Twice Shy

by Sarah Hogle

If you dream something hard enough, it might just come true . . .

Maybell Parrish lives with her head in the clouds, which is the sensible choice because her fantasy life is wonderful. She runs a cosy coffee shop, surrounded by friendly colleagues and delicious baked goods, and is together with the man of her dreams - the one she's now certain doesn't exist. In real life, she works in a thankless job surrounded by screaming children, blocked toilets and work frenemies who pity her, whilst trying not to think too hard about her absent mother and doing her best to deal with debilitating panic attacks. So, when Maybell inherits a stately old manor from her eccentric Great Aunt Violet, it's as though a piece of her dreams has finally come true . . .

But when she arrives at her new home, nothing is as she'd hoped. Not only is the magical manor she remembers falling apart, but Great Aunt Violet had plans. Enter Wesley Koehler, the handsome-yet-surly groundskeeper. Wesley turns out to be the co-inheritor of the property - and seems determined to avoid speaking to Maybell completely, which is just fine with Maybell. Yet, as the pair begin to tackle Violet's long list of demands, it becomes clear that Wesley's brooding exterior hides a shy, kind nature that has also found the real world a difficult place to be - in fact, could it be that Wesley and Maybell are better matched than even Maybell could ever have dreamed?

• ISBN10: 0349424365
• ISBN13: 9780349424361
• Publish Date: 6 April 2021
• Publish Status: Forthcoming
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
• Imprint: Piatkus Books
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

Proceed With Caution:

This book contains mentions of death and illness, a panic attack, and discussions of social anxiety.

The Basics:

Twice Shy is narrated by twenty-nine-year-old Maybell who has just inherited her great aunt Violet's grand manor and accompanying lands. Or, that's what she's told. Really, Maybell has inherited half of everything and the groundskeeper, Wesley, gets the other half. Maybell has already left her job and her apartment, so she's not giving up her new home, despite her and Wesley having opposing ideas on what to with the house and land. Plus there's a little matter of hidden treasure somewhere. Finder's keepers.

My Thoughts:

Twice Shy suffers from second book syndrome. Sarah Hogle's debut novel You Deserve Each Other was so unique and refreshing, and her sophomore title sounded like it was going to be super cute. Well, it does have a lot of good bits and pieces, but that's all they are. Nothing really fit together for me, and I was mostly bored or annoyed while reading.

The opening of Twice Shy was actually pretty great. Maybell tells us all about how her coworker cat-fished her on a dating app. She thought she had been talking to a wonderful and handsome man named Jack, but it was just Gemma making sure Maybell stayed away from her own boyfriend (which was a nonissue, but whatever). Of course, Gemma comes clean when she was bored of the ruse, Maybell is hurt and embarrassed, and all of that comes rushing back when she goes to move into her aunt's house only to come face-to-face with Jack. Except his name is Wesley. Yikes. I was living for this setup, but that's all it was. A setup. Nothing actually comes from it. Maybell eventually shares this awkward situation with him and then it's never mentioned again.

As for the splitting the manor with a stranger plot, Twice Shy just left me hanging. At first Maybell and Wesley seem to be at odds. They both had plans and they both feel entitled to the property for different reasons. They do set their differences aside to get the place cleaned up and safe to live in, but then they just go about combining their plans. There's no real tension here, but also no real resolution. They both get what they want, but where did they compromise? How is it actually going to work? I want to know!

The one thing that I did really enjoy about Twice Shy was Maybell's crush on Wesley. I didn't like her overall. I found her characterization kind of inconsistent, but her crush! We rarely ever get the crush phase of a relationship. Most romance novels go from zero to sixty, even in YA where crushes run rampant! Maybell actually uses the word crush and laments the fact that she has one on her seemingly grumpy co-inheritor. Crush feels are real.

Twice Shy was just okay. I wish we had gotten more of the renovations and turning the manor into a working hotel and animal sanctuary. The treasure hunt aspect was boring and ended predictably. Maybell wasn't very likeable. Wesley was cute, but too perfect. There just wasn't anything here that stood out or made me care.