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emilyctrigg 's review for:
Not Good for Maidens
by Tori Bovalino
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced audio copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Not good for maidens is a modern take on the fairytale of the goblin market. The market appears in a small town every summer and you better beware of what happens after dark. 18 years ago, sisters May and Laura had to make a terrible decision that ended up costing them their magic. Today, Lou is desperate to know more about her family and why she can't ever go visit her best friend Neela back in Europe.
One day, Lou gets a voice message from Neela saying that "they're coming for [her]" and then a creepy as heck voice starts singing Scarborough fair. Lou knows Neela is in trouble and absolutely must go back overseas to try to save her. But what ensues is a life-or-death cat and mouse game under the city in the deadly goblin market.
This book was awesome. The dual timeline was done immaculately-- each time I wanted to know more about what was happening the current timeframe, we would skip back to the other timeline. This kept me reading and super engaged throughout. Lou was a ballsy character with tons of smarts, integrity, and love. I was rooting for her the whole time. I enjoyed the past timeline slightly less because I found May to be a bit stupid. It was still super enjoyable and I was engrossed as heck, but I found myself rolling my eyes at May and being like "omg please don't do that thing. That's a bad idea!"
The narrator was absolutely perfect for this title. She read Lou and all of the narration of the story with an American accent and then read all of the other characters with Scottish accents. It was SO fun to listen to. She also did some great character work to make the goblins sound creepy and cunning.
The story ends with juuuuuuust enough of an open ending, which is my absolute favorite kind of ending.
Overall, I'm giving this a 4/5 because I had some problems with May's and Adra's characters and their motivations for their actions, but this title was super enjoyable and it's very likely that I'll be purchasing my own copy for my collection!
Not good for maidens is a modern take on the fairytale of the goblin market. The market appears in a small town every summer and you better beware of what happens after dark. 18 years ago, sisters May and Laura had to make a terrible decision that ended up costing them their magic. Today, Lou is desperate to know more about her family and why she can't ever go visit her best friend Neela back in Europe.
One day, Lou gets a voice message from Neela saying that "they're coming for [her]" and then a creepy as heck voice starts singing Scarborough fair. Lou knows Neela is in trouble and absolutely must go back overseas to try to save her. But what ensues is a life-or-death cat and mouse game under the city in the deadly goblin market.
This book was awesome. The dual timeline was done immaculately-- each time I wanted to know more about what was happening the current timeframe, we would skip back to the other timeline. This kept me reading and super engaged throughout. Lou was a ballsy character with tons of smarts, integrity, and love. I was rooting for her the whole time. I enjoyed the past timeline slightly less because I found May to be a bit stupid. It was still super enjoyable and I was engrossed as heck, but I found myself rolling my eyes at May and being like "omg please don't do that thing. That's a bad idea!"
The narrator was absolutely perfect for this title. She read Lou and all of the narration of the story with an American accent and then read all of the other characters with Scottish accents. It was SO fun to listen to. She also did some great character work to make the goblins sound creepy and cunning.
The story ends with juuuuuuust enough of an open ending, which is my absolute favorite kind of ending.
Overall, I'm giving this a 4/5 because I had some problems with May's and Adra's characters and their motivations for their actions, but this title was super enjoyable and it's very likely that I'll be purchasing my own copy for my collection!