Lizzie is a flamboyant and spirited woman who goes looking a guy at a bar for a night of no strings attached sex. When she finds handsome Australian, Rake, she figures she's found the perfect guy for just one night (after all he doesn't even live in the country). But fast forward a few weeks, when Lizzie finds she is pregnant and the no strings isn't really a possibility anymore. Especially since Rake wants to move his life to Philadelphia to co-parent this child with her.

I loved so much about this book. Rake was the perfect blend of sweet and caring father to be mixed in with sexy business man. He wasn't by any means perfect and had his own flaws and made mistakes (which just endeared me all the more to him). Lizzie was an amazing character who was portrayed very realistically in her non neuro-typical wonderfulness. Lizzie was the kind of character that was a ray of sunshine who you couldn't help rooting for. She definitely has her ups and downs, including a family who was not very supportive of her growing up, and Rake compliments her so beautifully throughout the story. Each time I had to put this book down, I was excited to get back to it and read more about these two.

As someone who also has ADHD, it was amazing to be able to read about a character like me, and done in such a real way. This was not a character going through the usual sterotypical actions of someone non neurotypical. I felt like the author actually knew ADHD well enough to portray all the nuances of it, and I loved her for it!

I really enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to the next book from Mazey Eddings. She has knocked it out of the park with her first two!

Thank you to St Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Such a fun, sweet, steamy book! Lizzie Blake may have been called a rake back in the day but when she runs into a guy named Rake, with his Australian accent and gorgeous looks, her normal routine of one night stands turns into more when they find out just weeks later that Lizzie has found herself pregnant. Rake instantly flies over from his home in Australia to be with Lizzie as she experiences all that pregnancy and parenthood entails.

I loved so much about this book. The communication between these two characters was great. Whereas so many authors can and have created characters in this situation who hide secrets and don't converse well, Eddings has made these two mature and whole while still ensuring that each had very real flaws and backstories that brought challenges. I adored the way in which they came together to figure out this new adventure as partners. The representation of Lizzie's adult ADHD and Rake's response to it was fantastic. The chemistry was intense. Lizzie and Rake were both just so likable and I found myself cheering for a happy ending for them.

This is the second book in a series but completely reads fine as a standalone. Mazey Eddings is a new author to me this year but after her first two absolutely wonderful books, has found herself solidly on my must-read shelf.

Emotional, the way I like my books, yet with a little wit weaved into the prose, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake is a treat for readers. This is a great take to people like me with ADHD who've been told you're doing it wrong and you're flawed. I like having more books that touch on neurodivergent characters.
A must read!

This book was just adorable chaos and I loved every minute of it. Mazey Eddings has created a book in the pregnancy trope that's actually fun to read, so kudos to her. I'll definitely be reading more from her in the future as I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Swoony would be my one word to describe this book. I have not read many pregnancy trope books and it turns out that I like this trope too. I absolutely adored everything about this book. The message this book gave me is that you should always stand in your truth, even if you disappoint other people.
The story is narrated by Lizzie and Rake, in alternating POV which I really appreciated. I always prefer to get both perspectives in a romance. The characters were well developed with depth, amazing chemistry, empowering, witty banter, and creatively portrayed. The author’s writing style is complex, swoony, creative, and kept me engaged. This is a first time author for me but will not be the last time as I have already picked up her first novel. I just love how the author puts a positive spin on mental health and being a curvy woman.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This is an adorable romance about mess and mistakes that aren't really messy or mistakes. Lizzie Blake is a heroine I'll remember. She's bright and hilarious and talented, but doesn't know any of those things about herself at the beginning of the book. We follow her through a journey of love and self-acceptance not caused by her romantic partner, Rake, but supported by him. The family subplot of recognizing trauma caused by her parents undid me a little. I rooted hard for Lizzie and Rake, and this HEA was well-earned.

(3/5) I was really enjoying this book until I realized it relied on some of my least favorite tropes (surprise pregnancy, "evil ex", and insta-love, to name a few). The writing was great, and I fully blame this on myself for not reading beyond the first paragraph of the blurb. I would definitely read this author's other books (assuming they did not include the same tropes) because I like her style, but this one wasn't for me.

Know that this is explicitly (explicitly) steamy almost immediately. And then again. I'm not a prude but I wasn't expecting that when Lizzie picked Rake up in a bar, there would be, shall we say, fireworks right off the bat. And that, to be honest, is what colored my view of this otherwise interesting tale of a woman coping as best she can with her ADHD and an unexpected pregnancy. Lizzie knows she's got ADHD and that she struggles to manage it and explain it to others, even her parents who see her as lazy and so on. She's lucky to have good friends, especially Indira, who are supportive, and that she's a talented baker, a skill she can take from place to place. Rake, who was in Philadelphia, on business from Australia, is entranced with her from the moment they meet and then upends his life when she tells him she's pregnant. The relationship is a tad unrealistic but would that all guys be so supportive and so on. Her parents- really her mother-geez. I liked this for Lizzy more than Rake but that's ok. She's terrific. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A different sort of rom com.

Rounded up from 3.5

There was definitely aspects to this book that I really liked and some aspects that didn't quite hit it for me. I loved the ADHD and RSD rep in this one and how it played a role in all of Lizzie’s relationships.

But what I had issues with was the romantic relationship itself. I just didn’t feel the spark with them, and it felt like a relationship based more on lust and the situation they found themselves in. And the whole conversation about Rake’s ex and his feeling about the decisions she made just rubbed me the wrong way.

I believe this is a very important book for people to read, especially those that are neurotypical. Lizzie has adult ADHD, and for the first 25% of the book it drove me wild how she was going throughout her day/life. Then we got to a really great conversation between Lizzie and Rake about how her brain works. And then it clicked for me. We definitely need to see more characters like this in books!

You cannot deny the chemistry between Rake and Lizzie, and I really appreciated getting Rake’s POV within the story. Their banter was top notch. The steps that Lizzie made in her life regarding her family was especially gratifying.

This was a fast paced read, and it can be read as a standalone.

Thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Mazey Eddings for access to this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lizzie has uncontrolled ADHD and makes many many mistakes. She just lost another bakery job and decided to go against her cardinal rule and has a two night stand with Rake who is in town from Australia. A few weeks later; however, Lizzie finds out she has an unexpected bun in the oven. Rake will do anything to be in the baby's life besides be emotionally available for Lizzie.

I really hated Lizzie to begin with, but as the story continued my hatred turned into love. I admire her drive and determinization and I loved her and Rake's story. Her mom is a horrible human, but Lizzie did an amazing job standing up for what she knew was right. I hope there are more stories in this series to come!

This is the second book in the A Brush With Love series and follows Lizzie and Rake. Lizzie has ADHD and is struggling with her day-to-day due to it being uncontrolled. One thing that always settled her mind and body is sex - and Rake is on board with having a quick hookup. Only one night turns into a weekend and, a few weeks later, that turns into a positive pregnancy test. Lizzie decides she wants to be a mom and when she tells Rake, the two end up moving in together to platonically co-parent. Or, at least, as platonic as they can while sharing a studio apartment with only one bed. I really enjoyed this read and Eddings is now an insta-read author for me. I'm not into babies or having kids so I generally stay away from most pregnancy-centered romances. However, I really liked Lizzie from Eddings's first book and I was seeing so much praise from early reviewers that I requested an ARC. I love Lizzie and Rake with my entire heart and thought their journey together was so fantastic. The steamy scenes come in real early but the emotional connection is a slow burn. I loved how both of them were emotionally guarded for different reasons, but were both able to slowly let their walls down. The side characters were great as well and we do get the friend group back together for a little bit - which is always nice.

Thanks NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC. Publication date is September 6, 2022

I wanted to like this. Dare I say I even wanted to love it. But tragically this book and I were not meant to me. It's not the books fault. It was a wonderfully executed story, which was no surprise as I really enjoyed A Brush with Love. Eddings is a very talented writer and storyteller, and I still see myself reading more books of hers in the future.

I just hate, truly despise actually, pregnancy tropes. I hate it. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable and absolutely ruins whatever media its in (in my opinion). When I requested this ARC, I think I must have just skimmed over that part of the description, because I never would have read this book if I knew it had the dreaded pregnancy trope. To be fair, it was done in a way that didn't completely make me cringe, but I still didn't like it. But again, its my fault!!! not the books fault!!!

4.5 Stars

I’ll start by saying I don’t usually read pregnancy trope books, but this story shattered my misconceptions. This was totally enjoyable from the start. I loved Lizzie in Brushed with Love so I was thrilled getting to know her character up close and personal. If you loved Harper and Dan in Brushed With Love, then you are going to fall head over heels for Lizzie and Rake. What an absolute joy this book was.

▪️Lizzie. How can you not love her larger than life personality. The author did a wonderful job getting us to understand Lizzie’s mental health struggles with ADHD.
▪️Rake, the awkward Australian, lol. He was the biggest teddy bear ever and I loved everything about him. He’s Lizzie’s fierce protector and showers her with love and affection.
▪️Their wonderful witty banter. They were so fun together.
▪️The shower scene with Lizzie’s Tong…HAHA (IYKYK). I couldn’t stop laughing 😂
▪️Even though they were complete opposites they worked so wonderful together. His calm organized demeanor and her wild colorful chaos.
▪️How Lizzie learned to love her mind, regardless if of it’s faults. Not to let anyway take away her worth and accomplishments like she allowed in the past. She showed lots of personal growth.
▪️Rake again. How can I not love this man to pieces! He cherished all the parts of her that she thought were wrong and broken within herself and learned to open his heart and except love again.

This book had a wonderful message that we all need to learn to love ourselves exactly the way we are and not allow others to try and change us or make us feel less than inadequate. Learn to love people for who they are and not what you think they should be. Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this #arc in exchange for my honest review

I liked this one! At first I wasn’t a huge fan of Lizzie and the character development about ADHD was a bit all over the place but eventually it got better and I could really appreciate a character like that since I can relate so much to it with multiple people in my family having ADHD.

Lizzie was definitely way different than any other female character I’ve read about. Her ideals about sex were different and it was refreshing. I liked the switch in sex “roles” and made her feel empowered.

I liked the dual POV a lot as usual! It was EXTREMELY steamy for the first 20% and then tapered out so it was a bit weird. I felt that could have been spread out a bit more and not all at once.

Rake was amazing.
Lizzie’s mom sucks.

I definitely recommend this one to anyone! But you have to love the open door scenes!

Clear your schedule because you're gonna read Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake in a single sitting. This is going on my bedside table as my newest slumpbuster read, my new go-to for happy thoughts.

Be prepared for intensity of an unplanned pregnancy, mental health struggles, coping with nuerodivergence, toxic family, and self-esteem struggles. Be open for the warmth of found family, mental health advocacy, thriving under one's own terms, processing and healing from tramua, and love of self, being open to love, so much love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for access to this eARC. This magnificent gift is unveiled to the world this coming Tuesday, September 6.

I was lucky enough to get to end my August with this incredible book, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings, and I truly don't know that anything I currently have on hand will hold a candle to it.

To say I loved Brush With Love would be an accurate statement and it still holds a special place in my heart but man oh man does Lizzie Blake blow it out of the water!! Lizzie had been my favorite of Harper's friends, hands down, so to have her get her own book was wonderful and the execution, spot on.

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm a bit of a stickler for my hero's name and Rake is probably not my favorite. Rake though completely redeemed his name in my eyes. He is sexy as hell and a fierce defender of our Lizzie. His fastidious nature stands in stark contrast to her chaos but it is absolutely complementary. One of my favorite lines that he had was "You'll probably never fully grasp how wonderful it is to know a person like you exists". I mean. Come. ON!

I was really impressed with the way Mazey helped the reader to understand how ADHD affects Lizzie and it was a beautiful journey with her to acceptance. I loved how Rake accepted her and just loved her for who she was. I am just so completely in awe.

If you're asking how many stars I'm giving this one, you've clearly not read this review. Five, duh!!!!

Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 9/6/22
Author: Mazey Eddings
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Pages: 336
Goodreads Rating: 4.23

TW ⚠️: ADHD and Mental Health

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Lizzie has made endless mistakes. One mistake she’s never made is letting anyone get closer to her than a single hook-up. But after losing yet another bakery job due to her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks her cardinal rule and has a two-night-stand that changes everything. Rake has given up on relationships and any form of intimacy for that matter. Yet something about charming, chaotic Lizzie has him lowering his guard. But when Lizzie tells him she’s got an unexpected bun in the oven, he’ll do whatever it takes to be a part of his child’s life… except be emotionally vulnerable, obviously. He’s never going to make that mistake again.

My Thoughts: Swoon, my one word to describe this book. I have not read many pregnancy trope books, turns out I like this trope too. I absolutely adored everything about this book. The message this book gave me is that you should always stand in your truth, even if you disappoint other people, even it hurts a relationship, being true to thyself is the most important thing you can do. The story is narrated by Lizzie and Rake, in alternating POV. The characters were well developed with depth, amazing chemistry, empowering, witty banter, and creatively portrayed. The author’s writing style is complex, swoony, creative, and kept me engaged. This is a first time author for me but will not be the last time as I have already picked up her first novel. I just love how the author puts a positive spin on mental health and being a curvy woman. This book releases on Tuesday and I highly recommend preordering now!

In the audio version the author states the following content warning: pregnancy, discussion about abortions, ableist language about ADHD

Book 2 in the A Brush With Love series, but definitely can be read as a stand alone (and I never say that, so it must be true).

Dual 3rd person POV.

Lizzie has made quite a few mistakes in her life, but having a two night stand with the hot Aussie, Rake, is not one of them. When Rake heads back to Australia after his business trip is over he doesn't think he'll ever hear from Lizzie again...until she calls out of the blue to say she's pregnant. Without even hesitating he hops on a 36 hour flight to have this conversation in person.

Rake is like the sweetest ever ~ love him so much. I was rooting for these two from their first hot night. I still gotta call this a slow burn because even though we get some good action pretty quickly we have to wait quite a bit for them to get their act together before they do it again.

Overall, a super fun read. I can't wait for Mazey's next book.

Side note ~ I am so happy she finally stood up to her toxic mother, that was an emotional few pages there.

I was fortunate enough to receive a kindle copy and the audiobook to review. I started out listening to it, then switched to the e-book, then back again and ultimately my favorite was the audio, so that's how I tackled most of it.

Narrated by Summer Morton and Will Peters for 9 hours and 15 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. It was interesting that for most of the narration Will was speaking in an American accent, but the dialogue parts were in an Australian accent. Summer's Australian accent was great.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

When I featured this book for my Can’t Wait Wednesday post, I cited how excited I was to read Lizzie’s story. She made a big impression on me in Eddings’ last book, and let me tell you, it was quite a treat getting to know her better. The humor I expected from this character was there, but there was also this deeply scarred woman under all that bravado.

Lizzie had ADHD, and people who were supposed to love her, as is, always tried to make her fit their idea of “normal”. She had convinced herself that she couldn’t be loved because she was “too much”. If you read A Brush with Love, you already know that’s a lie. She had a wonderful “framily” in Thu, Harper, and Indira, and there were other people who loved her for all the vibrance and color she brought to their world too.

People like Rake (yeah, that’s his name, but don’t worry he wasn’t a rake). He and Lizzie were an amazing couple, and he reveled in all those parts of her she was always told were wrong. How could I not love this man? And, when he explained why he called her Birdy? 😭 I swear, my heart melted, and it melted again and again, as this wonderful man came to grips with his emotions.

This book was a solid 4-stars, but there was this part near the end that had my happy tears flowing. Well deserved ratings bump. A big theme in this story was finding people who love you as is, and how can I argue with that. It was a delight reuniting with the characters from Eddings’ previous book, and I loved that Lizzie’s “mistake” lead to such amazing things for her.