I received a complimentary copy of THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides. Thank you to Celadon Books!

THE MAIDENS follows Mariana, a young woman who runs group therapy groups, but is herself struggling with depression and grief following the death of her husband. His niece Zoe is attending the university in Cambridge that Mariana once attended. As she is the only real family left for Zoe, she immediately responds to Zoe’s distressed call when a friend has been murdered.

Poking around a bit into the story behind this young woman’s death, Mariana discovers a lot of secrets wrapped up with the school’s traditions. Clues keep circling back to the story of Persephone in ancient Greek mythology and Mariana is determined to help unravel how this relates to the present day.

This book was such a highly anticipated read with an author I knew I liked, a dark academia setting, and issues of mental health and therapy. Thankfully I wound up really enjoying this one! This takes some pretty dark twists (the main trigger warning in this case would be a major spoiler, so feel free to message me privately if you want that). The book kept up a good dark atmosphere throughout!

I found the mystery to be engaging. Having seen the twist in THE SILENT PATIENT coming, I was pleasantly surprised that this book did manage to catch me unaware with some of the ending. There were a few things I expected, but I was never sure. Mariana was an interesting character to follow, wrapped up as she was in her grief with her husband and her intrigue with the murder.

I would recommend this one for the thriller fans! THE MAIDENS is out on June 15!

This book was entertaining. I won't say this is as good as The Silent Patient, but it is thoughtful and brings an ambiance like no other book I've read before. As a recipe for "who did it," the reader (or, in my case, listener), consistently was unsettled by how the events occurred and had difficulty in pointing the finger at the killer.

Going into this blind is what I think is best. No synopsis required. If you've read The Silent Patient, then you know Michaelides will have something intriguing for you. As a quick overview, however, Mariana returns to her alma matter where things go sideways.

I wholeheartedly anticipate this book be nabbed as one of the top 10 thrillers of 2021. Looking forward to Michaelides' next book!

Thanks to Netgalley for approving me to listen to this book.

It's hard not to hold books to higher expectations when you love an author's previous books and this was no different. I try to mindful, I really do but it still gets the best of me sometimes. I was really excited to get my hands on this one, my expectations were high but I only gave it 3 stars, which isn't a bad review, it means I liked it but it wasn't a 4 or 5 like I hoped it would be.

Mariana's niece, Zoe, goes to Cambridge University and when one of her friends is found murdered, Mariana rushes to be by her side. While she is there, Marian, also a group therapist, is made aware of a group of girls called, The Maidens, headed by Edward Fosca. The more she learns, the more she's convinced that he's guilty and she won't stop until she proves just that.

Amazing audio book, please Alex Michaelides keep your female narrator FOREVER. The emotion that was had was to die for. I felt everything they felt, I was excited and scared when they were it was just phenomenal. I also loved having the toggle between male and female narrators to break up those pieces of the book.

Mariana is a struggling widow that works as a group therapist in London. Navigating through her loss she is jolted into an episode of panic when her niece Zoe calls her to inform that a student in Cambridge (where Zoe attends) has been murdered. Mariana rushes to the university to be by Zoe's side and encounters a number of characters that raise suspicion. First is Fred, a clumsy man that takes an instant liking to her and then Professor Fosca who has an elite group of students called "The Maidens." Mariana takes on the role as amateur detective and tries to navigate who is murdering students while also supporting Zoe through the loss.

I read this book in less than a week and wanted to have more of it when it was finished. I cannot state how much I loved that there was a crossover of characters from "The Silent Patient" (what's up Theo?). It gave me a familiarity and excitement on seeing that character in a new light.

Thank you Alex Michaelides, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Blog posting link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPlYWJsrHJu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

A gothic dark academia classics forward murdery mystery of a book? SIGN ME UP, I AM IN. I've been chasing the high of reading The Secret History for the first time my entire adult career, and this is the closest I've come. Michaelides weaves in mythology, keeps you guessing, and reels you right in. A delicious novel, and so, so well narrated by both Kobna Holdbrook-Smith and Louise Brealey.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio & NetGalley for sending me a copy of The Maidens on audio in exchange for my honest review. To be honest, I was a little nervous about this one. It’s been all over Bookstagram and it has had mixed reviews. It’s hard to follow such a smash hit as The Silent Patient. I am here to tell you, it is phenomenal! It was very slow for the first 30-40% of the book. It was very… sleepy? However, once you get past the early background story and character development, it is a page turner! Alex Michaeledes writes so beautifully and I loved learning about Greek mythology in the process. There were so many twists and turns and I did not guess what happened in the end. There’s also a connection to The Silent Patient world at one point which I LOVED. Yes this book is worth the hype, and yes you should buy it. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Rating: 4.5 stars

Having enjoyed The Silent Patient, I was eager to read this one -- and I enjoyed it even more! Mariana, a recent widow, gets a call from her niece, Zoe, who is a student at Cambridge. Zoe's best friend has been brutally murdered. Once Mariana goes to Cambridge to support and comfort Zoe, several more students are murdered, so she starts to investigate why these murders are happening and who could be culprit. All the twists and turns make this one hard to put down. At one point or another, I suspected almost every one of being involved. I did not seeing the ending coming, which is they best way to end a thriller. You will definitely want to add this to your must-read list!

A dark academia novel that kept me guessing. I stayed up way too late reading this then couldn't sleep because the plot was so chilling. Louise Brealey is excellent!

I loved The Silent Patient, so I obviously picked up The Maidens with a fervent hope that it would be just as twisty and fun. The Maidens delivers on the fun and provides a great deal of twists, but as with most sophomore novels by domestic thriller writers, it’s hard to overcome the hype of your first book. Things I liked: the narration of the audiobook was lovely, the book was fast-paced and didn’t idle. The touches of Greek lore was interesting. I liked the main character. Things I shrugged at: Though the final chapters will bug your eyes out, it left me lukewarm. Without giving too much away, I really wish we had time to develop the villain’s motivation a little bit more. The Maidens feels like Part 2 of a novel, and we’re missing all the craziest plot points off page. Still certain I’ll read anything Michaelides deigns for write from here on out.

This is a book about idiots. I was upset that Mariana was the main character, because it meant that her stupidity probably wouldn't kill her. I feel like she was so obtuse and narrowed in judgement, that she was missing stuff that was right in front of her face. This isn't to say that I knew exactly how the story was going to play out - while I did know who was involved, I don't think I could have ever guessed the why. Thought this entire story was a very, very slow build and the payoff never felt super satisfying to me. It's a story that meanders and takes it's time setting an atmosphere - and while I enjoyed that, it wasn't enough to boost the entire experience.

I also think this book isn't really what I expected it to be. I thought this would be much more focused on The Maidens and Fosca - the secret society, Fosca's (supposed) charisma but we really only see them through Mariana's eyes as a psychotherapist and her analysist of the group not really the members themselves. And while I always enjoy a callback to some classic Greek literature and mythology, and I know that grief can help you make really illogical things seem plausible, I thought that her feelings around her late husbands death were a choice.

So while this wasn't the standout dark academia vibes I was hoping for, it was a solid read, and I enjoyed the audiobook (besides the switching accents on the (very few) male POV chapters).

I received a copy of the audiobook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Last week I listened to The Maidens by Alex Michaelides thanks to @netgalley ! I was really excited to read it after enjoyed The Silent Patient back in back in 2019.

The Maidens follows Mariana, a group therapist, as she tries to solve a murder at her niece’s university. All signs point to the Greek Tragedy professor. There’s also a group of girls called the Maidens that seem to be a part of a secret society.

❤️Review❤️

I loved that this was set in the same world as The Silent Patient and it was definitely had a poetic writing style. I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrators chosen to tell this story. With the chapters being as short as they were the story felt disjointed at times. I couldn’t understand Mariana’s investment into solving this murder. I understood she was coming from a fragile place after losing her husband and that she wanted to help her niece, but she went way far in my opinion. Most of the book was spent just talking to a variety of people with not a ton of events taking place. So when the twist ultimately came it was just unsatisfying and not what I wanted at all. Unfortunately I’m definitely the unpopular opinion with this one since most reviews I’ve seen love it. If it was something you were interested in, I still highly recommend you give it a go. I wonder if I would have thought differently if I physically read it, instead of listening to it on audio.

2 stars! ⭐️⭐️

#Bookstagram #BookReview #NetGalley #2021Books #NewBooks #NewReleases #PopularBooks #UnpopularOpinion #AudioBook

For most of the book, this sat at 4 stars for me. In terms of the crime, I did figure out the culprit pretty early on, but I could not figure out the motive until the shocking reveal at the end. I'm still shocked by it so I bumped my review up to 5 stars and am looking forward to reading a physical copy. This review is for the audiobook.

The story is set well-- Cambridge University and secret societies giving off major dark academia vibes. You have intelligent characters who all seem to be suspicious or have something secretive about them. There are a few red herrings throughout the novel as well. These things along with a narrator who toes the line of reliable and unreliable create a mystery that is hard to solve despite all signs pointing to the charismatic, Eric Fosca-- who seems to have a cult-like following with some of his female students that are called The Maidens. So sketchy.

I was hooked on the audio of this story that filters between being narrated by the protagonist, Mariana, and a male figure. I think my favorite part about this story was the allusions to and mentions of Greek tragedies, in particular Persephone and Demeter. Overall, this story is well plot out, fast-paced, and surprising! Readers who like thrillers, but usually figure out the ending quickly will have fun with this one.

Following up on The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides adds a classical twist of Greek mythology underpinning this new outstanding, dark, psychological thriller set in Cambridge, England. Mariana, a group therapist recovering from the death of her beloved husband Sebastien, gets summoned to Cambridge when one of her niece Zoe’s close friends get stabbed to death. And so jumpstarts this twisty literary “whodunnit,” with Marian becoming obsessed with tracking down the culprit and increasingly convinced that a handsome Greek tragedy professor, Edward, has literally gotten away with murder. Fanning her suspicions, the charismatic Edward has surrounded himself with a brilliant group of female students, in a secret society called “The Maidens,” of which the murdered student is a member.

Beside plot twists you simply don’t see coming and red herrings that abound, what elevates this thriller to the classic and lyrical centers the entwining of the current events with famous stories of Greek mythology and tragedies, Elusian Mysteries, and a poem by Tennyson in remembrance of a dear friend who died young.

Running throughout is the story of the maiden Persephone, kidnapped by the god of the underworld, Hades, and rescued for only six months a year by the Greek gods to placate her heartbroken, distraught g mother, Goddess of the Earth Demeter – thus resulting in the happy Spring and Summer months of mother and daughter reunion, and an earth shut down in grief during Fall and Winter. Prior to being killed, the victim receives a postcard with a quote from a Euripdies tragedy written in ancient Greek alluding to “the gods having decreed your death.”

Adding to the Greek overlay, the novel is partially set in Greece where Mariana grew up on the island of Naxos, the setting of the tragic death of her husband. It’s also the setting of the story of the Minotaur. Theseus, son of King Aegeus of Athens, a youth sent to be sacrificed to the minotaur, gets told the secret of how to vanquish the beast by Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, on the condition that he help her escape Crete afterwards. Theseus fulfills his promise by taking Ariadne away from Crete, but then abandons her as she sleeps on the beach of the island of Naxos. In The Maidens, Marianna is abandoned by her husband as she too sleeps on the beach. But what stands out in this story is Marianna’s cleverness to ultimately escape her fate and forge a new destiny for herself. Also, Ariadne helps Theseus escape the maze after killing the minotaur by following back along a ball of unspooled red thread he let out on his way in. Keep this in mind when you step back to analyze this novel.

Tennyson’s wrote his poem, In Memoriam A.H.H., as a tribute to his beloved friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died young at age 22. Tennyson’s long poem was stitched together from snippets of his private grieving. Marianna reads this poem, left beside for her by her friend she’s staying with, and feels it speaks exactly her grieving of her husband, such as this stanza:

I sometimes hold if half a sin
To put in words the grief I feel;
For words, like Nature, half reveal
And half conceal the Soul within.

With a portrait of a young Tennyson deep in thought and private grief hanging in the University, the themes of personal mourning and words as poetic therapy also weave throughout the narrative.

Added to all this are unexpected surprise crossovers to The Patient, Michaelides first book, as the novels take place in the same setting and time, and both focus on psychotherapists who know each other – including Theo, one of the main characters in The Patient and the mental hospital, The Grove.

All in all, your mind is reeling at the ending, at the Tragedy of it all, and of lifetimes of unresolved mourning.

My opinions of this book and narrator would not change my decisions as a bookseller because customers are already asking for it after the success of The Silent Partient.


Narrators: So the yes/no question is hard. The narrator who narrated the killer was BRILLIANT. The main narrator was monotone, lacked conviction, emotional range and pacing. This is especially harmful for a book that struggled with pacing as it was.

Book:

Come for the Greek Mytholgy and Alferd, Lord Tennyson influences, killer POV chapters and fucked up ending.

Run from the slow pacing that really doesn't start kicking on till 60% in, repetitive grieving of Mariana's dead husband and mean girl stereotypes.

For someone so self aware of her lack of knowledge when it comes to finding murderers, letting down her actual job, walking into a situation that will trigger an already open wound of grieving... Mariana is oblivious.

#TheMaidens by @alex.michaelides is coming out June 16th by @celadonbooks! Many thanks to the publisher and @Netgalley for the advanced copy of the audiobook!
This story begins with a woman trying to cope with the death of her husband, but when a murder occurs on the same college campus where her neice attends, she flies into protection mode and decides to go to the campus to check on her neice. While there she discovers a charismatic professor who everyone cannot stop praising, especially the female students. She uncovers this secret society of students (only female as IF that doesnt immediately raise red flags) that hover over the professor. Suspicions are raised when two of his secret society (called The Maidens) become victims of murder. The story goes off from there and I thought I knew where it was going, but thankfully, I was wrong and the twist really shocked me and I enjoyed that shocking revelation in a twisted, demented sort of way!
I have not read #thesilentpatient although I believe I have the CDs of it from my agapi, if I can play them in the car figuring out how to pause them! Im curious to go back and read that one as well. I know this had been compared to A Secret History, but other than it's setting, its really not like that. This is told from Maryann's (the aunt) POV unlike the Secret History which was told by the students in their secret society. This was a lot more fast paced than The Secret History, as thrillers usually are. I really enjoyed this on audio. Give it a try if you enjoy thrillers or are a fan of this author! Although this wasnt an all time favorite for me, I still really enjoyed my time with it and flew through it as Maryann tried her hand at playing amateur detective! Its definitely a recommended read!

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for the audio arc of The Maidens.

Narrators Louise Brealey and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith do a wonderful job of conveying the atmosphere and intensity that this novel required. I believe Louise’s performances helped me in forming a connection to Mariana. She portrayed Mariana’s emotions in a believable way which added to the story and my enjoyment.

The Maidens is written in a way that makes it difficult for the reader to solve the mystery. The story was well laid out and paced perfectly. I listened to this over several days in order to absorb the plot and details fully.

I recommend The Maidens for anyone lookin for a thriller with twists. .

Everything seems fine in a London bustling college in the 21st century. That is, until word spreads fast that Tara has been murdered. Mariana is a therapist proving her point that the beloved professor murdered three women, Tara included, without the blink of an eye. But a secret society of women, “the Maidens” and all else are against Mariana. So, who really stabbed the three women? Alex Michaelides writes a thrilling follow up to the 2019 bestselling Silent Patient.
Readers will not be disappointed with the did he or didn’t he thriller that unfolds in The Maidens. Mariana is a highly believable, well written character. The backup characters, although numerous, gain importance throughout. Too many details and not enough mystery solving make this read a slow one until around the halfway mark. However, the end is unbelievable with a resolution that you won’t be guessing.
Both narrators tones matched the mood of Michaelides’ novel. The female voice’s British accent matches the setting and allows the listener to better understand the setting. The male’s voice has depth and emotion that filled the novel’s purpose.
Readers will want to listen to this thriller when it is released June 15. Be ready to crack the case of The Maidens.

Thank you so much to author, Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books (for the physical, advance reader copy) and Netgalley and Macmillan Audio (for the audio advance reader copy) of my most anticipated thriller of 2021, “The Maidens”.

This was a 4.5 star read for me, and I’ve rounded up to reflect that.

After reading “The Silent Patient” I knew I would want to read more from Alex Michaelides, in the future. I really feel like his writing is set apart from other thriller writers, and especially when I think of other male writers (writing women) - even well established authors like Stephen King or Riley Sager - there is a noticeable difference in descriptions and care in telling their stories. So when a “dark academia” thriller was announced I immediately started trying to get my hands on an ARC. I mean, SIGN! ME! UP!

The descriptions are lush and atmospheric. As if the setting, Cambridge, arguably the perfect academic setting, wasn’t enough... as if the promise of a secret society and Greek Myth weren’t enough... this book has so many fun twists and turns that will have you guessing till the end.

Some technical things I loved were the short chapters and the sectioning off into parts. The short chapters propel you forward so that you can really binge it in sections. And the parts breaks come at the best time for taking a minute evaluate your thoughts or even stop for the day or night of reading. It’s the kind of structuring that makes it ideal for a mini-series adaptation. Which, if someone wants to get on that, let’s get it going!

This book had all the makings of a perfect thriller for me, and it absolutely delivered. As I was reading to took note of things that could be handled in a problematic way, and those things, to my delight, were handled quite well. The entire novel deals with the fact that all of us have trauma. It looks at the ways we grieve. It allows us to dissect the characters through the eyes of a therapist, and even use what we’ve learned to look at the main character. Mental health is not villainized, rather looked at in the complex ways trauma and mental health effect people, no matter our actions or bias or perspective, we are all shaped by it. Rather than use it as a device the author invites us to perceive the actions of others with empathy and complexity. I appreciated the sympathetic way Mariana (the MC) looked at others because of her career as a therapist. I also loved the Greek Mythology throughout. There are constant references to two, specific goddesses and to specific lines from tragedy, there are professors who are well versed in the myths and tragedies. The way the myths are discussed, for someone like me who is obsessed with myth, it just made me want to re-read the plays mentioned, or find novels based on the goddesses. I love when a book inspires you to read.

The rest of my review and the reason I docked it .5 stars as well as the trigger warnings that I think are important is below.

I docked a half star, mostly because of the villainous monologue at the end. I never like these, although I fully appreciate that there isn’t a great way to do a reveal without one. I did think that the way it was given was exciting and interesting, and so in the end, I didn’t mind too much.

The trigger warnings I noted while reading are for;
>grief
>abuse
>self harm
>infertility
>murder of a pet (part 4, chapter 1)

All in all, I highly recommend this novel and can’t wait to see more people read and discuss this book! What a treat!

Edward Fosca is a handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University but Mariana thinks he is a murderer. Fosca is adored by staff and students. The members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens are intrigued by him. Why would the professor target one of his students? Why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld? Mariana is determined to find out. This book kept me guessing until the very end. I enjoyed the writing and the Greek tragedy references. There are a lot of twists and the ending was a complete surprise. I would recommend this book and I am looking forward to Michaelides next book. I would like to thank McMillian Audio and Celadon Books and NetGalley for giving me an advanced copy for an honest review. I listened to the audio and read along with the book. I enjoyed the narrator and it was a great experience.

When a young student is killed at her niece’s school, Mariana drops everything to help. As she gets closer to the truth, she fears for the life of not only her niece but for all the girls included in her study group.

The twists were only mildly surprising but the story was a quick one and I enjoyed it.

I’m thankful to NetGalley for an arc of the audio book in return for an unbiased review.