TW: Gore, Violence, Death, Trauma

This story is told in two timelines. One timeline follows Lou as she learns her aunt Neela is kidnapped by the goblin market, which leads to Lou finding out about all the secrets of her family that her mother kept from her in order to keep her safe. The second timeline takes place eighteen years prior to the time when Lou's aunt May went to the goblin market, and met a girl that will change the course of their lives.

I won't say anything more, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. But I have to mention this, we got SAPPHIC STAR-CROSSED LOVERS!!!! 🥰🥰 And their story, although tragic in some parts, was everything I wanted and more.

I listened to this book as an Audiobook, and I would like to recommend you listen to it because the narrator was amazing, and their performance made this book even more enjoyable for me.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the Audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I'd say this book would be of interest to fans of The Cruel Prince. Although I found Lou to be quite whiny, I really enjoyed May's part of the plot!

Well this was a delightful surprise. I listened to this to have something short and different between Stormlight Archive audiobooks, not expecting that much from it, but the synopsis sounded interesting and it's queer so I thought 'why not'.

And I ended up really enjoying it!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not Good For Maidens is a Fantasy-Horror YA book that's a loose retelling of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti.
It makes a real effort to have a diverse cast of characters, the main romance is sapphic and one of the main characters is asexual, which I was not expecting. It's not plot-relevant but it's always incredibly nice to have on page representation.

The writing is really fluid and the book is really good at building atmosphere, it's appropriately dark and intimidating all the way through. It has not only Goblins but also Witches, and who doesn't like Witches in their book?
I also really liked the dual timeliness, although it was a little to easy to miss when it switches to the past/present when listening to it as an audiobook.
The magic system and the market could have done with a bit more explaining but overall this was really good.

I am not a native English speaker so while I thought the narrator did a good job and it was enjoyable to listen to this book, I can not say if the atempted (I think Yorkshire?) accent was well done.

The only reason that I didn't give it five stars is that I'm not really a horror fan, I just don't get anything out of it.

But I can say that this book has just catapulted The Devil Makes Three by Bovalino, which I've had on my shelf for a while, to the top of my tbr!

I've always had a fascination with Goblins, I think I can thank David Bowie in THOSE tights in Labyrinth or L.J Smith's Forbidden Game trilogy for that.

So when I saw that this was a queer reimagining of The Goblin Market you can bet I ran not walked to get an arc of this one. Boy was I not disappointed!

A tale told in two different timelines, Not Good for Maidens was ultimately a tale of love between sisters and best friends. Strong females who'd literally go to. Any lengths for one another.

A tale of finding yourself and choosing your own destiny and getting to know yourself when you're stripped to your core.

Woven with magic and the creepy delights of The Market, Not Good for Maidens was a fun and fantastical tale.

I want to give a special shout out to the narrator who did a great job not only with the accents but also giving all the female characters a distinct voice.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this Audio Arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of the best books I have ever read! I actually read it twice in a row because it was so good. I love the terror of the market and the mystery of it all. I would love to read a sequel!

Thank you to Page Street for an ARC i nexchange for an honest review!

Although I had a physical ARC, I was able to listen to an ALC.

Off the bat, I want to be clear that I had mixed feelings on The Devil MAkes Three, so I walked into this one both skeptically and hoping. I love Irish, Scottish, and English folk ballads, so I was curious to see what the author would do with Scarborough Fair and the Goblin Market!

While the premise was cool, I think the author relied on the flashbacks too much. I didn't care about any of the characters, and thel imited time with each of them only solidified that. I legitimately don't know who the MC was supposed to be. I also was really disappointed with the Goblin Market itself. There were so many awesome opportunities to play on it, to use imagery and really describe this place, but it just fell so flat for me.

Overall, just really disappointed. I pushed through, hoping for a cool ending, but it was just kind of meh.

A note on the audiobook: while the narrator was easy to understand and okay, her voices weren't great. She couldn't do male voices very well, and at first, her Yorkshire accent sounded almost Irish? I feel like they should have gotten someone with that accent, or at least 2 different narrators to separate the times.

Another lush and whimsical book from Tori Bovalino that doesn’t shy away from nightmarish imagery or haunting prose! The narrators were fantastic!

Not Good for Maidens by Tory Bovalino is an eerie YA retelling of Christina Rosetti’s “Goblin Market” that had me hooked from the very beginning. The story follows a family of witches and their connection to the Goblin Market. I think my favorite thing about this story was our characters. I went into this story pretty blind, which is my favorite way to read a book. I was pleasantly surprised by the queer representation. It follows two timelines, one following our main character Lou, and one following her aunt 18 years prior. I often have trouble enjoying multiple perspectives, they can sometimes get jumbled or feel as if one is more important than the other. I did not find that to be the case with this story. I found both storylines to be equally entertaining and I love how they came together in the end. I loved the relationship between Neela and Lou. I often don’t see asexual representation in books, and I think this was incredibly well done. The way Lou talked about Neela, you could feel how much she loved her. I would consider them platonic soulmates and I wish we got to see them spend more time together. We do get to see Lou’s love for Neela through her actions along with her thoughts, but with Neela being in the market a majority of the book, we miss out on her perspective. In her aunt’s timeline, we get a sapphic, forbidden romance that you can’t help but feel for. I was pleased with how the story ended and it left me feeling good after watching these characters go through so much. It is fairly gorey, while some, myself included, may enjoy that, it is not for everyone. I think this is a great novel for anyone interested in dark fairy tales, witches, or beginner horror. I will be talking about this book nonstop. Tory Bovalino created characters you connect with, and a gripping storyline. I cannot wait for this to hit shelves so it can be shared with the world.

This book is amazing! Folktales about fairies and goblins are just stories, aren't they? Lou Wickett finds out the hard way that the goblin market is not only real, but part of her family's history when her teenaged aunt Neela goes missing. This book switches between Lou and her aunt May 18 years later. May finds herself in trouble when she fights against her destined path causing herself and Lou's mother to flee their home. Lou comes into the family history unprepared for the brutal nature of the goblin magic, but is the best hope to save her youngest aunt. Equal parts violent and beautiful, this story is expertly woven together.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

I really truly LOVED this. So well written, with all of the beautifully horrific details. The characters were perfectly imperfect, and the shift between time lines was very well done. The narrator was absolutely wonderful to listen to. I would absolutely recommend giving this a go!

phenomenal, absolutely horrific, cheeky, and whimsical in the darkest of ways. I loved this, I'm truly sad that I don't have a physical copy in my hands already. I'll be waiting eagerly for the release date!

BOOK REVIEW

NOT GOOD FOR MAIDENS by Tori Bovalino

Man oh man…where to start with this one. I read the book based solely on the cover cuz hello, look at it! I’m so glad I was impulsive cuz this book did NOT disappoint! (swipe for cover and synopsis)

This book takes place at two different times. Two stories told nearly 20 years apart. I loved this. It’s so easy to mess up a back and forth but this author nailed it! I never got confused, never got bored, never wanted to hurry and end.

The tone of the story tends to be a bit solemn, sad, and melancholy. Filled with mental health issues, specifically PTSD and depression, but the characters get up every day and keep going and that felt a lot like the theme. The main character, Lou, is asexual and has a bit of codependency on her aunt who just happens to be close in age to her. So when her aunt/bestie goes missing, Lou does whatever it takes to find her & rescue her which inadvertently causes the rest of her family to face the trauma from years ago. I don’t wanna give anything away soooo, yeah, I’m gonna leave it at that. I will say the f/f romance in this book is goals. Full-on acceptance despite differences, love across the worlds. Dude. Goals.

This book is published as a horror, but I found it more horror-lite. Not so much scary as gory and edge-of-your-seat worried for the characters. Several times I wanted to yell into my iPad and force the characters to talk to each other and be honest or listen to my advice. Knowing more than the characters can be so darn nerve-wracking!

Content Warnings:
Blood and gore
Body gore (dismemberment, etc)
Violence to and against women/men/children etc EVERYONE
Trauma

I don’t really know how to explain it more than that. It’s gross in parts and disturbing in others but in this book, it was worth it. Didn’t feel like any of it was in there just for shock factor or ratings, if you know what i mean. It all made sense, and all fit.

I can't recommend this book enough. If you like fantasy, horror, mythology or are looking for a book with good LGBTQ rep, this book might just be the one you’re looking for.

Phenomenal for horror fantasy fans! Heavy on body and body gore themes but if you push through that you get a great journey of character and relationships! Despite the gore the writing weaves in the horror of it all with the worldbuilding that I couldn't help but keep on going despite the spine-chilling descriptions. Also always interesting to see an ace mc navigate through a world wrought with physical pain and metaphors. The generational gap and understanding was so well developed that I really felt for Lou and May's perspectives. Give this one a read if you fancy yourself a horror fan!

not good for maidens is a beautifully written story with dual point of views— 18 years apart. the alternating timelines are done very well and i was interested in both. the queer representation was incredible as was the world building. everything in this book is done so well i absolutely loved it.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this author's debut book and truthfully I would have loved this book if it was the fae or something closer. Goblins just didn't work for me, personally. They are too grotesque to have that irresistible danger factor- glamor or not.

A lot of people, I'm sure will feel different. This is probably a very personal opinion. YMMV

This book was amazing! The narrator switched between accents flawlessly. I’ve never read a book about goblins, the writing flowed, the pov switching was east to follow, the plot was unique, the world building was detailed but not boring. Five stars!!

Lou’s mom and aunt have always been superstitious, something she’s chalked up to their general weirdness.

When her youngest aunt who’s also her best friend goes missing after leaving terrifying and bizarre voicemails the family sets off on a journey full of secrets, magic, and danger to get her back.

Can Lou navigate and survive the goblin market alone? Will she become a victim of the market too?

Thank you to the publisher RB Media for providing an audiobook ARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

“Goblin market” are two of my buzzwords, despite this being an element not explored nearly enough for my preferences in fantasy. There’s something that’s just so fascinating to me about the mixture of magic, festivities, and brutal horror that all coalesce in this setting. Which meant Tori Bovalino’s “Not Good for Maidens” didn’t need to do much more to sell me on its premise than drop “goblin market” in the first sentence and hint at a dark and twisted journey of a girl who is forced to travel there to rescue her aunt.

Unfortunately, simply including some of my favorite fantasy elements in my genre of choice does not make a perfect book, especially when the characters themselves are so disappointingly one-note. This book is told in two separate timelines - the present in which May is searching for her aunt, and the past in which another woman’s adventures into the market ended in tragedy years prior. But May and Lou’s separate narrations (despite being in completely different timelines) were almost indistinguishable to me. It was sometimes minutes into a chapter when I would finally pick up on what timeline I was in because May and Lou had exactly the same narrative voice, and even their names blurred together in short, three-letter syllables. It’s a problem that couldn’t even be resolved by having separate narrators for the audiobook - their personalities and character beats just lacked any kind of distinguishing characteristic.

What I did love about this book is how much it committed to the gruesome, eerie atmosphere of the goblin market. Tori Bovalino did not hold back with her descriptions of the humans who met their demise after being lured to the market with promises of magic and mayhem made all the more tantalizing but the underlying danger of the place. These goblins really do eat humans, and if you’re at all squeamish with descriptions of dismembered body parts this is absolutely not the book for you. I don’t think I’ll ever cleanse my mind of one particularly detailed description of a human pelvis in what was essentially a goblin butcher shop. Which is all a testament of the author’s ability to masterfully establish the unsettling, darkly magical world that both aunt and niece are pulled into in their separate timelines. I just wish this kind of care would have carried over into the character work that felt so underdeveloped.

Overall, this book delivered in establishing a goblin market filled with gilded horrors; it’s not a story for the weak of heart. But for my personal tastes, the two POV characters were unmemorable to the point of blending together throughout the course of the novel where I felt my interest waning by the end. I can see this being a kind of autumnal, seasonal read that might be better enjoyed around Halloween time. For me, I just wish the lack of character depth could have been eclipsed by the plotting and beautifully wrought setting in the end.

I enjoyed this spin on Goblin Market. There’s some pretty gruesome moments! The goblin market will lure you in, entice you with what you desire most when in reality it’s hell on earth.

There are two stories told in dual time lines. Couple decades apart. Magic exists. MCs May Wicket & Lou, her niece. The Goblin Market is something their families attempt to keep from them.

The story starts slow & picks up speed.

May falls for a goblin girl. It’s a bit YA insta-love-y but it takes a turn towards family.

Lou’s youngest aunt’s been kidnapped. She’s compelled to investigate.

The Wicket family has a history with the goblin market & our MCs are destined to join their predecessors.

I loved the horror, the feel of the goblin market, the sense of family and history.

Just shy of 5-stars. Thank you NetGalley & Recorded Books for the ARC for review.

The Wickett woman have spent generations tending to the victims of the goblin market under the streets of York. Louisa “Lou” Wickett-Stevens was raised across the ocean, knowing nothing of her magic lineage until her aunt Neela is kidnapped by the market and Lou is the only one who can save her.

Not Good for Maidens enters the world of the fierce and curious goblin market of your nightmares, with gore and charms galore. Following young Lou’s attempts to rescue her aunt from the clutches of the Market Prince, this book was an adventure start to finish.

The author does such an amazing job adapting Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” in a refreshing was, one steeped in horror and gore and all the delights of a thrilling tale. The world building was imaginative and well written, the multiple POVs really added depth to the story and characters, and I was ensnare by the second chapter. While I found the characters a wee bit naive at times, it helps make them feel human.

The narration by Laura Knight Keating brought a life of its own to an already fantastic story and deserves recognition of its own. The voices, the timing, the delivery. Much of the enchantment of the book came from the narration of it.