Not to be dramatic, but I would rather drink battery acid than be in the throes of a crush. Crushes are fun in theory (ask me about my many dreamland husbands), but in reality, they’re energy vampires that are more trouble than their worth…All this emotional work, only to always end up being hurt by it? When I drag a glance over my dating history, the polls are conclusive. Nothing good ever comes from a crush.

Twice Shy (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Maybell Parish has always been a dreamer and a hopeless romantic. But living in her own world has long been preferable to dealing with the disappointments of real life. So when Maybell inherits a charming house in the Smokies from her Great-Aunt Violet, she seizes the opportunity to make a fresh start.
Yet when she arrives, it seems her troubles have only just begun. Not only is the house falling apart around her, but she isn’t the only inheritor: she has to share everything with Wesley Koehler, the groundskeeper who’s as grouchy as he is gorgeous—and it turns out he has very different vision for the property’s future.

Convincing the taciturn Wesley to stop avoiding her and compromise is a task more formidable than the other dying wishes Great-Aunt Violet left behind. But when Maybell uncovers something unexpectedly sweet beneath Wesley’s scowls, and as the two slowly begin to let their guard down, they might learn that sometimes the smallest steps outside one’s comfort zone can lead to the greatest rewards.

The entire time I was reading this book, I felt like my heart had been wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket. It was so sweet and refreshing, and Sarah Hogle has definitely made it onto my “auto-buy” author’s list after this. Twice Shy follows Maybell, a woman in her thirties who’s had a rough life. She’s spent her childhood and teenage years bouncing around between motels and her mother’s boyfriend’s couches, she’s had terrible luck with boyfriends, and her so-called best friend is anything but a good friend. So instead of living in the real world, she created Maybell’s Coffee shop AU (which I fell in love with)—a place for her to dream in and script her life with endless possibilities. It’s her escape. But then, she gets a chance at a real-life escape when she inherits her Great-Aunt Violet’s mansion. The catch? Violet also left the estate to her groundskeeper, Wesley, and they both have very different ideas of how to go about restoring the property and what to do with it afterward.

From the start, it seems like your classic “grumpy and sunshine” trope, but the farther into the book you get, the more both you and Maybell realize that Wesley isn’t really all that grumpy after all. He’s shy, sweet, and giving. He pulled at all of my heartstrings. It’s no wonder that Maybell starts to fall for him, despite her best efforts. (Throughout the book, she has this “kill your crushes” mentality, which I found wholly relatable and funny to read.) 

Watching Maybell and Wesley fall in love was an absolute delight. The pacing was on the slower side, but I found it worked for the best with Maybell and Wesley. If they had gotten together any faster, it would have felt too forced. Their slow coming together was based on their bond over their love for Violet, through which they developed a fundamental understanding of each other. They grew together, compromising as they went through the property restoration process and the list of tasks Violet set out for them to do together. After reading this, I firmly believe that everyone needs a Violet matchmaking for them even beyond the grave.