Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for the ARC in return for this review.

This was so good.
Mistakes Were Made is a spicy, sweet story of feelings and what one should do versus what one wants to do. I loved getting to watch both Erin and Cassie grow, both as a couple and as people themselves. They both have scars from the past that affect them, but start to move past them. The sweet moments were heart warming, seeing them being soft and happy together. The spicy moments are…phew. And I liked that these scenes play a purpose, not just sex for sex sake which I’ve seen bog down other stories. Both these moments worked together to show a couple that were compatible in every single way. Everything flowed very smoothly and I had trouble putting this down, wanting to see what happened next and how they are going to end the game of 'will they/won't way'.
This is definitely going into my ‘read again’ pile.

I wish I could read this for the first time all over again…. I loved it!!! Spicy yet sweet Romance with the perfect little page turners. Evokes emotion for both main characters… absolutely recommend!!

This felt like the step-mom fantasy come to life in the classiest and sexiest way possible. I need more from WIlsner on my shelf

This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The premise of this book had me hooked before I even started reading, because who doesn’t want to read about awkward hook-ups and sexual shenanigans?

The sexual exploits of the protagonists is unbelievably steamy and mostly believable; definitely something you might blush while reading in public. There’s lots of really good comic moments and well thought out characters that are experiencing very real emotions and situations.

Only a couple issues had me hovering over the 5th star.
There’s a moment near the beginning where bisexual identity is not put in a very positive light and is something I think might put others off as well.
The pacing seemed to be a little off as well, there was a point near the middle where I was wondering what was taking so long.

Overall I enjoyed the book and I think other fans of the rom-com genre will too. It’s refreshing to have a story where women are the center focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of Mistakes Were Made.

Where do I even begin?
First of all, it was the first time reading a sapphic romance and let me tell you, I was definitely not disappointed. It is cute and sexy and angsty all at the same time. Cassie and Erin were the best and the author did such an amazing job with the story and the characters. I loved it. 1000/10.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Having a sapphic adult romance with an age gap was exactly what I needed. Wilsner injected fun, flirty banter, pining and women doing whatever they want to, despite people thinking they shouldn't. I thoroughly enjoyed this. I thought Cassie was well developed and everything about the relationship she had with Erin was so good. It was hard to put this book down!

https://www.tiktok.com/@bettysbooklist/video/7109559034352766254?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en

I was given an ARC of this book for an honest review, all opinions are of my own.

This was def a cute rom com read that I was able to read in just a few days. It centers around a group of college friends. One of them ends up hooking up with another friend's mother who is in her 40s. After hooking up they decide to continue seeing each other but keeping it a secret from friends and family. Def mistakes are made but turn into a great ending.
It is a face pace quirky read that gives lots of support to the LGBT community.

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner is a steamy age-gap romance that is a quick, mostly enjoyable read! I wish we could have gotten to know Parker more over the course of the story because she is so pivotal in the (subpar) conclusion. I think the ending would have been more earned if the readers knew more about Parker. The pacing in the second half of the book slowed to a complete halt. I found myself looking at the % left wondering when something big was going to happen or when their secret romance would be discovered. Overall, this was a fine book but left much to be desired at the same time.

Mistake Were Made is about Erin and Cassie, two women who meet at a bar, and have a casual fling. The next day Cassie, who is a senior in college, realizes at breakfast that she has slept with her friend Parker’s mom, Erin. This book started off great, has some wonderful steamy scenes, that continued throughout the book. I’ve never read a “taboo” relationship book, friend’s mom, and was in suspense the entire book waiting for it be revealed to Parker that her best friend and mother were hooking up.

I found this book ran hot and cold with the pacing, and felt beyond sleeping together Cassie and Erin didn’t take time to actually get to know one another, and lacked an emotional connection. Since the book started off with on such a sexual component, readers miss out on the pining, and feelings developing over time that is involved with most rom coms. The characters could have been better developed, and wish we could have met Parker and Acacia before the bar scene, so we could have a better idea of who the characters were and how they interacted before being introduced to the best friend’s mom dynamic.

I couldn’t get behind the ending, the way Parker reacted to the news felt unrealistic with how her character seemed to be portrayed in such an immature manner from the start. I felt Parker was way too accepting of the situation, especially after all the lying and times Erin and Cassie went behind her back to be together. The miscommunication trope if also personally one of my least favourite, and this scenario could have been easily avoided with direct communication.

Overall I enjoyed the steam, and characters in the book. I simply felt things were awkwardly paced in some areas, and outside of the bedroom, many scenes seemed to fall flat. This was a 2.5 star read for me, but if you are looking for a book with F/F spice you have come to the right place.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

I didn’t know that I would be into MILFs or age gap books until I read Mistakes Were Made. This is one of the best and surprisingly wholesome new adult queer books I’ve read in a hot second.

Cassie goes off campus to escape her school's family weekend and ends up having a one-night stand in the back of a car with a woman that she picks up at the bar. The next morning she is asked by her friend to go to breakfast with her friend's mom and run interference. Plot twist: her friend's mom is the woman that Cassie slept with the night before.

Erin Bennett does not do one-night stands and of course with her luck that one time she does it ends up being a college senior who is friends with her freshman daughter. You can assume the chaos and mayhem that follows.

When Cassie and Erin keep running into each other, sexual tension ensues and they cannot stay away. Neither one of them wants to admit that they are into the other one and it is absolutely wonderful. The spice is immaculate. I am amazed that I kept a straight face at certain points. Actually, that’s a lie. I read most of this book while on a road trip home with my friend and I would semi-regularly flail (safely) in her car. This book is hot. I was hooked from start to finish. When there was a spicy scene in the first chapter of the book I knew I was in for a treat.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin, and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I read a lot of romance novels and I don’t think I’ve ever read one where the couple has sex in the first chapter, but it was so relatable. Also very hot. I’d say this book is a 3.5/4 out of 5 on the spicy scale. I love a forbidden romance and I loved the characters and how openly bi/queer they were and not one struggled with their sexuality, they just had normal romance struggles, like what to tell your bff when you screw her mom and then start a secret relationship… def would recommend.

A sapphic rom-com.

The morning after a really hot one night stand at an off-campus bar, Cassie realizes that she slept with her friend's mom. Unfortunately, the chemistry between them was amazing and the piar can't seem to keep their hands off of each other. But is a relationship really worth lying to her friend?

Mistakes Were Made features the classic rom-com tropes of: Secret Relationship, Forced Proximity, and Older Woman – Younger Woman.

I really wanted to like this book. Sapphic romance plus the tropes listed above tick most of my favourite romance novel boxes. Unfortunately, the characterization of Cassie and Erin fell really flat for me. Neither had enough depth to make me care about them. The stakes didn't feel high enough and very little else other than "secret relationship" was going on with the plot. I think this book would have fit better in the category of light erotica rather than a rom-com. I know Mistakes Were Made will hit the mark for a lot of people, but it just left me wanting more than it provided.

However, the smut in this book was on point and the female friendships were very well depicted.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

🌟Book Review🌟

I had read so much about this book, so I was absolutely ecstatic when I was approved to read this ARC. From start to finish, I was enraptured with this book and could not put it down.

Cassie is a college student who goes to the bar to avoid family weekend and ends up having an amazing, hot and steamy one night stand with an older woman. Then, she goes to breakfast with her best friend and her mom the next morning and sitting across from her is the hot, older woman she slept with.

Erin went to family weekend to be closer to her daughter, not to sleep with a hot college senior, especially not her daughter’s best friend. Cassie and Erin’s chemistry during the day and night is hard to resist.

Cassie’s confidence on every page blew me away and I found myself not only rooting for Cassie and Erin to fall in love and be together forever and ever, but I was anxiously waiting to see how the end would resolve. Erin and Cassie’s chemistry was explosive and I loved every moment of their time together. It did not disappoint and the spice was incredible. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to review this book.

-Maddy 💜

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Publishing for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

MILF book! MILF book! MILF book! I don't normally read romance but this was such a fun ride, with lovable, well-developed characters (and well-written steamy scenes). It was definitely tropey, but that was to be expected, and the genuine care put into characters and relationships made up for it. At the beginning I couldn't fathom how Erin and Cassie would realistically move from lust to a more committed romantic relationship, but their story flowed believably. My biggest issue was that some filler scenes (winter break!) were far too long and made the pacing drag. I also wish the whole Parker situation had involved less secrecy and miscommunication.

✨3/5✨
I'll keep this one short, the trope just wasn't doing it for us, apparently I'm not an age gap trope kinda gal. Also, pretty hard to believe that this student got hung up on her friend's mom after 2 hook ups. Usually here for the love at first sight, head over heels feeling, but just wasn't clicking for me. This one made it into the dnf pile, sad cause I wanted to like it.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Final Rating: 3.5 stars

Mistakes Were Made is a steamy, taboo romance filled with sizzling physical chemistry. When we are first introduced to Erin and Cassie, they have a heated one night stand in a bar. The following day they're both in for a shock when Parker introduces Erin as her mom to Cassie, her best friend. I enjoyed the writing in the book and the character development throughout the story, but the pacing felt a little off at times.

I wish that more time was spent on some of the background characters, especially Parker since her existence was a huge point of contention with the main couple. Since this is a taboo relationship I expected a strain in the relationship between Cassie, Erin, and Parker. However, there were a lot of instances where Cassie and Erin treated Parker badly since they prioritized each other and their physical relationship. Unfortunately, that made it more difficult for me to root for their relationship.

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

I received this book as an arc from Netgalley in trade for an honest review.

I adored this book. I loved Cassie and Erin. Their relationship was so fun to read about. I also loved that the author did not shy away from sex scenes.

I was very worried about the secret keeping, but I was very pleasantly surprised about how that conflict ended. I wasn't a huge fan of the miscommunication, but that's just a personal preference, though the author did write it very well. It wasn't exaggerated, it felt natural for the situation that they were in.

All in all, I loved this book and would totally recommend to a friend.

DNF is not for me. Got bored and did not like the mom and daughter friend hook ups. I didn’t know I was not going to like that trop. So I had to DNF it"

The MILF book! The infamous MILF book!

Cassie didn’t go to the bar expecting to hook up with anyone but she couldn’t take her eyes off the older woman across the room. Erin was just trying to have a drink while her ex husband had dinner with her daughter for the first night of family weekend. Neither of them planned on what happened in the backseat of Erin’s rental car.

What was agreed to just be one night bleeds over into the weekend because, by some funny twist of fate, Cassie is her daughters closest friend at school. Granted Cassie is a senior and her daughter Parker is a freshman. But what happens at family weekend stays at family weekend, right?

Plot: 4/5
I spent HOURS before reading this book puzzling out the age gap logistics and this is about what I expected. A young mom and a college senior. But then I spent the majority of the book trying to figure out the logistics of ANY possible way they could be together. I have never been so utterly stressed while reading a romance because of all the million ways this could go wrong and they could get caught.
Despite the immense stress I felt for like 80% of the book, the pacing was perfect, the plot was really well constructed. And for such a complicated age gap romance, it was done really well.

Characters: 3.75/5

Cassie has a delightful edge to her and she really does think like a college student who has experienced too much in her life. She so obviously has mommy issues but more in the sense that she became extremely mature and independent kinda way and not in an attracted to moms kinda way. Her being attracted to a mom is unrelated to her own mommy issues surprisingly. I found it so realistic how she was obsessing over how to rationalize what was happening because that is so what a twenty something would be doing.

I know Erin is a main character but I don’t actually too many thoughts about her. She’s still working on herself and going to therapy. It’s amazing to show how an adult/therapist relationship is healthy and what post divorce life is like for the parents. I see the chemistry between her and Cassie but I don’t think she has too much depth really.

Parker on the other hand really started to bug me with how oblivious she was to everything but especially Cassie’s family life. But damn did she redeem her self in terms of emotional maturity by the end.

Writing: 3.75/5
Wilsner is a very strong romance writer, I want to keep track of the spicy scenes so I could make a note in my review but I lost track! She’s got strong banter skills and the book is very dialog heavy. Which I enjoy but I felt like I was missing a lot of contextual details at certain points.
I enjoyed that this plot took place over a fairly long timeline but I think a more structured time line would have made it clearer like starting the chapters with dates or something.

Overall: 4/5
Mistakes Were Made delivered exactly what I expected it to, stress and spice included *chefs kiss*