I was super excited to get this book, and while I enjoyed it, it was just a little bit too predictable for me at times.

I really liked the idea of Maybe Once, Maybe Twice, but I found the execution to be lacking. A lot of the writing was odd and took me out of the story. Not really for me, but I imagine many other readers won’t feel the same.

•Maybe Once, Maybe Twice 🎼•

📚Genre: contemporary romance (with some comedy!)
🤔Rating: 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺(5/5)
#️⃣ of pages: 336
👯‍♀️ read if you like: second chance romance, marriage pacts, “One True Loves”, music, strong friendships & strong FMC
⚠️TW: sexual assault, infidelity

Publishing Date: October 3, 2023

👍🏼:
•if you’re a music person, this book is definitely for you!
•LOVED the way it was written with flashbacks to different ages & stages in each relationship
•good amount of spice! 🌶️
•THE ENDING 🥹🫶🏼

👎🏼:
•nothing negative to say about this book!

Overall…
Not often am I left speechless by a book (especially a romance), but y’all….
This. Book.
When I first started, I thought it was going to be a light hearted fluffy little rom-com, but it was so much more. It sounds like a plot driven book (and it is in some ways), but I felt like it was very character driven. The depth of character development in Maggie was just amazing. I truly felt like I was reading two different stories the way it was written from the perspectives of different times in her life. Alison writes this story In a way that you just cannot stop reading. I couldn’t put it down, but I also didn’t want it to end so I tried to slow down 😅 this would be a PERFECT movie. I laughed super hard, smiled and cried. And when it releases in October, I’m going to buy the paperback and read it again 🫶🏼

Special thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for an honest review! And I know I already told you, but thanks again @alison.greenberg for writing this amazing book. It’s going to live rent free in my head forever🥹

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Thanks NetGalley for giving me this early copy in exchange for a honest review.

This book was fun. It's a light, romantic book about a 35 year old woman trying to find the one and bring her dreams of being a mother to life. I liked the characters who were interesting and fun to read about. I was pretty engaged throughout the book although as a 33 year old single woman it was a little too close to home at times!!

You know that old saying, “if we are still single when we’re 35, we should get married?” Well, Maggie Vine made that vow with two different people, at two very different stages of her life.
And they both showed up.
Maggie Vine’s life is going extra-medium. At 35 she’s pursuing her dreams of being a singer and being a mother—though neither is successfully panning out. So when Garrett Scholl—stifled hedge fund manager by day but electrifying aspiring rock singer by night—comes to her 35th birthday party with the intention to kiss Maggie senseless, it feels like one piece might click into place. Except he’s engaged to someone else, and Maggie knows she won’t fit into the cookie-cutter life he’s building for himself.
Enter Asher Reyes. Her first boyfriend from summer camp, turned into heartthrob actor, he’s lived a successful yet private life ever since he got famous. When a career-changing opportunity is presented to Maggie after her reconnection with Asher, it feels like everything—music, love, family—will fall into place. But her past won’t let her move on without a fight.

First of all thanks to netgalley for giving me this early copy.
This book was fun , romantic , loved the characters and their banter. Second chance story and it hits all the marks
Definitely one to buy

Maggie Vine fell in love in her teens Asher Reyes was wonderful for her, but unfortunately they moved on from each other. Now in her 30's dedicated to her music career, she wants a relationship and family with her friend Garrett Scholl. Of course, it's never the right time. Maggie made a vow with them both...if we are still single at 35 let's get married!
Needless to say she is torn when Garrett shows up engaged to someone else and then Asher (successful famous gorgeous actor) offers her an opportunity that will change her life.
Very fun rom-com, witty banter and some crazy scenes. Great characters, realistic angst with the music industry, family and relationships.

I received a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions in this review are my own.

This is a hard one to review. I thought the writing was good, but the love triangle and focus on infertility made it hard for me to enjoy. Infertility is a big trigger for me in books, and this one doesn’t just have a few mentions of it — it’s a major theme throughout. There’s also cheating, mentions of a parent’s death, and lots of other heavy topics that require a content warning. I was excited to read this one because the blurb made it sound like a fun rom-com, but it’s not.

My issues with this book are personal and related to my triggers and tastes. It may work well for other readers, especially if you like women’s fiction.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Maggie is about to turn 35 and she had promised two men in her life that if she was single she would marry them. This is told in multiple time lines from different ages of what Maggie was experiencing past and present. You get to see how Garrett and Asher made a difference in her life. Maggie was always writing songs and dreaming of the day she would her one of her songs on the radio.

Asher was her first love, He was first one to believe in her and help her believe in herself. She felt seen and understood by him.. He helped her get over her stage fright and be able to perform in front of audience. He broke her heart and she keeps thinking about him. Now, he is rich and famous and directing a movie of her favorite book. Lucky her best friend Summer can get her into party to see him.

Garret was not my favorite character as it felt like he was always stringing Maggie along and didn’t treat her well. She should have dumped him early on and never looked back. It was heart breaking to watch keep going back to him as she deserved so much better.

Maggie learns to be true to herself and how to make all her dreams come true.

This was a good, emotional read. Usually when there’s two love interests involved, I root for one but I really enjoyed both Asher and Garrett. I almost wished she could’ve had both of them. I thought it was neat that the author wrote songs for the book as well.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

It has been a hot minute since I have read a really good romantic book. I liked the cover for Maybe Once, Maybe Twice which is why I requested it.
I am so GLAD I did!
This was not one of those cheesy rom coms that were along of the line of "Will they, won';t they"
This book dealt with a lot. A lot of almost taboo topics like infertility, death, etc.

I know some people refer to this as a rom com, but I just can't because it was so much more. I loved the theme of finding the one, etc. Although there were some topics that I just didn't like how they were handled, most importantly, the cheating.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to receive this ARC.

I couldn't get into this one. I made it to 15% and dropped it. Here are some of the things I disliked (caveat it could change if I got further)

- It aggravated me how they talked about fertility in an older age. I appreciated that it was evident but it made me feel awful and that shouldn't be the case.
- It was hard to follow the chapters with the back and forth.
- The chapters were short and they didn't get into any real meat.

Okay sooooo I can’t honestly review this without kind of spoiling it so if you don’t want spoilers don’t read it!!!

This could easily have been a 5-star for me, but I CANNOT get over the cheating. The fact that the protagonist is deeply flawed and it’s a complex relationship, sure, but I can’t get past how nonchalant she was about it and how sick to my stomach it made me feel even if things worked out in the end. The complexity of their relationship could have been just as painful without that (at the engagement party no less) and it made me hate both of them just enough that even when I was rooting for her I was still mad.

And then the like half plot twist at the end??? Ruined my entire life but then reconstructed it so it’s fine I guess. I actually sobbed and then was happy 2 pages later so.

Literally would probably be a 5-star read to anyone else but I can’t handle it. I felt violent.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sharing this ARC!

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a cute rom-com/second chance romance. I don't generally enjoy love triangles, but I felt that it worked in this story. I did not find myself loving the alternating timelines but this is more of a personal preference and not a commentary on the writing. The main characters are all in their 30s which I so appreciate; this made the story much more relatable. Overall this is a great read if you are looking for a solid rom-com!

A raw and real story of how hard relationships can be and how they can sometimes just be a learning experience that shapes you to recognize "your person".

I loved EVERYTHING about this book. I felt like this author and I have the same sense of humor. I laughed out loud so many times reading this. I loved the romance, even though a few times I thought Maggie was going to end up with the wrong guy and that would have really upset me. Thankfully she ended up with the right one in my opinion. I loved the duel timelines so you got a full story of how events played out. I loved the friendship between Maggie and Summer and how it showed that you can make a lifelong friend in the most random times in life. I loved how it showed you can deal with heavy things, and it's ok to talk about mental health struggles.
I will definitely be reading more by this author.
wish this story didn't have to end.

I need books to match my energy level and helloooo this girl is EXTRA

I’m feeling less murderous and wanted to dip my toes in some romance . I mean how else do you defrost a cold heart around the 4th of July?

“Aren’t you a cute little book cover” I exclaimed as I stared at my shiny new ARC…

Maybe Once, Maybe Twice

Then I jumped right in and got lost within the pages! This book right here is everything I never knew I needed slammed in between these two book ends.

Allison Rose Greenberg, did an exceptional job bringing these characters to life and having me fall deeper and deeper in love with even the smallest quirks.

I loved every last word of it!

Teaser :

Filled with the romance and angst that defines the years you come to know yourself, with a shifting timeline covering two decades and ratcheting up the tension, Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a novel of second chances and finding your own way.

You know that old saying, “if we are still single when we’re 35, we should get married?” Well, Maggie Vine made that vow with two different people, at two very different stages of her life.

And they both showed up.

Maggie Vine’s life is going extra-medium. At 35 she’s pursuing her dreams of being a singer and being a mother—though neither is successfully panning out. So when Garrett Scholl—stifled hedge fund manager by day but electrifying aspiring rock singer by night—comes to her 35th birthday party with the intention to kiss Maggie senseless, it feels like one piece might click into place. Except he’s engaged to someone else, and Maggie knows she won’t fit into the cookie-cutter life he’s building for himself.

Enter Asher Reyes. Her first boyfriend from summer camp, turned into heartthrob actor, he’s lived a successful yet private life ever since he got famous. When a career-changing opportunity is presented to Maggie after her reconnection with Asher, it feels like everything—music, love, family—will fall into place. But her past won’t let her move on without a fight.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.


I thought it was great, would recommend.

Much like Maggie, I’m a music nerd (although I'm nowhere near as talented as her!). I LOVED the scene with Garrett in Trader Joe’s trading barbs over Fall Out Boy and Blink-182. My kind of music references! The music in this book was haunting but heartfelt- I could hear it in my mind as I read the lyrics.

I fell in love with Garrett and thought he should be The One for Maggie. Then I fell in love with Asher. I just couldn’t choose! Both men had a huge impact on both Maggie’s life and her heart. But, eventually, my heart led me in the direction of Maggie’s destiny and I was enraptured till the end.

This book hit close to home in terms of the main character's age and her desire to do more with her life in the here and now. I loved the flashbacks through her teenage years and 20s so we could learn more about not only her background story, but her interactions with both male leads. Her best friend Summer is a force of nature and a wonderful character in the book, as well as Raina is. Beautifully written and so easy to get lost in reading for hours because you're so wrapped up in the characters' lives that you need to know what happens next!

My Thoughts


Maggie Vine is the kind of character who finds herself always never quite able to achieve exactly everything she had once hoped to.

The kind of character you want to succeed in fulfilling her dreams but also cannot help thinking may be someone whose efforts feel a little bit like wanting too much of one thing and not enough of another.

Torn between dreams and reality she is now 35, still plugging, still struggling, still single and still torn between a man whose love would come with strings and a man who wants nothing more than to love her for who she is just the way she is.

What is shocking at times is how low points in her life are worked out so beautifully through the use of music lyrics and finally dealt with through professional therapy healing a lot of the wounded parts from earlier events in Maggies life.

I could not, would not stop until late evening when my eyes made me give up only to devour the remainder of the story in one sitting today.

A new-to-me author has penned a story of 1 fictional persons life in all its stages from the good to the bad and back full circle to a lovely outcome that spans years condensed into a little over 300 pages.

Very much recommend for those who like underdog stories with many bumps in their path to a Happy Ever After.

The last major bump before the books story ended almost tore my brain apart.

It might yours too.
[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Love triangles are not my jam. Authors typically write them in over exaggerated ways and pin characters against one another, clearly showing one as evil and one as good. Only an exceptionally talented author could write a story where the reader had a hard time picking which lead male the lead female should end up with. My heart was with both Garrett and Asher because they were perfectly flawed characters. Each had their own personal challenges that felt authentic not only to their characters but also to their story.

I didn’t expect to love how messy this book was. Love isn’t simply black and white, but a multitude of colors, both bright and dim. This author captured the truth behind the unobtainable “happily ever after” and showed the reader the realities of growing, evolving, and how love changes that.

This is one of the best love stories I have read in a long time that not only challenged my heart, but engrossed my mind. It’s the kind of story that you still think about well after it’s done because of how emotionally attached you get to it. There was just one aspect of the story that just felt a smidge “preachy” which kept me from giving this a full five stars, but I truly loved this story overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for this ARC