Bound To Stay Bound

School Library Journal - 07/01/2019 Gr 8 Up—An accomplished first novel, equal parts gothic fairy tale and romance. Teenage Annaleigh and her seven sisters live in their ancestral house of Highmoor with their father and stepmother, the Duke and Duchess of the People of the Salt. Their family has been in near-continuous mourning for years after the deaths, one by one, of the girls' mother and four older sisters. Desperate for some happiness and an escape from their island community, the girls find a hidden passageway and begin a series of secret nights dancing their shoes into tatters at darkly splendid balls. The foreboding atmosphere intensifies, and eventually Annaleigh decides to forgo the parties and unravel the mysteries surrounding her family's ongoing tragedies. Loosely based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," the novel takes place in a 17th-century European–sounding world where an invented pantheon of gods guide, and sometimes afflict, their human devotees. The author's background in theater design surely contributed to Annaleigh's first-person narration as she tells the sisters' story in lavish visual detail. Well-described settings with rocky shores, obsidian fireplaces, and satin gowns bring this magical realm to life. Nuanced heroes and villains with complex backstories reveal their motives throughout the narrative, and the cause—and resolution—of the family's sorrows is both unexpected and thoroughly satisfying. VERDICT Compulsively readable, with sweet young love and truly creepy horror. First purchase for school and public libraries.—Beth Wright Redford, formerly at Richmond Elementary School Library, VT - Copyright 2019 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

Booklist - 07/01/2019 On an isolated island in a manor overlooking the sea, Annaleigh Thaumas lives with her wealthy father, her young stepmother, and her many sisters. People call the sisters the Thaumas Dozen, but it's a misnomer now: four are dead, lost to illness or strange accidents, and people are beginning to say that the family is cursed. When her littlest sister begins seeing the ghosts of the dead girls, Annaleigh dismisses it as imagination until she, too, finds herself haunted by terrible visions. As she begins to wonder about the deaths—how accidental could they be if her sisters are not at peace?—the living Thaumas girls discover a magical doorway that transports them to lavish parties. As they dance nightly through the soles of their shoes, Annaleigh's nightmarish visions intensify, and she fears the curse may be coming to claim another sister. This moody maritime retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses blends elements of suspense and horror for a gothic twist on a familiar tale. A memorably built world populated with a hauntingly doomed family. - Copyright 2019 Booklist.