Shy Girl was so entirely worth the hype. Sometimes, there are worse things than being flat broke. Sometimes, being made to act like a dog, to woof for praise and to sleep in a cage is much, much worse.
Weird girl horror is a new obsession of mine. Usually it only takes a few pages for me to work out if a book is going to be for me. Reading the prologue made it even shorter! With a few sentences, I was fully in. I had a sense of dread and found myself edging closer and closer to the edge of my seat. There is a sense of thrill to Shy Girl that made me really reconsider the pros to online dating, because at the end of the day, there could be a sexy man just waiting to make you his "bitch."

Shy Girl is a twisted, unforgettable ride, equal parts horror and strange empowerment! Mia Ballard drops you into a desperate mind under extreme circumstances. It’s brutal, unsettling, and oddly cathartic. The body horror gets under your skin, and the chaos is strangely compelling. Think: weird, brave, and horrifyingly! If you like feminine‑rage horror that sticks with you, even after the last page, you’ll be hooked. A book for the weird girlies!

I cant lie the cover drew me right in, exquisite! This story was definitely disturbing & filled with social commentary. Unfortunately I think it fell flat a little at the end & I was a bit dissapointed in that.

thank you to netgalley and galaxy press for the arc!

wow! this book was yucky! like, reading with my mouth agape in horror yucky! and i loved it! this is a dark and heavy book but it never felt gratuitous, and the gore and horror and general grossness didn’t feel like it was coming from a place of pure shock value. this will obviously be compared to nightbitch but i think that shy girl is a much more interesting and thoughtful exploration of similar ideas!

As the disclaimer says: don't let the cute cover fool you. This got dark!

Gia is depressed, unemployed and five days away from eviction when she reluctantly signs up for a sugar baby website in the hope of making some quick money. When she meets Nathan, she's initially taken aback by what he wants from her: to pretend to be a dog. But all she needs to do is sit in a crate and go "woof" a bunch of times right? How hard could it be?

This was a wild ride which keeps you wondering just how dark the story is going to go (spoiler: pretty wild). Below the horror, it's a great commentary on the roles women are expected to perform and how society holds them captive in a myriad of ways. Definitely recommend Shy Girl!

Thank you Netgalley, Mia Ballard and Galaxy Press for the eArc of Shy Girl.

This is the first book by Mia and boy does it pack a punch! It's full of heavy graphic themes and it's disturbingly delicious! The trigger warnings and not to be scoffed at so please read them! Our female lead character, Mia was so well built by the end of the book, the changes she endured, the pain and abuse, was so well writing in my opinion and invoked so many emotions. The plot line went in a direction that I didn't really expect and made a refreshing change. Shy girl made for a fast paced, disturbingly engaging read and has really stuck with me.

4.25 stars for Storygraph. 4 stars for Netgalley

I kept seeing this book everywhere so I just had to see what all the hype was about. Wow! This one was dark for sure. My only issue was with the pacing. The entire first half of the book is completely summed up in the synopsis, so it felt like it took way too long to get to anything meaningful, then the ending ended up feeling rushed. I really liked the author's note at the end that explained her thought process behind writing this story, and I definitely feel as though she accomplished her goals with it. Definitely check trigger warnings! Will definitely be reading her previous book next! I read this one in two days, couldn't put it down. Very memorable, it's stuck with me ever since.

I was immediately drawn in by the cover and I'm SO glad I decided to check this one out! I think if you're someone who doesn't have triggers you should absolutely go into this without reading the synopsis and just be taken along for the ride. I couldn't put it down and read it in near enough one sitting, then went straight to my phone to buy a physical copy for my shelves (she is displayed nice and proudly!)

I am obsessed. Please. Read. This!!

Gia is broke, alone, and drowning in her own mind — depression, OCD, and desperation closing in fast. Enter Nathan: rich, mysterious, and offering a lifeline… with one twisted catch. To erase her debt, Gia must surrender completely — not as a girlfriend, but as his pet.

What unfolds is a chilling descent into obsession, submission, and identity loss. Gia’s transformation from human to something far more primal is heartbreaking. 💔

Mia Ballard doesn’t hold back — It’s not for the faint of heart, but if you’re looking for something dark, twisted, and hauntingly original, Shy Girl might just be your next unshakeable read.

🖤✨𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖊𝖜✨🖤

𝐒𝐡𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐛𝐲 @galaxygrlmia
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

“𝑻𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌”

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐬𝐨 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐛𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝? 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧. 🤯
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝?
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜.

🐕ғᴇᴍɪɴɪɴᴇ ʀᴀɢᴇ
🎀ғᴇᴛɪsʜ
🐕ᴄᴀᴘᴛɪᴠɪᴛʏ
🎀ʙᴏᴅʏ ʜᴏʀʀᴏʀ
🐕ʀᴇᴠᴇɴɢᴇ
🎀ᴏᴄᴅ ʀᴇᴘ

This is... a wild fucking ride. The author is able to really pack so much commentary about control of the female body and autonomy as well as intimacy and the ways in which society (and men) have a habit of making entertainment out of female suffering. This book does not hesitate to GO there and was absolutely batshit at the end. I love a good unleashing of unapologetic feminine rage though so I was thoroughly hooked throughout the entire story.

Trust me this book has more bite than the cover alludes to. Hasn’t everyone dreamed of having a sugar daddy?! Maybe not in this exact way 😅And damn this has cemented Mia as an auto-buy author and the queen of feminine rage

I was so excited to see that Mia Ballard had a new book coming out. I thought her debut was very strong with room to grow, which she does in her writing and character development. I couldn’t have expected what would happen in this story and she harnesses the element of surprise immensely well, which is hard to accomplish because the horror genre has been so fully explored. Her voice is fresh and just what we need.

Had difficulty getting into it. Pretty sure it’s a me thing.

Did not enjoy it although the writing was pretty aesthetically to me.

Think about this proposition for a second. A random man from a sugar daddy dating app says I'll clear your debts and pay you $2,400 per week if you pretend to be my pet dog for 8 hours a day. What do you think?

It would be a short book if our FMC declined this offer, and no spoilers, but she goes for it. What follows is a full on descent into control, manipulation and torture unlike anything I've read before.

I cannot impress upon you enough just how fucking stressed I was reading about Gia and the most traumatic and soul destroying things she was made to do. At parts I felt so queasy I was having to take breaks and really take stock of what I was experiencing. There was no let up on the tension and there were shocks galore. It hits you from every single angle. Then the last 20% of the book GOES OFF!! It is insane. I was routing for Gia and her survival the whole way through this most depraved ordeal and my god the ending was so feral and unhinged. I was ready to launch my Kindle across the room as I was tearing up.

I read the whole book within 24 hours and spent much of it internally screaming and mouthing WTF. But beware readers, Shy Girl really scrapes the bottom of the barrel when it comes to human wickedness and there are some truly horrific scenes.

I'm on a mission to get as many people reading this book as possible because it hasn't had the hype that it most definitely deserves.

This is a six star book for me and will probably be my favourite book of the year. Read it, read it, read it.

Broke and depressed thirty-year-old Gia accepts an unusual offer from Nathan, a man she meets on a sugar dating website - be his pet dog in exchange for paying off her debts. What begins as a strange but seemingly straightforward arrangement quickly turns into something darker, freakier, and more twisted as Nathan reveals his true intentions. As Gia's bizarre arrangement morphs into captivity, her humanity is gradually stripped away and she evolves into something feral and vengeful, I found myself increasingly disconnected from both the character and the story. I'm honestly not sure if it was the writing style, the heavy-handed metaphors that others pointed out, or simply that this type of story doesn't appeal to me. Maybe all of the above? This wasn't terrible by any means - I didn't connect with it the way others clearly did, and I can't quite articulate exactly why. I picked up this book based solely on the beautiful cover art, knowing nothing about the story itself. Had I known about the frequent sexual violence throughout the narrative, I would've given this one a pass - the animal transformation premise itself wasn't the issue, but rather the uncomfortable context it was presented in.

It’s been an incredibly long time since I felt compelled to sit down and read an entire book in a day.

Shy Girl is incredibly disturbing, but it reels you in and doesn’t let go until the last word (not even the last word in the story; The Author’s Note was also a must-read). I feel like many women can identify with this story (loss of power or personal agency by the hand of a man), though I think some of the content would scare some folks away. It’s a tough read. However, it is a brilliant book that is incredibly well written in my honest opinion. I rated it five stars because this story will stick with me for a long while.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Why do I keep reading books where women think they’re turning into dogs? Why do I keep falling for this????
This wasn’t bad, wasn’t great, I was rolling with it until she literally thought she was turning into a dog and the ending was just way too abrupt for my liking

Woah, what a ride! I expected the usual submissive girl drama, but this was unlike anything I expected. I couldn't put tue book aside and rushed through it....

Shy Girl is not for the faint of heart; it’s a descent, not a read. A slow-burn free fall into survival, submission and one woman’s transformation into something terrifyingly powerful. This novel is a fever dream dipped into blood and bottled panic. It’s not pretty. But it is unforgettable.

Mia Ballard writes like she’s peeling off skin. Every line slices into something raw and exposed. The book starts as a claustrophobic psychological thriller that morphs, slowly, into a manifesto of feminine rage. Shy Girl isn’t about healing, it’s about reclamation through ruin.

You’re not just reading Gia’s thoughts, you’re trapped inside them, brushing shoulders with her compulsions, her terror and her quiet fury.
Natal, meanwhile, is a charming manipulator - the kind of evil that’s polite, the kind that gaslights you into doubting your own pain.

There’s important commentary here too: on OCD, self-harm, on powerlessness, on the constant, silent calculations women make to survive. And yes, on the ugly truth that when women finally stop playing nice, the world calls them monsters. To which this book says: fine. Let her be a monster.