Mistakes Were Made - Meryl Wilsner
So when I first read that this is a book about a mom dating her daughter's best friend, it felt kind of cringey. But then when I started reading Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner, it wasn't cringey at all and I was hooked! A really good story of two women who fall in love against the odds. And steamy! Definitely a contender for my favorite book of the year !

Mistakes Were Made gave me so many feelings about finding yourself, finding your family, friendship, and growing up. It started out fast, but I was a bit disappointed when it slowed about halfway/ two-thirds of the way through, only for it to pick up again the last 4-5 chapters. The ending brought a smile to my face, although the epilogue was nice, I wish we could get another book of Cassie and Erin’s relationship between the end of the last chapter and the epilogue. Another great read by Meryl Wilsner.

I absolutely adored this book. it is very fast-paced and easy to read! this book is the perfect read if you are looking for a sapphic romance with lots of sneaking around, an age gap and friendship.

the main character Cassie wasn’t my favourite but I loved Erin and I think Erin and Cassie are definitely soulmates!

thanks to NetGalley for the arc!

Meryl really knows how to write a good romance, and this one did not disappoint. I felt like I was looking forward to this widely hyped MILF book for so long, and I am so excited I had a chance to get to read this one. The characters were both lovable and real, and it was super interesting to see the dynamics unfold between the two. Significantly less of a slow burn than Meryl's last book, definitely recommend.

I wanted to try something new and I’m so glad I picked this one. Mistakes Were Made is a real enjoyable spicy romcom . Definite enjoyed and a easy 5 stars

This age-gap, forbidden, FF romance follows Cassie and Erin. The two women meet one evening at a bar away from Cassie's college. They have an instant connection and after getting hot and heavy in the car, both are ready to leave it as a one-night stand. However, when Cassie shows up at breakfast the next day as Erin's daughter's guest, things only begin to get complicated. Both women agree they shouldn't continue to see each other, given the circumstances, but their connection is impossible to ignore. As they spend more time together when Cassie comes to visit over winter break, they'll both have to decide if they want to have something more and if their relationship is worth the fallout that will inevitably come. I really enjoyed this read and I loved Cassie and Erin together as well as their own characters. I was also not expecting this book to have as many sex scenes as it does - but they had a really great variety of situations so I'm not complaining. While I generally enjoy forbidden romances, I often have the same problem where I get some pretty strong secondhand embarrassment from all the awkward situations that arise. I did feel like we had some fantastic character development as well as relationship development and I could really see proof that their romance was moving beyond the purely physical - although it did take a little longer than I normally like to get there so I was a bit worried around the middle that the emotional connection wasn't ramping up as quickly. I also enjoyed that the inevitable conflict with Erin's daughter (who is also Cassie's best friend) was handled in a bit of a different way than we normally see with these 'forbidden' romance stories. Overall, this was a really fun and steamy read.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC

Publication date was October 11, 2022

I have been very excited to read this book for awhile now, very worth my excitement, I think it was a solid read for me even with me feeling slightly underwhelmed by it.
I am in milf heaven with this read. I love the writing style in this book, there was no lacking in talent there. At times the character development left a little to be desired but all in all I think it was a good read.
I would rate this a 3.5 but for NetGalley / Goodreads purposes I will rate this a 4!

I really enjoyed this spicy sapphic rom-com. It's an age gap romance between a 38 year old single mother and a 21 year old college student.

I liked Cassie and Erin, I was able to connect with both of them. I wish we got more of Cassie's back story since it had such an impact on who she was and the decisions she made. Their story was entertaining and cute. The secret had me waiting for the shoe to drop.

Cute with good rep! Was concerned about the age gap but it was handled gracefully!

Maybe ga case of good book wrong time though.

Mistakes were made. It was a good and enjoyable book with the age gap trope in a sapphic setting.
I really enjoyed getting to know the two characters specifically about their back stories, and not exactly having a great ability to share their connection. Erin, the 38 year old and mother of the college student friend was a good example of how sometimes getting out of the situation like a previous marriage and being a strong role model for her daughter was important. Casey had so many reasons not to trust many people and their journey was well told.

Even if a bit over sappy at times, I enjoyed this spicy rom-com and will recommend. Hopefully we can see Parker grow and possibly a spin off of their story.

This was a quick and fun book! I am so glad that this book is getting many positive reviews. A really important book for the romance genre. I cannot wait to buy this book and hand it off to others in my life.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

Cassie Klein, a senior in college, is at an off-campus bar trying to escape the hell that is Parents Weekend. She is at the bar to alone when she spots a woman across the bar. She sends her a drink and in return, Cassie gets a one-night stand she will not soon forget.

Erin Bennett came to Parents Weekend to see her daughter - not to hook up. So, the next morning, when her daughter brings her one-night stand to breakfast, Erin is beside herself.

The book explores what happens when your one-night stand could be more, but two people are in denial and how Erin's daughter, who is Cassie's best friend, plays a role in what happens.

I’m not drawn to age-gap romances, but I promise I requested this galley in good faith. It’s marketed as a romcom! An author I admire promoted and blurbed it! There’s so much hype online! The book’s basic premise is this: college senior Cassie hooks up (and eventually falls in love) with Erin, her best friend Parker’s mother. Cassie is 21; Erin is 38.

Wilsner’s prose is fine & readable, which is why I chose not to DNF. I’ve read reviews that criticize insensitive remarks about race, gender, and disability included in earlier galleys. I can’t speak to that––the team seems to have removed these passages from the ARC I received.

There are a billion other reasons I can’t recommend this book, and most of them relate to the ethics of the central relationship. I can’t get behind Cassie & Erin’s romance, despite Wilsner’s attempts to justify or normalize the age difference. They depict Cassie as confident & forward: she pursues Erin; she’s “more mature than other girls,” than Erin’s daughter. She may be decades younger, broke, and estranged from her mother, but she’s such a badass! She’s the one in control, actually.

Erin and Cassie’s power imbalance extends far beyond their age gap, which makes things…unsettling. Erin is a wealthy doctor and divorcée. Cassie is a college student from a low-income and (borderline?) abusive home. Parker pressures Cassie into going home with her for the holidays––her mom pays for their flights––so the romance largely takes place under Erin’s roof, where Cassie is a guest. Erin can afford to see a therapist, whereas the secrecy of the romance isolates Cassie from her support system––she can’t tell Parker she’s dating her mom.

MWM is a dual POV narrative, which I typically looooove in a romance, but the structure doesn’t work for me here. Reading Erin’s chapters feels icky. Maybe I’m hyperaware that I’m around Cassie’s age (Wilsner is closer in age with Erin, AFAIK), but the way Erin idolizes and sexualizes Cassie’s 21-year-old body, comparing it with her own, comes off as creepy. Consider this alongside the fact that Erin is desperate to build a closer relationship with her daughter. Consider the way she constantly compares Parker and Cassie, the way she buys them matching clothing and expensive gifts. How she’s always talking about “being the adult” in the situation (??), and how at one point Cassie even thinks Erin “feels like a mom.”

Reading this book made me feel gross and angry. I’d hoped that the author would at least address the “forbidden” aspect of the forbidden romance, but they just…gloss over it? Wilsner wants us to believe that Erin’s problem is that she’s a people-pleaser. The “lesson” she learns is: stop caring what people think of you! Just be happy! Sure, Erin worries that it’s “wrong” and “irresponsible” to secretly date her 18-year-old daughter’s best friend, but that’s only so her therapist can validate the heck out of her: “What’s so wrong about two consenting adults being together?”

TL;DR: I wish I could unread this book. If you’re weirded out by MWM’s premise, reading it won’t convince you otherwise.

Nothing like trying to go to a bar to find someone to hook up with, accomplishing that, and then finding out that it is your best friends mom and now you have to stare her down at breakfast the next day. That's exactly what happened when Cassie found Erin in a bar, only to find out that Erin is in fact her best friend Parker's mother. Whew, what a ride.

Unfortunately what sounds like a super interesting concept for a book, I just didn't feel like I connected with the characters that much. I felt the plot was somewhat lacking because it felt like it was entirely sex driven. I can appreciate the diversity in the characters and the representation of lesbian and bi women, but it felt like the author thought that she needed to sprinkle every scene with a sexual act. I'm normally not a prude, it was just a lot for me. Perhaps I am not the target audience for this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced reader copy of this book. The opinions in this review are all my own.

I don't think I'm the right audience for this book. It didn't hook me from the beginning, and just felt off to me between the age gap and the best friend's mom trope. I've seen mixed reviews so I'm glad others loved it, but I will be DNFing :(

Based on the first three chapters that I read, i wouldn't like this book. I don't think the characters had any chemistry and, since this is a contemporary romance, I think that's the most important part.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Meryl Wilsner for providing me with an eARC of this book. This is my honest review.
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I saw someone talk about this book during Pride and I just knew I had to read it. Listen. Once you throw in a goofy, sapphic romance, I’m there! I do want to throw a caveat out there that age-gap romances aren’t normally my cup of tea, but I’d never run across a sapphic age-gap romance so I had to give it a shot.
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I blasted through this book! It was funny, sad, steamy, and unbelievably cheeky. Cassie and Erin were well-rounded out MC’s and it was so entertaining to watch them fall so desperately for each other. They connected so well with each other. The dinner FT calls were so cute 😭💗 This book definitely wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows though. From confronting how they’re perceived by others, especially their families, to figuring out their next steps in life individually, both of them work through very real emotions and situations to end up together. It was worth it! 🗣️
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There were several steamy scenes and let me just say 🔥🔥🔥 A lot of sapphic romances, or at least the ones I’ve read thus far, steer away from the sex for some reason, so it was refreshing honestly. It didn’t feel like an over abundance either. There was a great balance of plot and steam.
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Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It made me laugh and think and blush. It was cute! I’ll definitely be checking out other books by Meryl Wilsner in the future. They made me want to give age-gap romances another chance 😂 If you’re looking for a funny sapphic romance with all the emotions thrown in, give Mistakes Were Made a shot! 🙌🏽

this book might be up there in my list of top 10 favourite romcoms, like wow i really enjoyed it. 'mistakes were made' is meryl wilsner's sophomore romance novel, and it felt like a step up from her previous book 'something to talk about'. the book opens when cassie goes to a bar to escape her college's 'parent's weekend' festivities, feeling down about her own family life, and sees a woman in her mid to late 30s sitting across the room. cassie and the woman, erin, have a mindblowing hookup in erin's rental car, and think they'll never see each other again... until the next morning, when cassie joins her friend parker to brunch with her mum... who turns out to be erin.

the book picks up from there, giving us alternating chapters from cassie and erin's perspectives as they both try to fight the growing attraction they have for one another, while also keeping it a secret from everyone around them, including parker. this book had some amazing steamy scenes, especially during the bits when cassie spends the holidays with parker & erin at their home. i also loved that the book didn't have a big "parker walks in on them having sex" scene nor a third-act breakup. overall the book felt very authentic with a climax that didn't come out of nowhere. the epilogue was a little cheesy for my liking, but aside from that, this book was great.

This was amazing. I’m so glad I was approved for this. The story was engaging and I cannot wait to read more from
This author.

I'm basically throwing this book at everyone I know. This book has all of the charm and swoon and caring and characters I actually like that I loved about their last title, but IT BANGS SO HARD. No slow burning here. It's a forest fire. I loved it and want to go snorkeling.