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Shy Girl
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Shy Girl

By: Mia Ballard
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About this listen

Sometimes, the only way to heal is to rage . . . to go absolutely FERAL.

**Includes a never-before-seen bonus chapter, and an additional spine-tingling short story titled HAROLD**

Lonely, broke, and depressed with a serious case of OCD, Gia is desperate for a lifeline. When financial ruin looms, she turns to a sugar dating site and meets Nathan - a wealthy stranger with an offer too tempting to refuse: live as his devoted pet, and pay off all her debts. What begins as a transactional escape soon spirals into a nightmare of captivity and control. The longer Gia is trapped, the more her humanity frays, and the line between woman and beast blurs.

In this harrowing tale of survival and revenge, Mia Ballard crafts a visceral, unflinching descent into the dark heart of lost autonomy - and the feral rage it awakens. Shy Girl is a scream against the cage of expectation, where justice isn't quiet - it's bloody and unapologetic.

©2025 Mia Ballard (P)2025 Headline Publishing Group Limited Horror

Critic Reviews

Shy Girl is a brutal, uncomfortable, and visceral story of a woman forced to endure an unimaginable experience, and the transformation she undergoes as a result of such intense trauma. Perfect for fans of feminine rage and unhinged stories, this was absolutely insane! (BRANDON BAKER, author of Whatever Remains of Us In the End)
Mia Ballard has crafted a deeply unsettling book. This is the perfect book for horror readers looking for feminist stories willing to push the boundaries and disrupt the status quo. (SADIE HARTMANN, author and co-owner of Night Worms)
A dark tale told with visceral clarity, Shy Girl is feral, disgusting, and absolutely unhinged. I loved it, couldn't look away! (ALLY WILKES, author of Where the Dead Wait)
Gia's desperation leads her to Nathan - a potential sugar daddy who might just solve all her financial problems. When Gia says 'yes' to his specific predilections, the result is viscous unraveling of autonomy that teaches Gia - and the reader - about the long-game of revenge. Shy Girl demonstrates the resilience of women, a lesson on the pleasure of going feral. A gore-filled ode to feminist rage that I will never, ever forget.
Warning: this book may just make a girl go feral. (RACHEL EVE MOULTON, author of Tantrum)
Mia Ballard has crafted a chilling, terrifying tale of romance gone awry, luring you in with head pats and skritchies and then fucking disembowels you. Hard to read, impossible to put down! I loved it! You will never look at puppy play the same way again! (BITTER KARELLA, author of Moonflow)
Lyrical prose gives way to a visceral nightmare in this gripping downward spiral of a novel. Both horrifying and gruesomely cathartic, Shy Girl is a study of female agency and bodily autonomy that is relentless and sickening in its violence, yet deeply satisfying. Not for the faint of heart, Shy Girl is a must read for all the weird girls out there. (MEG SMITHERMAN, author of Thrum and Entity)
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