I really tried to like this book but I ended up dnf'ing, I couldn't connect with the characters and I know when this happens that my reading experience will not be the best so... :/

5⭐️

<b> “She fucked your boyfriend so you get to fuck her mom?”
“Yeah,” Cassie said, because that only seemed fair, right? “Quid pro quo.”</b>

Cassie meets Erin in a bar, and the two immediately hit it off and have sex in Erin’s rental car. When driving Cassie home, Erin realizes she attends the same college as her daughter. The next morning, Cassie’s friend (and ex-boyfriend’s ex that he cheated on Cassie with) Parker, asks her to go to breakfast with her and her mom because they don’t get along and she needs a buffer. To Cassie’s surprise, Erin is sitting at the table. Cassie is smug, and plays footsie under the table with Erin. Later, they both attend Parker’s a cappella concert and make out in the bathroom. After, the two part ways as Erin returns to New Hampshire, leaving Cassie in Virginia.

Parker surprises Cassie by inviting her home with her over winter break, and the ticket has already been paid for by Parker’s parents, and Cassie is forced to spend two weeks in the same house as the woman she can’t stop thinking about. Cassie calls Erin to tell her that it’s too much and that she shouldn’t pay so much to fly her out. Erin can’t stop thinking about Cassie either, and tries to downplay her feelings on the phone so that Cassie doesn’t think she’s been thinking too much about her - she can’t continue to be with someone who is best friends with her daughter. But when Cassie arrives, neither of them can really stay away from the other.

This book has no business being this cute while also being insanely hot. I don’t typically like age gaps in romance books, but this is the best I have ever read. There’s no third act breakup, there’s not a huge falling out, Erin and Cassie just make each other super happy and they both feel guilty about not telling Parker. Also this has great bi representation because both Cassie and Erin are bi. I seriously could not put this down and the ending is so adorable and perfect in every way.

<b> Cassie was a bad decision Erin wanted to make again and again.</b>

I enjoyed this even more than Wilsner's debut! I loved that it was sexy and messy, which is what I think is the most fun to read in romance. It seems like contemporary romance doesn't always go for the sexual chemistry first, emotional connection later kind of storyline, but I think they add lovely (and realistic!) variety to what romance has to offer.

2.5 stars

Mistakes Were Made is a sapphic forbidden romance MILF book. Cassie is a 22 year old college student looking for a hook up at a bar. There she meets her friend's 38 year old mom, Erin.

From the get go I can see the appeal Erin has to Cassie with her negligent parents and need to push people away. Erin, on the other hand, seems to be very involved in her daughter's life. She needs her daughter, Parker, to enjoy her winter break at home, which leads her to go as far as paying for her daughter's friend's flight to their home.

Meanwhile, Cassie...well I don't see why Erin would want to be with her. In fact, I don't know how the 16 year age gap is overcome by having similar interests or hobbies. Like what else did they get up to besides fucking and "romantic" gestures.

Overall I found this okay. There are many steamy scenes but I needed more plot. I wanted to see Erin and Parker form a stronger relationship with one another. The big reveal at the end was also solved too easily in my opinion.

A very quick read for me. I dove into this sapphic romance and didn't look back.

Erin and Cassie have that passion from their first experience together that I wish I could find. Steamy and the pining - not to mention, Erin is Cassie's friends mom! I didn't realize how much I enjoyed the age gap trope (not usually my thing) but with Erin and Cassie, it made me feel, well, hot.

I enjoyed that they women in this book were independent and strong - something I look for more in more these days.

I kept rooting for these two, even while they were hiding their relationship from Parker (Erin's daughter) I was hoping everything would work out for them. They had something, that just seemed to fit.

I really enjoyed reading this one and hope to read more by this author soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and to St Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

**Thank you to Netgallery and St. Martins Press for a copy for an honest review. All opinions my own.**

Oh boy, where do I even start?

I was intrigued about this story. I was interested enough to read it, especially as I've heard nothing but good things about the authors previous book, but what a fucking train wreck.

I was interested in the first couple chapters, but with the way it went, it was becoming toxic and not something I wanted to finish. I was 6 1/2 hours into the audiobook, and couldn't listen to another word.

Now, Erin is Parker's mom, who in her age should know not to fuck her daughter's friend, especially when you're trying to fix your broken relationship.

Cass is someone who has parent issues, and who decides that because Parker slept with her ex boyfriend without knowing that he had a girlfriend, and then proceeds to punch him in the face, and Cass and Parker become friends after that, and they've resolved it... that it's okay for Cass to go fuck her mom. "Tit for tat"

The fact that they fuck while Parker is in the area, and they continue to do so, without telling Parker, that it just kept falling apart.

I really hated how Wilsner wrote Parker as well, like she was the villian.

She was dealing with starting college, her parents being divorced, and being so young, she shouldn't have dealt with her mom fucking one of her best friends.

I was told before I reviewed this book that with this specific "romance" you have to kinda let things slide, for the romance and the HEA, but I hated it.

Don't read it.

I had a hard time getting into this book. Something felt off, did not always seem very believable. I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did.

This was a great read! If you're looking for a steamy F/F romance, this is your book.

Mistakes Were Made follows Cassie, a college student and Erin, Cassie's best friend, Parker's Mom. Without knowing who the other is, Cassie and Erin hook up at a local bar only to be confronted with each other at breakfast the next morning. The two swear they will never do it again! Until Parker invites Cassie to her home for the Christmas holidays and Cassie and Erin discover that their chemistry is undeniable.

Mistakes Were Made is a really fun & smutty romcom. The situations Erin and Cassie get themselves into while trying to cover up their romance are hilarious. I dropped a star because I thought the ending kind of dragged out and in the middle of the plot, I lost a bit of interest as it felt repetitive. Consequently, the book took me a bit longer to read than I would've hoped for a romcom. However, when the book did wrap up, it did so nicely and I thoroughly enjoyed the epilogue.

4/5

When Erin meets and hooks up with Cassie at an off-campus bar on Family Weekend, she never could have guess they’d meet on campus again - never mind that Cassie would be introduced as a best friend of Erin’s child. While both agree that this should never happen again, their desire for one another wins out again and again. But they couldn’t possibly work out… could they?

This was a messy, beautiful love story. I loved the shock of meeting again in this bizarre context, and how they both continue to seek each other out afterwards, even knowing the complexity of the situation.

The winter break trip was such a great part of this story, and definitely one of my favourite parts. This book is the pinnacle of “will they get caught?” energy - Erin and Cassie are so gone for each other.

And this book was SPICY. If you gauge spice level based on how open the door was, this basically didn’t have a door obstructing anything at all.

The narrators were fantastic, and this is a story I can see myself revisiting again and again - a fantastic story, and I hope that there will be more books like this soon!

Really loved this one! The best friends mom trope is one I haven't really seen, and I loved their first meeting! I found the writing to be really well done and the overall story very enjoyable

To escape the dread of Family Weekend at her college, Cassie decides to go to a bar alone and forget about things. The last thing she is expecting is to run into an attractive older woman, let alone hook-up with her. Even more than that, she isn't expecting to be sitting across from her when she is invited to breakfast with her best and friend and her mother. What they both know should be a one-off fling ends up turning into a hidden relationship, right under their friend/daughter's nose. But how far can good luck and sneaking get you?

This book really started with a bang (no pun intended) right from the get go. I was hooked within the first two chapters and needed to know what happened to Erin and Cassie's relationship ASAP. Both characters were so well defined and offered very different views, while also not straying too far from each other. Cassie was young, but not immature, still trying to make her own way in the world while also trying to make the right decisions for herself after living a hard life. Erin struggles with allowing herself to enjoy things she likes because she is constantly feeling guilty about her divorce and the impact it had on her relationship with her daughter. She keeps feeling guilty while pursuing this relationship with Cassie.

A forbidden romance, with some angst and A LOT of spice, kept me interested from start to finish and I am so happy I got to read this book!

Opinions are completely my own and thanks to St.Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for my opinions.

Some books are a gift.
This is one of them!! Obsessed.

-Hot. Incredibly hot.
-Depth. I truly felt for Erin in her fears for losing her closeness to Parker which was already dwindling. And Cassies estranged parents spoke to me deeply.
-Modern, relatable characters. Cassie is so very relatable to me, but Erin IS all of us. She is OUR bestie. She is a MILF and it makes me, a mom, feel like I can still be hot.
-When Cassie smirks, I go up in flames: love love love her boldness.
-I LOVE THIS BOOK. All vibes, no dark night, masterful writing.

3⭐️

Mistakes Were Made follows the story of Cassie Klein and Erin Bennett's complicated one-night stand turned relationship. Cassie is a senior in college, and Erin Bennett turns out to be the mother of one of Cassie's closest friends, Parker. After hooking up on Family Weekend, Cassie is shocked when Parker takes her to breakfast with her mom and sees Erin again, and "mistake" after mistake is made when Cassie and Erin can't seem to get enough of each other,

I think my biggest issue with this book was the pacing. For a long time, it felt like nothing was really happening, and I started feeling disconnected from the characters. My other problem was the fact that Erin was with someone so close to her daughter's age; but that is mentioned in the synopsis, and Cassie is at least not a teenager (she is 21 and turns 22), so I tried to keep an open mind. At one point, Parker attacks Cassie about having "mommy issues", and I definitely feel like the age gap and their family problems did have an effect on the relationship. But yay for MILFs, lol.

Acacia was honestly my favourite character. Also, while Erin and Cassie were being immature and afraid, Acacia picked up all the slack! Cassie is honestly so lucky to have her. While the main characters lost me at some points, I did love all the friendships in the book. I do definitely wish Cassie had talked to Parker sooner!

Asides from Acacia, another reason to like this book was the smut; it's definitely on the spicier side for a contemporary romance, and the scenes were written well. You could see the sexual chemistry right off the bat, and the romance ended up being really cute as well. It was obvious that they were in love; I found that really sweet.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! Happy release to Meryl Wilsner!!

This is the first book I’ve read by this author.

I will admit, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about reading this book. I had never read a book about a mom being with her daughters friend. This is obviously an age gap which I can get behind so that’s why I decided to give it a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised that the writing was fun and the relationship was genuine. Cassie is sassy and full of fire and young spirit while Erin is the more reserved and responsible one. Opposites always attract, right? Meryl did a wonderful job with their chemistry and the sparks were great.

As always, I like to give it a spice rating as I am a huge fan of some heat in the books I read along with the sappy romance. Let me tell you, this one did NOT disappoint in that department. This book is red hot. 5 Chili’s hot and I loved that personally. Meryl did a great job at keeping things hot and heavy between Cassie and Erin, while keeping it fresh and fun.

Overall I felt this was a low angst, high heat, fun story to read.

*I received an advanced reader copy for free through Netgalley in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book!

To follow is a spoiler-free review of the book.

As a 20-year-old about to graduate college, this was initially a bit of a shock. Though, surprise can be good to make you think and reconsider previously set notions. This book did a bit of that to me: made me think about what I consider relationships to be appropriate and how to deal with situations like that if they ever appear in my real life.

Overall, what drove me to continue and finish this book was the writing. I think the author did a great job painting the pictures and allowing the reader to be immersed in the experiences of the characters. Some of the moments that were too much at first glance were unpacked with good explanations and moved the plot forward nicely. How she navigates the two points of view is also something that I quite enjoyed reading. I love a dual-pov in books with a couple being featured in the center. I like seeing the two perspectives, and how the characters that are so different end up behaving in similar ways due to their attraction to each other and not knowing how to best navigate their situation.

Overall, a really solid book!

This just was not the book for me. It jumped straight in to the spicy, and as much as I hoped for character development to follow, 40% of the way in...it has not. Going to DNF at this point, as based on other reviews, I don't expect it to get better. The characters are pretty flat, and other than what the author tells us about the physical acts, there hasn't been much connection and chemistry shown.

The plus side? This helped me figure out that the age-gap, "oops I slept with my friend's parent/kid's friend" trope is not for me.

3.5*

I haven't read a lot of sapphic romances, and the ones I have mostly fall into the YA category, so I thought I'd break out of my comfort zone with Mistakes Were Made. And it was definitely out of my comfort zone, with the age gap and when it came to the "spice" level (in a f/f read). I don't really like when spicy is used as a descriptor for the level of sexiness in a book, but I have to say, it works for this book- it was spicy right out of the gate! And the spice kept coming- so if that's something you want in a book, look no further!

I thought the character development was great- you could really get a feel for who Erin and Cassie, and even Parker, were as people.
I did have a bit of a hard time with the relationship between Cassie and Erin, particularly when it came to hiding it from their friend and daughter. I understand why they did at first, but as things progressed, I wish they had 'fessed up sooner. Athough I guess when you're as clueless as these two were, when it came to their feelings for each other, they figured it wasn't going to last so why put it out in the open.

The age gap between them didn't bother me as much as it normally would. Erin, for being a mother and a doctor, was a little on the immature side, while Cassie seemed much more confident and self-assured than your typical 21yo, so things kind of balanced out.

I liked how it all worked out in the end, and the epilogue was really sweet.

Thank you to the author, publishing company and Net Galley for providing this ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Having never read anything by this author before I didn't know quite what to expect. Yes I read the description, but I've never read a book with a college student hooking up with the mother of a younger college student. I did find both Erin and Cassie very likable and the chemistry between them came off very realistically considering the age difference. The two main supporting characters, the daughter Parker, and Acacia were important characters to both Cassie and Erin. I thought the author gave us a very enjoyable story that had depth and kept the story moving throughout the whole book.

The thing that will make this a 3 ½ star book rather than a 4 ½ is some of the language the author uses. Using the words c**t and T*ts or saying I want to F**k you often was a turn off for me also a couple times the abbreviation MILF was used. I would not consider myself a prude but these words were used multiple times and I just found it crass, vulgar and just plain unnecessary. As a writer I thought the author could have used other words rather than this off-putting language at least after using them in the beginning. Just because the character was young didn't mean she had to use language that is offensive regardless of it not being used in a derogatory way. That being said the book is 350 pages so most of the book was written well. I still liked it a great deal and would read future stories by this author so I do recommend this novel.

Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars

Listen, when I read “a sharp and sexy rom-com about a college senior who accidentally hooks up with her best friend’s mom”, I immediately went to NetGalley to find and request this book! I was so excited when I got that approval email!

Cassie is a senior in college and during family weekend goes to an off-campus bar. She sees Erin across the bar and buys her a drink. They talk, flirt and make out in the washroom which leads to having quick HOT sex in the back seat of Erin’s car. This is supposed to be a one night stand but the next morning when Cassie meets up with her best friend Parker for breakfast she meets her mom. It turns out her best friend’s mom is the sexy woman that she hooked up with last night.

Cassie and Erin’s chemistry is off the charts and they can’t help themselves. They both know that they shouldn’t but one thing leads to other and soon they are hiding their relationship from Parker (Erin’s daughter and Cassie’s best friend).

Listen, don’t let the cover fool you! This one is HOT & SPICY!! If you want to know, you get the hot & spicy in CHAPTER 1!!!! After reading this book, I need more age-gap, MILF romance in my life. Send your recommendations my way please and thank you.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress and @merylwilsner for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub Date: Available Now

I really enjoyed this #agegap #sapphicromance between Erin, a doctor, and mother to Cassies best friend, Parker. #bisexualrep galore, we see the beginnings of a #forbiddenromance which starts at the Family Weekend of the college that both Parker and Cassie attend. Not realizing the woman at the bar is Parkers friend, Cassie picks up Erin and they have an amazing night together in the back of the car, but when they meet at brunch the next day, they realize the mess that they have gotten themselves into. I really enjoyed that this was a romance without a #miscommunicationtrope and there is an epilogue that warmed my heart. So cute, I love Cassie and Erin. This also partially takes place over the holiday season, so this would be a great read for the upcoming cold months!

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Is this on your #tbr ? If not, it should be!

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