Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Well, this makes Nightbitch look like an episode of Paw Patrol. An absolutely insane story from start to finish, something I will be thinking about for the rest of my life probably. The author's note wraps it up with a beautiful bow - Mia Ballard I love your brain and cannot wait to read more.

I am left mouth wide open at this novel. What I love about this is it took feminine rage and made it darker and more visceral. It takes bodily autonomy to the next level. This novel discusses grief of self and grief of life without so many words. And without trying (although probably trying) how white men degrade and throw away women. Women who are not able to entertain or perform or submit. Once these women are useless they discard them. This also shows the way (slightly at the end) of how the system will cater to a wealthy white man than it will to a woman captive by the ideas of freedom and safety.

This book will not be for everyone because of the red picture it paints but by god is it a masterpiece.

This was a wild ride! I do think the ending was a bit predictable but it was still satisfying. There were definitely parts of this book that made my skin crawl. This isn’t my normal genre, and I can say I was hooked the whole story. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I came for the gorgeous cover... I stayed for the wild and disgusting story.

Huge props to Mia Ballard for crafting a story that dives into the need for and loss of control using beautiful writing that made me sick to my stomach. Shy Girl follows Gia who is at the brink of eviction and decides to solve her financial problems by finding a sugar daddy. Enter Nathan. What was supposed to be an easy (if humiliating) job-like arrangement turns into a horrifying scenario that dehumanizes Gia in a horrifying and ultimately physical way.

We're with Gia through the entire ordeal. We get to watch her lose herself as a man takes away her agency and forces her to act and become something sub-human. It's horrible.

I think this book was written extremely well. I was fully immersed in Gia's story. I always think I'll love a feminine rage story, but I hate reading through the cause of the rage. I didn't enjoy reading this story. I didn't learn anything from this story. However, I will pick up Mia Ballard's other books because I think she's an amazing writer. This story will stick with me for a long time.

Thank you to Mia Ballard and Galaxy Press via NetGalley for access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

nightbitch walked so shy girl could run. this book is absolutely unhinged and i loved it. weird girl lit at its finest. a really dark and twisted story that will leave you infuriated, sad, and a little grossed out.

4.25 ⭐️
Wow wow wow. I really enjoyed this. I decided I would go through NetGalley to try and find strange/weird books to read after reading Strange Sally Diamond and I was accepted to arc read for this. I really enjoyed this!!

This one is about Gia who is not only depressed with OCD but lonely and broke. She is going through quite the rough patch in life after losing her job and needs help financially as she has gone through the majority of her savings. She needs help paying for her apartment. One day, she decides she is going to sign up to a sugar daddy website to look for a guy who will gladly help her with her financial issues but doesn't want anything too serious. This is where she comes across a guy named Nathan. She meets up with him for the first time and wants to know what it is he is wanting as she needs financial stability. He is unsure as obviously he is wanting something more serious. He agrees to meet up again and this is where he starts helping her out and she is able to pay her overdue rent. He then tells her what it is he truly wants. She has to follow him to his house. This is where he tells her he wants her to be his dog for 8 hours a day and that he will pay not only her rent but he will pay double the money she needs all to be his pet for a few hours. She eventually agrees and this is where her world is turned upside down.

This book gripped me from the beginning. I went into this completely blind and it was well worth it. Gia ends up becoming a shell of who she was. The feminine rage in this was crazy good. I wish I could share my Kindle Highlights as I highlighted quite a lot in this book as there were so many great quotes and crazy things happening. This was such an impactful read and I must admit it was sometimes not an easy one. If you do read this please check triggers/content warnings because it can get uncomfortable!

This was the first Mia Ballard I have read and I'm so grateful for NetGalley for sending me this one!
Thank you.

Shy Girl is in the running for my top book of 2025. This book was unhinged feminine rage in the absolute best way and I loved every minute of it.

Shy Girl follows Gia, a young woman who is having a rough time in life after losing her job and is left to find a way to pay her piling bills before she faces eviction. In her desperation she turns to a sugar daddy website where she meets Nathan. Nathan is cold and mysterious, but is offering substantial compensation to Mia. All she has to do? Pretend to be his pet dog for eight hours a day. This request is not what Gia was expecting, but seems easy enough so she accepts his offer. On her first day, Mia quickly realizes the danger she is when Nathan goes back on his word of allowing her to leave and is forced into horrific circumstances in which all she can is try to survive.

**Please read the trigger warnings before you consider reading this book**

This book was an intense read that kept me engaged throughout the whole story. I was so engaged to the point where I stayed up to 2 AM to finish it because I could just not put this book down. I felt a wide array of emotions during my time reading, from disgust, anger, and anxiety (so much so that my heart rate was elevated at several points). From the warning given at the beginning of the book, I knew that I would be encountering some violent and gory scenes, and the author did not hesitate in delivering. One thing I appreciate about this book is how the author used descriptions of violence and gore in ways that made sense to the story. I have read plenty of books in which the violence and gore was written in a way to shock the readers and compete for which book could be the hardest to stomach. Shy Girl did have scenes in which I had to quickly read through in order to diminish the queasy feeling in my gut (one scene in particular near the end, again read the trigger warnings), but they all added to the raw emotions that the characters were experiencing and felt important.

I did not enjoy Night Bitch and was slightly hesitant diving into Shy Girl seeing the comparisons drawn by the author and other reviewers, but I was pleasantly surprised by Shy Girl. Shy Girl is the absolute and violent feminine rage that I was wanting from Night Bitch, and through its dirt and grittiness, it was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences I have had in a long time.

Thank you NetGalley and Galaxy Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Holy fuggin’ shiz knits… um, James, hello?!

Ooh Mia Ballard… that lil author’s note at the end explains it all. You master of wizardry, you.

Our main character, Gia is broke and she has thoughts I’m sure we’ve all had. Do I sell feet pics to stay afloat? Score a sugar daddy??? Well she goes with the latter and finds a seemingly normal guy who yearns for more in the situationship… how quaint.

The more in question??? Oh Nathan has a special kinda kink, he’s always wanted to own a dog. But not just any old dog — one that’s human in nature and obeys every command. And Gia fits the bill. In exchange for $2400 a week… hmm maybe I’d consider??? Maybe????

Well Nathan had other plans, for he wasn’t exactly keen on letting Gia go, for seven years. SEVEN!!! Like um.

And after those seven years, Gia has survived the WORST. The abuse, the dog food, the manipulation, the crawling on all fours, the loss of bodily autonomy — all to satiate one man’s fetish. (Which like isn’t that literally what society and the entire government has been doing to women for generations… well you know… it’s about time women bite and, heck, bark back!

I am so thankful to Galaxy Press, Mia Ballard, and Netgalley for granting me advanced digital access to this anecdote on feminine rage before its hits shelves on March 1, 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Galaxy Press for this eARC!

Shy Girl is the epitome of a 'good for her' story. Mia's writing is razor sharp and summons you to keep reading until the very end.

What I love most about Ballard's works is how unflinching her characters are. She shows just how far someone will go when the stakes are high enough. I can confidently say I've never read a book quite like Shy Girl.

I recommend this book to those who can stomach who awful men can be and the ways they put women into metaphorical (and literal) cages. Don't skip out on the author's note as well!

4.25 rounded up. Releases March 1st.

I read this in less than 24 hours. It put me on a leash and walked me like a dog. A bloody, claustrophobic read that deals with a powerful man and the woman he keeps as a pet dog. To say more would get into spoiler territory but this was a lot of fun. Woof.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc copy of this book!

10 stars.

No notes. Perfection. Can't wait for the A24 film because this gave HEAVY A24 vibes. I see others mentioning "Night Bitch" but haven't read that to confirm, but this did give me a little bit of "The Substance" vibes and I ate this book up in 2 sittings. It was almost one, but alas, sleep won.

I was SO excited to read this and even more excited when I got the notice I had been selected to read the ARC! I almost would have started this right away, but I'm a bit behind on my reading as this month has been taxing on me.

This was entirely what I needed - I have been in a crazy horror binge for a month now, and this was so good it's probably going to put me into a slump.

I don't want to give away any spoilers - so I'll be as careful as possible when trying to discuss this for my review. This is PERFECT feminine rage, "good for her" and body horror all smashed into one beautiful package.

This was a bit of a slow burn at first, but whew when it picked up it went balls to the wall. Definitely some of the most brutal, graphic, gory horror I have ever read. My jaw was in outer space a couple of times, and I loved it haha.

I just also want to add that I loved the authors message at the end of the book - explaining things a little bit more, and bringing some more social commentary into the discussion about the deeper meaning behind this story.

Anyway, loved it, can't recommend it enough. Please check triggers as there are some heavy topics in this one. I will be buying a physical copy of this, and I will be thinking about this book forever.

I was immediately intrigued by the synopsis, I HAD to read this book. Gia is down on her luck after losing her job. She is desperate for money, so she decides to join a sugar baby site. She ends up meeting a guy and he has a very odd request for her… he wants her to be a dog. I found this book to be so unique and interesting.

God, it's brutal in here! - This short little horror book has such a great premise, and I'm always here to support women's rights AND wrongs. But in the end, I'm not sure the novel lived up to its full potential. The extreme horror pictured was mainly body horror and gore, when to me the real horror was the captivity. I also struggled with the pacing of the story - there was a lot of exposition that in the end didn't really go anywhere, whereas Gia's time as Nathan's pet felt a little glossed over for the fact of how long it was. Nevertheless, Mia Ballard is a talented writer. I enjoyed the prose and loved the ending, and am excited about what she will write next.
(Thank you to NetGalley, Mia Ballard and Galaxy Press for providing me with an eARC for this book in exchange for my honest feedback. All opinions in this review are my own.)

Wow! This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is wanting to read suspense, thrillers, mystery and fantasy books! The true meaning of this book really resonates with me personally. This book gave me all the emotions! It made me feel happy, sad, anxious, hopeful, doubtful and fearful. It is an unforgettable, hard to put down book!

Do not let this beautiful book cover fool you, this story has great depth to it. Please read the trigger warnings before picking up this book and reading it.

Shy Girl is a novel that is about a thirty year old woman named Gia who has OCD, along with other mental health issues. She has struck out on her luck recently, so she is looking for a way to earn an income. For example, one of her struggles is that she desperately needs to pay rent or she will be evicted. So, she thought about trying out a Sugar Daddy website to make some money. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but you’ll just have to read what happens next.

A big THANK YOU to NETGALLEY and the amazing author MIA BALLARD for letting me receive an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

#NetGalley
#ShyGirl

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a review copy.

Tom Waits once said he liked beautiful melodies telling him terrible things, and Shy Girl fits that bill to a tee. The writing is just gorgeous, fitting the lovely cover perfectly. The story, however, just pummeled me emotionally. I knew it was going to be heavy going in, but it hurt exquisitely, and I devoured 2/3 of it in one sitting. Triggers abound here, so tread lightly. The ending is absolutely worth the tough journey. 5 stars

Thank you, Mia Ballard NetGalley, for the ARC. I leave this review voluntarily and happily. Also, thank you publishers for your hard work!

Wow, this definitely was a hard read. Not so much as I didn't enjoy it. It's more to do with what all happened. The cover beautifully explains what the book is pretty much about. It's full of despair, desperation, horror, sadness, soul breaking, and so much more. There are definitely a lot of triggers in this book, which the author makes sure to put at the beginning of the book. I'm glad I decided to read this book as it definitely fills me with a rage as much as it did, Gia. The ending is definitely needed and will more than satisfy most of us. There is gore and death in this book. The deaths will leave you squirming on one and the other. Well, I'll leave it up for you to find out.

What would you do if you had too much debt, was on the verge of being homeless, and it seemed the world was crashing around you? Gia has tried to get a job, but nothing was working, so next, she tries a sugar baby dating site and gets a match. What does this match mean for her? Can she do what he wants? Be his pet? And actual dog? What will happen if she fails? What horrible things are going to happen to this woman the longer she is made to be his pet? Read and find out.

This book really pulled at my emotions. There are just so many raw emotions, dark things going on, and just the pure rage at the end. It also makes me more wary of dating sites than I already am. It makes you question can you can really trust someone based on pictures, the way they act, and just so much. All I'm saying is don't rush into things no matter the situation. Take your time.

What a time this book was. I loved the deceptive cover, soft and delicate and nothing like the story to come. Mia Ballard has crafted such an artful piece of feminine rage with lots of sharp teeth.

Gia is a woman who is governed by routine. Things are ordered, structured, and they make sense if only to her. Gia is also desperate. There are bills she can't pay, jobs that won't call her back, and a blank space when she thinks of who she is and what she wants to become. She doesn’t seem the type to sign up for a sugar baby arrangement but she has done plenty of mental calculus and pros and cons to the situation. Being in dire straits will make you consider things you never would under better circumstances. It wasn't the best plan, perhaps, but how could she know just how terribly it would all go?

This book really sunk its claws into me in so many ways. It is dark and deeply upsetting. Watching Gia be stripped of her humanity is hard to bear. Her voice, her time, her desires, her choices - all taken away with ease. It's a bit hard to stomach and yet her fire doesn't go out, not really. She makes her self sharper, remaking herself from the remains of who she once was. If you've ever wondered if you've got that dog in you, you do. Maybe not like this, but it's there.

Mia Ballard has cemented herself as an auto buy author for me. After loving her debut Sugar, I knew I needed to read this one asap. And it did not disappoint. I’ve never read a book quite like this one, and it was so fun, unique, unhinged, and horrific. And to top it off, the writing itself is top notch. For anyone who loves a story of a FMC coming into her rage, this is for you.

This was short yet it felt very long while reading it. I wanted to love this but I just felt like it didn't deliver all I wanted.

Shy Girl is not for the faint of heart. The story deals with extreme topics and it has graphic scenes. Don’t let that cover fool you.

Gia has no job, no money, no future. Her only hope is the sugar daddy website she’s signed up to. The men all want the same thing and their messages give her the ick. But Nathan is different. He’s handsome and well-spoken, and he’s not looking for a transactional relationship. There’s only one caveat: He doesn’t want a lover, he wants a dog.

I’d read reviews of my GR friends before I requested this book from NetGalley, but I think I was still unprepared for this novel. The first 20% are slow and harmless, lulling you into the illusion of safety. Once Gia’s torment begins, the novel becomes impossible to put down. Ballard writes with a sharp blade that keeps stabbing the reader when we’re already down. The narrative twists and turns before it finally ends in a horrific finale. You can probably see it coming, but you won’t be able to look away.

I don’t say this often, but I think this novel needed to be longer. A few things didn’t quite add up in the story, which is why I only rated it 4 stars. For instance, Gia never seems to use the restroom? I also don’t like how the blurb makes out OCD to be a disorder that “flares up”. OCD is a lifelong condition, and I think the second half of the book misses that point.

Anyway, I think this novel will strike the horror community like a grenade. I can already see it being read in my local book club. Recommended for lovers of extreme psychological horror.