This is the absolute lightest reimagining of Twelfth Night, so do not go in expecting much aside from the names.

A cute book to finish off the Wilmot sister trilogy. Juliet and Will are so smitten (lol) with each other from the very beginning and watching them navigate their relationship was so sweet.

For me, it just never really went beyond that. I didn’t completely buy into why they were trying to not just be all in on being together. There wasn’t really too much conflict and what was there seemed so easily sidestepped.

If you’re looking for low stakes romance, this may be more for you than it was for me.

Had to wait for this audiobook to complete my Chloe Liese listening adventure (for now). I think this is my favorite of the Wilmot sisters series, it had the familiar tenderness that was found in her Bergmans. I loved Juliet & Will so much. Such gentle babes, I want to hear all about their future adventures together.

Thanks Berkley for keeping my heart full of happy feelings.

Oh my goodness I absolutely LOVED this book so much! I loved the neurodivergent rep, and the romance was so swoon-worthy!

Once Smitten, Twice Shy is a tender, emotional romance that feels deeply authentic. Chloe Liese writes with care and insight, drawing from lived experience to create characters who feel real and relatable.

Will is anxious, thoughtful, and quietly selfless. Juliet is strong in a quiet, grounded way. Together, their love is soft, supportive, and healing. It’s a story about choosing love, even when it’s hard, and showing up for each other fully.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

This is a good book. The two main characters are Juliet and Will. They meet at a bar in Scotland and briefly speak to each other. Seven months later they meet again at Juliet’s mother greenhouse. They hatch a plan to better their flirting. They start dating. They each have issues but together they work them out. They fall in love.

I think Liese's newer works are just not hitting the same for me as the first series of hers that I read. I didn't really feel like this book had any major conflicts, and because of that, it was just a bit flat. I think that overall, it's a fine book, it just wasn't my favorite.

Once Smitten, Twice Shy 🌸🌱
4⭐️
4🌶️

Thank you to Berkley for the free advanced copy! @berkleyromance #berkley #berkleypartner

This book was totally not what I was expecting! When I heard that it was a reimagining of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, I was intrigued but also a little worried LOL. This is one of the few romances out there without a third-act-breakup and I LOVED that about it because 3ABUs are one of my least favorite tropes.

I LOVED all of the representation in this book! We have a chronically ill FMC, (she’s also gluten-free?? I’ve never gotten GF rep in a book before and I loved it), a neurodivergent MMC with anxiety, queer side characters, and lots and lots of communication between characters about pain/comfort.

The one thing about this book that was making my eye twitch was the fact that the MCs clearly liked each other and wanted to non-fake-date but wouldn’t communicate that to each other and didn’t talk about it until way later in the book. You could have saved yourself so much trouble!!!! Also! Nobody warned me how STEAMY this book was??

There’s something so powerful about stories that come from an author’s lived experience, and *Once Smitten, Twice Shy* is a beautiful example of that. Chloe Liese doesn’t just tell a romance—she offers us something deeply human, vulnerable, and healing. Through Juliet and Will, we’re invited into lives shaped by invisible struggles—chronic pain, neurodivergence, emotional trauma—and the strength it takes to live and love fully with those realities. As someone who doesn’t personally navigate these things, it felt like a true gift to witness them so authentically.

Will is quirky, deeply thoughtful, and so quietly selfless. His journey from believing he’s incapable of giving someone the love they deserve to learning that he *can*, in his own way, was such an emotional experience. Every part of him—his heart, his humor, his anxious brain, his enormous capacity for care—felt so real. I rooted for him with everything in me. Watching him grow into someone who *chooses* to show up for love, even when it’s hard, was nothing short of inspiring.

And then there’s Juliet. Oh, Juliet. Her strength is the kind you don’t always see right away—the quiet kind, forged from pain and resilience. She navigates the world with a kind of grace that comes from fighting every day for herself and still managing to hold space for the people she loves. She was exactly the partner Will needed, but more importantly, she was a character with her own healing, dreams, and story. I felt seen in her softness and strength alike.

The romance? Absolutely stunning. Will and Juliet’s love felt safe, gentle, and *earned*. It’s the kind of love story where both people see each other fully—flaws, fears, and all—and choose each other anyway. The way they supported one another, emotionally and practically, was so moving. It never felt performative or overdone. It just felt *true*. They were the kind of couple you want to wrap yourself up in like a warm blanket.

This book left a mark on me. It was tender and hopeful, emotional and healing. Chloe Liese gave us characters who are worthy of love because of who they are—not despite it. Will and Juliet are going to stay with me for a long, long time.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an arc of this book.

I think that this is my favorite Willmot sisters book. And I think a lot of that is owed to how much of a cinnamon roll Will is.

I really enjoyed him as a character and The autistic rep. The idea of practice dating might be more fun to me than fake dating and it was done so well here. I also love Juliet in this and her wrap of disability and bisexual was fantastic.

All in all, this is a super solid book and I enjoyed very much

This one was so so cute and sweet!! I absolutely love Chloe Liese’s writing and her characters so so much!! Her characters feel so real and relatable and I enjoyed this one!! I am giving it 3.5 stars!!

If you're looking for a cute, feel-good, low tension, sweet book-- here's one!

Unfortunately, I'm never looking for that type of book lol. I need some sort of tension or conflict or something to make me buy into "why do these people even like eachother???" and I just didn't get that here. I thought the romance was sweet, but couldn't get myself to buy into it. This felt more hallmark-y and saccharine than Chloe Liese's novels usually feel (to me).

Overall, I felt like this series just didn't have the magic that the Bergman brother series had and this book was a very middle of the road read, firmly "fine".

Thank you to Berkley for the e-ARC and finished copy!

very cute couple but i don’t think i connected to well with the story but this whole series is just great

Looking for an emotional book with banter and entertaining characters, this is the read for you. I love how it’s a romance, but has so much emotion involved that you are being thug at by your heartstrings and at the same time entertained throughout the book.

A wonderful installment of Chloe Liese's Wilmot Sisters series! I love Shakespeare and contemporary romance, so these are a bullseye of my interests. Can't wait to see what's next!

Another wonderful book from my all time favorite author. This book finds that balance of cozy warm vibes filled with representation (chronic illness and autism) that adds depth, but never objectifies the trauma. I loved that there was no miscommunication, but instead a natural growth and change for the characters although there is pining and angst galore. A beautiful ending to a well loved series. I cannot wait to see what Liese will tackle next. I am so glad to see someone writing autistic HEAs (among many others).

Thank you so much to St Martin’s Press & NetGalley for this ARC!

𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑲 𝑰𝑵 𝑬𝑴𝑶𝑱𝑰𝑺:
🪴👉🏻👈🏻👩🏻🦯🧔🏻‍♂️🙈❓💋💗

👍🏻𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬𝑫 / 💗𝑳𝑶𝑽𝑬𝑫: 💗

𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫 𝑰𝑭 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑳𝑰𝑲𝑬:
♡ fake dating
♡ honest communication
♡ no third act breakup
♡ friends to lovers
♡ chronic illness/mental health rep

𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑶𝑼𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺:
This book felt like a cozy hug all the way through and it was honestly a nice change of pace!

We had chronic illness rep with Juliet and I felt like she a great support system, which I loved for her. Will was an absolute cinnamon roll who struggled socially and therefore romantically.

I think what I loved the most between the two of them was their honest communication with trying to help each other improve the areas of their lives that they started their fake dating to target. Miscommunication is such a turn off to me and we had ZERO of that here. There’s mutual pining with some “do they feel the same way” tension and I loved being able to see that from both sides with dual POV.

Overall, this book was a a sugar coated romance with all the love and support I’d want out of an irl relationship 🥹

Chloe Liese again brings us a lovely story between two people just trying to get through life's hardships and fall in love along the way. Juliet was scared to open up her heart again and Will slowly wormed his way in there, and Juliet made him feel comfortable to be himself.

I was expecting there to be a few more relationship hurdles for them in this, but I'm not sure if I'm glad there weren't or not.

Overall a good read.

If he doesn’t dress up as a Scottish Highlander from your favorite romance novels, is he really your man?!

Once Smitten, Twice Shy is the third Wilmot Sisters installment and follows the eldest sister, Juliet, as she attempts to re-enter the dating world after heartbreak. She strikes a deal with the quiet, handsome Will that together they will have a just-for-practice romance.

Juliet and Will were totally lovable and I also loved the representation in this book for chronic illness and autism.

I will say that I found the premise for why these two cuties were fake-dating extremely flimsy. Likewise, any obstacles standing in the way of their relationship felt very low-stakes, to the point where I felt like I was more often being *told* that these characters were growing and changing rather than seeing it myself.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the eARC in exchange for my review!

chloe liese never misses, this made the same swoony feelings arise as jamie and bea in two wrongs make a right and i loved their friendship and their respective realizations that they were in love. the drive-in scene? literal tears. yeah some might say there’s no conflict or plot and to that i’d say is it not enough to watch two adults grow into themselves after feeling stuck or broken down and eventually find a place for love/each other in their new lives? 😭 loved this ending to the wilmot sisters’ stories!

p.s. jamie and bea in the epilogue — MY HEART!!

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the e-ARC <3

In the delightful conclusion to the Wilmot Sisters series, "Once Smitten, Twice Shy" is the perfect way to bring everything together and finalize the stories of the three sisters. Chloe Liese, once again, proves that she is a master of romance as we follow Jules and WIll as they practice romance with each other in hopes of being ready for when true romance comes their way. The longing and angst is real with these two and the healing that they provide each other is beautiful to watch.