This started slow and I originally found Lizzie's character to be annoying but she and the story definitely grew on me. I loved the realism (no happily ever after as far as her relationship with her Mom being repaired, which was sad but more true-to-life than if they'd suddenly reconciled). I loved the ending as well.

Glad I read the ebook, which I loved, first because I did not vibe with the voice of the male narrator for Aussie Rake in this audiobook.

I hate to say it but I did not like this book at all. I had a problem with how horny Lizzie is. It was just over the top and I was cringing every time she would make a dirty joke or talk about how much she wanted sex. I don't think that I have ever read a book with such a horny main character. To say it was over the top is an understatement.

Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake IS a favorite read for 2022. This book was a breath of fresh air. I loved this book so much!

This book is set in Philadelphia, according to Lizzie the greatest city in the world 😂Lizzie is a hot mess but I love her. She is coping with her ADHD as best as she can and I feel for her because dealing with a mental disorder is not easy. Rake is a hot Australian and he’s such a gentleman. He genuinely cares for Lizzie and supports her. It made me laugh, cry, I fell in love with Lizzie and Rake.

tropes:
✨ accidental pregnancy
✨ mental health representation
✨ family boundaries
✨ baking goodies 🍆🧁
✨ one bed & one shower 🥵
✨ dual POV

If you are a fan of accidental pregnancy trope then this is for you! Lizzie Blake’s best mistake is a fluffy romcom. We meet Lizzie, a baker in Philadelphia with ADHD. She made a mistake and lost her job. She prefers a one night stand over a serious relationship. She met a man online and they hit it off, so they spent a few nights together. Then she finds out she is pregnant. The problem is that Rake lives in Australia and was in town for business.
First of all, I love their chemistry. They both understand each other. I enjoyed how their relationship progresses. I also love the fact that there is mental health representation in this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC (audiobook) in exchange for an honest review.

My gosh this was such a treat! I love Mazey’s characters, their banter, and her ability to write about real problems. Altogether 10/10 experience!

Mazey Eddings is the master of fun one-liners and the swoony rom-com! Lizzie was such a great character to root for and I loved the love story so much!

Ultimately, I have very mixed feelings about Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. There were elements of the characters and the plot I really enjoyed, and elements of the characters and plot that frustrated me to no end. I was excited about the premise, especially as woman named Elizabeth who has ADHD, and I must say that Lizzie’s portrayal was a highlight of the book for me. She is chaotic, vibrant, forgetful and oh, so relatable. Her plans that never seem to stick, her to-do lists that she struggles to carry out, and her constant attempts at improvement felt like an accurate and realistic representation of ADHD. Lizzie’s insecurities were a common theme throughout the book and resonate not only with the experience of having ADHD, but also of transitioning into adulthood and learning how to create a life you want. My favorite part about Lizzie’s character is that while she does make progress on some of her goals regarding organization and punctuality, she ultimately doesn’t change to meet anyone else’s demands. The undercurrent of Lizzie baking promiscuous baked goods was fun & quirky and I would have liked to see it incorporated even more than it was.

The unexpected pregnancy trope is not a favorite of mine, and overall I was frustrated by it and couldn’t connect to it. I don’t buy into Rake moving from Australia to the US immediately after finding out Lizzie is pregnant for so many reasons, 1) what if something happens? This is very early in the pregnancy and she could very easily miscarry, etc. 2) why do you want to be with her now if you didn’t before? I don’t vibe with that. I understand that they are brought together by this baby and fall in love over time, but for me, this just fell a bit flat. I did however, love the chemistry between Lizzie and Rake. It was sexy and playful and I enjoyed watching their sexual chemistry and intimacy develop beyond the bedroom. Although, the start of their relationship left me wanting more, by the end I was sold.

Another point of mixed feelings for me were Lizzie’s friends and family. Her friends and brother in particular undergo a lot of growth regarding their treatment of Lizzie and how they respect her, which I thought was admirable, but it frustrated me that those changes even needed to happen. Her parents offered no emotional support to her growing up or as an adult and expected her to conform to their idea of a perfect daughter, expressing their disappointment loudly when she ultimately fails. Her brother who is present throughout her childhood never seems to notice and it takes his wife pointing it out for him to realize the unfair treatment towards Lizzie. Eventually, he begins to make a real effort to connect with her, and their relationship improves, which felt strained and a bit uncomfortable, but very realistic. The growth was a positive and I appreciated that sibling relationships can be complex, but I still felt that he should have done better. Lizzie’s friends also treat her like a child, and question her decisions in methods similar to her mother. It was infuriating to read the way they spoke to her and responded to her decisions. While they also developed, apologized, and realized that Lizzie was an adult, it felt very late considering these were friendships that were supposed to have existed for years. I found myself significantly more frustrated with her friends than her family because these are people that she chose and that chose her. Surely, they could have made more of an effort early on.

The explanations of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Rejection Sensitivity Disorder (RSD) were simultaneously beneficial if you did not know about them, but also blocky and disruptive to the overall flow of the book. I found these explanations and descriptions to be a bit frustrating myself, but as someone who has been through the process of diagnosis and is quite familiar with both I am hesitant to speak too loudly against these descriptions. I think that if you are not familiar with ADHD, RSD, and their symptoms, then these explanations were likely very helpful for understanding the context of the book.

The narration in this audiobook was also hit or miss for me. I’m not going to lie. When the narrators started doing their interpretations of Australian accents, I almost DNF-ed this one on the spot. Instead, I stuck it out, since the accents are only a small portion of the narration and am glad that I did. I enjoyed the separate male and female narratives to represent each character’s perspective because it added clarity for the listener. Overall, there was a lot I liked and a lot I disliked about this audiobook and I’m left still trying to sort out my overall thoughts on it.

Shoutout to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy of this audiobook. Note: I have not read a Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings and don’t know if it would have altered my opinions on this book at all.

The second installment in the series is a hit!
Lizzie’s story is so moving. It brought perspective to a very common condition that is severely misunderstood. I, for one, had no idea of everything that goes in the brain of an adult with ADHD. I had the feeling that it was severely exaggerated but I guess that every case is different. It is a wonderful and wholesome story. I cannot wait for the upcoming book. I went to the bookstore on publishing date and picked it up because it was that good!

Lizzie Blake has made a lot of mistakes - no need to list them all. But after losing another job because of her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks the “no more than a one night stand” rule, and ends up pregnant. Rake, the two might stand in question, uproots his life in Australia to make sure he can be in his child’s life. From their meeting to co-parenting, they are in for the ride of a lifetime.

I have never read a character I could relate to more, while simultaneously being almost nothing like Lizzie herself. Her inability to keep track of time, her passion, and a bag filled with anything and everything(guilty as charged) were great details and showed her ADHD rather than us hearing about it as a description.

Lizzie and Rake were adorable, as they tried to navigate living together, prepping for their newborn and adamantly denying feelings for each other. I could fall into this book again and again!

Love LOVE Lizzie and Rake. What a cute funny story. It kept me entertained and laughing. It also had me feeling sad with how Lizzie grew up and how her parents treat her. I thought this was well written and the narrators did a fabulous job, especially on the Australian accent which helped bring Rake to life. Lizzie struggles with adult ADHD which can lead people to think she is chaotic and lazy. It was nice that this book shined a light on this topic, which was new to me. I thought the author did a good job explaining that within the story. The chemistry between Lizzie and Rake was palpable and I really enjoyed their story.

This book was super enjoyable and had me cheering on the main character, Lizzie. It focuses on Lizzie and how she handles her ADHD and how it can effect her day to day life. In doing so, we follow her through an unplanned pregnancy.

Triggers warnings: emotional abuse, cheating, abortion

As someone that was only diagnosed with ADHD a little over a year ago, I felt absolutely seen in this book. The feeling of always being too much to people. Trying out lots of different jobs because you get bored easily. Even being a baker. (Yes, I went culinary school and was a professional baker for years. I only realized recently that doing that was totally fueled by my ADHD.)

This book was also hard to read at times, just because it felt so familiar. The way Lizzie is treated by her parents broke my heart, especially because I've been told similar things about by my own family.

I'm so glad this book exists and I will be telling all my fellow neurodivergent friends about it.

I was super unsure about this one when I started reading reviews and heard that it features my most (typically) dreaded romance trope… pregnancy! However, I was pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed this love story! I really liked Lizzie’s character - I found her to be extremely relatable and loved that we got to experience her self-discovery journey and watch her learn to use her ADHD as a super-power in the baking world!

Lizzie and Rake had this naturally flirty and endearing connection that gave me all the butterflies and they kept me laughing all the way through this “will they, won’t they” journey to love!

The narration was excellent and I would highly recommend listening to this story on audio!

After a weekend fling, Lizzie finds out she’s pregnant. After telling Rake, he decides he wants to be involved. They agree to platonic co-parenting and we get a first hand look at what that is like for them.

It took a bit for me to get I to this book. Lizzie has ADHD, so I do think that taking the time to make sure readers got a good sense of what that looks like for her and her life is important. Something about it didn’t feel like the story was going anywhere though, so I didn’t have that ‘I had have to keep reading’ feeling until the actual pregnancy discovery.

After that though, I really liked it and did want to keep reading. Lizzie and Rake both felt like real people with real emotional baggage and challenges in life. I was also drawn to the fact that this was a good example of why opposites attract is a thing. There was a balance between them.

One thing that really stood out was the fact that Rake didn’t make assumptions or judge Lizzie about things related to her ADHD. It can be difficult for people without the same challenges to understand, but he took the time because he cared about her. So, not only did I like the representation of ADHD in this, but I also like the portrayal of what a good partner looks like.

The narrators, Summer Morton & Will Peters we’re both excellent. I will definitely listen to more of their work.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Mazey Eddings for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book but I was hoping for a little bit more. I was a tad bored through most of it. The characters were relatable and the storyline progressed at a steady pace. Perhaps I'm just not a fan of the way the characters were brought together. That's on me. The author did great for what she was going for.

Just a heads up that if the unplanned pregnancy trope is not your preference, then skip this one. I didn't mind that and I knew that going into this book, but it's not something I'm normally drawn to.

I did enjoy the writing. I really liked Brush With Love so maybe I had too high of expectations but this one just missed the mark for me. I didn't feel much connection between the characters and some things felt too over-the-top, in my opinion.

I did enjoy the ADHD representation and I can totally relate to so many of Lizzie's struggles. I also enjoyed her family dynamic and how she handled that. Oh, and her bakery job? Loved it! I'll still read the next book because I like this group of friends.

If you do read this, try the audiobook because that Australian accent is pretty good.

Got an ARC audiobook on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was a great story and was a fantastic audiobook! My one complaint was that I disliked that Rake spoke in an Australian accent but thought in an American accent. 5 stars - great book!

Sadly, this one wasn’t for me. I was looking forward to this one because I love a good accidental pregnancy but this one didn’t do it. I listened to the audiobook and will say both narrators did a fantastic job. From the first page I found myself struggling with this one. My biggest problem was with the characters, the writing, and the overall ‘conflict’. Both characters felt too unrealistic and I never felt any true love between them. Their relationship felt forced and relayed too much on lust and instant-attraction/obsession. The writing felt repetitive and the dialogue seemed over the top in most conversations. I will say, I do love the cover. Overall, I’ve seen really high praise for this one so I’m definitely in the minority. If you enjoy a book that is mostly smut and little plot then you might enjoy this one. While I don’t mind smut, I do like there to be some foundation and I want to feel invested in the characters.

Thank you so much @stmartinspress & @macmillan.audio for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What I liked: The ADHD education I got in this book! Lizzie is a very relatable character. I also absolutely loved how Rake and Lizzie met, especially the banter/flirting part of it.

What I didn't like: Ugh the dreaded surprise pregnancy trope haha. It's just so hard to get into a story if the entire books revolves around a pregnancy. Some of the side characters were annoying, especially Lizzies mom. I'm glad that Lizzie stood up for herself and that Rake did as well. I also wasn't super into their relationship after the hookup/surprise baby. The playful energy from when they first met was nonexistent.