Not Good for Maidens

 Tell me a story... about what you would do for family

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

Publication date: May 3, 2022

Date read: April 27, 2023

Audiobook narrated by Laura Knight Keating

Lou never believed in superstitions or magic--until her teenage aunt Neela is kidnapped to the goblin market. The market is a place Lou has only read about--twisted streets, offerings of sweet fruits and incredible jewels. Everything--from the food and wares, to the goblins themselves--is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. Determined to save Neela, Lou learns songs and spells and tricks that will help her navigate this dangerous world and slip past a goblin's defenses--but she only has three days to find Neela before the market disappears and her aunt becomes one of them forever. If she isn't careful, the market might just end up claiming her too.

I’ve long been intrigued by the idea of a magical market, so this book caught my eye right away - first with the amazing cover art, and then with the goblin market. 

This book goes back and forth between Lou and her adventures and the trouble that her aunt May got into back when she was a teenager. I really enjoyed that we were finding out about the Wickett family right along with Lou - and their ties to the goblin market - so she was asking the questions that we wanted to know without it feeling too much like exposition. May's story of her past was really intriguing, and I also really liked Lou, so I was happy no matter which storyline the book was telling at the time. 

The audiobook was narrated by Laura Knight Keating, who I thought did a great job of transitioning between the York, England accent of the Wickett family to the American accent for Lou. It felt seamless and really helped position the story in each time period. 

This is marketed as a YA novel, but I feel that this book can appeal to all ages. The story mostly revolves around family and the lengths the characters will go to keep each other safe, which is a pretty universal theme. And aside from the main character being a teenager, nothing about the book seemed stuck in the YA genre. 

As far as the horror elements, there was a fair amount of gore and body horror, but it wasn't over the top or too descriptive. More an atmospheric horror novel than a blood and guts horror. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and found it just the right combination of creepy and fun. I would recommend this to horror readers, both teen and adult (but due to the content, I would not recommend it for younger readers than that). A really enjoyable horror novel set in a unique setting that I think many readers can enjoy.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Content warning: gore, body horror, murder

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.