I really wanted to like this one, as I enjoyed Wilsner's debut (and their twitter presence!), and I will say that the characters are well-drawn and the writing is engaging, as I expected. Unfortunately I just couldn't convince myself to believe in the relationship at the center of the novel, so it fell a bit flat and felt uncomfortable to read. Obviously this is a result of my own hangups about large age-gap relationships, not an inherent problem with the book—if age-gaps is a preferred trope for you, the audiobook narration is great.

I finished this book so quickly.. it was spicy, forbidden romance vibes and a little emotional rollercoaster. A fun read!

This book seems to be really popular, and it is super sexy. Unfortunately I wasn't that into the story or the characters. I wanted to love it but I just don't love the idea of an adult pushing 40 and a college student, especially one who's your kid's friend. I understand that's what makes the drama of it all, but I couldn't get totally on board with it. I preferred Wilsner's first book and will continue to give their books a chance because it's entirely possible this simply wasn't a match for me.

Meryl Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made is the ultimate best friend's mom romance, a heartwarming, sweet & super spicy story that'll easily be going down as one of my favorite romances of the year!

Cassie & Erin had scorching chemistry right from the beginning, when I tell ya'll the steam starts pretty much instantaneously, I'm not kidding. But this was so much more than just a steamy best friend's mom romance, Wilsner gave both women so much depth & the character development throughout the story was amazing - their balance of sexy & charming moments throughout the story was perfection & I love that they allowed breathing room for Cassie & Erin's relationship to develop into something more. The dual POVs worked incredibly well here, both women were fully realized with their own hopes, dreams & fears, & it was so beautiful seeing them work towards finding their own happiness, both within themselves & with each other. This may get semi-spoilery, so read the next few sentences with caution. I'm so, so thankful there wasn't a third act breakup here, it really strengthened the relationship between Cassie & Erin & the story as whole - & without getting too much into it, I really admired Parker's reaction to everything, her & Acacia are truly BFF goals. & of course, I've got to give an audiobook shoutout - both narrators, Quinn Riley & Stephanie Németh-Parker, did an amazing job bringing the story life, highly recommend checking out the audio if you're an audiobook person!

All in all I had a great time listening to this & it really took me by surprise in the best possible way, I can't wait to check out more of Wilsner's work in the future! & thank you so much NetGalley, Meryl Wilsner, & Macmillan Audio for providing an ALC in exchange for a honest review!

Review: Mistakes Were Made 🥃

By: Meryl Wilsner
Published: October 10, 2022

Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape her school’s Family Weekend and buying an older woman a drink turns into a steamy hook up. Erin Bennett came to her daughter’s school’s Family Weekend to help improve their relationship and ended up hooking with a younger woman the night before she plans to take her daughter and her friend out to breakfast. Turns out, Cassie is Erin’s daughter’s friend and that one time fling is impossible to ignore.

🔥🥰🔥🥰🔥

Well, well, well…this book! I was gagged by the premise: hooking up with your best friend’s mom and then keeping it going in secret - the scandal! 💀

It was equal parts spicy and sweet, but veryyyyyyyy spicy and veryyyyyyyy sweet! I truly was shook by the steam in this book, but, also, wow - I’m so gay. The lesbian steam was HOT and did absolutely nothing for me 🤣🤣🤣

This book really hits you in the feels and makes you think about what’s important and what do you sacrifice for those you love.

I really wanted to like this as I think Wilsner is great and I enjoyed the heck out of their debut. Unfortunately, I really, really struggle with age gap romances sometimes and this was one of those sometimes. It's the way you have one actual true grown ass adult and one college student who really doesn't know anything yet. I have no issue with a one night stand on their parts, I have an issue with the believability of turning this one night stand into a relationship. At the end of the day, this romance just wasn't for me and I probably should have known better.

Mistakes Were Made has a fun and fresh premise–college senior accidentally hooks up with best friend’s mom… and it delivered in all the best ways!

Cassie buys a drink for a stranger during her college’s Family Weekend, shares a steamy hookup, and later finds out Erin is actually her best friend Parker’s mom. They try and fail to resist the attraction and start sneaking around together, doing the long-distance thing and trying to figure out how they can work long-term.

I was only kind of weirded out that Erin was younger than me and already an empty nester… meanwhile I have a preschooler lololol. Despite that, it was a good story. The bi heroines have really great chemistry with plenty of steamy scenes. I also enjoyed their individual growth arcs.

The audio worked really well for me. It’s a dual POV with two narrators– Quinn Riley as Cassie and Stephanie Nemeth-Parker as Erin. Quinn’s narration was a little softer, Stephanie’s a little lower, slightly raspier. Each had a distinct enough voice to tell the characters apart.

It’s just shy of 12 hours. It could have been a tad shorter imo, but I still got through the story in a couple of days. Thanks to Macmillan Audio and SMP Romance for review copies!

It’s Family Weekend at Cassie Klein’s school, and she wants no part of it. At an off-campus bar, she picks up a beautiful, older stranger and has an amazing one-night stand. The next morning when one of her two best friend’s drags her along to quell the awkwardness of hanging with her mom, Cassie is shocked to find the woman from the night before sitting across from her. Erin Bennett wasn’t planning on a one-night stand with a college senior, and she certainly wasn’t prepared for said one-night stand to be her daughter’s best friend. The two get along, however, and as they spend more time together, they find that there’s no way to ignore what happened. Both will have to make some tough choices to keep their relationship with each other and Erin’s daughter.

I loved this book so much! It was so fun and awkward and hot and funny. Also, some genuine feels and bonding throughout, win win. I’m a sucker for an older-younger queer romance, and the hilarity of finding your bff’s mom sitting next to you after having an anonymous one night stand with her the night before was cringe and funny for me. I liked the tension building of their relationship, which can sometimes be difficult to do when the characters hook up too early in the book, but Wilsner handles that and the pacing flawlessly in this romantic romp. Highly recommend if you want to have some fun and escape the doldrums of the dumpster fires right now.

Y’all this book was everything. It was funny, sapphic, and spicy. I laughed and I cried.

It’s been dubbed the “MILF book” and I can definitely see why. If you read the author’s debut, Something to Talk About, this is a complete 180. Where that book is a slow burn, this is the opposite. I was blushing.

Cassie is a college student who escapes to a bar outside of town to avoid Family Weekend at school where she hooks up with a hot, older woman. What she doesn’t know? The older woman is her friend’s mom!!

I loved it so much. And the audiobook narration is fabulous.

Recommended if you like:
-sapphic rom-coms
-age gap trope
-friend’s parent trope
-forbidden romance
-forced proximity
-women in STEM
-open door romance
-single parent trope

All the stars.

After reading this book, I wanna find my person to go SCUBA diving with. IYKYK.

Thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and the author for my ALC copy. Mistakes Were Made is out now!

Cassie just wanted to forget Family Weekend and her own lack of family for the night, so why not hook up with the hot older woman at the bar? Except hot older woman turns out to be Erin, the most unforgettable one night stand and mom to one of Cassie's best friends. Everyone can pretend nothing happened, right? Wrong. Cassie and Erin have a magnetic pull, one that oozes with lust. While they're pretending it's just lust and trying to keep it a secret, Cassie and Erin discover commonalities, trust, and a relationship neither can deny wanting. As things heat up the secret gets harder to keep and both will have to come to terms with their feelings about themselves and about one another.

Meryl Wilsner said, "you want lesbian spice? I'll give you lesbian spice," and then gifted us all with Mistakes Were Made. It was somehow both totally romantic and completely naughty, especially on audio. Hot co-ed meets hot older woman is the dream fantasy, right? So of course Mistakes Were Made was perfect from the get go, but I didn't know how it would be anything beyond that and I am still, two weeks out from reading, flabbergasted by just how good this book was. Wilsner gives us hook up drama, friendships, coming of age, wild nights out, and heartbreakingly sappy love all in one book and I don't know that I can capture in words how reading this felt. Do I feel seen? Yes. Do I feel like I fell in love too? Yes. Do I want to listen to the smut scenes again? 1000% yes. I cried, I smiled, I had to pause and tell myself to not get turned on, because I couldn't be distracted from the storyline. It was everything I didn't know I needed in a book and I want to make everyone read it.

I went in blind and I ended with a new favorite book and a new favorite author. Wilsner captured the identity of self and the hoops we go to to fit into others' boxes so perfeclty. They captured the soul-aching desire for love, acceptance, and total fear of it at the same time. Mistakes Were Made is a total smutty, swoon-fest with laugh out loud scenes and character development that made it all come to life. I can't say enough and yet nothing I say (or type) can capture how much I love and appreciate this book.

Audio - FANTASTIC. The narrators were so perfect, they both captured their respective character so well and I listened to this as fast as possible. Great in 1x, 1.3x and 1.5x speed.

Wow. Just wow. this was such a fun and flirty read!!! I am not typically a romance reader but this book has made me more intrigued with the genre for sure! I will absolutely be on the lookout for more reads from this author!!

This is the MILF book! It was super hot, fun and flirty to read! I did listen to the audiobook for this title so thank you to the publisher and producers for and early audio arc!

If you're in a slump or just looking to add another queer title to you TBR This one should definably be on your radar!

You follow Cassie a senior in college just looking for a fun distraction at her local bar. She spots Erin, an older women who seems mature and ways to hot for Cassie. After a fun one night hook up they think they'll never see each other again but what they don't know is they have someone who connects them in a hilarious way.

It was spicy, it was funny. I cried and related to Cassie in so many ways with her family, her self-image and impostor syndrome. Erin is really the embodiment of Bad bitches have bad days but they're still intelligence, hot, funny and caring- Even with a "good intentions but poor execution"
P.s There's a shower scene <3

I enjoyed this! Good writing and fun to read! Very steamy which was great. I think readers who are put off by the trope will find it uncomfortable for that reason, but if you enjoy it it's really fun!

I really enjoyed this spicy sapphic rom-com. It's an age gap romance between a 38 year old single mother and a 21 year old college student.

I liked Cassie and Erin, I was able to connect with both of them. I wish we got more of Cassie's back story since it had such an impact on who she was and the decisions she made. Their story was entertaining and cute. The secret had me waiting for the shoe to drop.

The narration was really well done and both did a great job bringing the characters to life.

DNF at 40%

I was expecting a lot more depth from this book, but honestly, it's just a whole lot of smut without much else. And while I am all for smut in books, I think this book had a lot of potential given its premise, but alas, it was a let down.

A college senior has a one nightstand with a hot older woman at bar off campus. Feeling refreshed the next day, she tags along for breakfast with her best friend to meet her mom. Surprise! Her hot one night stand is her best friend’s mom!

I absolutely adored this book. It was such a cute sapphic age-gap romance. Through the attempts of communication, sexual tension, & and emotional strife we see their relationship moves from a one nightstand to something more. Of course they don’t see it progressing to more feelings due to societal standards on age and of course the road block of the best friend/daughter. This steamy romance was well done.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Erin and Cassie have a one night stand, not expecting to see each other ever again. That only lasts a few hours though when Cassie shows up to brunch with Parker, Erin's daughter. Obviously nothing can ever happen again....right??

Let me tell you, the tension and chemistry between Erin and Cassie was off the charts! It definitely has the typical trying to hide the chemistry from everyone else made the tension that much more. And oh my, the spice. THE SPICE! I was definitely blushing listening to this audiobook at times.

The main drawbacks for me were there were a couple of plot lines that seemed a little far fetched for me, so if you can look past the likelihood of things happening, it's great! The other drawback is that I felt the ending, which I loved, was rushed. I wish there was more time spent getting there.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Y’all know I LOVE me an age gap romance, so when I saw this, I immediately added it to my TBR. And then when I got the email saying I was approved for it, I legit started dancing. Getting with your bestie’s mom just sounds better than getting with your ex’s dad lol

Ok so first things first, the romance. Usually when I write reviews for romances I talk about the characters individually and then together. But this one STARTS with the romance, so I feel like it’s only right to start here. I LOVED THEM TOGETHER….. Even if I did feel like they were trash for lying lol Ok so hear me out. Age gap romances stress me out. Like all of em. I always bite off all my nails and wait for the time they get found out. I always love them together, but I think it’s the fact that I know whoever they don’t tell is going to be hurt at least a little bit, no matter who they are. I know, I know. I’m a huge softie. Whatever lol

On the other side of romance…. I was not expecting the spice. I read Wilsner’s last book, and it wasn’t like this at all. I was expecting more of the same. So the moment I heard it was more spicy and not like their last book at all…… I RAN TO REQUEST IT. It’s so funny because comparing the two, it was like a whole new world. This is what I wanted to see in that first book. I think in my original Goodreads review I said I wanted more. I got more and then some in this book. And it definitely made me excited to read what’s next. (Definitely one for your 18+ people lol)

Now Cassie was the younger one who slept with her bestie’s mom on accident. I thought she was a bit under-developed. We didn’t really get to know her. I wanted to know her backstory. Especially since it played such a big part of her story. They hint to it and tell bits and pieces, but for the most part it wasn’t there. And that annoyed me. I don’t like open-endedness in books. As for Erin, she is definitely that girl. I loved everything about her. (Besides the lying lol) She seemed like a fun enough mom and definitely a fun gf. She felt more developed than Cassie, but the whole time I kept thinking that maybe she meant to do that to show how different they were in age? Like priorities or that she wasn’t as mature as Erin? Idk. Whatever the reason, Erin was my favorite character because of it.

Last thing I want to talk about is the Epilogue. Listen, we’ve all been there where we didn’t cry during the actual book, but the epilogue got us. That was me with this one. It was just so wholesome. It took a turn I didn’t know it was going to make, and next thing I know I’m wondering why my face feels so wet lol It just made me wonder, like why does she do that? In the book it was a little repetitive, but this scene was fresh and filled with emotion. I would have preferred to see this scene in the story vs their last cycle of “should we tell her or not” fight they had. I probably explained that very poorly, so I’m hoping y’all know what I mean lol

This was a fun read tho. Not only did it have me swooning, but it made me sweat from both the hotness and the way I was so scared they would hurt each other and those they loved. It was definitely a fun ride. I can’t wait till more people who read their first book also reads this one and is surprised like me. When you do, holla at me and we can chat.

Thank you to MacMillan and Netgalley for an arc of this book!

When Cassie discovers her one night stand at college is actually one of her best friend's mom, her life gets a lot complicated. And is Erin really sleeping with her daughter's college friend? At her age?

Look, it's the milf book! Okay...so, I didn't realize this was a milf book when I requested it. I probably wouldn't have picked it up if I had known to be honest because age gap isn't really my thing? I did like this though. It was sweet in some ways and spicy in others. I really liked Cassie and Erin and the relationship they developed. I liked watching Cassie get to know herself better and Erin taking things for herself that she never got before. This was a cute and quick fun read!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Abandonment

This lesbian romance hits many of the popular tropes: age gap, one night stand, and forbidden romance. Erin and Cassie have a one night stand and then end up meeting again when Cassie comes to breakfast with Erin's daughter, Parker. This book definitely checks all the boxes if you are looking for a funny, emotional story. I didn't love the characters, but I did enjoy the book.