Woah Woah Woah! This book is a total trip!

When this book was sold to me as "the milf book," could you blame me for expressing interest in it?

If you are a person who loves spice, this bad boy has a ton of it. The romance in the book focuses on a sapphic couple, and I really enjoyed how these characters were represented in the story.

The pacing of the novel was a little unstable a times, I wished some parts to move a little faster, and for others, I desperately wanted us to spend more time in a moment. This, however, wasn't a huge issue for me, just something to note.

I loved that the conflict in the plot didn't revolve around the characters being queer; this was refreshing, and I hope to see more of this in the future.

I hope that the fully published version of the book has taken out the sentences that included racial microaggressions because they do not need to be included in the book, in my opinion.

This book was really fun and spicy! I liked the characters a lot and I definitely did not get bored! I love the chemistry between Cassie and Erin. The book was also well written and just had the right balance of everything. I did not regret reading this at all!

Thanks to NetGalley for offering me an ARC

I enjoyed Mistakes Were Made even more than Wilsner's last book, Something to Talk About. I read this in one day, and it had everything I could've asked for. Lesbian representation? Check. Spice? Check. Lovable side characters and relationships? Check. I think this is a great romance release, and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I couldn't put it down!

Okay this is going on my favorites list. F/f MILF book? Say less. And it was so freaking GOOD. I'm definitely going to go into more depth on GR but whew. Read this one.

Thank you to Netgalley for approving my request for an advance copy!

I loooooved this book. I’m not usually into age gap relationships but everyone felt their age in this one, but also everyone felt like adults. All the characters were likeable and flawed in really realistic ways. I would definitely reread and recommend this, and might even buy the physical copy when it releases! I kind of wish there was more fun science talk about Cassie’s interests though! Even though the focus was the romance I still love when the main character’s interests and career and studies are a forefront.

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner

⭐️⭐️⭐️

* Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinsgriffin for providing a digital copy of Mistakes Were Made in exchange of a honest review.

I was expecting this one to be a fun summer Romance and I was happily surprised to found out it was so steamy! Definetly one to get you "hot and bothered" if that's what you are looking for. I liked the various representation, the fact that Cassie is persuing a scientif path and, of course, the friendship circle.

Mistakes Were Made is deliciously sapphic and seductive from the very first chapter. Cassie, a confident, sexy college senior, and Erin, a much older, successful, recent divorcee, can’t keep their hands off each other after meeting at a bar.The catch is that Erin is Cassie’s best friend Parker’s mom. The book then follows the pair as they try and fail to resist each other, sneaking behind Parker’s back to have the best sex of their lives.

This book is for anyone who likes morally gray characters, spicy sapphic romances, mommy issues, and MILFs. If you can get past the lying to your best friend/daughter about your relationship, the ending definitely pays off. My only gripe is that the pacing felt off at some points, randomly jumping weeks or just hours, giving a ton of detail then not much, but other than that I loved this book.

Mistakes Were Made is an adult sapphic romcom that follows Cassie, a college senior who one night “accidentally” hooks up her friends mom, Erin unknowingly. Mistakes Were Made follows Cassie and Erin as they have to constantly confront their feelings for each other, sneaking behind Parker’s back and decide if they are willing to take the risk and possible wrath from Parker to be together.

I really loved this book! The sapphics were fed with this spicy romcom. Like really this is probably the spiciest sapphic book I’ve ever read. This should be the blueprint! I think Cassie and Erin were super interesting characters. Both had some sort of trauma they had to deal with and confront before they decided to be together and I really appreciate that in a book. I will say this did take me a bit to get through because I felt like the pacing in the beginning was a bit wonky for me. I do think after the 30% mark was when things really took off. I really loved the sneaking around and trying to keep their friends with benefits relationship aspect of the story. I also just loved the romance between Cassie and Erin. They have chemistry, conversations and all that stuff that comes with dating (without admitting or recognizing that they were dating). I do think Parker was giving privileged/spoiled college student a bit too much sometimes.

Overall I really loved this!! I wasn’t the biggest fan of Something To Talk About (ended up DNFing it) so I’m so glad I was able to receive and e-arc of this and give the author a second chance.

I’m well aware of some weird racial comments that were randomly thrown into this book that weren’t needed but I do know that it was brought to tue authors attention and they are/have made changes before the final version of this book comes out in October!

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

Mistakes Were Made is a sizzling romance full of tropes executed in the absolute best way! The chemistry between Cassie and Erin is off the charts, and the friendships between Parker, Acacia, and Cassie really reflect the lives of college students and the bonds that may be tried but cannot be broken!

While it’s a fun summer romance vibe, the book also takes on the heavier side of secrets, love, and friendship. This addition makes the characters wholly human, allowing us to see their flaws and root for them anyway.

This story delivers in every category: romance, sex, friendship, and fun!! I would read more about every character and never be bored.

MISTAKES WERE MADE is every bit the fun, wild, steamy MILF rom-com that I was hoping for. I loved seeing Erin and Cassie's love story develop, and the tension throughout the book was perfect. This fills a much-needed gap in the sapphic adult rom-com space, and I would love to see more like it!

Can I just start by saying I absolutely adore this book? I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure about the huge age gap and friend’s mom concept at the start and at first I cringed at the awkward interactions, but by the end it was barely noticeable and the dynamics were perfect. It was slightly predictable though since there was so much of the book left and they were denying it ever happening again vehemently. The way they brought out the best in each other was adorable though. You can feel the love everyone has for each other, like Acacia's family and Cassie. I was a bit jealous of the fictional characters because I wanted to be at the party too, that’s the level of connection this book creates with the reader. I haven’t read many books of this trope before so the plot twist with Parker was a huge surprise. I love the way it had such a happy ending but I would have liked to see more of Erin’s friends feelings than just Rachel since there was so much build up. Selfishly, I wish the epilogue was longer because I didn’t want to see them go. Definitely a page turner!

read this book if you love: age gaps, MILFS, best friends MOM (!!!!!), a STEM MC

I am obsessed with this book! Love a book with an STEM/Engineering main character. the steam OH MY GOD chefs kiss amazing. i’m an engineer in the aerospace industry and the only thing that bothered me was that Cassie was taking Calc her last semester before graduating. Even if it was calc 3 i feel like she should have been done with it at the end of junior year at the latest because it’s usually a pre req for quite a few things and can sometimes be required before you even get to take upper level engineering classes.

5/5 stars i would recommend to everyone

I never thought I would read a milf love story in my life, but I did. Mistakes Were Made is about Erin and Cassie and their journey to accept that what they have is real.

I loved loved loved this book. As the first smutty sapphic book I have ever read, it put the bar so high. Why obsess with a fictional man when you can obsessed over fictional women? I don’t know what to say about it except sexy.

I loved how each characters were strong and had a story. Plus, the age difference wasn’t very noticeable when the two women were together which made the love story more relatable and real. Cassie and Erin’s connection was not forced and all of the small moments were as enjoyable as the big ones. It was just overwhelmingly cute.

I would absolutely recommend this novel 5/5.

Mom, Dad, please overlook this.

I was lucky enough to get this novel early from the publishers, and I mean it when I say lucky. I don’t usually go for romances/rom-coms, but this one was just too intriguing to pass up. I mean- a queer woman my age….getting a MILF(!?) and then it turns out she’s your best friends mom???? What anxiety inducing drama is this!? I- could not say no.
The characters were so dimensional for a short little romance, which is something I’m always afraid of when it comes to books like this. Will it be believable? Will the characters have enough time or description to feel like people? The answer for Mistakes Were Made, at least, was a pleasant yes. I enjoyed the characters quite a bit, they had a history, motives, and an understandable internal monologue. I read this in two short days while sick in bed- and let me tell you I wholly consumed it. It was fun, it was SPICY, and it was overall a great little read.
Being what it was, I was a little worried over how the conflict of the story was going to unfold and be handled. The story shares POV chapters between Erin and Cassie, so you get their ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ and it’s a true mess. I cannot handle conflict well, especially miscommunication tropes, but this one was truly manageable for me. It was just fun, and kind of sweet, and I ended up rooting for them both.
Minor spoilers now: The sex was plentiful, if you’re into that! It was good, being the first published lesbian romance novel I’ve read, though I was cringed out by the first sex scene, mayhaps from the shock that I experienced. HOWEVER, after that I was just *side-eye emoji*.
Moving back to the conflict- I’m rating this four stars because about 60% in I knew exactly where the book was going. After a certain point, it was not difficult to discern how the conflict would be presented and how it would be resolved. Let me tell you, Parker handled it far better than I believe anyone else on the planet would.
Friends of mine, please stay away from my mom.

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

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of Mistakes Were Made in exchange for my honest review.

If you are a fan of spice, then you will enjoy this. I am not the biggest fan of it (at least in excess) so I didn’t love this book, but I can definitely see people enjoying it. I loved the WLW aspect, but didn’t love the age gap.

There were a few sections that also felt…icky? I noticed at about 20% there is an almost throwaway line about how her mother was proud of her for having friends who were in an interracial relationship. Other reviews talk about this (and other instances) more in depth and I agree that they don’t feel right. Someone had said the author was planning on removing them before final publication.

Essentially I teetered between liking and not liking the story when I feel like I should have been much more into than I was. I wasn’t as invested into the characters as I had hoped.

Also very minor gripe, I didn’t like the switching between Acacia/Kaysh. It felt almost confusing in a sense because they were very different looking.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Ok. First and foremost, WARNING: you need privacy to read this book if you don’t want anyone walks by and accidentally read a spicy scene or if you tend to overreact like me and shriek like a pterodactyl.

This book is explicitly spicy. It wasn’t a con per se, just a surprise. I also hate myself for laughing at those dirty and corny jokes that some people might find a bit too much. Overall this book is a 4. It was a fun, endearing, and spicy read with some serious moments about family, friendships, and self-identity.

The goods:
- The sex >.> The playfulness/goofiness.
- And it wasn't just sex - their interactions were genuine and more than just physical attraction which makes the whole "friend's mom and a college student" none existent.
- There wasn't an imbalance in the power dynamic. Cassie was young but she was not a kid while Erin didn't patronize her nor baby her, sure she takes care of Cassie but like in a partner way and not a maternal figure kind of way.
- The relationships - friendships and family - seem realistic.
- Parker and Acacia and Rachel - I need more stories/interactions of them with Cassie and Erin. I need the birthday pedicure to be a thing now.
- The bisexual and queer representations: Cassie, Erin, and Parker are bi. There is a nonbinary background character.
- The minor representation of non-binary with a causal mention of top-surgery and T therapy. Unimportant to the storyline. I just thought it was cool that they were mentioned so casually as to indicate that non-binary people really exist.

The bad:
- There are too many names that probably aren’t important that I just scan over but they still distract me a bit.
- Acacia’s nickname, it’s kind of distracting when the writer keeps switching between her name and nickname in the same sentence or page. I rather the author strictly uses Kaysh in dialogs from Parker and Cassie (I think those two are the only ones who use it).

Other thoughts:
- I kinda want Erin to be younger, like in a 34-36 range. Idk why but I just find it’s unbelievable that having a kid at 20-yo was something Erin had to struggle with. It makes more sense to me that she was a teen when she got pregnant and that strained her relationship with her family which would make sense why it took her forever to divorce Adam.
- Also can I punch Adam? And the earthworm whose name I don’t care enough to remember …
- The ending was less dramatic than what I was expecting, but as long as it was a good ending, I was fine with it. Although, it did seem a bit rush even though I guess everything has been pointing to one ending from the start.

this was absolutely adorable. it was so well written and it felt very natural and realistic. even the smut felt real and flowed well. i loved the openness and acceptance of sexuality is this book as well. i also enjoyed the interactions with adam and the way the characters completely owned him. this was such a strong romance packed with tension and amazing characters.

I jumped the gun when requesting this ARC. I saw that gorgeous cover and that it was a queer romance and immediately requested it. Only after getting approved did I actually read the synopsis and realize it probably wasn't going to be my cup of tea. I assume that most readers will actually know what the book is about before reading and will be up for a "best friend's parent" romance and I think if that's what you're after you'll really enjoy this one. Despite the premise not being a good match for me, I still enjoyed the book. The writing was engaging, the characters were interesting and likable, and the chemistry between the MCs was hot. I also appreciated that some of the things I thought were inevitable with this kind of plot didn't play out the way I'd feared and I found that refreshing. There were also some great romantic lines. The epilogue did the thing I don't like epilogues to do, but it's pretty ubiquitous in romance so I can't really complain. Overall, I think readers will have a lot of fun with this one.

If you should know one thing about me, it's that I love MILFs. So as soon as I realized this book was about a MILF, I was extremely excited to keep reading. The book started off strong with a spicy scene in the first chapter and boy, it did not disappoint for the rest of the book. I devoured the book in just a few hours and can't wait to read more by this author!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy to review.

Where to start... minor spoilers coming

So I like how this opened up. I loved their meet-cute and was def here for it.

But then I kept reading.

I was not a fan of the writing style. I felt like we jumped from one time of the week to another in the span of one sentence. Now, there were stars breaking up some sections in the chapters - but it was super inconsistent, and hand no reason behind it.

But what I really didn't like was the miscommunication bullcarp.

I hated Parker - she was a spoiled brat and regardless of how angry you are at someone, ignoring them and not telling them ANYTHING is not a solution I will ever be a part of. There are always 3 sides to a story. 1. your side 2. their side and 3. what actually happened!

I did not like that Acacia basically ditch Cassie when Parker was in her pissy mood - Cassie legit has no one and you Acacia knows that. I am never ok with this.

I left this book feeling like I was in the worst days of my college life. When girls would just assume they knew everything and stop talking to their friends.

Because I'm not going to lie - with the way Parker was acting toward Cassie - I would have made that bitch begging to be my friend again. You HURT me - you don't just get my forgiveness.

Also, the fact that no one knows how to have a conversation about the hard stuff is infuriating. Erin cannot talk to anyone about things that make her uncomfortable. Cassie ignores everything. Parker decided she hates everyone and refuses to talk to them at all. Acacia was better out of everyone but she was shit to Cassie even if Cassie forgave her.

Also - why did we not get conversations about - Cassie's growing-up life? As we all know her mom sucks and her dad is unknown - but that's all inner monologue. She never told Erin any of that.

I just didn't like this at all. I'm so disappointed. I could go on but I'm just gonna let my rambled thoughts speak for themself. I'm going to reread something that makes me happy and doesn't bring up the bad parts of college...

But it feels like I am the minority...

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