RATING: 4/5 STARS

After the hit that was YOU DESERVE EACH OTHER, I knew that Sarah Hogle's sophomore novel would have big shoes to fill. And overall, this book holds its own! It's unique with adorable characters and a compelling plot. TWICE SHY is a sweet story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It might not have the same witty snappiness as Hogle's first novel, but the friendship and romance between Maybell and Wesley is swoony and a lot of fun to read.

A sincere thanks to Penguin for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Where to even start. Maybell has a job where she isn't appreciated or taken seriously and is constantly day dreaming about something better. When she learns she has inherited her great aunt's manor, she leaves her job and takes all her belongings to her new home. However, it's been 20 years since she saw her aunt or the manor and is shocked at the condition it is in. On top of that, she learns her aunt also left the manor to her groundskeeper, Wesley. They disagree about what to do with the estate and Wesley will barely speak to her at first.

At first, I was thrown by all of Maybell's daydreams. I wasn't a fan, which is kind of funny, because while not quite on her level, I am guilty of often having my head in the clouds. I quickly changed my mind though, she was such a fun character. I also really related to Wesley, with social anxiety. I really struggle with people in person, and anything too crowded makes me panic. I really appreciated how this was written. I almost cried a few times, this book was just so sweet. Thank you so much NetGalley and Putnam Books for the arc!

I LOVED this book. I am simultaneously mad I didn't read it sooner and sad that I won't ever be able to read it for the first time again!

To their surprise, strangers Maybell (the sunshine one) and Wesley (the grumpy one) end up unexpected coinhabitants when they co-inherit an old mansion. As they work together to renovate the property, they become reluctant friends and ultimately lovers in this super sweet, whimsical, slow burn story. A true delight to read from start to finish. I will be recommending Twice Shy to anyone and everyone that I possibly can!

CW: Anxiety, Panic Attacks

My heart has been stolen by Sarah Hogle and this book. I am someone who spends a lot of time lost in my own imagination to cope with anxiety, and that can lead to trouble when I miss things that are actually happening. I felt so seen reading from Maybell's perspective. Her Alternate Universe was the cozy, comforting, dreamy space that we all crave. And reading along as she found someone to accompany her to her AU, someone who validated her dreams, someone who brought comforts from her AU to her real life was the most heartwarming and swoony experience.
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This book also illustrated anxiety so beautifully - showing how debilitating it can be and also how affirming it is to have someone love all the parts of you, including that infuriating anxiety.
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Even though I personally related to these characters, I don't think you have to relate in order to fall in complete love with this story. Sarah Hogle's storytelling is so vulnerable, imaginative, and magical.
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This book will make you believe that anything is possible.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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CW: anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, parental abandonment

This is a classic sunshine & grump story featuring Maybell and Wesley. Shy Maybell inherits her great aunt’s home along with the groundskeeper Wesley. The two must learn to work together to transform the aging property and along the way grow closer. Tropes found in this story include forced proximity and enemies-to-lovers. Not only do Maybell and Wesley learn to grow together, but they also battle internal struggles.

Throw in some catfishing, an imaginary coffee shop, a treasure hunt, and the Loch Ness monster and you’ve got Twice Shy.

This is my first Sarah Hogle book and I’m planning on going back and reading for her debut. I recommend this book to those who are looking for a sweet romance story.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin-Putnam for the ARC of this book.

This book was so cute! It’s your typical close proximity x enemies to lover romance (which is my fave trope!) To be honest, Maybell and Wesley both annoyed me in the beginning of the book but I ended up loving them both by the end. The beginning was a little slow and it took a while for the romance to be in full swing, but once it was I was hooked on this book. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it!

Oh man, I loved this book. It was a slow burn - in fact, shortly after I started it, I found myself unsure of whether I wanted to pick it up again or not. But I'm so glad I did, because I completely fell in love with the characters. Sometimes, addressing mental health in romance novels can be cringeworthy. It can feel like pandering, or it's oversimplified, or it distracts from the story. But Sarah Hogle handled the conversation around anxiety so delicately and realistically here, it felt the way it feels in real life - like a piece of the overall puzzle, necessary to understand what's happening or who someone is, but not the *only* thing about a person.

Maybell, the main character, often gets lost in her daydreams, but this entire book felt like a daydream to me, and I loved getting lost in it!

I am a huge fan of Hogle’s debut, You Deserve Each Other, to the point that I was unsure how I’d feel about her next book, which is unfair to Hogle, but I wanted to love this one just as much. But Twice Shy is completely different from YDEO – in such a wonderful way. Because YDEO has an incredibly distinctive voice and you either love it or hate it, and Twice Shy has a much quieter voice, but one that I still really loved.

I will admit that I did not love Maybell at the beginning of this book as she is a woman that bends over backward for people and lets others hurt her. My favorite protagonists in romance are the self-assured badasses, not because I consider them a self-insert character for myself, but more because I consider them aspirational. When Maybell inherits an estate in the mountains from her great-aunt she jumps at the chance to leave her crappy life behind.

There she finds Wesley, and wow was it insta-love for me, although not for Maybell. There are complicated romance reasons for their instant awkwardness, and admittedly this part of the novel was my least favorite part. There’s this woman who catfished Maybell with Wesley’s picture…and really, it is important to the plot, but even thinking about explaining it for review is tiring. Regardless, Wesley is so awkward and almost rude…which doesn’t sound charming but over the course of the book we find out the true reasons for the awkwardness and rudeness.

I was not expecting to be given the gift of anxiety representation with this book at all but there is just so much greatness with mental health in this book with that. Obviously, everyone who has anxiety deals with it differently but I felt so seen in different ways by this book. Both characters are so lonely for different reasons which I loved, and watching them navigate that loneliness and almost circle each other until their lonely pieces fit together perfectly just kind of tore me apart. The pieces of themselves that they dislike are accepted and just seen as part of who they were.

I spent the last few chapters in weepy tears. Most of this book has major rom-com vibes but the last few chapters stole my angsty heart and made me love the book. I’m so glad to add it to my arsenal of good mental health recs!

CW: grief, death of great-aunt (off page), Anxiety, toxic parental relationship

Grade: A-

When I heard Sarah Hogle had a new book releasing, I jumped for joy. I was obsessed with her debut novel and I couldn't wait to read more from her. When I first started reading the book seemed a little...well, for lack of a better word, odd to me. Then I remembered that the start of 'You Deserve Each Other' wasn't my favorite, but that book became everything. This was somewhat of the same. The first half was a little slow and even strange at times, but that second half... it was perfection.

Mabell Parish lives in her mind a lot of the time- it's better than the outside world. When she inherits her Great-Aunt's estate, she has big plans for it. That is, until she finds out she has a co-inheritor. Her Aunt Violet's groundskeeper, Wesley. Wesley and Maybell couldn't have different ideas for the estate, and it causes some tension at first. Up until about the 40% mark, I wasn't sure about this couple or how things would work out, but then- things change.

Wesley seems a bit of a grouch, or maybe he's just shy, but when he starts to show his true colors, he has such a beautiful soul. Then there is Maybell. Sometimes I have trouble relating to characters like Maybell because I'm more of the practical type and less of a dreamer, but for some reason, I felt really connected to her. And Wesley... he was the most incredible hero. I could not have loved these two more. Together they were magic. This entire book felt magical to me in the best way.

If you love a good slow burn romance, quirky heroines, precious cinnamon roll heroes, and swoony romance, Twice Shy is the book for you. Sarah Hogle is quickly becoming a favorite of mine with two 5 star favorites! I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Twice Shy felt like sliding right back into Hogle's You Deserve Each Other (which is fine by me, since I enjoyed that one so much, too! You Deserve Each Other brought me a lot of joy in a rough time, so being back in Hogle's world was wonderful for me.). The characters and their situations felt very similar, particularly Maybell with her quirky workplace and difficult coworkers, a house with a personality of its own and an almost enemies-to-lovers romance. But what I love about Hogle's characters is that you just can't help but really really like them and root for them. More than just wanting to see a romantic happy ending, I just want to see them in ANY happy ending -- one that I know will be satisfying and fulfilling.

This was a really cute and fluffy read from Sarah Hogle! While I felt there could be a little but more conflict between the main characters, I really loved watching them fall in love.

If the *Grumpy X Sunshine* trope had a face, Twice Shy’s cover would be painted all over it. 😅 Maybell and Wesley were complete opposites and I loved seeing them fall in love with each other. The banter, the chemistry, the humor – Everything between them was just *chef’s kiss* I couldn’t help but root for them throughout the story. I am a sucker for scenes where the male and female lead have conversations through letters ~ so yeah, I totally swooned. One of the pivotal scenes from Twice Shy has been illustrated on the cover of the book, and I can’t wait for all of you to read it! :’)

My favourite thing about Sarah Hogle’s novels is that she always makes sure to make her characters very, very real. M&W had issues with social anxiety and coming out of comfort zones ; so I related with how they felt countless times throughout the story. Like all kinds of romances, the book was cheesy and dreamy too, but the characters along with their background stories made the book stand out to me. I wanted to adopt Wesley and Maybell and live in their manor. Which kind of makes you think if the gorgeous manor is the reason behind me wanting to adopt them, no? Ummm… maybe?

I’ll go sleep now with the hope that Twice Shy will have a thousand more fans by tomorrow.

There were a lot of elements to this one that I liked, such as the handling of Wesley's anxiety and the unique set up to the characters meeting. However, I found it a bit slow paced and it felt like not a lot happened for a good part of the book. I did enjoy this one more than the author's previous book, and the setting was interesting, but with characters that just felt flat this wasn't an exceptional or particularly memorable one.

Maybell Parish has trouble living in the real world. It is easier to escape into her made up world, than deal with her own life, with all of its challenges and disappointments. When she inherits her Great Aunt Violet's house, a house she loved as a child, she see it as an opportunity to change her life. But surprises await her at every turn-the house is falling apart and there is another inheritor, Wesley Koehler.

Maybell and Wesley have very different ideas on what they should do with the house and property, but are forced to work together. While it is difficult at first, they begin to admire and respect each other. And love each other.

This book was just pure happiness. I feel head over heals for Maybell and Wesley, both as individuals and as a couple. I loved how Maybell was understanding about Wesley's social anxiety and willing to work from where he stood. I loved how Wesley was accepting of Maybell's imagination and how he worked that into their relationship. I just can't wait to give this book to everyone I know!

I think I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for this book so take this review with a grain of salt. I loved Sarah Hogle's first book and maybe I went in with too high expectations. It was definitely sweet, but I didn't connect as much as I hoped to these characters. I certainly appreciate how Hogle wrote a character with social anxiety as it is rare to read and was done quite well.. The slow burn in here was dragged out to the point that when something starts happening I was almost uninterested. Didn't completely worked for me, but I'm definitely in the minority.

I picked up Twice Shy, started reading, and found myself laying in bed in the dark finishing it the same day. There is much to love in this book - whimsy, fun, personal growth, family dynamics, and so much sweet sweet tension. I loved the build up between Maybell and Wesley. I loved Maybell’s descriptions of a crush and her feelings and behavior - this was spot on! The characters felt well rounded, and very human. Great Aunt Violet and her husband Victor’s sweet storyline was a great addition as well! Overall I loved the sweetness, the swooning, the humor throughout!

Let the record show that I had realllllly high expectations for this book because of how much I loved You Deserve Each Other.

There are a lot of great tropes in this one (i.e. forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, etc.). It was a story about self-acceptance, going after what you want, and finding not the perfect person, but the person who's perfect for you. I loved the mental illness rep and thought it was really well done.

Additionally, I love the Hogle doesn't write the leading woman with the perfect life in her books. They have messy, normal lives with family drama and baggage (not in a way that weighs the story down IMO). I can only read so many "she has everything she wants accept the perfect partner" concept so often. It's nice to see people moving on from their pasts or working non-glamourous jobs just to get by,

But...

I would've liked there to be a bit more tension/build up/chemistry/whatever before they got together. The awkwardness was cute, and there wasn't any stupid drama, but there wasn't a real conflict to speak of. I also think I would've liked to see some other loose ends tied up and a more in-depth epilogue.

This book was as sweet as cinnamon sugar donuts. I wasn’t sure at the beginning of the book how I was going to feel about it. Maybell was stuck between living in the real world and an AU coffee shop where she escaped to when things got hard. After the death of a family member, she returns to the charming house in the Smokies where she had her most memorable childhood experiences only to find it in complete disarray. She also found an unexpected occupant in Wesley, the groundskeeper. Wesley who is terribly shy and hiding it under the guise of grouchiness is none too pleased to have Maybell show up. The two of them have to work together to get the property in shape and in doing so they come to understand so much more about themselves and each other.

This was a warm, sweet and thoughtful romance story. Sort of slow in the first part for me but I am so glad I stuck with it as the payoff was worth it!

Thank you to @netgalley for the electronic advanced copy for my review and feedback. All opinions are my own.

Maybell’s life seems like one disappointment after another. But when he great aunt leaves her a house, it seems like the perfect opportunity to start over. Only when she gets to the house, she finds that Great Aunt Violet also left the house to her neighbor, Wesley. They are to share everything and live out Violet’s list of final wishes.

This was a sweet slow burn romance that brought light to some more serious topics (anxiety, cat fishing, parental abandonment). I appreciated the honesty with which both main characters’ anxiety was portrayed and handled. I really appreciated how real the relationship seemed and how well the characters handled conflict. It felt real and there was no unnecessary drama. I would have liked the characters to have a little more chemistry but other wise I enjoyed this sweet romance!

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam books for the advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I think it’s safe to say that the sophomore slump has eluded Sarah Hogle with this lovely, charming book.

There’s so much to love about this book!
1. Only one tent!
2. Virgin hero!
3. Meeting each other under the most unexpected circumstances

Ultimately, though there are a great many romance tropes packed into this book, its really about self acceptance and the idea of meeting that person who isn’t perfect but rather perfect FOR you. Wesley’s social anxiety is beautifully portrayed and Maybell’s coffee shop AU is a delight and these two are awkward and sweet and tender as they stumble and fumble their way into love.