It took me a little while to get into this story as I listened to it and was a little overwhelmed by the number of characters it focuses on and keeping them all apart. Eventually it was not a problem as they were all so different and going through different things that women at this age can relate to. Once I got into the story and could tell them apart I was drawn in to the ups and downs and challenges that they faced as individuals and in their friendships and relationships. I think living in Europe I am lucky enough to be able to have a good balance between a career and being a mother, especially since the pandemic has started and WFH is a more regular thing. We also don’t have quite as many unrealistic expectations like at least 6 types of home baked Christmas cookies as a thank you for the kids’ teachers, just to make one crazy example.

Being honest, I am pretty sure I would never be able to forgive someone like Heather. There is just no excuse for what she did and how she acted afterwards. The fact that I feel so strongly about this perhaps says something about how I was pulled into the story and experiencing it through the various characters.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Orange Sky Audio for the chance to listen to this story in exchange for an honest review.

All the Right Mistakes was an easy read about a group of college friends now in their 40s. We met Elizabeth, Sara, Martha, Carmen, & Heather. All women are navigating their different circumstances and life situations together.

This book was okay. Nothing riveting & the storylines weren't that exciting.

I didn't finish this. The characters just didn't seem realistic, so I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to continue.

I have a sinus infection so I’m reading a lot more normal which is a lot🤣
I don’t know what the hell because I took medicine and then read this or if this is because this is definitely not for me

There’s nothing wrong with it
Nothing at all.
I was just bored to half of it and the other half I don’t remember and I finished with like two days ago

Fine college friends just turned forty years old and each of them has her own journey through life and its struggles with marriage, kids, work.

Elisabeth is lawyer. She focused on her career and didn't start trying for kids until she was thirty-five and she struggled when she wanted more kids.
Sara is also a lawyer who overwhelmed herself with juggling work and four kids.
Martha is a doctor who left work to stay with her kids.
Carmen got pregnant in college and gave up her elite education to be a homemaker.

Heather, their high profile executive friend wrote a book "The Four Big Mistakes Of Women Who Will Never Lead Or Win" and it was about her four friends!

All The Right Mistakes is about the struggles women deal with, where no one respects their own choices in their own lives, judgements from men and other women alike, and sexism.
Life is complex and it is messy. It has ups and downs. And it's never too late. This book is so good.

This was the story of five college friends and their life as they head into their 40s. There were many serious subjects as we see the women deal with the decisions they’ve made in their lives. All the while one of the friends who is famous writes about them and the mistakes they made.
I was interested in the premise of this book and expected a moving story of lifelong friends. However, it was hard for me to relate to any of these women. I also had to start over a few times because I lost track of who was who. Some of the ways they dealt with the struggles didn’t feel genuine. I think it was an ok book but feel like there are other books about women and friendships that I would recommend instead.


Thank you NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of the audiobook from Netgalley.

I have very complicated feelings about this book, but I think I landed on the fact that it's a little too sanctimonious and reductive. The book also preaches a universal experience that is, in all honesty, not true. The central characters are 5 privileged women, who've come from affluent homes and have the lives and understanding that comes with that particular lived experience.

At the start of the book, none of them are struggling with physical health issues, mental illness, debt or any life-altering experiences. And even when they face truly horrible circumstances, they kind of just brush it off. Grief is not even dealt with, even though the impact of grief can be unpredictable in real life and would have added some credibility to the story.

There were moments that were aspirational, such as when Carmen and Elizabeth decide to work together to achieve their dreams. The latter half of Carmen's arc was great actually, but those are the few bright sparks. The author has such a narrow understanding success, especially for women. In a way, I'm glad she champions the amount of work domestic and emotional labour requires, but I'm genuinely surprised she left out the childfree and childless perspectives in this book. There's a homogeneity to the women in this book that, once again, plays down its general air of universality.

There’s a general sense that kids just happen to people. Uh no they don’t. Once maybe by accident but multiple times? And these are grown adults, not youngsters who don’t know better. And if one doesn’t want kids, the characters in this book are well off and connected enough not to go through with it. It’s a really strange thing to constantly pretend like these characters were suddenly burdened by children when they chose to get into these situations. And also that they had multiple children despite having husbands who weren’t helpful or supportive. If they weren’t there for you for kid #1, it won’t change much for kid #2. This kind of writing just doesn’t make sense to me as reads like a get out of jail for taking responsibility for one’s actions. We’re talking about educated folks with money here—you knew what you were getting to into.

The many issues these women face, coincidentally around the same time, are too convenient, and they're all stereotypical, yet easy to overcome. I found Carmen and Mark's set-up too unbelievable as well. I'm unsure whether it was based on something the author knew, but it just seemed too bizarre. The book goes out of its way to be aggravating but keeps downplaying its own intentions by making the problems go away very quickly. If it was that easy to leave a toxic work environment and start your own business, everyone would do it. But they can't because of the lack of security, finances and faith in the system. People can still find happiness and success despite being ground to the dust by an unforgiving system, why is that perspective missing here?

I like that the author doesn't tear down one woman for the benefit of the others, but I also don't understand why the impact of someone like Heather wasn't explored more. Apparently, her practice did unethical things, so how did that affect the people who worked for her? That story felt as important as the one about Heather's book about her friends.

This book is a very surface-level exploration of the struggles of the modern woman. I mean, these people are arguing about getaways to lavish cottages, multiple trips to Disneyworld, off-shore accounts and advanced heritage payments of $1.5 million. These are not the experiences of the average person. Additionally, I'm not sure why, from time to time, the book would certainly turn very religious. Where did that come from?

Story aside, much of the writing was lacking as well. Each chapter was a particular character's point of view, but the author often struggled to maintain that singular viewpoint. A lot of the dialogue was clunky and expositional. None of this was helped by a narrator who was so robotic, I actually wondered if it was an automated recording.

I may not be the right audience for this book, but I don't know how many people who are married and have families would enjoy it either. It's neither a reflection of reality nor an aspirational guide. It's a by-the-numbers story that has a little of everything in it to demonstrate that these characters have to face drama, but don't really have any tangible struggles.

Thanks, NetGalley, for advanced access to the audiobook!

I enjoyed this audiobook for both the story and the narrator. The characters were richly developed, although they were difficult for me to keep track of at first. The point of view switches from character to character and each of the five main characters' perspectives. This book explored friendships between women, and much more. Each character has their own challenges and joys, bringing up issues from divorce and infidelity to gender roles at home and in the work environment to love and loss.

The actual storyline involved one of the five main characters, a tight group of friends in college who are now 40, writing a book highlighting the other women's "mistakes" in life. The tone was not positive and unsurprisingly the women took offense. This caused friction among the group, all while life continued to go on.

I became involved in the women's lives, rooting for them and crying with them. I also enjoyed the narrator's ability to portray each character differently. She really brought the story to life.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this audiobook and would definitely read other works by this author in the future.

I didn't get very far into this book because I felt so bogged down by the number of issues the characters were facing: SIDS, miscarriage, a child coming out of the closet, marital problems etc. I realize the premise of the book requires the characters to make mistakes and have difficulties, but the problems all felt too stereotypical for me to take them seriously. I also didn't relate to the dynamics of the five women's friendship. I think I am just not the right reader for this book.

I was unfortunately not a fan of this book. There were so many issues with this book. I liked the idea of five friends from college who are still friends many years later. I've read a few books with this same setup that I've really enjoyed. But this book just felt like a bunch of privileged women complaining about everything in life. The way things were said to and about the other friends made me cringe on more than one occasion. Nobody seemed grateful for what they had, and this just didn't sit well with me. Unfortunately that made me strongly dislike this story early on. I wanted to stop listening so many times, but for the sake of the book, I wanted to try and finish to write a truly honest review. I kept hoping it would pick up, and it never did.

A book about women,friendship, disappointment and support and life.
The title intrigued me so I decided to request it.
It was a good book to listen and I would like to give some credit to the narrator,who done a great job.
I liked the characters and their stories,I believe so many moments are so common that each mother, professionalor wife will discover a moment of themselves.
It's a well-written,well constructed book with different chapters for each character,and it was structured that even though it jumps from one character to another the story flow it's good,not interrupted.
I'll recommend this book,maybe it will be a one time read but It will serve its purpose

I got an early copy of this audiobook (released yesterday) from @netgalley just in time for my road trip to see my college friends a few weeks ago, which was *perfect* timing…

AtRM is about five college friends twenty years after graduation. Now 40, they are still close despite their very different lives: Carmen is sending her daughter (the one she got pregnant with senior year) off to college and trying to save her marriage & find her own identity as that chapter closes, Martha is a doctor turned stay-at-home mom, Sarah is a flustered lawyer attempting work/life balance with four kids, Elizabeth is the family breadwinner desperately trying for a second baby, and Heather - the real success story - is the CEO of a major corporation with perfectly dressed kids, a polished marriage, more wealth than she knows what to do with, and fame in the #girlboss Twitter world (I imagined Rachel Hollis).

The novel opens with Heather publishing a self-help book about the four mistakes women make that keep them from being successful, and - to their surprise - it features the real life stories of “C,” “M,” “S,” and “E” 😒. As you can imagine, it doesn’t go over well with the friend group and each woman must simultaneously deal with the truth of their own mistakes, the fallout of the book, and the futures they can control…

I liked the friendship aspect of this novel, the juicy gossip feel of Heather’s book/life, and the relatable commentary on life at middle-age (ish) - so many things behind you that have shaped who you are, but still so much ahead as well…

I’d say 85% of this book was a “fun,” read/listen, but something terrible happens (trigger warning in comments) early in that I felt like was out of the blue, under-developed, and - in my opinion - poorly handled… I also thought the girls were unnecessarily (and, imo, unrealistically) unkind to each other at times - I get the attempt to show that friendships aren’t always pretty or easy, but I thought it went a bit too far. And, in general, the story/ending was
a little cliche.

Still, I think this will be a great book club book and will prompt excellent discussion! I can’t wait to hear what others think!

2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

I opted for this title on audiobook since it was an option as an ARC on NetGalley and the description had me intrigued. I had the impression that this would be a feel-good, female-empowerment story of friendship. It had all of the ingredients. But, for me, something was missing in the final product.

I think part of my issue is that I disliked the narrator, Aimee Barrett. Her tone was nasal and she had enough of a southern accent that I found it distracting. She sounded like she was condescending every time she spoke any of the characters lines. Like she made them even more pretentious than they already are.

All the Right Mistakes is the story of 5 40-year-old friends that met in college at Dartmouth (so you are supposed to surmise that they are.all smarter than average). They have had widely disparate lives, with a common thread of privilege. One of them, Heather, has become a phenom as the head of the fictional Spark (an Amazon-like business), and whom showers them all with insane gifts and weekends at her various exclusive getaway homes, but whom has not made actual time for them in years. Heather writes a book, under the guise of telling younger women how to be successful, but what it actually is, is a blatant tell-all of the professional and personal "mistakes" made by the other four women.

Personal tragedy befalls most of the women, whether infertility, career stumbles, miscarriage, infidelity, the loss of a child...they all take it lightly, and the dialog is just ridiculous. A lot of the conversations between the women are just juvenile and embarrassing.

The fact that the author then felt the need to wrap it all up in a bow was just weird. I did not dislike the book, per se, but I don't think I would buy it for anybody.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I was lucky enough to be given a ARC from OrangeSky Audio in exchange for my honest review!


Sara, Martha, Carmen, Elizabeth and Heather are turning forty.
They have been best friends since college.
They have worked hard for the lives they currently live.
When one of them decides to make a jump and write a book.....that could possibly change everything.

I enjoyed the premise of this story.
These ladies are all well developed and written...
My only complain is that there are a lot of characters to keep track of.
I found myself having to pause and go back to remember who was who.
But other than that this was a great read!
I listened in one sitting.
I loved how relatable this book is to women.
And I think some will enjoy this alot!

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this audio.
I will share to my platforms and cross post.

All The Right Mistakes by debut author Laura Jamison is a tribute to female friendships and being open to life changes.

Five best friends find themselves at crossroads as they turn forty. They struggle with unsatisfying careers, the trials of motherhood, fertility issues, keeping marriages fresh, grief, regrets and lost friends.

It took a moment for me to get into the lives of these professional women but narrator Aimee Barrett brought them to life for me. I was amazed at her tour-de-force performance of so many distinct voices for each of these very strong independent woman. The message that sometimes if it wasn't for our mistakes we might not get a happy ending will make you smile.

I received. a free copy of this audiobook from Orangesky Audio via #NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

The story of a group of friends who’s “mistakes” in life are the talking points in one if the “friends” new book.

Like other people who reviewed this book I had a hard time keeping the characters apart. Unfortunately I did find any of the characters very likeable, I also didn’t really find their interactions believable.
One this that I found silly was when taking about the Tiffany necklace
She said “I don’t know what it’s called but I call it the bean”
That’s what it’s called. It’s called the bean.
That’s like me saying I don’t know what this restaurant is, but I call it McDonalds.

Little things like this can throw me off a book

It was a fast read but not one I would recommend.

When Heather, a successful tech executive, writes a tell all about the four biggest mistakes women make, it doesn’t take her friends Carmen, Martha, Sara and Elizabeth long to figure out each of the “four mistakes” are about their choices they have made.

We quickly learn through alternating chapters about what Heather considers mistakes—opting out (Carmen), ramping off (Martha), giving half effort (Sara), and forgetting your fertility (Elizabeth). And in a fun twist, the majority of the Heather chapters are actually Twitter posts. Although all of these women are definitely upper-middle class, we learn about each woman’s woes including marital problems, work issues, financial strain, sexism, fertility issues, etc. Each woman discloses her choices made since the women met in college at Dartmouth, and what path those choices has created.

This book is a quick read about five women as they approach forty and what choices they have made for their lives as well as the choices they will make moving forward. The relationships between these women are definitely real and raw, and many of their problems are relatable in some way or another. The big question is do you forgive someone who told your secrets to the world?

Thank you to Netgalley, OrangeSky Audio, and of course Laura Jamison for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own. All the Right Mistakes comes out tomorrow!

A group of 5 judgemental 40-year-old Bs who hate their husbands, their children, and each other.

"Oh, I really don't like Heather lately, but don't forget that she gave us free e-readers and paid for our stay at Four Seasons".

"I really need a break from my child, so I'm booking a trip to Paris to have sex day and night and try to get pregnant so that I need break from my second child too."

Excuse me, W. HAT????

**please note due to low rating I will not be leaving a public review for this book as I have not paid for it.**

Narrator 2 stars
I disliked this narrator. She needed to change her voice more for the characters.

Story 1 star
I can't tell you how much I disliked this book.
The reaction to Lucy was so incredibly unrealistic. Sure maybe one person would say something insensitive but so many people and best friends at that! Please! Aside from that, all these people are so unlikeable and I really didn't enjoy spending time in their world.

I really wanted to indulge in this book. I love a good girlfriends story and the ages of these ones should have made this story relatable to me. Sadly, it wasn’t.

It could have been the fact that it was an audiobook. The reading of this book was slightly robotic and it was hard to get past that. The actual story presented its own obstacles as well. For one, there were too many main characters. By the end of the book, I still couldn’t keep them all straight. Further, it felt like all they talked about was having babies. I get it. There are women for whom this is the most important topic in the world, but four of them is too many for one book! There were other topics at hand, such as romantic relationships and careers, but babies were the ultimate goal for this crowd complete with a “life begins at motherhood” type sentiment at one point.

Overall, I t felt like too much story crammed in with too little depth.