📖 Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings
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I read Mazey Eddings’ debut novel A BRUSH WITH LOVE so I was very excited to receive an ARC of her second novel. I have to admit: I loved this novel even more than her debut. ❤️ Lizzie’s personality is carefree and a lot of fun. She is beautiful inside and out, loving, a little chaotic person. Rake is calm and head-leveled. Some might say they are polar opposite (which they are), but I think they absolutely complimented each other. I enjoyed their journey to get to know each other and see if they can build a future together.
Mazey Eddings’ writing is fun and witty. Her novel is fast-paced with a lot of heat.
This was the first romance I read with accidental pregnancy trope, and I can’t say it is my favorite trope, but it worked in this book. I can’t wait to read more books by Mazey. 😃

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book.

Thank you Net Galley and SMP for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

After A Brush with Love, my expectations were super high for this one, and oh my God, what an experience, this book. I felt so identified with Lizzie sometimes it felt as if I was reading my own mind. Reading so openly about ADHD and its struggles made me feel SO seen and understood. Also. the characters and the plot were complex and real in a way only Mazey can achieve. I felt myself connecting with Lizzie and Rake at a spiritual level. ABWL was an absolute fave, but Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake is taking a big corner of my heart.

I was super excited to read this book after A Brush With Love and it delivered.

This is Lizzie’ story, a baker living with ADHD. Everything spicy that was lacking in Mazzy Edding’s first novel was in this one which was a very good thing. More mature, this book lets sexuality be a normal aspect of life and removes any taboo about enjoying casual hookups.

I don’t normally enjoy the unplanned pregnancy trope, but it was well developed in this case. I liked that the characters were older and ready to actually plan their future instead of just winging it and see where it goes.

I enjoyed it and would recommend it as an easy read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this book.

Mazey Eddings’ writing speaks right to me. I fell in love with her debut novel, A Brush with Love. And now I’ve done it again with her sophomore novel, Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake.

This story is so much more than just a woman who has a one night stand with a hot Aussie, that leads to more complications. It’s a beautiful story about a woman with a beautiful mind, that’s always been told she’s a bit too messy & bit too out of control, that meets a man who matches her beauty & takes a chance on each other.

The real look at what it’s like to have adult ADHD spoke to me. The struggles Lizzie has gone through to lead her towards Rake just makes the story that much richer. Their journey kept me turning the pages, rooting for both of them to find their happy ever after. Goodness I loved them both!

I recently read Mazey Eddings’ first book A Brush With Love and it’s become one of my all time favourite romance books, so I was excited to learn that there would be more in the series focusing on the other girls in the little foursome of friends. I was even more excited to get my hands on the ARC for this second book to review - so thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin's Press.

This book follows Lizzie, which makes sense considering the little window we got into her life and mental health struggles at the end of A Brush With Love. Although this book could definitely be read as a standalone. Lizzie is a baker who has a two-night stand with a handsome Australian guy named Rake. When Lizzie finds out she’s pregnant and they decide to co-parent they’re forced to deal with their intense attraction, but trying to keep a platonic relationship while living together for the baby’s sake.

Right off the bat, Lizzie’s instalment in this series is much steamier than the previous book - but it makes total sense given Lizzie’s personality, character arc and storyline. Similar to the first book, Lizzie’s mental health is a central focus of the story. She has ADHD and it’s something she’s struggled to deal with her whole life. I really like the way Eddings incorporates mental health into her books in a way that makes the characters feel grounded in reality and provides representation. Even though that element is in common between the first two books in this series, the stories are completely different. Sometimes romances can feel formulaic and repetitive, but Eddings characters and storytellings are unique and kept me engaged. Although this book didn’t hit quite as hard for me personally, as I more related Harper being a woman in STEM with anxiety, I thoroughly enjoyed it and solidified Mazey Eddings as a must read author for me!

Full review posted on Goodreads and StoryGraph

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press!

Lizzie’s carefree ways have caused her problems in the past, but when she ends up pregnant from a 2-night fling with a gorgeous Australian, she’s ready to change. She finds a new job and works to better understand and manage her ADHD. When Rake finds out about the pregnancy, he’s ready to leave Australia behind and make a new life with Lizzie and their baby.

Although “accidental pregnancy” is my least favorite romance trope, the author found a way to make it palatable. Lizzie and Rake are both shown having a range of emotions surrounding the pregnancy. There’s just enough conflict in the storyline that it shows the more complicated sides of an unexpected pregnancy. I appreciate the way the author handles Lizzie’s ADHD, especially the realistic way it is acknowledged (or not) by family. It’s not all drama and seriousness in this book though. There is still plenty of humor and great banter.

I really did enjoy this book, in spite of the main trope, and I think that really says something for Mazey Eddings writing. A Brush with Love is already one of my favorite reads from this year so I expected great things from Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake. She did not disappoint! I look forward to whatever Mazey Eddings writes next.

(Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the e-ARC!!)

After reading "A Brush with Love" I knew I would enjoy anything Mazey Eddings had to offer. "Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake" was the perfect sequel to Harper and Dan's story. Lizzie and Rake were just as sweet and endearing as I hoped! I found myself laughing, smiling, and crying with Lizzie as she not only managed her ADHD, but a suprise pregnancy as well. Mazey Eddings does an incredible job of writing about complex female characters. I desperately want to be friends with Harper, Lizzie, Thu, and Indira!!

“if yellow was a sound, he thought, it would be her laugh.”

If I had to make a pyramid to organize tropes by preference, accidental pregnancy would be at the top with grumpy/sunshine. God, how I love this trope. Getting to know each other, starting to love each other thanks to a baby they didn’t plan… it has to be the softest trope ever invented.

The biggest word I can find to describe Lizzie Blake is adoration. If she existed, I would stand in front of her and slay every single person who tried to hurt her by telling her she’s too much. She’s perfect and chaotic and deserves to be loved as fiercely as she loves.

Everyone deserves a Rake. He loved Lizzie so easily, like it was the natural thing to do. I loved that he had no questions or regrets. He made mistakes, yes… but who doesn’t? Loving someone doesn’t make you perfect, but it makes you try again and again, and that’s what matters the most.

This book isn’t a ray of sunshine, it’s the sun itself. Sweet, loving, chaotic, and a beautiful reminder that the way your brain was built does not determine your value as a person, because everyone deserves to be loved just as we are. If someone needs you to change, to be less like yourself, in order to love you, they don’t deserve your love at all.

TW: toxic parents, internalized ableism, cheating (past)

Rating: 5/5
Steam: 3/5

THANK YOU to the publisher for my advance review copy. It made my month.

So, I read A Brush with Love a couple weeks ago, also by Mazey Eddings and was obsessed, so I requested this ARC immediately after finishing A Brush with Love. To be honest… I think I loved Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake even more! Lizzie is such a fun, wild, heartwarming character. Rake is soooo swoon worthy (hello hot Australian!), and the two of them together was perfection. I loved the emotion, the familial struggles, the vivaciousness and originality of Lizzie’s job. This book has some of my favorite tropes: sort of found family, forced proximity, single bed. Normally I am not a fan of the surprise pregnancy trope, but for some reason it really worked with this book and didn’t bother me at all! I am on my way to preorder a physical copy because I know that I’ll be rereading this book for years to come! Definitely a solid 4.75 stars.

Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the advance review copy; all opinions are my own! While the author and I are dear friends, this in no way biased me. I truly loved this book from start to finish.

LIZZIE BLAKE'S BEST MISTAKE was everything my heart needed. This book is *phenomenal*: fresh, energetic, a little irreverent, emotional, and deeply sexy, just like its titular character, Lizzie Blake. Lizzie is a vivacious, unfiltered, chaotic ball of sunshine who I completely adored, and Rake, who she meets at a pub and has a steamy two-night stand with, is her perfect counterpart: starchy, serious, dutiful, and cautious. These two have some of the best chemistry I've read in years. Their snappy banter, sizzling physical connection, and achingly romantic relationship were hot, full of feels, and so satisfying. Seeing how their surprise pregnancy brings them together, how they join arms against the world, particularly Lizzie's less than supportive family and Rake's toxic harsh work environment, was powerful and heartening.

As a neurodivergent woman, I'm so grateful to see neurodivergent storytellers giving us positive, nuanced, compassionate neurodiverse representation. Lizzie's experience of ADHD was raw and real and deeply sympathetic. Her gorgeous passion, energy, honesty, and creativity, just as much as her efforts to negotiate time management, keeping track of her possessions, feeling guilty when she dropped the ball, were all handled with such care and thoughtful realism. Even though I don't have ADHD, I still felt so affirmed as a neurodivergent woman, seeing Lizzie contend with her strengths and struggles and learn to love herself better while finding meaningful work, falling in love with her baby, building a found family with her friends and Rake, her delicious, dedicated love, with whom she finds her perfectly imperfect happily ever after.

The main character Lizzie has ADHD in this book. She doesn't let it limit her life. The writer was sensitive about this topic and deals with it with intelligence and understanding. It was so nice to see Harper and Dan from Mazey Eddings' first book too! Lizzie and the love interest Rake are really cute together and I love how they interact with each other. A terrific romance with lots of humor.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

“Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake” by Mazey Eddings is the second in a trilogy, however this book can be read as a stand-alone (per other reviewers, Lizzie is introduced in the first book, which came out in MAR, when I’m writing this review).

So, onto the book - I really liked how Lizzy addresses, tries to cope with, and acknowledges her ADHD. I also like how the author delved into a bit of Lizzie’s family coping (or not!) with Lizzie’s wild energy, different thinking, and not fitting in. That Lizzie was unabashedly herself was refreshing! I also liked how Lizzie tried to set up coping mechanisms - setting an alarm to help her remember her pills, realizing when she needed help, and using techniques to calm herself - I’ve known a number of people who use those, also with ADHD. And, like Lizzie, sometimes these mechanisms work … and sometimes not. What also worked - the quirky bakery idea. It’s not my cup of tea, but, hey, if it floats people boats, go for it! I really liked Bernadette, though I was wondering in the end how the whole bakery keeping afloat thing was going to work with a newborn, maybe that’s mentioned in book three? Rake’s parents - so loving, so understand, and so wonderful! Lizzie’s humor is a bit crude and, as a friend might say, “impulsively filterless,” - but while I believe working with her might be exhausting, in little doses she’s refreshingly wonderful.

What didn’t quite work as much for me was the instalove (I know why it was included, but - yeah). While I’m okay with some “sexy time,” this went into the realm of being uncomfortable for me to read. A solid 3.5 rating, which I’ll round up to a 4 because I greatly enjoyed Lizzie’s Lizzie-ness and portrayal.

Thank you, St. Martin's Griffin, for allowing me to read Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake early!

Mazey Eddings wrote a rather delicious romantic comedy with fun, steamy and emotional moments. I very much loved reading about a character with ADHD and how she lives with it and I really need to get myself a copy of A Brush With Love because I want to compare how Mazey Eddings' writing evolved since her debut.

I LOVED A Brush with Love and I was so excited to read this ARC for the 2nd standalone book in this series.

I’ll admit I’m not a fan of the pregnancy trope and anything to do with unexpected pregnancies in books. However, this was really well done and I enjoyed most parts of it! My favourite part was being able to see the characters (especially Harper and Dan) from the first book. It felt like a family reunion.

I wasn’t super connected to the characters and felt like there was a lot of miscommunication between the main characters where i wanted to yell at them to just talk! But at the same time I understood so there was this weird in between. I would have loved to see more of Lizzie and Rake’s relationship especially with the baby. Overall, this was a good and enjoyable book!

Thank you NetGalley and Publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will be reviewing this book on my Goodreads, Instagram, an Tiktok at the beginning of June (the week of the 6th). This is to ensure my review is closer to the release date.

This book is such romcom realness. Lizzie and Rake are so flipping cute and I love them so much. I also really loved how the book explored and dealt with Lizzie's ADHD. Mazey Eddings is such a good writer and I love her.

I received a copy through netgalley.

I can’t begin to express how much I adore this book. As someone who has ADHD, I felt so seen in Lizzie. I’ve been joking for months that Lizzie is a gorgeous chaos demon and she truly is. Mazey writes with such passion that it is genuinely hard to not fall in love with all of them. Also, for all the horny jokes made about A Brush with Love, Mazey stepped it up in LBBM. Lizzie is simply unashamedly herself. She embraces who she is and navigates through life not using her ADHD as an excuse, but as a stepping off point. She is exactly enough as she is.

This book has a surprise pregnancy and I think that Mazey handled the subject with immense care. It’s not handled lightly and watching Lizzie and Rake get ready for their happy accident tugs on all your heartstrings. I loved how deeply Rake loves Lizzie. And the delicious mutual pining between the two (and delicious erotic baking too 👀)

I am so glad that this book exists. And that Mazey exists. You need Lizzie and Rake in your life. I could say so much more about this book, but I think that you should read this masterpiece for yourself.

CWs: ADHD, ableism, conversations about an abortion in a character’s past, pregnancy, mental illness, on-page explicit sex
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Disclaimer: the author and I are friends and I read a copy of this a while ago. This has not impacted my review and all my thoughts are my own.