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.

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.

I was really excited for Not Good for Maidens, especially when I started reading it and it seemed as if the author was not going to shy away from the grim/dark elements of the Goblin Market. Unfortunately the story was rather disappointing for me. I had a hard time connecting with Lou and the pacing was too slow for my taste.

NOT GOOD FOR MAIDENS is dark and macabre and unlike anything I have ever read before. I mean that as a compliment. I loved the creepy tone of this book and its setting both in the goblin market and in York. I have never heard of the original tale but I imagine that Bovalino does it justice, because this world-building and depiction of goblin legends and lore was super creepy and kind of horrifying. This is one of those books that crosses genres and is the perfect blend of horror and fantasy that will delight fans of both. This book has two different, yet interweaved, POVs and timelines that I was so relieved to find work well. You can't help but be invested in both May's and Lou's stories and notice the threads that bind them. I also really appreciated how Bovalino depicted Lou's divorced family in a way that is healthy. She navigates complicated relationships and generational trauma deftly and it is refreshing to see it not portrayed in ways that feel stereotypical or cliche. Just like in her first book, Bovalino's writing is lush and cutting and she has done a great job at writing horror. NOT GOOD FOR MAIDENS is a dark and ghastly book that will beckon you in just as the goblin market does in the story, and I deeply enjoyed this and look forward to more from this author!

Tori Bovalino follows her outstanding YA debut horror novel The Devil Makes Three with another deliciously captivating dark read. Not Good for Maidens is inspired by the Christina Rosetti poem Goblin Market and has some plot similarities in which two sisters are tempted by fruit by goblins. This skeleton of an idea morphs beautifully into a YA novel which is sure to appeal to fans of Holly Black and others who write dark fantasy using fairy or folk tales as inspiration. The story unfolds through two narratives told eighteen years apart, in the present-day Lou Wickett lives in Boston and is looking forward to the return of her aunt Neela, who is very close to her in age and the pair are more like sisters. However, early in the action Neela disappears and we realise this is connected to the family’s history in York. Lou lives with both her mother and her aunt, who have been keeping secrets from her regarding their joint history in York, where they come from a long line of witches. The second narrative jumps back eighteen years to York where (aunt) May was the same age as Lou and was having a great time in York, until she falls for another girl. The problem was the girl was not any old girl, she was a goblin and much of the novel concerns the weird relationship between humans and goblins in York, which coexist in the Goblin Market. This is a very dangerous place for humans (goblins eat people) but at certain times and for short periods it is (relatively) safe for humans to visit the Market as long as no rules are broken.

I enjoyed both narratives, which both have great LGBTQIA+ representation with Lou being asexual, however, I would have liked to have seen this explored further in the Goblin Market story as seduction was a big part of how the market ticked and this plotline seemed to lead to a dead end, unless acceptance was enough. The goblins are portrayed as horned creatures, which can use glamours to appear human and I struggled to shake off the Tolkien version of goblins from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Bearing in mind goblins eat humans, there was a fair bit of gore thrown into the mix, clearly showing what happens to those who are too dumb to survive in the Goblin Market. Considering Lou has no idea she comes from a family of (former) witches she adapts very quickly when she realises to rescue her aunt she has to visit the Goblin Market herself. The story was a fine balance of clever characterisation and well-developed fantasy setting where to survive following the rules is vital and it was made even more believable that there is no indication that Lou will become a witch overnight. The romance in the historical setting had a Romeo and Juliet vibe and the idea that covens of witches might operate in plain sight was nicely portrayed. There is even the hint of a sequel! Great stuff. AGE RANGE 13+