I love Marian Keyes and the entire Walsh family. This novel tells the story of Anna Walsh who is at a crossroads in her life. She is with her boyfriend Angelo but during Covid they decide to break up (a little too much togetherness).. She also decides to give up her job in PR for a beauty company in NYC and return to Dublin b/c she misses her family. She struggles to find work and meaning until some friends offer her a part time PR job in a tiny town. Unfortunately (or fortunately), this means she will be working with and old friend/foe/love interest Narky Joey.

Tons of fun townspeople (think Stars Hollow, but Irish) and lots of little side plots. Loved it.

Marian Keyes does it again with her new novel My Favourite Mistake. We return again to the Walsh family, this time to pick up on the story Anna. Although you could pick this up as a stand alone novel, I first discovered the Walsh family in the late 1990s/early 2000s. It was so fun to follow the Walsh sisters 20+ years later.
The book seemed a bit dragged out which is why I docked it one star. It took a long time to "hear" the entire story of what occurred between Joey and Anna.
Still a solid hit for Keyes. Keep them coming.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes!

It so good to be back in with the Walsh family. This book is about Anna the fourth sister. She has been living in New York for 13 years and is ready to move her live back to Ireland. She gets thrown into small town chaos and her forever crush Joey Armstrong.

She is hired by a family friend to help figure out who is vandalizing a new property that they are building. While doing so she finds herself making friends and enjoying small town life.

A wonderful story about midlife crisis, friendships, lost and found love. A great beach read. Love all the characters and could identify with all the mixed emotions. Sorry to see this book end

My Favourite Mistake is an engaging book. Marian Keyes is a newer author for me and I really enjoyed this book. It has a great setting and theme and is just a lovely story about a woman at a crossroads in her life.
Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Canada for my review copy of this book.

The Walsh family is back and they are as entertaining as ever. This could be a stand alone book if you haven't read about the Walsh family before. The story follows Anna who is now 49 years old as her life in New York continues. Missing her family, being overwhelmed with the rat race she moves back to Ireland. She ends up doing PR work for a retreat that is being built in a small town. The retreat has come under criticism from the townsfolk and Anna is there to set things straight for the town and the retreat. Oh--but Joey is also on the job. He is the one that got away-- a long time ago. A heartwarming funny book that brings all the Walsh girls back into play. If you like this one I guarantee that you will read the other ones (also can be read as stand alone books). Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Canada for the complimentary digital ARC. This review is my own words.

I have not read a Marian Keyes book is a very long time, so I was thrilled with a chance to review “My Favourite Mistake.”

Marian Keyes is known for creating winsome, likable characters who have plenty of flaws, which helps make them all the more relatable. Anna is such a character, leaving New York City (and her partner) when she decides, post-Covid, her life isn’t working out the way she wants it to. She settles in a smaller town, working to launch a new resort as she creates new relationships while reacquainting herself with old friends. The one thing that has not changed is her family (which they are plenty of). While there is plenty of humor and light-hearted moments, the novel skillfully talks about more series topics such as menopause and ageism without coming across as too preachy or “issue of the moment.”

While this book is part of a series focusing on the Walsh family (including “Rachel’s Holiday,” which I read eons ago), you’re able to enjoy the book without reading her earlier novels, though you might want to take notes to remember who is who. Overall, this book reminded me why I began reading Marian Keyes’ books and I now hope to read the books of hers that I have missed.

Four stars.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley. My thanks also to the publisher and the author, Marian Keyes.

I received an ARC of this book from Penguin Random House via NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. I was so excited to see a new Marian Keyes novel! I have read nearly all her previous books, but it has been a while, so I my memories of the Walsh family were a bit fuzzy. Despite that, I loved this book. This family is hilarious yet so real - meaning so very relatable as well. Ms. Keyes honestly has a gift for characterization. I love the little details about the characters' personalities and quirks. I did have a little bit of trouble remembering who was who among some of the more minor characters in the town. But even still, I loved it. Ms. Keyes is just so funny - particular moments being Anna riding her bike in the rain, the entire concept of Feathery Stroker, the townspeople at the town meeting. Ms. Keyes will continue to be one of the authors I will always read.

It's so much fun to catch up with the Walsh family again! This time we hear from Anna, who's just returned to Ireland from New York, having ended both her job and her relationship. Her family is as wild as ever, and a LOT for Anna to deal with. While she's at loose ends for a while and struggles to figure out her next steps, she has an opportunity to put her PR skills to use by helping out some family friends overcome community resistance to their planned resort. This means reconnecting with a man from her past who she has a complicated relationship with--the details of which are slowly revealed throughout the book.

I could have done with fewer descriptions of menopause symptoms, and some of the backstory dragged, but overall, a very enjoyable read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I pretty much love all books set in Ireland & Britain so it's no surprise that I enjoyed this one as well. This is the first in the Walsh Family series I've read by Marian Keyes but that did not hinder my enjoyment of it, nor do I think it's necessary to have read them all. I really enjoyed a story about a FMC finding love later in life, mid to late forties, and all that entails. A good romantic story about 2nd chance love with a bit of a mystery thrown in and a great cast of supporting characters who make you laugh.

For me, Marian Keyes doesn't miss and My Favourite MIstake was no exception. I loved revisitng Anna's life alongside the rest of the Walsh clan. I was thrilled to see Anna get her happily ever after (again).

Anna Walsh's love affair with New York City is coming to a close. During lockdown she and her partner Angelo decided to "consciously uncouple" and her high-stress PR job for a cosmetics company is no longer appealing. With her entire family back in Ireland, she suddenly decides, as she nears her 50th birthday, that she wants to return home and be closer to family. Once in Ireland, reality hits. There are no jobs she is qualified for, and she has no home of her own. Soon, however, things begin to look up. One of her sister's friends wants to open a high=end retreat/yoga/event business in a small town. The locals aren't happy and hostile threats have been made. Anna is asked if she, with all of her PR experience, would agree to a short-term job to liaise with the townsfolk, find out what their issues are, and help to smooth things over. The owners of the proposed business are also distracted: their teenaged daughter has had a scary medical diagnosis that is taking up all their time and energy. With no better offer, Anna agrees to take the job. Once she gets to the remote village, she discovers that an old on-again/off-again boyfriend, Joey Armstrong, is also deeply involved in the project. Will Anna be able to smooth things over while negotiating her conflicted feelings about Joey? Or will she run screaming back to NYC to beg to return to her old job?

While I normally love Marian Keyes books and the Walsh family sagas, I found this one to be hard going. Not only does Anna have 257 immediate family members who show up, en mass frequently, but there are also the many inhabitants of her new town to keep up with. In other words, this book has a cast of thousands! When a name is mentioned, and many names are mentioned, it's impossible to conjure up just who that person is again? Anna is also, apparently, unbelievably magnetic, as all the men love her (and many call her Sweet-Face) but the townsfolk also immediately embrace her and start up a WhatsApp group called "Annas Gang." This seems to fly in the face of Anna's neurotic and overly introspective re-hashing of every thought and action that occurs. And her never-ending circling around Joey is exhausting. While I have great affection for the characters, this one is a long, drawn out bore.

It’s always fun to return to the lives of the Walsh sisters. In My Favourite Mistake, Anna has a dream job doing PR for a beauty company in New York City. All the serums and free lipsticks a girls could want! When the pandemic hits, she and her boyfriend Angelo have to decide whether to quarantine together or apart. They choose together. The stress of living together and not being able to fly home to see her family does a number on Anna’s mental health. When the restrictions ease up, she makes the decision to leave her high-paying, high-stress job behind and return to Ireland.

In Ireland, however, is where the woman who was once her best friend and a man she’s had a complicated relationship for the last twenty years live. She’d like to avoid Joey, but when she finds a part-time gig doing PR for what will become a luxury retreat, it turns out she’ll be working with him. Now she just has new problems to face, without a good salary or means of transportation. Together, Anna and Joey face a little bit of mystery about who is trying to make the resort crash and burn (literally).

Keyes imbues this novel with her funny/sad trademark wit, and she makes Ireland sound so wonderful you’ll be wanting to buy tickets to visit before you finish reading. What I really enjoyed about this, however, is that Anna is about my age and talks a great deal about being peri-menopausal. I don’t have her symptoms (yet?), but I appreciated someone talking about being a woman who is getting older and all that goes along with that.

NetGalley provided an advance copy of this novel, which RELEASES JULY 30, 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for providing this book, with my honest review below.

I love Marion Keyes writing (especially some of her older books and the Walsh Family series). Lately I’ve her books have explored the mystery genre and reflecting on her depression, and just weren’t for me. With My Favourite Mistake Marion finds a balance between those two topics and with the magic that is the Walsh family she put together an entertaining mystery that is full of humor and just the right balance of melancholy.

I had read Anna Walsh’s story years ago but hadn’t remembered it vividly (in fact had mixed it up with Margaret Walsh’s) until I got going. Anna had lost her husband and was finding a way to break through her grief in her first story. In this one she is about 18 years in the future and has moved on with life. But moving on sometimes means realizing your roots are where you come to roost, which happens to Anna post pandemic. The feelings that many experienced in the pandemic, the reassessment of life, are well done with Anna. What comes as brand new content is Anna’s further realization she’s not dumb or lacks drive, she just needs her passion to be at play. With flashbacks to fill in the past 18 years we see Anna settle into an Irish town as she works to change public opinion about her friends’ retreat while trying to avoid narky Joey, who was a key player in breaking her and her best friend up.

This felt a bit like a hug if you’re a fan of the Walsh family. We get back to that world in a way I haven’t experienced in recent books. At the same time it was great to revisit Anna, who had a great ending the first time around. Like others I hope this and Rachel’s story (which I hadn’t read due to how painful her first time around was - though so well done) starts a trend for revisiting each of the sisters. While this can be read as a standalone you would be missing out not to have experienced the poignancy of Anna’s first book.

I was thrilled to read My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes. I haven't read a book of hers in years and after just a few chapters, it felt like coming home.

Ms. Keyes writing style is like being part of the family and it is just so natural to fall into the books with her characters.

Anna has what everyone wants, a NY lifestyle, nice partner, and a terrific job. Except she doesn't want that life anymore. She uses her mid-life crisis as the catalyst to moving back to Ireland. She gets a job at a fancy resort/retreat and with her PR job tries to get the locals to not hate the place so much.

She also has to face the best friend and the man she left behind when she came to America? Can she do it and come out on top? I'm not spoiling that for you, but I will tell you that this is a terrific book with characters you like and want to succeed and have it all.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in lieu of an honest review. I've missed Marian Keyes writing and am going to go back and read the ones in her back list that I haven't had a chance to read yet.

Marian Keyes has been a favorite author of mine for years, and this one is GREAT!!! She has it all: humor, heart, and plot. What's not to love? Pick this one up, y'all!

A well-known author and an intriguing title had me desiring to read this story. Keyes did an excellent job with the setting and overall theme of the book, but it moved a bit slow for me, leaving me bored and skipping around a bit. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I have read all of Marian Keyes’ books, but it had been a while. I’ve always enjoyed the ones featuring the Walsh sisters, but I honestly forgot most of the prior plots. I am happy to report that there is no need to have read any of the earlier books to thoroughly enjoy this one. From the first few pages, I remembered why I love her books….the humor! I found myself giggling at the main character, Anna, and her observations of life and people in New York. Then, the conversations among the Walsh sisters and their parents had me in stitches.

After several years in New York City as PR exec for a beauty company, Anna chucks her job and boyfriend to return home to Ireland. The big changes partly come about because of the added stresses of Covid lockdown. Back home, Anna will repair old relationships and find a new lease on life. Although my summary might make this seem cliched, it is anything but. This is because of Keyes deft hand with dialogue, women’s friendships, and family relationships. The real life challenges never make me cringe because the strong female characters are not ditzy but capable and smart. We may make mistakes, but we work at correcting them, as Anna does. And, we have a slow burn romance that had me rapidly turning the pages.

This book was an absolute delight.

I like this author. Realistic characters keep the story moving quickly. Mistakes…life…family and friends…a quick read. Enjoy. Thanks Netgalley.

Anna's decision to leave her seemingly perfect life in New York for a PR job at a luxurious coastal retreat in Ireland brings unexpected challenges. The locals' hostility and the resurfacing of past relationships force her to confront her mistakes. While Anna's resilience and humor shine through, making the story engaging, it sometimes feels predictable and lacks depth in certain areas. Overall, it's an enjoyable read with Marian Keyes' signature wit, but it falls short of her best work.