I loved Mistakes Were Made so much! It was fun and sexy and was exactly what I wanted it to be.

The characters were well thought out and established and whilst I didn't agree with some of their actions, they were consistent within their character's actions.

I did find Parker a bit underutilised. She was the main thing coming between Cassie and Erin and I thought this could have been used a bit more.

This book took a popular trope and put a fresh and unique spin on it. I think there was a lot that was great with the book in terms of representation however there were some moments that fell flat in terms of mentions of toxic diet culture? It like almost didn’t make any sense to be there - it was really easy to miss but certainly s stuck out to me and felt unnecessary. Overall, a great read that offers positive representation for an age gap trope but definitely need the mentions of toxic diet culture removed from the final book.

This book was okay. I liked the cover and that’s what interested me, but the beginning of the story just wasn’t for me. The whole best friends mom is just not my vibe, I thought I would end up liking it but it was just an ok book for me.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Meryl Wilsner, and Netgalley for an e-arc of Mistakes Were Made in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book a lot. I was expecting fun MILF smut, but I was not expecting the book to be PURE SMUT! It has sex scenes galore. Which is wonderful and it makes the tension really suspenseful. Do I wish there was more plot and struggle? Yes. Did I skim through one or two of the sex scenes because there was so many? Maybe.

The biggest problem with this book, as said by my friends of color who have previously reviewed this book, have mentioned their frustrating with one or two unnecessary comments about Blacks and Asians. There is one referencing how she had a black friend and thought it was cool or something that she was woke and it was just dumb. And the other was about the scene in the nail salon. Again, just unnecessary and not nice comments about race & ethnicity.

This is a fun book if you like older women, lesbian smut, and live in Virginia. As someone from the New River valley I laughed that is where the made-up college is from. It’s a good one if you just want spice but it could’ve done without one or two scenes for my own personal taste.

If you take the unnecessary comments out, the book will be splendid.

Cassie, a senior in college, is just looking for an escape from the dreaded campus family weekend. And who better to provide that escape than Erin, the sexy older woman standing just across the bar.
Erin is desperate for a distraction after dropping her daughter off with her ex husband for the evening and when young, hot, mysterious Cassie, catches her eye, she can't resist.
When the two reunite at breakfast after a spur of the moment hookup, they must fight to hide their secret affair from one of Cassie's closet friends. Who just so happens to be Erin's daughter.
Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner is the new Sapphic rom-com to beat! The sexy love affair between Cassie, a college senior, and Erin, the mom of her closest friend, follows the classic ups and downs of the rom-coms of today without shying away from the taboo.
The most compelling element of my new favorite sapphic read: it's not a coming out story.

I don’t know what possessed my brain to think that requesting a copy of the MILF book was a good idea, but I did it, and I got it a day later, and I read it a couple of days later after that.

Yes, I knew, going into the book, that it was a romance between a college senior and her friend’s mom. And I knew that that there are approximately six to eight sex scenes. And I even knew that some of these sex scenes would take place somewhat in public.

In case you didn’t know: I am aromantic and asexual. While I do read plenty of books with sex scenes in them, I have an upper limit as to how much I can read without getting a little uncomfortable.

And yet, here we are.

Cassie Klein, a senior in college, has an earth-shatteringly good hookup on Parents Weekend with a hot older woman she met in a bar. Come to find out the next day, her hookup was Erin Bennett, her best friend’s roommate’s mother. They’re happy to keep this a one night stand, but as the year goes on, Cassie and Erin can’t seem to stop talking to each other. (Among other things.)

I don’t even know what to say about this book. It was actually incredible. Meryl Wilsner is a fantastic writer, and I applaud their ability to write an entertaining story with a forbidden romance that was not based in racism or homophobia. Pretty much the entire plot hinges on Cassie and Erin trying to keep their relationship a secret from Erin’s daughter, but somehow, it works.

It’s a little ridiculous. It’s very, (very, very) raunchy. It is unabashedly bisexual. As a college student myself, yeah, it was really weird for me to think about someone my age hooking up with and dating a person in their late thirties. But somehow, against all odds, it worked.

“Mistakes Were Made” comes out on Oct. 11, 2022. I received an early copy from St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Meryl Wilsner's earlier novel, Something To Talk About, is one of my favourites so I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of their new book! This one has all of Wilsner's excellent character development and writing, with a lots of extra spice! Absolutely loved this one. Thank you!

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m so gay. While I take issue with certain plot points and the way certain people of color were referred and used, this books was almost all it was hyped up to be. I want more books like this now.

Either this was the wring book for me or I was the wrong reader for it. I'm giving it three and a half stars, rounded up to four, in an effort to evaluate how it would be for someone who didn't have my particular idiosyncratic issues with it, and I'll let you know what they were and you can see whether they'll affect you or not.

I really, really loved Something to Talk About, Wilsner's previous book, so I was excited to get the ARC for this. What I hadn't counted on was that the premise is a major squick for me. I have teenage (though pre-college) kids myself, and it turns out that a story about a college student's parent having an affair with one of their kid's friends, even a 20-year-old legal adult just hits a little too close to home.

The other thing that got me was that the two of them spend a lengthy portion of the book continuing in their connection even though they think it's the wrong thing to do. I don't really like reading about people who are doing something that's against their ethical judgment. To be clear, it's more that they're keeping the secret from the daughter/friend that feels wrong to them, not the age gap per se.

Other than those two issues, the book is well executed. The writing is crisp and lively, the characters are well-drawn, the sex is plentiful and hot (and lets hear it for 40-ish women having all the hot sex, amirite?) and we definitely get to see some good pining.
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There was one emotional conflict that got handled off-page and related to the reader after the fact, and I'd like to have seen that hand;ed differently, but except for that, if the age gap and the I-shouldn't-but-I-want-to-and-I-can't-stop-myself thing don't make you want to nope out, I recommend this book. For some people, the characters being so attracted that they can't stop from doing something they think is unwise could even be a draw.

Another 5 Star book by Meryl Wilsner. Mistakes were made starts off with a bang, literally. Cassie meets a beautiful older woman at a bar and takes her “home”, its not until later that she realizes that the same woman she had a mind-blowing night with is her friend’s mom. Wilsner wastes no time, immediately plunging you into the drama that follows sleeping with your best friend’s mother. The taboo relationship sets the groundwork for a book full of drama.

This book has been highly anticipated by me, after reading Wilsner’s debut book “Something to talk about”. I felt “Mistakes were made” took what I loved from that book and improved it. The characters are even more likable, the relationship is just as gratifying, and you aren’t waiting the entire book for something to happen. If you are a fan of age-gap romance or are looking for a fun sapphic book that will have you grinning stupidly in public, then check this book out.

Without delving too far into spoilers, my biggest criticism of the book is the pacing. The book starts off strong, and immediately plunges you into the life of Cassie and Erin, as they struggle to define their relationship, and deal with the implications of such a large age gap in a relationship, not to mention the implications of being romantically involved with someone who is friends with you child. After you are thrown into the deep end, the book slows down a lot, and for a relationship that is so “taboo” there is surprisingly little actual conflict in the book.

I felt Wilsner handled the relationship very well, they don’t shy away from how such a relationship may seem, and really make the couple believable as a pair. I particularly like how Erin being attracted to another woman is handled. The main conflict is not that she is attracted to a younger woman, but simply that she is seeing someone much younger than her. Which is very refreshing to have queer literature that isn’t about coming out. If you want a fun, steamy, and heartfelt story of two woman falling in love check out this book, or if you just like MILFS, also check out this book.

Wow, this book had a lot in terms of romance! I was happily surprised given Something To Talk About was more slow burn. The plot was enticing at first, but then it turned into your average adult romance. This wasn't necessarily a bad for me because I enjoy this genre. I wasn't particularly captured by either of the main characters, but they were interesting enough to keep reading. I would definitely read a second book about Parker's love life! Overall, I recommend this book if the plot sounds interesting to you and you like steamy romance!

I LOVED this book!! I braced myself for a very difficult ending, but I was so pleased with the wrap up. This is the second book I read by Meryl Wilsner and I am a big fan! This book has everything: steam, forbidden romance, and friendship.

I am so thankful to NetGalley for sending an ARC of this book. It was on my list of must reads this year.

I was lucky enough to read this early and I’m so glad I did because I need to be able to tell others to READ THIS BOOK! This book follows Erin and Cassie as they find their way through their forbidden romance as Erin is the mother to Parker, one of Cassie’s best friends. It was a beautiful ride and I enjoyed every bit of it. Seeing Cassie work through her issues (though it could’ve happened sooner and it would’ve been nice to see her in therapy) was nice because she wasn’t ever oblivious to them. She knew they were there and knew what they were but chose to ignore them and instead kind of use them as armor and I can appreciate that more than just being oblivious because it’s real. Most everyone takes things that happen to us and use them as a means to protect ourselves down the road and while it isn’t always healthy it is what happens and it’s relatable. Erin being over 30 and just now figuring her stuff out hits so close to home. Her reasoning behind getting a divorce was so simple and so significant to me because it’s one that people think is weak but IT’S IMPORTANT!! Don’t stay in relationships and situations that don’t make you happy! As parents, our kids see us unhappy and learn from it whether they choose to do the same or opposite. We don’t want our kids staying in unhappy situations so why do we? I loved what Erin was trying to instill in Parker and I love that Parker got it and could see the difference in made on her mom. I typically get bored with long books because I feel like they’re almost always filled with details I don’t want or need and it takes away from the story but while the same can be said for some portions of Mistakes Were Made, it never took away from the overall story. Also, Acacia deserves some type of award for being such an amazing friend.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

What a sexy little read! I go absolutely nuts for two main characters who crackle with so much chemistry that they can't keep their hands off of each other no matter how much they try. This book has layers on layers of angst and drama and it is steamy all over. I was gripped from moment one and absolutely NEEDED to know how it was all gonna work out, what an incredible ride.

This was a good read. I like the premise of it, it was original. I was able to keep with the characters and like the open and honest dialogue they had.

Eeeeee I really liked this one. It was sexy, sweet, and all around a good time. When I heard the concept of the main character hooking up with a woman who turns out to be her friend’s mom, I was hooked. This book was steamy, omg. However, along with the steam, it also had some really cute moments as well. I will say, there were some moments that felt a little repetitive, like I just wanted them to stop tiptoeing around and admit their feelings for each other. But overall I really liked the characters and the story!

I was able to read Meryl Wilsner's Something to Talk About early last year through NetGalley and I thought it was pretty exceptional. When I heard that she was going to drop another book in 2022, I was ecstatic. When I found out that it was about a college student accidentally hooking up with her BEST FRIEND'S MOM...I started legitimately checking NetGalley every single day until it dropped.

Not only did Mistakes Were Made meet my expectations but it *exceeded* them. Cassie Klein is a college senior. She has lofty but attainable goals of being an aerospace engineer. During the first evening of her college's Family Weekend, Cassie ends up hooking up with an attractive older woman fully expecting to never see her again. The following morning, one of Cassie's best friends--Parker--asks her to join her for breakfast with her mom and she is floored to see none other than Dr. Erin Bennett at the table.

Erin is a successful doctor with a strained relationship with her daughter. Parker blames Erin for the divorce that happened between her parents and Erin hasn’t figured out the best way to bridge that gap. When Erin heads to a bar, she goes to one far from campus to avoid something messy happening. (Un)fortunately, love always finds a way.

After their passionate first encounter, Erin and Cassie swear that they will not risk their respective relationships with Parker based on a fiery connection. Will they be able to stay apart? Is what’s between them just sex or the potential for something more?

Y’all. I cannot rave enough about this book. It was phenomenal. This is going to be one that I read and reread because I just love everything about it. Erin and Cassie are both dynamic characters. They are relatable and multi-faceted. The additional characters are beautifully fleshed out to create a fully actualized story. On top of this…it is hot. It is so hot. I kept going back and rereading scenes. Ugh. All of you should read this and hype it up because it is GREAT.

**BIG, big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

i was recommended this book by a friend, but i personally think that the best friend's mom is not a trope for me! I also did not like the third person pov. it felt like a wattpad story :/

Wow. I loved this book. Aside from being deliciously MILF-y, the character development was rich and satisfying! I couldn’t help but feel just as intensely for these characters as I was meant to. I highly recommend this book to any sapphic romance lover— I personally am a sucker for Wilsner’s style. I received this book as an ARC, and I am reviewing it because I want to.

This one was super cute! I do have some minor issues, but as a whole, it was a super cute and fun read.

And I don't usually say this, but one of the things that bugged me was the sheer amount of smut. Smut can be great in a book, it's what makes some books. And this one had some great smut. There was just too much of it. I wish we couldve had more conversation/interaction between Parker, Erin, and Cassie instead. It's a personal preference thing, but the constant smut threw me out of the book.

Another thing was the taboo romance. Now, I know, it's literally stated in the synopsis. I can't complain about it. And I can't! I really enjoyed it. I just can't thing too hard about it, or I start getting kinda creeped out. (Age gap is just a bit too wide for my tastes...)

But other than those minor complaints, I really enjoyed this book! The romantic interactions were adorable, the friendships were super sweet, and the plot was addicting. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this author in the future, they have a lot to offer

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!