A big thanks to NetGally and Macmillan audio for this lovely Audiobook!!
Okay this book was so thrilling and amazing!! I love a good thriller/mystery novel. The beginning of this book was a little confusing at first and one Mariana got to Zoe’s University it’s started to get really good and clear! The book kept me guessing the whole audiobook! Marianas character really blossomed, how she used her knowledge to find out information and stay cool and collected with Edward Foscer, and the Maidens !

The ending was completely surprising but right before Zoe showed her true colors I kind of felt that she might do something to Mariana because of the sketchiness of getting on that boat alone and The urgency Zoe put on getting the knife. Because I was thinking if I was her I would wanna get the hell out of that college! But Zoe‘s reason behind my suspicion of her was not what I was expecting! Truly the ending was like the Greek tragedies mentioned throughout the book . But I thought in the epilogue it could’ve also included Mariana Saying yes to Henry’s marriage proposal. It would have put the last puzzle piece into this Beautiful story!

🎧Audio review: I thought the narrator did a great job on having different voices for each character and fit the theme of the book ! I also loved the classical music at the end of the audiobook!

Cover review: 5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Severed head of the Greek statue with blood dripping off of it, was brilliant! Very much fits The story of the book!

Can this new release from Alex Michaelides possibly be as good as The Silent Patient? For me, the answer was an emphatic "You betcha!" I decided to listen to the audio version (kudos to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for having the narrated version available). The narrators were fantastic. Louise Brealy is a spot on Mariana. And Kobna Holdbrook-Smith will give you goosebumps as the unknown man with the sinister diary. Michaelides combines Greek mythology with Shakespeare and 'The Duchess of Malfi' to give us a simmering stew of suspense, revenge, and regret. There is crossover action with characters from The Silent Patient cranking up the creep factor for fans of that book without excluding those who have not read it. The beauty of it is that you can read the two in any order and still love the connection. I hope the next title gives us more connections! Both are highly recommended.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for providing an audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🔪The Maidens🏛️
Author: Alex Michaelides
To be published: June 14, 2021
Published by: MacMillan Audio
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted this copy from @macmillan.audio and @netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alwere you ever convinced you knew something to be true, but couldn't prove it? Group therapist Marina Andros is convinced that the professor of Greek tragedy at her Alma mater, where her niece Zoe now goes to school, is a murderer. And she can't quite pin it on him in a way the convinces anyone else. One of her niece's friends ends up dead and the body count doesn't stop there. Mariana has to prove his guilt even if she must risk it all. No more girls can die.
Just like The Silent Patient, I was totally sucked in. I couldn't stop listening. Michaelides weaves such a tale that your idea of who the murderer is constantly changes. As soon as you've worked out the details, another twist throws it off. The characters were great and I loved the Greek mythology and weaving of the story of Persephone. And the narrator was PHENOMENAL! I cannot give her enough kudos.
It releases next month, so keep it on your radar. You're going to want to snag this and I cannot recommend the audiobook enough!

Audiobook Review 🎧 The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Rating: 5/10
Narrator: 🎧🎧🎧🎧/5
Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Celadon Books

This is not The Silent Patient. Perhaps this was my mistake when I approached The Maidens. The Silent Patient was one of my favorite psychological thrillers I read last year, so I had high hopes for The Maidens.

I did appreciate the references to some of the characters and locations from The Silent Patient mentioned in The Maidens. It made these two been feel connected or a side continuation. The Maidens also had a fun reference to Greek mythology with this thriller set at Cambridge University.

I encourage you to give it a read and form your own opinions. This is a f thriller, and that many may enjoy.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

After highly enjoying "The Silent Patient" I was excited to read this author's next thriller. As well as the Greek mythology aspect heighten my interest. But unfortunately this story did not work for me. I felt like it had great potential but I did not enjoy the execution or direction of the story.

I think my biggest challenge was having to believe that a psychotherapist decides to play detective and drop all her work / patients for the murder of her niece's college friend. And that she divulges all her findings to a man she literally just met.

I wish there had more interaction with the "Maidans" throughout the story as I felt they were only on the sidelines and barely the focus. The secret group seemed to be much more interesting story to explore.

I do also have a minor pet peeve I want to mention. More than once they referred to Persephone as the Goddess of death. To my knowledge this is not accurate, she is the Goddess of spring. Being wife of Hades she is Queen of the underworld. But even he was not the God of death (that would be Thanatos). I even looked it up while reading to clarify and could find no reference to Persephone being called the goddess of death. It is a small thing but as this a story that was suppose to have heavy greek mythology influence I was disappointed in the inaccuracies.

Wow!!! Alex Michaelides has another winner! Marianna is a widowed psychotherapist that receives a call from her niece, Zoey, that her friend Tara was found murdered at their school. Marianna goes to Zoey and is convinced their professor Edward Fousca is guilty. OR is he?

Marianna meets a group of young women associated with the Professor that is link to a second murder at the University.

Really enjoyed this. I could have done without all the Greek history which lost me a bit, but BOY what a twist at the end I did not expect.

From the author of the silent patient comes another edge of your seat thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

This is not my normal genre of book but I was hooked from the beginning and did not figure out who did it until it was revealed. I recommend this book for any fans of psychological thrillers looking for a great read.

This was not quite as good as the silent patient, but it was still a decent story line. I disliked the main character and how obsessive she was. I also found the twist a little unbelievable. While I suspected the person who was behind the murders, the reasoning for it was not really plausible to me. I think the author set the bar too high with The Silent Patient, it will be hard to live up to that book.

Well I didn’t see THAT coming. I liked this book even better than the Silent Patient. This author is really really good and keeping you guessing until the end. I listened to the audiobook version and there were two narrators and I finished this yesterday and JUST NOW realized who one of the narrators character is! Mind blown!

I really did not enjoy this title. However, that's not to say that it's not a good book. I think that Alex Michaelides is a great author, and he has garnered many fans since published "The Silent Patient." I just don't think plot-driver thrillers are for me. For this reason, I will give it four stars, and of course recommend it to patrons looking for a superb thriller.

I really enjoyed the audio performance of this story but the storyline was just okay for me. After reading The Silent Patient and loving it, I was expecting more and this one just didn't compare.

Mariana is trying to work through her grief after losing her husband, Sebastian. When her niece calls from University to say her friend has disappeared and fearing she may be dead, Mariana immediately goes to her. She is quickly engulfed in the investigation and decides Professor Fosca, surrounded by his female groupies known as The Maidens, is the murderer.

I did really enjoy the twist at the end and how it all came together but found there were too many unrelated details and stories going on as well. I look forward to whatever comes next from Alex Michaelides.

I was very happy and excited to get a chance to listen to this audio. I think having high hopes made this a big disappointment. The twist wasn't worth the deception of the title and the extra "plot lines" that had no relevance to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley for an audio-ARC of The Maidens by Alex Michaelides.
The Maidens by Alex Michaelides is a suspenseful mystery filled with links to Greek mythology that frames a serial killer in a world of tragedy. As Mariana tries to prove and convict the man she knows to be the murderer, she becomes the next target. The plot twist and red herrings add to the intrigue of the book. I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this novel. The narrator's voice added to the mystery and tone of the story. The Maidens is the first novel by Alex Michaelides I've read and have since added The Silent Patient to my list of books to read.

I received the audio book of The Maidens free via NetGalley. The Maidens was a highly anticipated read after the roller coaster that was the Silent Patient, so admittedly, I went in with higher expectations and was disappointed at the end. I thought the narration was done very well, but the content of this book, with all the Greek and the mythology did make this one a bit harder for me to follow along with. There were times I struggled to keep track of some of the characters, but I don't fault the narrator of the audio for this. Most of the book left me feeling underwhelmed, though I did not see the twist coming AT ALL. I can see this being a hit with lovers of mythology that would have a better background context and understanding. Overall, entertaining, but not as memorable as The Silent Patient!

This book kept me wondering who the killer is. Once I figure out the killer in a murder mystery the book starts to become dull and predictable to me. This book, on the other hand, had me keep guessing. I thought I had it figured out and then I started wondering about a different person. I never did guess the killer and was very impressed with this book and the authors writing. I am looking forward to reading more of Alex's books.

This was all the way unexpected. I had at least 7 different theories when reading and they were all wrong. With so many characters and all the red herrings, I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who at first mention throughout the book. I found the storyline pretty fascinating and though I’m not particularly interested in Greek tragedy and other classic literature, I did feel like I gained some perspective on the stories mentioned in the book.

I enjoyed Mariana’s character development in particular. While the therapy speak may be off-putting for some, I found it fascinating. She was portrayed in a positive light as a group therapist who sought out supervision when needed and maintained proper boundaries. In the end, she didn’t sacrifice her own healing for others. She only took steps towards forgiveness and the healing of others involved when she was ready.

The Maidens was another good, interesting read from Alex Michaelides. Maintaining the level of praise from The Silent Patient will be a challenge but I still felt this book had some good aspects of mystery, suspense, and twists. I enjoyed the subtle connection to The Silent Patient and I hope his next book does the same with The Maidens. This author’s characters really tell the story of his books and I look forward to his next one.

The narrator of the audiobook was ok but I preferred to read the ebook more.

I completely enjoyed this audiobook. Well narrated and fast paced twisty plot. Perfect for commuter listening.

There must be so much pressure for your second book, when your debut was as huge as The Silent Patient. I know as a reader I have desperately been waiting for the author’s next book....it’s impossible to not compare it to the first and I have tried to separate them for this review.

Unfortunately, this book was a huge letdown for me. The premise sounded intriguing, the author’s previous blow my mind writing had me all sorts of excited for this one. The plot had so many loopholes and was just not realistic. I’m saddened that the writing was sloppy.

I did have one jaw dropping moment with this book, but after a couple minutes the shock wore off and even the big twist didn’t work for me.

The cameo from The Silent Patient was neat, but I will admit I missed it - until I heard about it from someone else. Whether I just didn’t clue in, or I was just too checked out to care, I’m not sure.

What makes a thriller so enjoyable is the little sprinkling of clues - some may be red herrings but others are small slivers of truth. If you are astute enough, you can weed out the real clues and figure everything out before the end (or things may become obvious in hindsight after a big reveal, which in many ways is just as fun). The Maidens doesn’t give you that chance. There are “clues” galore, but when the story reaches its conclusion, the resolution is completely out of left field. It’s a clever enough twist, but a lazy one since it’s easy to create a “wait what?!” moment when you never even hinted at a suspect. The story had a chance to be great, I love the concept of a mystery steeped in ancient history and mythology, but it fell flat.

Plus, I knocked an entire star off for the heavy handed references to The Silent Patient. One allusion/parallel with a similar creepy stalking scene was great. But when you bring in actual characters from your unrelated novel not once but TWICE in scenes that added exactly zero to the story, it felt desperate. “Hey remember me, I wrote a great book! Please like this one too.” Ick.

Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.