Skip to content
  • Read Reviews
  • Shop Our Must Reads
  • About Us
  • Read Reviews
  • Modest Hiccup

  • Shop Our Must Reads
  • About Us

Not Good for Maidens

June 16, 2022June 16, 2022 Leave a comment
Not Good for Maidens

As a reminder, my Not Good for Maidens review contains links to affiliate sites. Clicking and purchasing at these links helps fund A Modest Hiccup.

I’m excited to join TBR and Beyond Tours’ Not Good for Maidens Tour! Please check out the full schedule to visit my fabulous fellow hosts.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Salem’s Lot meets The Darkest Part of the Forest in this horror-fantasy retelling of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market.”

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.

Content warnings: on-page gore, on-page body horror, violence, trauma

Five reasons to read Not Good for Maidens:

  • Witchy and creepy vibes
  • Ace MC & (Star-crossed!) Sapphic Lovers
  • Gorgeous (but not over-stuffed) prose
  • Goblins, Witches, and a whole lot of drama
  • Fantasy-Horror with a side of family secrets

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ My Not Good for Maidens Review:

Told from the dual POVs of Lou and her Aunt May, Not Good for Maidens dives right in, drawing you immediately into a creepy version of the present – where witches and goblins are very much real. Often when I read fantasy set in a world that also has cell phones, modern technology will pull me out of the storyline, this novel avoids that pitfall and I sunk deep into York.

I loved seeing clear queer representation in the characters, nothing felt like a wink and a nudge add-on to the plot. Each character’s identity was a part of deeper characterization and woven into larger story arcs.

I am a sucker for a well done dual POV novel and Bovalino weaves together Lou & May’s experiences with the Goblin Market (and their teen rebellion) in a way that moves efficiently through the story. I did get a little tired of Lou’s complaints about being kept in the dark about her family’s magical history, but I also can’t fault her for being so frustrated!

The writing was absolutely incredible, Bovalino is a master crafts person in that she can write eloquent, dreamy prose just as well as killer one-liners and wisecracks.

“She slipped into the twilight, into the hour that was not good for maidens, as the stars blinked and cluttered the night sky.”

“Lou felt like she’d fallen headfirst into the rabbit hole, if that rabbit hole was also a thrift store run by two bunnies on ecstasy.”

Toeing the line between fantasy and horror, this book is best read with all the lights on.

Thanks to TBR and Beyond Tours & Page Street Publishing for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Order Your Copy of Not Good For Maidens:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

Meet Author Tori Bovalino:

Tori Bovalino grew up near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and never knew she wanted to live abroad until she was already in London. She’s awful at picking favorites, but her consistent go-to books are Pride and Prejudice, Fire, and The Picture of Dorian Gray. She’s enamored with books that make her cry.

Tori holds a BA in English fiction writing and anthropology and a minor in German from the University of Pittsburgh and an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London. She is currently on the Creative and practice-based PhD course at RHUL, researching the relationship between Russian folklore and YA fantasy novels. In her free time, Tori enjoys reading (duh), embroidering, and traveling.

She is represented by Dr. Uwe Stender and Amelia Appel at TriadaUS Literary Agency. She writes short stories, poetry, and novels.

Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Post navigation

The Man Who Came and Went
The Box in the Woods

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • The Q
  • Jackal
  • Direwood
  • The Killing Code
  • It Looks Like Us

Archives

  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021

Categories

  • Blog Tour
  • Book of the Month
  • Book Review
  • NetGalley
  • Uncategorized

Popular Posts

Blog Tour ➤ November 24, 2022

The Q

As a reminder, my The Q contains links to affiliate sites. Clicking and purchasing at these links helps fund A Modest Hiccup. I’m excited to join TBR and Beyond Tours‘ Direwood Tour! Please check out the...

Read More
NetGalley ➤ September 27, 2022

Jackal

A phenomenal debut novel from Erin E. Adams. Joining horror, mystery, and the dramatic moments most thrillers would kill to include, Jackal is everything you could want in a novel as the days get shorter.

Read More
Blog Tour ➤ September 23, 2022

Direwood

As a reminder, my Direwood review contains links to affiliate sites. Clicking and purchasing at these links helps fund A Modest Hiccup. I’m excited to join TBR and Beyond Tours‘ Direwood Tour! Please check out the...

Read More
Blog Tour ➤ September 20, 2022

The Killing Code

Murder mystery, historical fiction...love story? The Killing Code is hard to fit into just one genre box!

Read More

Subscribe

Stay up to date via our weekly newsletter.

Follow Us on Instagram

  • Read Reviews
  • Shop Our Must Reads
  • About Us
© 2023 |