I love a reimagination of a classic fairy tale. Rossetti's Goblin Market is such a great starting point and It was updated in a thoughtful and successful way by Bovalino.
The dual storylines were both interesting in separate ways but shared enough similarities to make the structure seamless and almost cyclical.
The basic plot and premise are strong and the description of the market and what happens within was always well conveyed. However, at times I found myself quite frustrated at the sheer amount of repetition in the exposition. Lou felt betrayed 20 ways, May felt conflicted a hundred times, etc. It felt a little obvious and unnecessary also (petty point here) the simile "tense as piano wire" was used twice. Sometimes these weaknesses undermined the positive attributes of the novel.
That being said, I did enjoy the book. It was refreshing to have a such a strong set of female characters and I found myself very engaged by the latter half of the book.
I would say this is a good choice for fans of dark fantasy and I would be interested in reading any subsequent books by this author. Particularly a prequel about Nana Tee or Eitra's life before May. I can imagine they have great stories to tell!

Not Good for Maidens is a thoughtful modern take on the goblin market, built upon powerfully horrific imagery and themes of trauma. It is also the story of two girls struggling (in opposite ways) with belonging, interwoven with their queer identities. I'm just not entirely convinced the two stories work well put together: May's tale loses a lot of mystery and emotional impact from what we know of the later plot, and Lou's story can feel quite slow with all the interruptions and recapping (until the blur of the ending). I love the commitment to meaningfulness, but there's actually a few too many seemingly central themes (identity, desire, sisterhood, cultural differences and relations) for them all to feel fully explored. There's also this weird erasure/sidelining of male characters (particularly fathers), which didn't exactly bother me (love to see female relationships of various sorts), but it was quite noticeable and rather odd. So all in all, a nicely thematic and gory YA book, but one that I feel could have been even more powerful in another form.

thank you netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. i hadn’t seen this book advertised, or even this author, before, so i wasn’t sure what to expect, but i was pleasantly surprised. while it is by no means perfect, it was a really enjoyable read, with well developed characters and a plot that kept me guessing right up until the very end. overall, i really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it, so i am going to give it 4/5 stars.

AHHHHASBKDFJSBDVAJR!!!! I JUST FINISHED THIS ONE AND I HAVE NO WORDS! PERFECT, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE BOOK!

I'm in love with Tori Bovalino's books, The Devil Makes Three was amazing and this was just as good too! It had a well rounded ending and I'm looking forwards to Tori Bovalino's next book, My Throat an Open Grave.

I was hooked, I flew through this one so fast, the characters were interesting and I was intrigued by the plot, I liked how we were in the past and the present throughout the book, it was easy to follow and there were only two points of view, the present was Louise and 18 years earlier was May which is her aunt, May we recount what happened in the market through May's experience and then present time we see Lou and her experience now.

Highly recommend this book, perfect autumn read too!