Spring Lake native succeeds with ‘spooky’ YA novels

The book signing was scheduled to start at noon Saturday, but a line formed outside The Book Cellar in Grand Haven well before then.

Hugging copies of “The House of Roots and Ruin” to their chests, readers were there for a singular purpose: to have their copies signed by author Erin A. Craig, a native of Spring Lake.

Craig, seated at a small table just inside the store’s front door, met each reader with a smile and bit of chit-chat before asking whom she should name on her signature page. Often she asked for the correct spelling of the name.

Kendall Crebassa of Grand Haven brought all of Craig’s books to be autographed. Craig signed the copy of her earlier “House of Salt and Sorrows” with a reference from the book. She added a quick ghost figure next to her signature.

Crebassa, a college senior majoring in early childhood education, had been introduced to Craig’s work by a friend. She said she found “House of Salt and Sorrows” to be “super creepy with a fall vibe,” so when she learned Craig was coming out with a sequel, “I knew I had to get it.”

Jenny Sattler of Hudsonville called Craig’s book a fairy tale retelling. “And I love a good fairy tale retelling,” she said.

Samanthe Le, a media center assistant at Grand Haven High School, brought two copies of the book to be signed. One was for the school library.

Craig’s books are classified as young adult, but the line to get into the bookstore had readers of all ages.

“I’m 39 and I blew through the book,” said The Book Cellar’s Amber Grevious. “It might be a certain genre, but it’s geared toward everyone. You get emotionally involved with the characters. You just have to keep reading to find out what happens next.”

Craig said she's read that 70 percent of people who read YA books are actually adults. “It’s bizarre,” she said.

“I love Erin because she takes the time to talk to every single person and really personalizes the conversation,” Grevious said. “She engages with all of her readers. She’s so down-to-earth."

Book Cellar co-owner Mike O’Brien bought 600 copies of “House of Roots and Ruin” in preparation for the event. By 12:10 p.m. Saturday, there were just 30 left.

“We had hoped we would run out of books, but not this quickly,” O’Brien said. “Her book caught on fire. It hit everyone in the right way, at the right time, with the right kind of story. It’s just taken off. It’s fantastic to see someone that deserves the best getting the best.”

O’Brien said people are reading more, and they’re choosing books.

“Ever since COVID, people got burned out on watching their iPad or looking on their phone,” he said. “People want to come in and get a physical book. We’re seeing a huge resurgence in that.”

Book reviewers have written that Craig’s fantasy-thrillers — with dark forests, monstrous creatures and sinister intentions — are both “sweet and dark” as well as “unique, enchanting and haunting.” Her latest work soared to No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller List early this month. Her two earlier books also made the list.

“It’s been the wildest ride,” Craig said. “I did not ever imagine all of this.”

Craig, whose maiden name is Whipkey, grew up in Spring Lake, graduating from high school there in 2001. She majored in theater design and production at the University of Michigan, then stage-managed tragic operas “filled with hunchbacks, seances and murderous clowns.” That led her to write books “that were just as spooky.”

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Most of her stories are retellings of earlier stories, she noted.

“I fell naturally into taking stories I’d learned as a kid and reframing them with a different world context,” she said. “I like to write books that you can get lost in, to escape from the world for a few hours.”

And then she added, “I would hope that readers take away a deep abiding fear of bathtubs. There have been some ghosties that have popped up out of some bathtubs.”

And in more than one of her books.

“My calling card,” she said.

Additional books are in the works, including an adult debut.

Craig lives in Hudsonville with her husband and daughter. She will be at the Michigan Trail of Authors at Barnes and Noble in Muskegon on Sept. 30 with more than 25 other local authors.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Spring Lake native succeeds with ‘spooky’ YA novels