everything seemed possible in the world E. A. Craig has created.

Speaking about the world, I loved the island and it's structure and all the traditions the people had. Salten could have been any island in our world, it was so well written that didn't feel like something someone would imagine just for the sake of a story. The thing I wanted more details on though, is all the different gods that exists in this imaginary world. It's very clear the Islanders worship Pontus, but there other gods mentioned here and there, some playing bigger or smaller parts in the story and we get little to no insight. That's a lack in world building in my opinion.

As for the mystery of why the girls are dying, I loved every creepy part of it! It was slowly getting darker and darker and I loved that, because it made me dread turn the pages! Every time I thought that nothing worse can happen and the author always proved me wrong!

As for the reason why I didn't rate this higher, I wanted to rate it 4 stars but I decided to drop it to 3 stars because of the romance. Cassius and Annaleigh are a couple I don't think the story needed and I also don't think it was executed well. It was definitely insta love on Annaleigh's part and I think her whole affair with Cassius slowed down the plot instead of enhancing it and raising the stakes. My rating would have remained 4 stars if Cassius remained dead at the end of the book. I felt that the story was about a family with a curse and they efforts to stay alive, the romance was so distracting and I didn't want to read it at all. The ending was perfect, with Camille ruling Highmoor, Annaleigh a light keeper (exactly was she dreamed of) and the Grace's living with her, while Lenore left to explore the world. This was a story about sisters and family dynamics to its core, a romance had no part in it! I just think the author felt that a book without a romance wouldn't be as popular and that's why Cassius was in the story.

All in all, it was definitely an enjoyable book, with an intriguing story and interesting characters!