The Maidens by Alex Michaelides showcased the author's talent to create atmospheric scenes and descriptions. However, I was not a fan of the plot points or the sequencing. I did, however, enjoy the writing and atmospheric descriptions.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

After reading The Patient... this book was mediocre. So hey, if you haven't read The Patient yet, you should read this one first. Is it a bad book? No, not at all. But it did not live up to the hype for me. The story was a little slow for me and I feel like the book could have been shorter and still got the point across. But overall, it had murder and that makes everything better, right?

I love a good mystery and even more so I love a mystery book whose murderer I can't guess, especially not easily. I love nothing more than a surprise twist and discovering whodoneit out of all of the characters I suspected and in this book there were many. I must say that this book completely thrilled me by the biggest twist of all and I loved it!

Zoe, Mariana's close friend, is murdered and she had been a member of The Maidens. The secret sorority has nothing but gorgeous women and Professor Fosca is the man who leads it. Mariana suspected Fosca and with plenty of good reasons. She sets out to prove him to be the culprit before another murder happens but she wasn't successful as there was another brutal murder committed. I loved discovering all of the secrets the characters were keeping which made me suspicious of just about everyone. I have to admit that I utterly failed finding was guilty. Loved being unable to do so!

The narrators were wonderful and clear in their presentation and definitely added to the creep factor. I don't know that I would've liked the book quite as well if I didn't have the audio version so kudos to the narrators.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for a free audiobook in exchange for an honest opinion which I have given.

Really enjoyed the audible of this one. The Silent Patient was a little bit bette, but still a fan of Michaelides and will read more in the future

When one's first work becomes a global success, the author automatically becomes the subject of enormous expectations. Many readers, including myself, have been waiting patiently for The Maidens, and I think it makes a fine follow-up to The Silent Patient.

Mariana Andros is a widowed group therapist who dedicates herself to her work. When Mariana receives a phone call from her niece Zoe, a student at Cambridge, informing her that her buddy has gone missing, she immediately makes plans to meet up with her. As she arrives to St. Christopher's College, she tries to comfort Zoe in the wake of Tara's death, but something is off. Mariana's fond recollections of her late husband, Sebastian, whom she met when they were both students at the institution, play a role in the investigation into his death. By the time she meets the charming Professor Edward Fosca, she is convinced that he is responsible for the death of her sister. But why would he want to murder his own students?

Even though I wasn't immediately hooked by the story, I ended up really enjoying it. Because of the short chapter length, I was able to quickly pick up on the hints, which turned out to be primarily red herrings. The disclosed evidence is bolstered by allusions to Greek tragedies and Alfred Tennyson. The author's style is straightforward and concise, which aids the reader in keeping up with the action. So, I did, in fact, figure out a hint, and I was mentally congratulating myself before I was completely taken by surprise by the killer's identity.

Two characters from the author's previous work, The Silent Patient, make brief appearances here, leading me to speculate about the possibility of a trilogy connecting the two stories. Assuming that's the case, I'll be the first person in the room to read it.

My first thought ... "meh"

I will say, I have not read The Silent Patient yet. I do own it, just haven't gotten to it. So many people say they loved that one better, so I'm still going to try it out. But this one didn't do it for me. I wasn't invested, animal cruelty REALLY turns me off. In fact I stopped reading at that point. I wish NG had a trigger warnings section because had I known that I never would have requested this one. I have been putting off this review, but finally gave it to write one.

I chose this audiobook because I really enjoyed 'The Silent Patient'. Maybe I was expecting too much from this one and had a higher bar.

I did not find it as exciting or entertaining. Maybe, someone else found it good.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to listen to this.

The Maidens did not live up to the hype of The Silent Patient for me. I felt myself becoming bored quite often or losing attention during my listen of this book. The ending was also very predictable and anticlimactic. I think the plot of this book had amazing potential, but the execution was not my favorite.

I loved he Silent Patient so much, I was hesitant to pick up this one for fear of being disappointed. However, I need not have feared. Although this is not as great, it is still a good book that kept me interested.

I was unfamiliar with the narrators, but they did a good job bringing these characters to life.

My feelings on this read were a bit mixed. I enjoyed it very much and, as always, enjoy Michaelides' writing style, but just really felt unsatisfied and confused by the end/ending. I appreciated the nods to The Silent Patient but all in all, even though I loved reading it, this wasn't as strong a book for me. I had to suspend my disbelief and was ok with that but I think that I had the most difficult time with some of the themes of the treatment of younger women and the older/younger dating in the storyline. Instead of some of the behaviours feeling problematic, I found myself felling that their existence in multiple storylines made me uncomfortable with those themes.

This was one of those reads where I overthought much of the book, expecting wild conclusions and plot twists but perhaps that is on me for reading too many wild stories! All in all, this was still a 4 star read for me and I really enjoyed it, I was just left with some questions and negative thoughts at the end.

The audio on this was really enjoyable, I loved having multiple narrators and the tones and inflections were excellent and kept me engaged!

Unfortunately, was not able to get into this book. Loved the Silent Patient, but this story is dragging too much for me.

This was a DNF. I tried both the book and audiobook and I just couldn't get into it. I read The Silent Patient and I really liked it so I thought I would love this.

I loved the Greek mythology ties in this thriller but that's where my love for this one ends, unfortunately.

I found the plot to be meandering and boring. I wasn't hooked enough to care what happened next. It was a miss for me!

I requested The Maidens because I thought maybe I’d miss the mark with this author after his debut book The Silent Patient, a book I didn’t care for, had garnered so many rave reviews. Things I liked about this book are the short chapters, the creepy atmospheric Cambridge setting, and the inclusion of Greek mythology literature and art. What I didn’t like were the over the top dramatic characters, the implausible plot, and the reasonings of the characters behind the twists. It just was too farfetched for my liking.

The narration on the book was fantastic and helped get me through the book despite not caring for the story.

Super dark book and I liked the dark academia setting, but at times this was hard to get through and wasn’t always compelling for me.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Really liked this book! it was dark academia creepy!

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

I did not like this book and ended up giving it 2.5 out of 5 stars. Overall I enjoyed the pacing and the Cambridge atmosphere, but all of the main elements lacked complexity. The characters felt really flat (especially Mariana) and I did not care about any of them of their narratives. The story felt too convenient and unrealistic (Mariana being a therapist and all of a sudden becoming fascinated with the case and determine to solve the murder without any experience or motivation that felt truly genuine??). She also abandoned her patients to do this and I felt that just didn't make sense. The reveal felt extremely cliché and unrealistic. I will continue to read this author's works but I had too many issues with that one.

Atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere! If you’re driven by setting and atmosphere, The Maidens is for you. Another book by Michaelides that’s blown me away, I love the way this author writes thrillers and I’m looking forward more to come!

This was really interesting. I found the author's expertise of being a psychotherapist particularly highlighted in this story as well as his last. I thought the dark academia setting was really vivid and the characters were all really well-fleshed out and interesting. Overall, I think this is well worth the read!