I’ll be honest, I DNF’d this one. The age gap romance was just not for me. I persevered til about halfway through before calling it.

This was such a fun story! I really enjoyed the main characters and the fun storyline. I would totally watch the movie version of this book. The steam was also A+.

The only thing I didn't like was when the friends are not on good terms, no one discusses it! That seems so unrealistic for close friends, but despite this, I really enjoyed this fun, steamy romcom!

Mistakes Were Made was a fun read! What a complicated world love can be sometimes!
Trying to do the right thing isn’t always the same as following your heart. Love hurts, and you have to decide if the pain is worth it!

4 stars. I loved this book. While parts of it were unrealistic and the MCs tragic backstory felt slightly unexplored, I loved this. The story started out hot and kept it up. I wish there had been a bit more exploration of the MCs choice of grad school, I loved it

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, but I’m so glad I read it!! I loved Taylor’s writing stories and can’t wait to read more of her work!

Thank you to Taylor Hahn, Netgalley and Knopf for the opportunity to read and review this title!

I was pleasantly surprised by the substance behind the characters in this romance novel. Cassie and Erin were well-developed and I felt like I could know them in real life. Their struggles were real and the story was well-written.

I absolutely loved this age gap sapphic romance. I could not put it down, and I didn't want to!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I have never read a book with a sapphic age gap and Mistakes Were Made set the bar so high. The longing and love between Erin and Cassie was so believable, you could really feel the tension of being in love but not thinking they could be together. The spice scenes were great.

I do wish that Cassie and Erin's pasts were a little more fleshed out and discussed with each other, particularly Cassie's. We learn about their upbringings through their own thoughts, but it would have been nice for them to talk about it together.

No, YOU’RE crying.

Finally, an age gap romance that doesn’t start off with a dubious & creepy undertone. Cassie and Erin meet in a bar when they’re both adults and complete strangers to each other. The fact that Erin is the mom of one of Cassie’s new friends is *complete* happenstance.

Without going too deep into spoilers, I loved the relationship between Cassie & Erin and how it intersects with Parker, Cassie’s best friend and Erin’s daughter. Cassie and Parker are in college, but they’re relatable and not insufferable (which a lot of authors unfortunately tilt towards). Their respective relationships with Erin are believable.

And of course, the smut is HOT.

Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for the ARC!

✨ Review ✨ Mistakes Were Made, by Meryl Wilsner

Cassie and Erin hook up in the parking lot of a bar, but then find out the next morning that Cassie's in college, and Erin is Cassie's best friend's mom. Even though they both know that it's wrong, their connection is magnetic and they can't seem to stay away from each other.

Hook ups with a friend's parent is never a favorite trope of mine, but this time at least, it helped that both parties were of age, and met before they knew of the parental connection. The relationship between Cassie and Erin kept me engaged, and I was cheering for them while also so worried they'd get caught. The book keeps you at that perfect level of tension between angst and joy. 😂 The steaminess was 🔥 and consistent through the book. The book did drag a bit in later chapters and felt a little repetitive, but overall I enjoyed this book and the fun story within.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Genre: f/f contemporary romance
Pub Date: October 18, 2022

Thanks to MacMillan Audio, St. Martin's Press and #netgalley for advanced e-copies of this book!

To begin, this story was not necessarily my cup of tea simply based off my personal preferences in a book, thought I will not let that hinder my constructive review. With that being said, I will admit that this book is above your average rom-com level.

The summary of the book gives all you need to know about the story, so if you want a messy college "one-night-stand-gone-bad" sapphic rom-com with an age-gap milf-y romance and a little (lots) of extra spice, this book is the one.

One aspect that made this story stand out is that our two main characters - Cassie and Erin - always had their motives explained. There weren't any moments that made me stop and go "why would they do/say that?", as everything that happened had a valid excuse behind it.

However, there were a few character issues that I had found throughout:

To begin, Parker (Erin's daughter and Cassie's best friend) was portrayed immature for a college student. I understand we did get to see her through her mother’s POV at times, but even through Cassie’s side she felt more of a teen than a college student. Additionally, for being the center reason behind Cassie and Erin’s taboo romance, she certainly was not talked nor developed as much as I’d have liked her to be. Apart from the constant “we shouldn’t be doing this because of Parker”, there wasn’t a whole lot of emphasis on her as a whole.

Moving on from characters, there seemed to be a lack of background information given out about our two MCs. Cassie's family situation was never explained, despite having a vague mention and I was surprised we never were told the whole story given it played an important part on how Cassie grew up and what she faced that caused her to behave the way she does now. On Erin's side, her divorce with Adam was also a hug factor in her life, yet we were never told exactly what went wrong. Both of these aspects I wish were given a little more light, but at the same time they weren't necessarily important to the plot to be so in-depth.

~ SPOILER ~
One aspect of the story that gave me a surprise was the anticlimactic ending, since this was a forbidden romance. The whole climax happened within a few pages only for us to discover that Parker ALREADY KNEW about what was going on between her best friend and her mom. Yes, Parker did ignore Cassie and Erin for an extended period of time, but me personally would have acted much worse if I found THAT big of a secret was being hidden from me by the two people I trusted most.

~END OF SPOILER ~
Overall, this book is one I continuously think back to, and can easily see this being among the next top queer romcom once it gets released. I do feel as if it will cater towards a more specific audience, maybe some of the older Casey McQuiston lovers since this book is much more mature in age rating.

3.5 stars, one point off for character/plot issues, another half a point for preference.

Holy steam. Within just a few pages of this book, someone’s “tits” were being discussed so I knew it from the get go. But I didn’t hate it. I can be really picky when it comes to steam, usually regarding the descriptive words used, but this one was done in a way that I didn’t even think twice about it. I think i would have liked it more if it weren’t for the fact that one of the girls was in college and the other was her friend’s mom. That age difference was really jarring every time it was mentioned. But other than that the characters were all really likable and I was rooting for all of them. And there was loads of bi rep in this book.

This book was a delight to read! Filled with scenes that are relatable, hilarious, steamy, tense, and emotional. The epilogue had me crying tears of joy.

While her daughter visits with her father for the evening, erin decides to take herself out during parents weekend to the local bar. What she is not expecting is to have a one night stand with a college student. when. She shows up to breakfast with her daughter the next morning only to meet her daughters friend, Erin is shocked that it’s Cassie. Her one night stand. Both women know it cant happen again, but damn if the sex wasn’t amazing.

Well damn this book was steamy! I loved all the characters, and the sexual tension that brewed between Erin and Cassie anytime they were in the same room together. The characters were well developed, and I just could not stop reading to find out if Erin and Cassie would hook up again, if Erin’s daughter would find out, and if the two would ever realize their true feelings for each other. This one was so different but just absolutely wonderful.

This book gave me everything!!!

Started off strong with a spicy love scene, and riding that high throughout the book! I had high expectations, and they were constantly met, whether Cassie and Erin were together or not. If reading this on the train at 6:30am is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Sexy scenes aside, the characters' relationships with each other were fully realized, and all aspects of this hiden relationship were taken into consideration.

I can't stop thinking about this book, and I don't want to!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy! This romance was a delight and snuck up on me, making me love the main characters, ending, and thoughtful approach to this sapphic relationship. Cassie is a college student, looking for a one night stand when she meets Erin, an older woman, at a bar. Their attraction is immediate, leaving them to have a wild night, but turns out Erin is the mom of Cassie’s college friend Parker. But though this seems fated to end badly, their desire and love for each other continues to grow against all odds. This is my first time reading Wilsner, and I loved this book. It was sweet, thoughtful, well written, pretty well paced (a little slow at times), and a nicely done steamy and open-door romance. Though this book seems like it might be taboo, honestly, it was a lovely portrayal of falling in love and reminds me of the important lesson that love is beautiful and sweet, and as long as it’s amongst consenting adults that aren’t hurting anyone, who cares about age and silly societal ideas. This is an important reminder at a time where I live in a country that is constantly trying to control my body and who I love. Overall I highly recommend this book to fans of Meryl Wilsner, contemporary romance, age gap, and LGBTQ+ stories.

A very indulgent book! Overall, I enjoyed it. Cassie hooks up with a woman she meets at a bar, only to find out the next morning that she’s the mother of her best friend. I thought parts of the novel felt underdeveloped (Parker as a character, Acacia’s relationships with anyone other than Cassie, Cassie and Erin as individuals) but not enough that it distracted from the main plot. I thought the chemistry between the leads were hit or miss, the focus was almost entirely on physical attraction with not a ton of time devoted to exploring their actual dynamic, other than how it relates to Parker, and even then there was nothing more than, “we shouldn’t do this, she’d be upset” which never actually came into play. Sometimes it felt repetitive: they sleep together, mention how they shouldn’t because of Parker, then repeat. I am torn on appreciating how the drama of Parker was not the penultimate moment of the novel, but wishing it had more of an impact. I wish it dedicated more time to getting to know the characters at all, there were multiple sex scenes and even though they were well written and varied, I think the novel would’ve been stronger with cutting one or two and replacing it with more foundation of their relationship to develop the story. Parker felt a bit immature in an over-exaggerated sense like it was meant solely to prop Cassie up as being more mature in comparison. The book was dragged down with how many side characters were introduced without having an impact what so ever, most not even speaking, or being mentioned once, almost feeling like it was to emphasize that not all characters in it were white and cis. I think Mistakes Were Made is an entertaining book that had potential to be better, but is definitely a book worth reading! Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

I tried my best to like this book, but I could not keep on reading. As much as I love forbidden romances, the way it was written and the way the MC was handling it made me not want to read more. This story had so much potential, but it was all wasted away.

This book is WAY steamier than Wilsner's first and I loved that it wasn't a common trope. Maybe I wasn't completely in love with the characters, but it was an excellent escape.

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner immediately drew me in with the immediate chemistry between the two main characters and the story. I really enjoyed Wilsner’s debut Something to Talk About and was looking forward to reading this as well. The reviews and description of this one as a forbidden, age gap, steamy romance caught my eye because those are some of my favorite tropes in a romance novel and while I enjoyed the wit and writing in Something to Talk About, I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of steam and I wanted to see what this author could do when turning up the heat. I was not disappointed.

Furthermore, I was happy with the communication between the characters. There were the usual conflicts that go with the tropes in this book but the characters quickly resolved those conflicts with honest conversation and mature apologies. I appreciate this in a romance. I would not call this book angsty just realistic about the character’s flaws and insecurities. I also enjoyed that while the author recognized the career and studies of the characters, it was understood that the novel was more about their personal lives instead of their professional pursuits. It worked well.

If you are looking for an excellent wlw romance with plenty of steam and characters that you can’t help but fall for, I highly recommend this one. This book will probably be added to my reread list and I will definitely continue to read this author.

Thank you for the ARC copy. I received it through Netgalley.