Since heartbreak entered the scene, Juliet Wilmot, once a hopeless romantic, has sworn off love. But when she’s presented with the chance to revisit romance—purely for practice—with the gorgeous, off-limits guy she keeps serendipitously running into, it feels like a sign from the universe.
Quiet, shy Will Orsino knows happily-ever-after isn’t on his horizon. Problem is, for the sake of the family business, marriage is. Resigned to the inevitable, but with no confidence he can woo a wife, he can hardly say no when fate hands him the alluring, unattainable woman he keeps crossing paths with, offering to help him learn the ropes of romance.
Neither of them looking for love, Jules and Will agree they’re the perfect pair to practice romance. Except that practicing to perfection leads to an irresistible attraction. Their once smitten hearts, though still twice shy, might have happily-ever-after written in the stars for them, after all.
Release Date: Jan 14, 2025
Series: The Wilmot Sisters
Book: 2
Heat Level: Hot
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
Shakespeare in the modern world!
I love a good retelling, and this twist of Twelfth Night in a modern world was a nice breath of fresh air. I’ve read some of Liese before, and I have thoroughly enjoyed many of her Bergman series books. Jumping into Julia and Will’s story, I wasn’t sure what to expect. You know how I like to jump into these books blind. I was pleasantly surprised.
Julia and Will both have reasons to avoid romance. Julia is just out of a heart-breaking relationship. Whereas Will doesn’t think love is in the cards for him as someone on the spectrum and a natural introvert. These pair meet in a series of strange encounters that seem both related to fate and eventually decide to be each other’s buddy on the path to get back into the dating scene. Oh, how I love a story about ‘let’s help each other get comfortable dating. ‘
For Will and Julia, they both happen to hit all the right buttons that increase their attraction, and soon they are fighting against reality for all the wrong reasons, which I love. But what else did I enjoy, the humor, the humanity moments between Will and Julia. There are plenty of times I laughed aloud as all their best-laid plans fell apart. The supporting cast of characters, from Julia’s family to Will’s mischievous niece, was fabulous. There is even a cat and dog to cause mayhem in various ways.
This story had good pacing and a natural progression, and for those who enjoy a nice book with low conflict, this is one for you. I found myself waiting for everything to go wrong, but this story had a nice slice-of-life feel to it that was easy to sink into but not so frantic I couldn’t pull away to take care of a chore or two.
Overall, if you’re looking for a contemporary read with plenty of swoon-worthy moments, a slow-build attraction that turns scorching, a diverse world, and plenty of tie-backs to Shakespeare in various ways to make you chuckle, I would say give Once Smitten, Twice Shy a read. I will be heading into the backlist to read the first two books in the series.
~ Landra
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