REVIEW: Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg

In Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg, Maggie Vine has given up a whole lot–maybe too much–to chase her dream of becoming a successful singer/songwriter. Paying her dues in her hometown of NYC was never a question. It’s simply what she had to do. But having to put aside relationships over the years, especially the ones Maggie had with two equally wonderful men at different times in her life, nearly broke her. There are moments when she’s not sure her big break will ever happen. But when she’s up on the stage, making music and watching people fall in love with her songs and her voice, Maggie knows there’s no other path for her.

‘My voice made strangers come alive. I wouldn’t ever let another person convince me that I was meant to do anything else but this.’

When it comes to Maggie and her adult long-time crush, musician Garrett Scholl, the timing never seems to match up for them to admit their feelings and finally give a relationship a real try. So, being stuck in the friend zone is the only option. Then there’s Maggie’s teenage love Asher Reyes who was her first everything. These days he’s an award-winning actor who somehow remains the kind, sexy guy he was when she fell in love with him. Two painfully different men. And two people who each have a piece of Maggie’s heart. When she decides to fulfill her dream of settling down to have a child but to still pursue her music career, it will bring all of the truths she wasn’t ready to face right up to the forefront. And who is left standing by her side when the dust settles might just surprise Maggie to no end.

‘Asher lit me up, like swimming in stars. Garrett tore me apart, like little paper cuts all over my skin. Both of them felt like the best and worst parts of being in love.’

An angsty, emotive, ultimately hopeful romance with an involved timeline that clicked everything into place, one piece at a time, Maybe Once, Maybe Twice proved that love wins–and that music is a thread that connects us all.

‘You can only be fully in love with one person. It was time for me to be in love with the right one.’

CW: View Spoiler »Cheating, attempted rape, depression, suicide (mentioned), drug use. « Hide Spoiler

I have to start by saying I was all in for whatever wild ride Alison Rose Greenberg was going to take us readers on once I learned for sure that the book title: Maybe Once, Maybe Twice was indeed from Stevie Nicks’ song Gypsy. Count me in. And the musical references were like a who’s who of 80s, 90s, and early aughts songs and bands. Given that our heroine Maggie Vine was a struggling singer/songwriter in NYC, it made sense. And it helped bring to life so many scenes. Moments that were heightened by a lyric or a mention of the emotion behind the song in a way that standard conversation wouldn’t have done it justice.

That being said, Maggie’s path to finding her person was long, arduous, and filled with a lot of choices that seemed right at the time but might not have been in her best interest in the long run. I did thoroughly enjoy Maggie. She was a hard worker and was extraordinarily talented. And she owned her feelings, good and bad. When it came to the men in her life, though… *sigh* Poor timing is the easiest way to explain it.

By the final page (literally the *last* page), it all ended the way I had so hoped it would for Maggie. In between, however, was a whole lot of angst and pining for two men in particular that rocked her world on its axis: Asher and Garrett. This was where the shifting timelines kicked in. It was almost a little confusing switching back and forth from present to different points in the past. Although it did help that Maggie’s age was basically used as chapter titles as a frame of reference. But the way Greenberg smartly saved two key pieces of Maggie’s past until the end of the book brought it all together–as well as making her choices that much more poignant.

QOTD: Are you a fan of love triangles in romances?

Book Info:

Publication: Published: October 3rd, 2023 | St. Martin’s Griffin |

Filled with the romance and angst that defines the years you come to know yourself, with a shifting timeline covering two decades and ratcheting up the tension, Maybe Once, Maybe Twice is a novel of second chances and finding your own way.

You know that old saying, “if we are still single when we’re 35, we should get married?” Well, Maggie Vine made that vow with two different people, at two very different stages of her life.

And they both showed up.

Maggie Vine’s life is going extra-medium. At 35 she’s pursuing her dreams of being a singer and being a mother—though neither is successfully panning out. So when Garrett Scholl—stifled hedge fund manager by day but electrifying aspiring rock singer by night—comes to her 35th birthday party with the intention to kiss Maggie senseless, it feels like one piece might click into place. Except he’s engaged to someone else, and Maggie knows she won’t fit into the cookie-cutter life he’s building for himself.

Enter Asher Reyes. Her first boyfriend from summer camp, turned into heartthrob actor, he’s lived a successful yet private life ever since he got famous. When a career-changing opportunity is presented to Maggie after her reconnection with Asher, it feels like everything—music, love, family—will fall into place. But her past won’t let her move on without a fight.