This book took me FOREVER to read, and I was only able to get through the last 30% quickly because the audiobook became available on scribd on publication day. That doesn’t mean I hated it though, I actually liked it enough, but I think I’ve just been reading too much horror lately, and I got bored of it, especially since it’s not a genre I’m usually a fan of. Also, a certain character really got on my nerves haha.
Not Good for Maidens tells the story of Lou, an American teenage girl whose family is originally from England but left in mysterious circumstances that they refuse to talk about. One day, her teenage aunt Neela (who’s almost her age because Lou’s mum had her really young) disappears, and after finding out she is held captive in the market in York, a place where goblins lure humans to torture and eat them, Lou decides to go rescue her. At the same time, we learn about Lou’s other (and much older) aunt May, who 18 years earlier was herself tempted by the market and had to escape it, which is the reason why the family then moved to America.

Let’s start with the things I found really cool in this book.
I knew nothing about the original tale, but the premise of the market, with the treacherous goblins trying to trick humans into breaking the rules so they can keep them there, sounded super cool to me. I do wish the goblins could’ve been a little less Manichean-ly evil if that makes sense, maybe more like ambiguous creatures with a twisted moral code. But I loved that they still had strict rules that they had to follow and a binding agreement with the witches, even if they’re also allowed to lie and deceive the humans who enter the market. It fits the idea that I have of goblins, and of the little people in general. Basically I love folklore haha, and this was clearly very folkloric so I enjoyed that aspect a lot.
On a similar note, I’m a sucker for witch covens so this just resonated with me. I’m convinced this book is set in the same universe as The Devil Makes Three, the author’s debut novel, because the magic system is very similar (herbs play an important part for example). I feel like this is the Tori Bovalino witching universe, and everything is connected on a big web, we simply don’t have all the elements of how it works. And usually that frustrates me, but in this case I didn’t mind – I can’t really explain why, it just kind of felt like it could exist in our world and I liked that.
Finally, I really liked Lou’s character, and especially how in the end she decides to stay in York and reclaim her heritage. She was smart and decisive, actually used her brain to get out of the market, and overall kept her wits in stressful situations. Actually, now that I think about it, she was a lot like her own mother Laura, who I also liked. So she was a pleasant character to read about and follow.
I don’t have much to say about the plot, it worked well enough (I feel like I say that about every book I review haha). Neela gets taken, Neela has to be rescued, it was pretty straight forward, didn’t have any crazy plot twist or anything. The pacing was fine too, the switch between the present timeline and 18 years earlier brought some dynamism to the story, but at the same time it never completely captured my attention either.

Now on to the two big issues I have with this book.
EVERYTHING ABOUT MAY. She was SO STUPID sometimes and I wasn’t convinced by her story at all. I didn’t understand why she did… the things she did? Or how her brain worked? IF it worked haha? At some point, I shit you not, she’s like deep inside the market and was dragged there by the Market Prince AKA the most ruthless and bloodthirsty of the goblins, and she thinks “For the first time, May wondered how much Iark’s promise of protection meant”. OH REALLY BITCH? FOR THE FIRST TIME? Moreover, I didn’t like her romance at all. And I WANTED to like it, but it didn’t make ANY SENSE. It’s supposed to explain her actions and decisions but it just makes her look even more nonsensical. I already didn’t think the romance was done well in The Devil Makes Three, so maybe I’m just not into the way this author writes romance. But it just felt very forced and it happened SO quickly. In barely three days, May was in love with Eitra and ready to follow her anywhere and even die for her. And that, even though Eitra is a GOBLIN, the species May has been taught to hate and fear since she was a child, and she KNOWS they’re not trustworthy. You’re telling me it took her 48 hours to change her mind? I’m all for an impossible romance, but it usually takes some time for the characters to unlearn their biases…
And the romance part is actually connected to my second issue with this book, which is that I didn’t understand WHY the market was so alluring? I’d have understood if it was all an illusion, making it seem extremely pretty and even heavenly, with riches and beautiful things, changing depending on the person who’s seeing it of course. BUT IT LITTERALY HAD HUMAN BODY PARTS ON DISPLAY. WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO GO THERE. Even the “watered down” version of the market that Lou sees at first was still horrible, and you’re not going to convince me that what made people want to go there was just the fruits… Several times in the book, humans are seen walking around the market, just wandering and laughing together, and that was so confusing to me haha. So yeah I wasn’t convinced at all by that aspect. And that was especially true for May, who knew what the market was about even better than the humans, and she just followed Eitra because… she was hot? I’ve been a confused and scared-to-come-out bisexual too lol, but that’s just not a good enough reason to enter literal HELL ON EARTH. Again, if the market had somehow appeared to her as a place where everyone is accepting of her sexuality and welcoming her for who she is, supporting her relationship with Eitra – I’d have understood. But no? She knew? And that just made her ENTIRE storyline (so maybe 40% of the book) unenjoyable for me.

TL;DR: Not Good for Maidens has an interesting premise that I hadn’t seen in another book before, and I wouldn’t discourage you to read it exactly. But I’m not sure I’d recommend it either.
TWs: blood/gore (a lot), explicit violence, death, cannibalism, trauma.

This goblin market retelling was an enthralling read, but it hewed a bit too close to the original myth, which is wildly anti Semitic, for my personal taste. I do think the author improved upon the bigoted source material, but they didn’t quite get all the way there. Curious to see what Jewish own voices readers think. 3.75 or 4 stars

ɴᴏᴛ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ꜰᴏʀ ᴍᴀɪᴅᴇɴꜱ is a dark YA horror retelling of ɢᴏʙʟɪɴ ᴍᴀʀᴋᴇᴛ and it’s absolutely everything I could have possibly hoped for.

The market is a bloody mess filled with discarded body parts and lusciously ripe fruit. Humans are drunk on wine with sunken eyes being lured deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of the market. Stairways that change paths causing you to become disoriented. With only darkness and the sound of your steps on the stone floor…leading you down, down, down.

I loved the dual time lines with Lou and May. And what’s more…there’s witches!

Don’t forget to line your pockets with rosemary and thyme.

I can’t even do this review justice, all I can say is that I’ll be buying a hard copy because I absolutely adore this book.

So if you like:
🥀 Witches
🥀 Gore
🥀 Body horror
🥀 Vicious goblins
🥀 Sapphic characters

GRAB THIS NOW!

I had certain up and down moments with this book; I think I was a bit unlucky in that I ended up in a reading slump right when I started reading it. But at the end of the day, I did enjoy this book and I would recommend it to people who are looking for a fantasy-gory-goblin horror story.

The best part of the book (other than the gay, murderous love story) was the generational relationship between the MC, her aunts, and her mother. I think it was raw, so emotionally heavy and complex. That feeling of not really belonging, of wondering who these people were before you existed, of not knowing who you are independently of those around you. Bovalino did a great job of describing the characters’ dynamics and the conflicting feelings they have for one another. It felt very real and brought me to tears quite a few times.

Of course, I loved the goblin love interest. I honestly couldn’t blame May for her actions because I probably would have done the same in her position… Which was another great element of the story: I kind of understood the characters’ actions. No matter how ridiculously dangerous something was, and no matter how clear it was to me that they were doing something insanely reckless, I couldn’t help but also fall for the tricks and the temptations. It’s easy as a reader to sit back and say that I wouldn’t have made such dumb mistakes, but if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t think I would have been able to resist either. There’s something about the way that Bovalino described the goblins and the Goblin Market that made it feel equally as alluring as it was daunting.

On the less effective side of things, I found that there were certain characters and relationships that were extremely underdeveloped, even though they were still central or important to the plot. It made the story kind of slow at certain points. I wanted to skip through certain scenes, and I think it was maybe one of the reasons it took me so long to finish the book. I also found that the way the story was told made it a little hard to follow at times. For instance, certain reveals came at such anticlimactic moments, they almost didn’t register in my head. I also found it a bit hard to wrap my head around the goriness of the Goblin Market. There were certain parts of it that I could really visualize and that honestly freaked me out, but others that I couldn’t picture in my head no matter how often I went over the descriptions.

These issues didn’t ruin the book in its entirety, but it made the difference between loving the story to simply liking it. It had all the correct elements—horror story, sapphic characters, eerie setting, gory details, deep and complex family dynamics—, but there was something in the writing that made it difficult for me to really get deeply emotionally attached to the book and the characters within in.

I still definitely would recommend this novel, especially for those who like horror that dips into the fantasy genre!

Not Good For Maidens is the kind of book that keeps you up at night, not because of the horror, but because of the writing.

After reading Tori Bovalino’s first novel, The Devil Makes Three, it was easy to say that it was the first horror novel that I read from start to finish. And I don’t like horror novels. Not Good For Maidens is the same thing.

Following two main characters, Louisa in the present day and her Aunt May eighteen years earlier, it takes the classic horror poem Goblin Market to a whole new level, literally. The market starts on summer solstice and ends as summer comes to a close, trapping those who are inside for another year. It’s full of jems and fruit, treats that will trap you beneath the earth. May is a witch, or will be in a few years, so she can still enjoy the market, and she does, entering against her mother’s wishes to experience the thing that has been calling her for so long. But the goblins are ruthless this year, and May is drawn the Market Prince’s second, leaving her trapped between what she wants and what’s good for her. Louisa finds herself in the same predicament when her best friend and younger aunt Neela becomes trapped.

It’s safe to say that I enjoyed this book. Tori Bovalino’s writing describes the horror and gore in a way that doesn’t leave pictures burning in your mind or make you sure that there’s a goblin in the shadows. Instead it takes you on the ride, and leaves you safely at the last page.

Louisa and May, while experiencing two different markets eighteen years apart, are very similar and yet drastically different. The world of witches, goblins and York after dark bring them together, whether they like it or not. Also the casual bisexual and asexual represntation was wonderful, and it made each of their perspectives in the market interesting to compare.

I can’t wait to purchase a finished copy of this book. Thank you to NetGalley, Page Street and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Not Good for Maidens was a new release I was excited for, but also a little hesitant of. The premise sounded intense, and I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect going into this one. But I actually think that was the best way to experience it! Not Good for Maidens has a lot of adventure, intrigue, and horror within its pages, and much like Lou herself, it’s impossible to fully know what you’re getting into until you dive in head first.

Not Good for Maidens takes place across two timelines. One set present-day, following Louisa Wickett-Stevens whose world turns upside down when she finds out her teenage aunt Neela has been trapped in the nefarious goblin market her mother had intentionally kept secret from Lou her entire life. The second takes place 18 years earlier and follows Lou’s aunt May, a witch in training, as she begins a dangerous but exhilarating romance with Eitra, a goblin from the market.

Both find themselves venturing into the depths of the goblin market, with all its danger and gore, to save the ones they love. But venturing into the goblin market means there’s a very real risk they might never return…

Dark and haunting, Bovalino has crafted an intricate world of fantasy and horror. The ominous and treacherous presence of the goblin market looms over every chapter. The barbarity hidden within is even more gruesome than feared.

Bovalino does an excellent job describing the awfulness that is the goblin market. As otherworldly and horrible as it sounded, I could easily visualize it in my mind – even when I didn’t necessarily want to. Despite being magical and fabled, the horrors Lou and May face felt tangible and everpresent.

The only things that didn’t really hit their mark for me were the middle of Lou’s storyline (which felt like it dragged a little until she made her way to York and actually began to learn of the goblin market in earnest – that’s when it got good!) and some of the author’s language choices.

(There was this thing in the narration where an important word or concept would get repeated three times in a row, and it worked at first, but by the end just felt really unnecessary and repetitive. The word “clot” was also used a lot in descriptions, and the first couple of times I thought it was such a creative and unique word choice, but after it kept popping up again and again, it felt a little overdone and lost that initial magic it had for me.)

But overall, Not Good for Maidens was a darkly enthralling read. I especially loved May and Eitra’s romance. Like, if you told me a week ago I would have totally fallen, heartbroken, tears welling over an ill-fated love story between a witch and a thorny, green goblin I wouldn’t have believed you, but here we are! Not Good for Maidens is just THAT good.

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours and the publisher, Page Street Kids/Publishing, for providing me with an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for the eArc of this title! I really enjoyed Not Good for Maidens. The dual timeline was very well executed and the plot twist, while predictable, was still thrilling and intersected the two timelines well. However, I found the plot to be quite slow in the beginning and very fast at the end, enough that the final few chapters felt rushed. The climax of the book was also difficult to place; I never felt like there was a moment of tension that was higher than the rest, even when they were rescuing Neela and Eitra the tone felt the same. I am also aware that the piece on which this book is based is an antisemitic poem, and I would have liked to see this tropes subverted more than they were in this retelling.

I received an advanced copy of Not Good For Maidens from Page Street Publishing so I could share my review with you!

Content Warnings: On-page gore, on-page horror, violence, trauma, talk of humans being eaten, and descriptions of mutilated bodies.

This book has two main story arcs, one told in the current era and one told eighteen years earlier, both set during the goblin market. I struggled somewhat with keeping the characters straight at the beginning of the book with the dueling timelines, but as the story progressed I became more immersed, so this issue went away. Soon enough, the characters were all so distinct and personal to me that I couldn’t imagine not remembering who is who! Tori Bovalino’s ability to write visually graphic scenes was integral to this story, especially during the market scenes. I felt as though I could really imagine the goblin market existing (which is not an entirely pleasant thought)!


My Recommendations-
If you’re a reader who can handle a gorier story and who loves witchy books, you should check out a copy of Not Good For Maidens! I would especially recommend this book to fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, or of other similarly witchy and thrilling stories! Additionally, if you’re looking for a book with a bisexual or asexual protagonist for your reading challenges, Not Good For Maidens has got one protagonist with each of those identities who are both extremely well-written.

Did someone say creepy retelling? Well then I'm all in! "Not Good for Maidens" was even bloodier than I imagined, and the horror factor was also very present. It's probably not a book to read before going to bed, but that certainly didn't stop myself from reading this late at night.

This book was amazingly horrifying and kept me glued to my armchair while reading it. I just couldn't get enough of the writing style, the representation and everything else going on in "Not Good for Maidens". I just feel that I couldn't really connect to Lou (who is our Main Character after all) but other than that the novel was well written, and my reading enjoyment was clearly guaranteed.

3 Stars

Not Good for Maidens follows Lou who has to travel into the Goblin Market after finding out her Aunt Neela was kidnapped by said market. The Goblin Market offers humans everything they could dream of, a temptation to any human who enters. Lou wanting to save Neela has to learn songs and spells in order to save her. But the twist is that she only has three days to save Neela before the market disappears.

When I saw in my email that I was selected for the Not Good for Maidens TBR and Beyond Tours, I was not expecting it and I’m so glad to be a part of this tour! This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2022 and the premise of this story sounded so intriguing to me.

As I stated before, this was one of my most anticipated books for 2022. Going into this story, I had high expectations for this story. Ultimately, when I finished I was left with mixed feelings. While I thought some elements of the story were executed brilliantly, others fell flat for me.

Not Good for Maidens centers around the premise of the Goblin Market, which is a retelling of the original Goblin Market written by Christina Rossetti. I didn’t actually know that this was a retelling of an original story until other readers started pointing it out in their reviews. Since I haven’t actually read the original story, I can’t really speak on how well executed the retelling part of this story was. For the purpose of this review, I will not be focusing on the retelling part, but rather focusing on the worldbuilding itself.

The premise of the Goblin Market is what had me so intrigued with this story in the first place. The overall concept had me wanting to know more about it and see where the author could take it. The worldbuilding of the Goblin Market was very well executed bringing a horrific atmosphere that perfectly captures the experiences our main characters face.

I haven’t read a lot of YA books within the horror genre, but the gore and violence were done in such a descriptive way that I could actually imagine all the horrific acts the market committed. This story goes to a much darker level than other YA books I’ve read before, but I think we could use more of it in YA. I will warn you that if you aren’t the biggest fan of gore and body horror, then this story might not be the best for you.

While I did like the concept of Not Good For Maidens, I believe that it could have been executed a bit better. One of the main elements of this story is the dual timeline perspectives. The current time period focuses on Lou traveling into the Goblin Market to save her Aunt Neela and the past which focuses on May’s journey with the Goblin Market many years prior.

While this was an interesting idea, in theory, it didn’t end up working for me. While the difference between perspectives was announced at the beginning of each chapter, I had a bit of trouble differentiating what perspective I was reading because Lou and May felt very similar, not having any distinguishing character traits.

The problem with dual timelines is that if you don’t execute it quite right it ends up affecting the overall pacing of the story, which is exactly what happened here. The pacing dragged at several points of the story making it boring at times and overall had a very choppy feel instead of smoothly gliding through the story.

Not Good for Maidens is a plot-driven story, which was executed very well for the most part. It was very entertaining to read about Lou’s journey into the Goblin Market as she tries to save her Aunt Neela without getting trapped there herself. Since this story is more plot-driven, which isn’t bad, to say the least, the characters ended up falling flat with no real defining character trait of them. I wish that the amount of work that the author put into the worldbuilding and horrific atmosphere was carried over to the characters as well.

While there were elements of Not Good for Maidens I didn’t necessarily like, I know there will be other readers out there who will absolutely fall in love with this story. Not Good for Maidens is perfect for readers who are looking for a plot-driven story with well-developed horrific atmospheric worldbuilding that is sure to give you a fright.

Not Good for Maidens was a book that fascinated me from the start, even though I was not familiar with the poem ‘Goblin Market’ that this is a retelling of (although I do intend to look it up). This was very much a book that drew me in with the premise, because while I feel that having read it the cover is a good match for both the atmosphere and the story itself, it wasn’t one that I fell in love with.

What I did fall in love with was the atmosphere that Bovalino has created in this book, and the way that fantasy and horror blended to emphasize that feeling. This is the kind of horror that I really love, with the dark, creeping atmosphere and the feeling that something is lurking or about to happen. It’s that uneasy kind of feeling that wraps around you and does an excellent job of both pulling you into the world, but also to the story, because you feel as though if you look away for a single second you will miss something essential. It was certainly the aspect that stuck with me longest after finishing this book, and the author really captured that haunting aspect of gothic horror stories as well as a lovely sense of whimsy.

The worldbuilding itself was a little more mixed for me. I loved everything to do with the Market, and that was where the worldbuilding really shone through and it was the most vividly realised part of the book. The market took that atmosphere and turned up the dial, and I enjoyed the dichotomy between the illusion of the market and the reality beneath it, and there were just so many details both in terms of descriptions to the people that inhabited the market, and I would happily read another book set solely there. Another reason this part shone so much was the use of songs, it just added another dimension – and it was an excellent way to make the market, and that creepy, haunting feeling stick in your mind. However, beyond this, the worldbuilding felt a little light in other places – the witches in particular. I can understand the decision to have them be witches with the folkloric nature of the market and the overall story, but the execution let it down, because the development wasn’t there especially with the magic system, and in places it almost felt like it had been added in just to adhere to that folklore.
The representation in this book was excellent and well done, and I am always here for books that have asexual characters which Not Good for Maidens has. I will admit I was not particularly taken with the characters as individuals, but what I did love was how the relationships and dynamics were handled, particularly in a family that has gone through divorce and had the weight of history across generations in play. Bovalino has an excellent grasp on how to bring those relationships to life in a way that carries the weight of that situation but doesn’t fall into tropes or completely take away from the rest of the story – and it greatly increased by enjoyment of the characters because of this. The story itself is told through two narratives told years apart, and again that generational relationship was done very well, and I loved how the two narratives were brought together, and the parallels and differences that occurred. This is very much a coming-of-age story for both our main POV characters regardless of the timeline, and both were done well.

I enjoyed the writing, although the pacing was a little off in some places – particularly in Lou’s narrative where it felt like it slowed down quite a bit. But the descriptions and again the atmosphere very much shone through in the writing. It should also be noted that there is gore and body horror in this story – taking that atmosphere to something more real and visceral, although it was not as intense as I had expected having seen the warnings, as this is a YA book. Still, if that is not your preference, be aware that it is there. But, while Not Good for Maidens is firmly on the boundary of fantasy-horror, it is very much more the gothic, lingering horror rather than the keep you up at night with eyes on the door kind of horror.

Not Good for Maidens was an enjoyable read that ticked many boxes for me – the atmosphere, the folklore (I really do want more of the Market), the horror aspects and the representation were all fantastic. A great book for anyone who wants a spine-tingling, family-focused, queer fantasy-horror.

Every year Lou Wickett looks forward to the summer when her teenaged aunt Neela comes over from York, England, to visit her in Boston. But when Neela decides to stay in York, only to disappear one night, Lou's understanding of the world around her changes dramatically. Her mom Laura and her aunt May have always been superstitious, leaving iron and salt at the entrances to their house, but now Lou finds out there is a reason for these behaviors beyond beyond quirky - Laura and May were once apprentice witches who survived the goblin market that appears every summer in York when they were about the same age as Lou is now. Magic and goblins are real and the Wickett women have been on the frontlines of the summer goblin market for generations. Now Neela is trapped in the same goblin market and her time is running out. Lou, Laura, and May race to York where they set about trying to free Neela from the market and Lou has to learn what it really means to be one of the Wickett women of York.

Not Good for Maidens takes inspiration from Christina Rossetti's poem "Goblin Market" and other folklore about witchcraft and goblins to create a dark and engaging supernatural thriller perfect for teen audiences. The narrative switches between the current events Lou is experiencing and flashbacks to May and Laura's encounter with the market eighteen years previously, when May fell for a goblin girl and broke the market rules. This structure does a great job building the reader's understanding of the market and May's past, layering information to reveal pieces of May's story to help readers understand what is going on in Lou's present and increasing the suspense of the plot. While the market and the goblins are dark, bloody, and violent, the familial love driving Lou's mission to save her family members and May's storyline provide a counterbalance that makes the story both horrifying and sweet. At its core this is a coming-of-age story for Lou, who struggles with feeling like she doesn't fit in her family or her world, and a love story for May, even with the overarching thriller/horror vibes of the market and Neela's disappearance. Readers who don't mind some gore will find a lot to like here!

Thank you to Page Street Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Not Good for Maidens early in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars

Like in The Devil Makes Three, Tori Bovalino succeeds in creating an atmospheric, bone-chilling read in Not Good for Maidens. A dual perspective and timeline tale, Not Good for Maidens takes you on a whirlwind and nail-biting journey as Lou enters the market to save Neela, her teenage aunt. From the start, suspense is created around the goblin market and about how dangerous it is. I have been desperately craving some good fantasy horror and NGFM really met that need. It also has queer rep, which was an unexpected and welcome surprise.

The world building is incredible. With the way things are described, it is easy to imagine them happening in front of your eyes. You’re watching the characters take on a perilous journey, as though it’s a movie. I loved the description of the market. Like I mentioned, you can just feel how dangerous the market is. I tend to get a little squeamish with horror (though I love reading and watching it) and look away when the dangerous things are happening, but with this I could not. I was fully hooked onto the story, trying to figure out everything like Lou was doing.

Sometimes, books with dual timelines have left me somewhat disappointed because either or both of the timelines haven’t been done well. Here, that was not the case. The timeline of the past and the timeline in the present were pulled off so well and you could slowly see the thread of the mystery unwinding in both.

I enjoyed reading from both Lou and May’s perspectives, but Lou was my favourite. I connected to her quite early on and I was trying to solve the mystery of the market like she was. She is determined and brave and really, everything about her is admirable.

I don’t want to say too much for the fear of spoiling things, but if you are a fan of gripping fantasy horror with great writing and queer rep, then Not Good for Maidens is perfect for you.

Not Good for Maidens was such a great read. The lure of the market, despite its many horrors, was exceptionally compelling. I adored the alternating POVs and the themes around family and a shared inheritance. Fans of Christina Rossetti will love this take on "Goblin Market." Come buy!

I had such a fun time with this book. It was one of my super highly anticipated reads and I was not disappointed.

This is dark and intricate, full of magic and deception. Who wouldn’t find themselves lured in by the goblin market and all that comes with it?

I love the way this accompanied and stuck true to the original poem/story that it’s based on. I love the lack of male characters, aside from the goblin king, of course… it felt empowering.

I really enjoyed the queer representation, both sapphic and ace. I loved the family bonds and the way these women stop at nothing in multiple generations to protect the people they love.

I definitely recommend this book.

When I started this one, I had no idea who the author was. I had no idea it was by the author of The Devil Makes Three. If I had realized that, I mightve picked this one up even faster.

Because like The Devil Makes Three, this one had immaculate vibes! It was dark, creepy, moody. At times, it felt like a horror. The goblins were the perfect tricksy characters, and I never knew what the right move truly was. Even though the plot didn't hook me immediately, the atmosphere did, and it never let up.

In a continuation of that thought, I also loved the Market. The songs, the descriptions, the inhabitants - all of it was perfect. I can't usually envision songs in books, but I could in this one. Haunting. That's what this felt like. It's almost nightmare fuel, that's how well done the Market was. I would gladly spend another book there, there's so much left unexplored.

I do have one minor complaint though - the worldbuilding. (Seems to be a consistent problem with Bovalino's books, I had the same issues with The Devil) The witches, although a decent idea, would've been better to be erased. Their organization, their powers, even their bargain with the goblins was messy. They were underdeveloped, and instead of improving the book, they just added another thing to track.

But other than that, I really enjoyed this one! It was a super fun read, and I'll definitely be rereading. Actually tempted to go reread The Devil Makes Three just for the vibes...

Thanks to TBR Beyond Tours for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Page Street Publishing, and Page Street Kids in exchange for an honest review.

Content warnings (from the author): on-page gore, on-page body horror, violence, trauma (physical, emotional, generational).

Bovalino is back with another dark and creepy YA that is sure to hook readers. This time around we're getting a YA gothic horror based around Christina Rossetti’s poem, “Goblin Market” that introduces us to the the Wickett women and their encounters with the goblin market in York, England. The plot alternates between present day with teenage Lou desperate to know some of the secrets her mom and aunt are keeping from her. When her aunt Neela goes missing (after leaving two very ominous voicemails on Lou's phone), Lou begins a journey to understanding the history of the Wickett family... and it might be more than she bargained for. As Lou fights to save Neela, she is also told the story of how her aunt May was almost lost to the goblin market 18 years before... and the stories might be more entwined that she originally thought.

While this wasn't the type of horror that made it hard to sleep at night (at least for me, and I'm generally a wimp), it does a good job of evoking the sense of unease and claustrophobia that is prevalent in classic gothic horror tales. I really enjoyed how Bovalino slowly unfurled both the plots for Lou and Neela, and May's. This will be perfect for fans of Holly Black and I think readers that enjoy tales about the fair folk will thoroughly enjoy a dark tale about goblins. The LGBTQIA+ representation is well done and is just a fact - not used as a plot device. There is also an array of representation that goes beyond just having a gay or bi character which was refreshing.

I adore this story! I figured I would enjoy it because I love The Goblin Market but it exceeded my expectations. I will say that I think anyone that reads or wants to read this book reads the poem, for I think part of my enjoyment was connecting the story to the poem. A sapphic love story, with an asexual main character, and bisexuals all around, all in a horror-fantasy setting/story. Amazing! 5 ⭐️

I was so excited to read this book and it did not disappoint.
I loved the characters and the story- great sapphic rep as well. The writing flows well and the pacing is great.

The goblin market is a dark and twisted place full of depravity, only open during the summer. A coven located in the same town is there to protect humans and to heal victims of the market. But maybe not all those involved want their chosen roles.

Beneath the horror there is a story of love and friendship and finding oneself.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read this author’s previous novel, and a novel about the goblin market was right up my alley. Not to mention LGBT+ rep!

Not Good For Maidens is a dual pov/timeline novel about a city where the goblin market appears every summer, with witches who regulate it. A young woman named May who falls for a goblin woman and is lured into the goblin market and has to fight her way out with her sister Laura, and then seventeen or eighteen years later, their young half sister is taken by the goblins and Lou, Laura’s daughter and May’s niece, is pulled into everything that May and Laura tried to leave behind.

I have mixed feelings about this book. When I finished, I found it really hard trying to decide whether or not to rate it 3 or 4 stars, but ended up settling on 3, and as I write this review, I’m quite confident that is a good reflection of my thoughts.

I loved the premise of the goblin market (trust me, I have schemes for a goblin market retelling of my own) which was immediately what drew me into reading this novel even though I didn’t love the author’s previous book. Christina Rosetti’s “we must not look at goblin men, we must not buy their fruits: who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry thirsty roots?” is such an iconic line to me. So I have to say the premise and idea of the novel is what I liked the best.

The goblin market itself seemed to be executed [mostly] well. Enough was left out to not take away from the overall mystery and whimsical nature. But it was definitely like an urban fantasy-horror book. The happenings in the goblin market are brutal and graphic to the point it did surprise me for a YA book. But this author mostly took a horror turn with it, and made most goblins evil, instead of ambivalent (not wholly evil, wholly good) folkloric creatures that I’d expect.

The climax and resolution were pretty good.

I also loved the LGBTQIA representation. May is bisexual, and Lou is asexual, and Neela is pan. And the WORDS ARE USED ON PAGE!!

But unfortunately there were a lot of things that I didn’t like…

The conflict was so-so. In theory, I liked it, but execution-wise… not so much. May being taken and needing rescued, good, Neela being taken and needing rescued, good. But Lou’s emotional conflict? Not enjoyable to read. Laura purposely raised Lou away from it and kept it a secret, so when Neela is taken, there’s a big reveal to Lou. And most of the book is spent with Lou saying “why didn’t you tell me this” over and over again and being mad with her mom, basically. She’s a teenager, it’s a YA book, I get it, I understand, I really do, but it just got sort of irritating after a certain point. In the first half of the book it was pretty rough, until Lou started to get her time to shine in the spotlight.

The pacing was off at times. And with the different characters and timelines, sometimes it was frustrating. I remember when we finally read May getting invited to the market, the book switches to Lou’s perspective for a few chapters of nothing but her moping and lamenting and being angry about not being told about the market / not understanding things / people not fully explaining things to her / etc.

The whole premise of the order of witches and them being witches was not done well at all and felt very unnecessary because of that. I think it could have been discarded entirely and the family just be normal protectors of the city and medics and it would’ve been an improvement. It’s hard to describe but it felt like it was tacked on as an extra thing because the order and their magic system was just… not explained at all.

So many little things about the book were just… weird! Their family dynamics, especially. The parents of both generations being split up and located in different countries but conveniently being able to visit often, Neela being a half sister to Laura and May and just a year or so older than Lou even though she’s Lou’s aunt. It’s unconventional for sure and while usually I don’t care, again, it was confusing at many points with the amount of names and just… odd. And also May being pregnant in the present timeline was mentioned like once in a sentence in the beginning and forgotten about aside from another comment like “think of the baby” later in the book.

So my overall thoughts: good premise and LGBT rep and take on the goblin market, okay or bad everything else. I would probably recommend it if someone was specifically looking for a goblin market retelling, but not sure if this author has sold me yet.