I loved Something to Talk about and was thrilled to have the opportunity to read Meryl Wilsner's second published work. I went into this book with the expectation to have a great time and that was met and surpassed very quickly. A glance at the cover and the description made it clear this was a nice escapist moment for the reader. After all, sometimes relationships you never want to see in real life bring you endless joy in fiction, and that is exactly the case in Mistakes Were Made.

When Cassie escapes campus for the night to avoid Family Weekend, she has no intention of hooking up with someone. She especially does not intend to hook up with one of her best friend's mom. Erin is more than a little taken about to find out that her hook up turns out not only to be a student at her daughter's college but a closer friend of her daughter, Parker. Cassie and Erin know they should not keep seeing each other, but they get on in more ways than one and it's just so easy to keep coming together.

This book was funny and sweet and had great pacing. The ambition for happiness that ran through the book was everything I love about romance novels. This book was so hyped when the cover was dropped and that hype was well deserved. As usual Wilsner's writing is charming and easy and incredibly steamy in all the best ways. The women are determined and ambitious and take charge of their sexualities. Erin and Cassie's relationship while complicated is navigated with great care, and equal care and dedication is given to their friendships as well, which is something I deeply appreciated in the writing.

I was really excited for this book, especially knowing it was a sapphic romance, but it just didn't quite deliver as much as I had hoped. Real rating of a 3.5.

I went into this book completely blind as I love not having any expectations for books previously established. I just knew that it was a sapphic romance and that was enough for me. What I wasn't expecting was an age-gap romance. While this are not normally my thing, it was not bad in that aspect and carried out a lot better than I had expected. I loved all the bisexual representation and how the book was female-centered (with little to no male characters which was very refreshing for a sapphic book!) with some STEM rep. It made for some strong female characters that I liked for the most part. The writing was good and I liked the dual POV approach as that's always a way to my heart in romance books.

I think perhaps what rubbed me the wrong way the whole time was the constant sneaking around and how much anxiety it caused me. Sneaking around in books never results in anything good and I anticipated quite a bit of blowback from other characters because of it. The ending did surprise me is the lack of doing what I anticipated, but it also made the characters almost too accepting and slightly unrealistic considering the situation. I also felt like Cassie and Erin's chemistry was stronger in the first part of the book than in the second half where it mattered most and for that reason it made it drag a little bit. I also would've liked to see Parker play a bigger role as I felt like for such a potentially pivotal character she got sidelined a lot.

Overall, this book was good and the author embraced the spice well, especially since lots of sapphic books seem to not be as confident in the spice as typical heteronormative books are. As far as plot and character development goes, it just felt like it could've offered more and been a little stronger.

I really enjoyed this book. I think of it as a slow burn even though the characters cant keep their hands off of each other - it strikes exactly the right balance of longing and emotional growth with some very sexy scenes. I thought I knew what the final twist would be but was pleasantly surprised at how everything turned out.. I’ll be keeping this one on my read-again list for sure.

3.5 stars for Mistakes were made by Meryl Wilsner.

Funny and tender moments at the same time.
I dropped a few stars along the way that's why and I hope to be constructive. The thing that seems to have bothered me the most is the number of times I read the names of Cassi, Erin and Parker in this book. It makes the reading a little heavy when you focus on it.
Parker the daughter of Erin takes up a lot of space and even if it is to make a preamble there has a novel potential where she will be the main character it is all the same too much.

Despite everything, it's a book that makes you feel good to read, and the love between the two women is obvious and refreshing. No one can lie to each other, it's two of them in love since the day... 2.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Cassie walks into a bar across town from her college campus and picks up an older woman. They hook up, say goodbye, and think they’ll never see each other again. Then Cassie joins one of her best friends for breakfast with her best friend’s mom the next morning and she sees the woman she hooked up with. The two have to figure out what to do - they obviously have chemistry, but have to think of Parker (the best friend/daughter). There’s a lot of sneaking around, of cute moments between the two, and a lot of questioning of whether they could really make something work.

I really enjoyed this book. There were so many times that I forgot about the age difference, if not for the continued mention of Parker I think I would have likely forgotten entirely. I really liked Erin and Cassie together, but I wavered a lot on the side characters, especially Parker. She just acted really immature at times (it was absolutely realistic of an only child whose parents spoiled her, but I would have been annoyed to be her friend at times). In the end I adored her, but it took me a long time to come around.

I really liked that both of these women were flawed, but still lovable. I really liked how there were moments where they both helped the other grow and get what they needed out of the relationship.

Also this book is spicy. Like very spicy. And it starts a few pages in.

Overall, I’d give this 4.5 stars. I enjoyed it, it’s steamy, the main characters are developed really well and had great chemistry.

I'm on a journey to find what kind of romance novels I do like, this was actually helpful in that regard! The premise is fun, the opening is solid, the smutty bits are genuinely very very hot, but beyond that it all sort of fell apart for me. My biggest issues: 1. Bizarre throwaway lines about race that I think were trying to be self-aware but read ick veering on outright racist, 2. Nearly every character is obsessed with the notion of “best friends” (this is NOT a YA book), 3. Main characters seemed to be using each other both in a mommy/daughter dynamic way and also sexy stuff way, and nope, no thank you, 4. Pacing, character development, overall writing style.

This book wasn't for me. I liked the first chapter or two and then it just didn't progress. The situation felt a little icky to me.
There was no emotion in the relationship between the two main characters. Nothing to keep the book going
The characters themselves were boring as well.
It just wasn't my vibe.

I found it confusing to keep track of who was speaking in this book due to the POV it was told in. With both characters being a she it was difficult to keep track of who was doing what to whom. But otherwise I really enjoyed it! I liked the age gap aspect. This is a great pride month read.

I'm on the fence with Mistakes Were Made... I loved the whole age gap/forbidden romance aspect of the story, the romance wasn't rushed and the smut was top notch, and big points in it's favor for the pacing-- it wasn't mind numbingly slow like it was with Something to Talk about, big step up.

BUT

Just like with Something to Talk About, I struggled to connect or like the characters. Both Erin and Cassie are incredibly immature and handle their romantic situation poorly, especially when it comes to Parker (the bff and daughter). There was so much miscommunication between the three of them that could have been avoided and I absolutely hated this plot line. Plus, as a pretty important side character, Parker didn't really have much of a personality or anything really in common with Cassie and they're supposed to be besties????

Overall, it was good, but I think I've learned that Meryl Wilsner books are not for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before the publication date.

I wasn't familiar with Meryl Wilsner writing before this novel. She did not disappoint in any aspect. She gave me the perfect Older Woman/Younger Woman romance. The bi-representation! The relationship between Cassie and Erin is steamy and cute. The hilarity is also there. That being said I wish we could have gotten more of Cassie's backstory instead of just glimpses.

I gave it a solid four stars. Because while it hit all the right notes with the relationship, representation and wit. It lacked for me, a solid backstory for the main character.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This is the story of two women who find love and happiness when everyone tell them they shouldn’t. This book is incredible, the characters have really chemistry and they behave like real people. This is my first book that the main character was a MILF but I loved every second of this book.

Meryl Wilsner’s sophomore romance Mistake Were Made is a delightful MILF tale of a college senior hooking up with a woman in a bar…who ends up being the mom of her new freshman BFF. Well, things just got awkward! With strong NA vibes, chemistry for days, and a lovely message of prioritizing your own happiness over other’s idea of “should”, this book was an absolute A+.

I did not like this book, not for me, I definitely didn’t like how the next day she realized she slept with her best friend’s mom she was acting like it was a big joke, playing footsie under the table.
I didn’t feel an actual connection, just sex.

Loved this one! Two women who don’t know they are looking for love, I love a queer romance. Perfect for summer too.

This book exactly delivered what it promised. A college student sleeps with an older woman who turns out to be her friend's mom but they can't stop sleeping together. I expected everyone to act like horny teenagers and make the worst decisions possible and I got that!

Obviously everyone in this story would suck IRL and would be bad friends to each other but I don't care this is fiction.

Cassie meets Erin the divorced mother of her younger friend Parker and after a brief one night stand Cassie and Erin act like horny teenagers all the time. Listen, I thought it was fun and absolutely what I was in for but I know it's not everyone.

Since the characters spend some time apart they both have different things going on, Cassie has her friend group made up of Acacia and Parker (who she's only known for a couple months). We also learn that Cassie has some issues with her mother but this is mostly ignored except when characters need to criticise Cassie and I wish that we could have had a bit more of a resolution for that.

Erin has her friend, her therapist and her douchebag ex, with the therapy and her relationship with her daughter being quite interesting to follow.

I am going to be honest a lot of the book is just sex scenes and it's fine. But like. Be warned. I did wish for a bit more variety (though I did appreciate the strap on!)


What I didn't really like:
-The style was a bit cringe at time which is weird because I didn't have this issue with the author's previous book but it was more noticeable here, especially during sex scenes (and there are a lot of them)

- I wasn't a fan of ending/resolution of the book. With this premise I was expecting something a bit different and more satisfying than you classic romance ending. I will say the same for the romance (feelings part not attraction part) which was not as believable or satisfying as I had hoped). While the characters are very aware of the weird thing they're doing it also doesn't impact them in the way I thought it would. Idk

Special thank you to St Martin Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc of Mistakes Were Made

I was so excited to read this book; I love reading books about the LGBTQIA community to help me have a better understanding and compassion. This book lived up to the hype. The characters and relationships are well developed and thought out. It was also pretty predictable so I wasn't all that surprised by the end. I could not stop reading this! It had just the right amount of spiciness between a MILF and a college senior. This book was everything I wanted it to be

There were some bumps in this story, but overall I enjoyed this more than Wilsner’s debut book. Sweet romance and love the empowerment of the older MC to choose her happiness over doing what’s expected.

A few things that didn’t work for me: this is the most non-busy physician working in a hospital I’ve read about in an MC. The reference to the younger MC being so close as friends to the older MC’s daughter had its cringey moments. Give me the age gap, but there was a line that I felt was crossed.

This book was definitely interesting. It was definitely an enjoyable read however I don't usually like the plot where someone sleeps with a friend's parent. But if that is something you like then the book is definitely for you!

This was a perfect blend of fun and a sexy read. It gave me all the buzz and feels. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really liked how MCs are portrayed so raw and in a authentic way. Along with that, the pacing and the word building was top notch too. It was definitely a full 5 stars read for me

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint! Truly this is the sapphic age gap rom-com of my dreams. I love how messy this was. I mean how can accidentally sleeping with your daughter's new best friend be anything but messy? It was super emotional but also very very hot. And any book with facesitting gets automatic bonus points. I also cannot resist an 'oops we're dating, how did that happen' relationship. This whole book exudes bisexual disaster energy and I could not love it more!

**Received an eARC via NetGalley**