This book. Oh my goodness this book gave me whiplash but in the best way. I’m just really glad it ended how it ended because if it went the other way we would’ve been looking at a very different review here.

I had to sit on writing this review a few days after finishing it. I kept thinking about the plot and the characters and the feelings and couldn’t get it out of my head. I felt like I lost my friends when I finished - that’s how attached I got.

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice tells the story of Maggie, a struggling 35 year old singer throughout multiple years of her life, figuring out what she wants with her life and going through multiple ups and downs, while almost being stuck in a love triangle. For the past twelve years, she’s been pining after her best friend Garrett, who it seems like it’s always the right person, wrong time situation. But from seemingly out of nowhere comes her first love, Asher. Will the stars finally align for her and Garrett, will her and Asher fall back into place, or will Maggie get what she’s been wanting for her whole life - a successful music career and a baby?

I felt so connected to all of the characters here, especially Maggie and her best friend Summer. The ending felt very rushed to me and felt like it jumped forward too quick, but besides that I really, really loved this book.

4.5/5 stars rounded up. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, Alison Rose Greenberg, and NetGalley for the eARC!

I loved this book, definitely a 4.5 stars
I loved the dual time lines and being able to see our MC character development throughout those scenes.
I loved the friendships in this book as well! Summer while always very blunt was an amazing friend that was always there for Maggie and vise versa.
This book touched on multiple heavy topics and did an incredible job with it.

and an added bonus, the music taste was great and the song lyrics throughout the book felt like actual songs i could cry to in the car.

thank you to NetGalley for on ARC of this book

This was such a fun premise for a book. Though it was hard for me with a love triangle. One of the love interest was a clear winner to me.

This book does deal with infertility, so FYI if that’s a trigger warning for you.

The first 25% was so good. The rest was just okay. The ending felt very rushed. I liked how in this love triangle, you could root for both the men. They were both good people. I left like the “closure” with the one of them wasn’t actually closure and that felt rushed. Overall, I really liked the premise of the story. A bit of the pacing at times felt a little off. I really liked how each chapter was a different age, it was like pieces of the puzzle coming together.. 3.5⭐️ rounded up for me.

Thank you NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book ripped out my heart and soul, stomped on it, and somehow put it back together again.

The primary plot of this book is a love triangle but oddly one where you want all the characters to be the winners, even when you know that’s impossible. But more importantly, and what makes this book such a stand out to me, was the FMC’s passion and drive for music. Now I’m going to be honest, I don’t have a single musical bone in my body, but I was obsessed with the artist/song references, and the original songwriting/lyrics peppered throughout the book. It gave the characters and their love such emotional depth and left me wanting more.

I cried like a baby for the last 20% or so of the book, so please don’t mind my raccoon eyes. Beautiful writing, and loved the ending though it felt a tad rushed. I wish we had more details similar to earlier parts of the book to give the final story line the dedication it deserved.

I really enjoyed the book and would recommend to fans of more emotionally heavy (but still a HEA!) contemporary romance authors like Emily Henry or Mia Sheridan.

I really enjoyed this book! Maggie was such an emotionally raw character. I identified with her a lot. I was so happy to see her success and love story!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

This one just didn’t work for me. I really didn’t like Maggie as a character, she felt much younger than 35 (the chapter age didn’t seem to matter). The timing of everything that she ends things with this man she loves and runs into bed with another the next day also just didn’t sit right with me. It all seemed too convenient. The way she handled her trauma also just didn’t seem realistic, but I also (thankfully) can’t speak from experience there. I really liked Summer, though.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A thoughtful and lyrical look at a woman sorting out what she wants out of life over 20+ years of highs and lows. A high-powered music career with fame and major awards? A baby? A second chance with her first love? A committed relationship with her never-available-at-the-right-time second love? As her priorities fluctuate, we jump back and forth in time, getting glimpses of key developments in her love life and nascent career, leading her toward hard choices about what to let go of and what to cling to with her full heart. I really enjoyed the central friendship in this one, and the ways Greenberg used the character of Summer as a foil for her lead, showing how a very different set of choices and priorities still comes with challenges, and "having it all" isn't as easy as it seems. I also enjoyed the role music played in both the structure and content of the story, and readers who enjoy songwriting will be delighted to find the full song lyrics at the back of the book. Despite the sweet cartoon cover, this is not a light rom-com, and content warnings are advised for readers who prefer a good warning of what they might encounter. A great fit for readers who enjoy layered relationship-focused stories with imperfect characters sorting through life's challenges, with an overall hopeful tone and a few toe-curling kisses.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg!

Thank you so much for an advanced copy of Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg!

This book has such a cute premise, and I was really excited to read it. While it is a cute read and I loved the main character, I also grew incredibly frustrated with her actions and choices. I also just could not get invested in the romance side of the book, and it ultimately fell a little flat for me. I think this book has strong characters and will work for a lot of people; it just didn't click with me right now!

I still recommend this book, though, because I think it is a cute story with likeable characters, and I also think the story will resonate with a lot of people!

Rating: 3⭐️

Note to whoever reads this feedback: The publisher should consider including trigger or content warnings. Some readers may be uncomfortable reading books that mention suicide, death of a loved one, or sexual assault.
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Thank you to Netgalley, publisher St. Martin's Press, and author Alison Rose Greenberg for providing an ARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.
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4.5 stars, rounded down.

I have been duped. I have been bait-and-switched. I have been played. I thought I was getting a contemporary romance with some love triangle-ish elements, I was ready for a little naivety, some foolishness, maybe I was even ready to be a little judgmental to the main character for making some dumb choices.

Boy was I freakin' wrong. Instead, what I got was an emotionally charged, vulnerable, raw, and insanely relatable heroine, who is painfully human, has baggage, and is trying to figure out her life, as so many 30somethings like myself are. This is less a story about a girl trying to choose between two men, and more about a girl trying to choose which life she wants to live, and figure out what her priorities are, and how different people come into our lives at different times, for different reasons. Sometimes those people serve a purpose, and exit stage left, and that's ok, and sometimes they never really leave and stay on the periphery, ready to jump in when needed, constantly in orbit but never colliding. Different friends and different lovers serve different needs, and serve different points in our lives. That is the real crux of what this story gets at.

Through that journey, the reader watches the main character, Maggie, through various timelines, and learns what her motivators are. In her teens, it's to be seen, loved, accepted, and supported. To find kinship with another creative type. In her twenties, it's to feel alive, to feel passion and adventure, to find meaning. In her 30s, it's a blend: to feel supported and seen, and to feel passion and find her purpose, and to work as hard as she can to realize her personal and professional dreams. And I think that's how the two men from different points at her life collide. Asher, from her youth, and Garrett, from her young adult years, both emotionally satisfy Maggie but in wildly different ways, so when they both show up in her life again in her 30s, how can she choose between Asher, who represents the calm and stable side of love, and Garrett, who represents the electrifying and passionate side of love?

I particularly enjoyed the representation in this book. There can always be more, but it was nice to see different races, nationalities, sexualities, financial brackets, abilities/disabilities, and religions included. (To that point, Maggie is Jewish, has PCOS, and goes to therapy for PTSD, depression, and anxiety, which is part of what makes her so relatable.)

Highlighting this book was satisfying, as there are a lot of little nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout, but also some lighter, humorous gems.
1. Women don't have midlife crises, because we've spent our lives constantly in crisis.
2. Success doesn't come easily for women who dare to be themselves.
3. I texted him back that it was fine, in lowercase, without an exclamation mark, which, if you're listening (men), means the opposite of fine.
4. We can't be bashed for growing up and changing...you love yourself enough to not sacrifice your future just to hold on to someone else. We see divorce as a failure, but sometimes it's not. Sometimes we have to wave a white flag in order to save ourselves, or be ourselves...you love yourself too much to fold into a life you don't want. (quote has been abbreviated to not include spoilers)

The book ends in a slightly predictable way, with Maggie finally figuring out what is most important to her, and making it happen, while juggling all the other complexities and left turns life likes to throw in ones face. The HAE is satisfying and we see incredible strength and force of will from Maggie to make the choices she makes, and accept the results of those choices.

Maggie is 35, single and an aspiring singer whose life has taken many twists and turns along the way. She just found out that having a child will be difficult and she desperately wants to be a mother. And to make life more complicated, 35 also happens to be the age that she made a marriage pact … with two different men from two very different times in her life. Who will she choose, and will she ever see her dreams realized?

Told in dueling timelines, we follow Maggie as she navigates the pivotal points in her life. Will she end up with her first love, movie star Asher Reyes, who is adapting her favorite book for the big screen, or will she finally sync up with Garrett who’s timing has been off for the past twelve years?

I could not read this book fast enough to see who Maggie chooses in the end. It was such a satisfying journey filled with heartbreak, hope and will-they-won’t-they goodness.

Thank you to Alison Rose Greenberg, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of the book. I can’t wait to go back and read the author’s first book.

In Maybe Once, Maybe Twice we meet the main character Maggie Vine on her 30th birthday making a pact with her best friend to get married if they are both single at 35. Fast forward to her 35th birthday and life has not gone to plan....yet. This book uses a shifting timeline for us to learn about Maggie and her motivators.

I am not typically a fan of shifting timeline books. I find it to be a cheap and easy plot gimmick. HOWEVER. It was done so excellently in this book. My perception of Maggie changed so many times across the course of this book and I absolutely loved it. Great plot. The characters Greenberg created contains one the most swoon worthy romantic leads I've ever read. Like, gasp out loud and clutch your heart swoon worthy. The other characters were well developed.

I legit cried laughing during one of the scenes and I legit sad cried at others. I'm fan of 90s music. All in all, I absolutely loved it. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an ARC of this book! I’ve willingly read and reviewed it. All opinions are my own.

A lot of people are going to take one look at the cover of MAYBE ONCE, MAYBE TWICE and immediately characterize it as a fluffy love-triangle romance, but it is so, SO, much more than that.

Maggie is an aspiring singer whose career and life have taken many twists and turns. At thirty-five, a doctor tells her that having a child is going to be difficult. Thirty-five also just happens to be the age she’d separately made pacts with the two loves of her life to get back together, should they both be single. The first is her first love, movie star Asher Reyes, who is involved in the adaptation of Maggie’s favorite book. The second is the man she’s been hung-up on for twelve years, Garrett.

Jumping around the pivotal points in her life, we get to see how Maggie fell in love with these two men and how she has navigated heartbreak, trauma, and hope while achieving dreams she’d held for decades and some only just realized.

I devoured MAYBE ONCE, MAYBE TWICE, desperate to find out who Maggie picks and if they eventually got there happily ever after. And though I do wish I got to see more interactions between Maggie and the man she couldn’t live without, (though, to be fair, I always want this with my favorite couples!) I was so pleased with the outcome, just as much as I was by the entirety of Maggie’s journey.

TW: death of parent, death of sibling, sexual assault

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice was an INCREDIBLE read! It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me feel every emotion in between. It truly squeezed my heart with the utter soul captured in this book.
Maggie Vine was such a creative and relatable character- I don’t think I’ve ever highlighted so many quotes in my Kindle because her I could understand how Maggie was feeling throughout her story.

If you’re a fan of Emily Henry’s and Elissa Sussman’s writing, I know you’ll devour this book like I did- think if Once More With Feeling and People We Meet On Vacation had a baby…. it’s this book!!!

I knew halfway through this book it was going to be a great book and it didn’t disappoint!!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thank you Net Galley and St. Martin’s Griffin for letting me ARC read this masterpiece!
Maybe Once, Maybe Twice will be released on October 3rd!!!

In its essence, this is a book about love. You have a main character that is hopelessly in love with two men from very different parts of her life, and at 35 they come together and she ultimately feels the need to choose between one of her great loves. A love triangle, if you will, except one man is engaged to be married and the other is so incredibly famous that the main character is reluctantly dragged into the limelight behind him.

The love triangle was okay, but I hated the pining for Garrett while he was engaged. Multiple times they ended up in hot makeout sessions - the type where clothes almost come off - before breaking off with the whole "we cannot do this" spiel afterward. I feel like Garrett was almost two dimensional in a way too, because he did not feel very fleshed out and it was more hormones than actual chemistry when the two characters were in the room. From the infidelity alone, I really hoped that these two would end up together.

Now Asher, he was definitely the better interest. But still, she loved him when she was seventeen, and at 35 that is a long time to be pining for the one that go away. I was worried about their work entanglement and how it might affect her rise to fame, but it is a romance so of course everything wraps up nicely in the end. There is a third act breakup here as well, which lasts two years before the story gets its happily ever after.

This book does deal with tough topics like infertility and going through divorce because of partners wanting different things, and it also deals with teenage suicide, losing parents, and feeling like your dreams are not valid. So this is definitely more than a fluffy romance, and all these aspects made the characters feel real, feel messy. I did appreciate that about the story, it felt like I was actually learning about these people and what makes them tick.

Overall, I did not really care for the love triangle and the endless pining did feel a bit over the top, but there is a happy ending and I enjoyed small moments throughout the story. This is not a fluffy romance though, it does deal with a lot of difficult topics that take place in real life, and I highly recommend looking at content warnings if you are worried about that. I am glad with who the main character chose in the end, but it was kind of apparent through the chemistry and character building throughout the story who she would end up with. An entertaining story if you need one, but I cannot see myself reading this again in the future.
Content warnings: loss of a parent, child death, suicide, depression, infertility, divorce, infidelity, sexual assault, sexual harassment, grief

This book puts a whole new spin on "second chance romance," following Maggie Vine, a singer-songwriter still waiting for her big hit and her run-ins with a few of her past loves. Jumping through alternative timelines, you really get a sense of what led Maggie to this point in her life. I absolutely loved this book- it had such fun little details that really jumped off the page.

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a charming story set in two timelines about falling in love and finding yourself at any age. Maggie's life isn't exactly going to plan, she's turning 35 and she's struggling to achieve her goals. When the past comes to visit it her at her 35th birthday party , shes reminded of the pact she made when she was younger. “If we are still single when we’re 35, we should get married?”Unfortunately for Maggie, she made that pact with two people. Garrett and Asher both show up and Maggie must decide who is right for her? I really enjoyed this story! It's funny, charming and sweet!

I really wanted to like this one. It started off really well but I feel like it lost its way part way through. There were plot points that could have been more thoroughly developed. And there is a sexual assault that seemingly came out of no where with no real warning. I finished it and I enjoyed the writer’s style but I think it needed some more editing.