The Maiden and Her Monster

By Maddie Martinez

Book Overview

"A dark and endlessly enchanting fairy tale.... I adored every page."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Ava Reid

An instant USA Today bestseller
Most Anticipated at Goodreads Medium LGBTQReads Reactor and more

The Maiden and Her Monster is a gorgeous, atmospheric debut fantasy rooted in history, folklore, and sapphic romance--perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Ava Reid, Hannah Whitten, and Naomi Novik.

The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.

As the healer's daughter, Malka has seen how the wood's curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka's mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution.

When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.

But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save--and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250367751
• ISBN13: 9781250367754
• Release Date: September 2025
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Will occupy a place in your brain long after the last page.

The character are unique to this beautifully crafted world of alchemy. The way the two main characters devotion to each other leads too.. well I'll ilet you figure that out. This story will leave you guessing if they will make it out of this alive or even whole. I enjoyed all 1000 pages , got less interested in the side characters as Helena and farron started to take center stage during part 2. But I'm impatient. P.s. I was unaware this was Harry Potter fan fiction heavily altered and I am glad for it. Fifty shades was terrible. This was well written and just scrumptious. Happy reading