Shy Girl (2025)

“The first bite is electric. The glass slices into my tongue, the taste of blood blooming immediately. I chew slow, carefully. Each crunch vibrating through my jaw".

 Rating: 1.5/5

Author: Mia Ballard

Premise: Fired from her accounting job, Gia turns to sugar-dating and ends up trapped in some hardcore pet play. In response, she literally transforms into a dog and seeks her revenge.

Recommend: No. You can surmise the entire plot and ending by reading the blurb and the first two pages. The first red flag was Amazon's proclamation that Shy Girl was "perfect for fans of Nightbitch and Mona Awad." These two things do not belong in the same room. I only managed to finish this book, which has been plagued by accusations of AI editing, because I was listening to it on Spotify, alone, on a 14-hour road-trip. I yelled at my phone several times. Ballard's roots in poetry are obvious and result in a debut novel that struggles to find a grounded pace and setting. Her hard-hitting and lyrical descriptions are mixed in with nonsensical ones that try and fail to slide by unnoticed. The repetition of words, phrases, and similes is annoying and beyond the point of intentional technique. And the lack of socio-political context makes the 'feminist revenge' marketing angle feel particularly cheap. Shy Girl is currently unavailable in print and will be republished in April 2026. While it has potential with some critical reshaping, I don't think I'll be giving it a second go. I am, however, keen to read Ballard's next project in the hopes of a comeback.

In the vein of:  Nightbitch (2024), Mona Awad.

Mood: Drunkenly re-reading your favorite NSFW fan-fic from high school.