REVIEW: Thighs Wide Shut by Hayley Fleming

Thighs Wide Shut by Hayley Fleming: Emma returns to Boston after quitting her teaching job and unexpectedly finds herself living below Harrison—the college best friend she walked away from five years earlier. As their old friendship starts to come back to life, Emma has to confront the women’s-health condition that has shaped so much of her relationship with intimacy, while also learning that vulnerability might be the thing standing between her and the life she wants.

THIGHS WIDE SHUT by Hayley Fleming isn’t just a second-chance romance about two people who lost touch. Emma’s struggle with vaginismus is a huge part of why she walked away from Harrison in the first place, and I was really interested in seeing how that would be handled within a romance.

Emma and Harrison’s relationship is built around a lot of history. They were best friends before they ever had the chance to become something more, and I liked watching them slowly find their way back to that friendship. There’s definitely frustration between them because so much of their original breakup came down to Emma not being able to tell Harrison what was really happening. But that also makes their second chance about learning how to communicate differently this time. And I liked that their relationship doesn’t magically erase Emma’s fears. Her progress is still hers, and Harrison’s support is part of the story without becoming the solution to it.

I really appreciated how openly the book talks about something that doesn’t get much attention in romance. Emma’s physical struggles are only part of it—the embarrassment, anxiety, avoidance, and fear of being rejected because of her condition are just as important. But the book doesn’t stay heavy all the time. There’s plenty of humor, Boston coffee-shop energy, friendship, and some genuinely funny moments that keep Emma’s story from becoming too serious.

THIGHS WIDE SHUT stood out to me for putting women’s health and vulnerability right in the middle of a second-chance romance. I especially liked Emma’s process of learning to stop hiding, ask for help, and separate her condition from her sense of worth. This was a romance with a lot more on its mind than simply getting the couple back together.

TROPES & VIBES:
💕 Friends to lovers
💘 Second chance romance
🐢 Slow burn
😏 Forced proximity
💔 The one that got away
🩺 Women’s health representation
🏙️ Boston romance

Book Info:

Publication: July 21, 2026 | Dial Press |

A charming second-chance romance about a young woman determined to finally embrace vulnerability—a love letter to anyone who’s ever felt their body is a barrier to their happiness.

Emma thought her late twenties couldn’t get more complicated. But then she quit her teaching job and moved across the country—only to find herself living right below the man she tried for years to avoid.

Emma hasn’t seen Harrison since an explosive fight ended their college friendship and eliminated the possibility of anything more ever happening between them. Now that his apartment is right above hers, Emma is privy to every detail of his active (and noisy) dating life. She knows she has only herself to blame for their estrangement: her inability to be honest with Harrison drove him away. It’s clear he’s moved on; why can’t she?

Presented with an opportunity to reignite the long-smoldering flames of their relationship, Emma realizes that to seize the moment, she will have to finally face the women’s health condition holding her back from intimacy and truly open up. But can she let her desires overcome the resistance in her mind and body?

Funny and tender, Thighs Wide Shut is an all-too-relatable story of how terrifying—and freeing—it is when we let our hearts take charge.