I loved this book! It was unique, well written, emotional and sexy. A steamy book with intelligent and well-educated women full of emotions, what could be better?

I did find the ending a bit rushed and overwhelming, and I wish we got to read more about it. But nonetheless, I am happy that the story was tied together, and everything worked out for everyone.

This book really crossed the line for me with the relationships between the main characters and the secondary characters. I enjoyed the writing style, but not the direction the story took. It was too irresponsible on the part of the older MC and they came across as selfish and immature. Just no from me.

a new instant fave!!! this was a story like i haven’t read before in a female / female romance so it kept me engaged the whole time. i enjoyed both of the characters and the story line and felt myself invested the whole time

Rating:3.75/5
Warnings: difficult family dynamics
Steam: 4/5
Tropes: forced proximity, age-gap, STEM rep

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillian Audio and SMP Romance for access to this advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, okay…this was so different from Meryl’s last book and when I say different, I mean…oh my god girl you CAME with the spice. I was a little red listening to this as an audiobook.

I will admit, the premise was unique. I don’t think I have ever seen a sapphic MILF book, but I think it worked. My one qualm with the age gap is…I don’t think it needed to me that large but also, Cassie did not act so much like a typical 22-year-old. She could have been in grad school, and this still would have worked for the desired forbidden romance vibes.

For a review, I did like it…solid 3.75-4 stars on my part. The romance itself wasn’t fully fleshed out; I would have liked a little bit more background for Cassie. The conflict was handled BEAUTIFULLY. And I did love the epilogue, I thought it was perfect. You were routing for these two because they did make each other so happy.

So going into this I didn’t know a ton, I had been seeing this one reviewed a bunch so when I saw the cover on netgalley I requested it. I am not a huge age gap romance person and I usually prefer more of a closed door story BUT this book had me HOOKED. I was cheering for these two from the first chapter, even with all of the potential complications and I honestly could not put it down. There were a bit too many characters I thought, the family friends seemed like they didn’t weren’t crucial to the storyline but it wasn’t the end of the world. Truthfully not sure how this author took two things that are not usually for me and made it into an unputdownable book for me. Highly recommend this one for all romance fans, one of my favorite romances this year for sure!!

This review has been added to Goodreads, Literal and Storygraph, as well as Barnes & Noble and Amazon. This will be posted to my instagram (@busywithmybooks_) within the week.

Thank you for allowing me to listen to this story!!

Cassie has an incredibly exciting one-night encounter with Erin, an older woman she meets in a bar, and is shocked to learn the next morning that Erin is her best friend Parker's mom. Erin and Cassie obviously can't keep seeing each other, but when Parker brings Cassie home for the holidays, sparks are bound to fly. This love story is sweet, if a little cringe-inducing due to the taboo nature of their love affair. There were moments that were laugh-out-loud funny and plenty of love scenes on the page. It's ultimately a feel-good story about two women finding overcoming odds to be together.

This cute and queer romcom toed the line of morally gray and sexy so well. Following a single mom with a strained relationship with her daughter and that daughter’s college best friend, this age gap romance had heart and spice.
If you like smutty romances with a plot, you need to pick this up.
4 stars

It’s family weekend and Cassie Klein doesn’t have any family to come to visit her, so she heads to an off-campus bar to escape. There she meets a sexy woman and they share some drinks together. It turns into a steamy, amazing one-night stand. The next morning, Cassie’s friend Parker invites her to breakfast with her mom. Surprise, Parker’s mom turns out to be the woman Cassie slept with last night.

Erin Bennett came to Family Weekend to visit her daughter, Parker. However, she ends up at an off-campus bar and meets a beautiful young woman. She had no idea her one-night stand was with a college senior until she meets her daughter’s best friend Cassie at breakfast the next morning.

Erin and Cassie are determined to not make their one-night stand a thing. Neither wants to ruin their relationship with Parker. However, the chemistry between the two of them is so strong, it’s hard for them to stay apart.

Meryl Wilsner delivers an amazing sapphic romance. The characters are fully developed and grow throughout the story. The chemistry between Erin and Cassie is electric. The romantic development between them over time was sweet and perfect. It had me reading more to find out what happened and if they would ever officially get together and tell Parker. If you enjoy sapphic romance that has a true plot and not just spice, you will love this book! 5/5 stars!

This book is one of the steamiest audiobooks I have listened to in a while. This is a sapphic romance that is an age gap romance. The audiobook was engaging and oh so steamy. It was honestly so hot. The characters are so real and the banter was great. This is for sure a book I would recommend to anyone looking for a good steamy book.

loved this book!. the chemistry between the main characters is great and the plot was funny and well paced

I listened to an audiobook copy of this title and I really enjoyed it! Both narrators did a great job with their characters and really helped bring to life their emotions and depth! I'd definitely recommend going with that medium if you enjoy a good audiobook.


As for the book itself, it was such a good time. It had some of my favourite tropes, some excellently written steamy scenes, the friendships were solid and strong and no third act break up! If that last point alone doesn't motivate you to pick it up, I don't know what will.

The introduction between the two main characters was so messy in the best way possible. They meet for the first time at a bar and hookup in one of their cars only to find out the next morning that college student Cassie just slept with her new roommate's mom! Talk about a rocky start! From there, Callie gets invited home for the holidays and things just keep rolling on.

I loved the relationship between Callie and Erin! It was sexy but also adorable when they both were being so sweet and caring with each other. They just really built such a solid relationship even amid all the sneaking around. Plus, love the fact that there's no third act break up. There's still some conflict but it was solved perfectly and without all that added frustration if they had broken up and we had to wait to see how that was brought together.

Overall, a very fun, steamy and wonderful sapphic adult romance that I think everyone should check out as soon as possible!

This is my first Meryl Wilsner novel and I'm happy to say I really enjoyed this book. This book was steamy and angsty and oh so good. This is one of the few MILF stories I've actually enjoyed. This story follows Erin and Cassie after a casual one-night stand that ends up being not so casual when Cassie finds out that Erin is her best friend's mom. *gasp* The dynamic of this forbidden romance was fantastic.
There was quite a bit of spice to this novel and I loved every minute of it. I think the author did a good job of mixing angst, longing, struggle, and acquiescence. While I did think the book had a slow pace at times, I really enjoyed the story overall. I'm excited to see more from this author.
I will say that the narrator did an amazing job bringing this story to life and added a great layer of experience to this book! Highly recommend the audio version of this book!

Quinn Riley and Stephanie Németh-Parker superbly provide dual-POV narration for Meryl Wilsner’s Mistakes Were Made. College senior Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape Family Weekend. Spotting a beautiful, sexy older woman sitting alone, she buys her a drink. Cassie doesn’t expect her night to end with an incredible one-night stand that changes her world. Cassie goes to breakfast with her friend, Parker, and to her surprise, Parker’s mom, Erin, turns out to be Cassie’s one-night stand from last night. Erin Bennett wants to get closer to her daughter, improving their strained relationship. Hence the Family Weekend visit. But when Parker brings Cassie, her one-night stand, to breakfast, Erin still can’t believe that she’d slept with a student, but even worse, her daughter’s best friend. And to Erin’s surprise, their connection is still as intense and electrifying. Neither can deny their attraction. Giving in, they start having a secret FWB relationship. At first, both believe it’s just sex until neither can deny that deeper feelings are involved. But is sneaking around to be together worth the cost?

Riley narrates for Cassie and Németh-Parker for Erin. Riley and Németh-Parker’s chosen voices perfectly match Cassie and Erin’s characters, respectively, while offering fine narration for each other alternatively and for the secondary characters. However, I like Riley’s narration best. With pacing, tone, intonation, and emotion, Németh-Parker and Riley give the characters distinct voices, revealing their personalities, feelings, quirks, and state of mind. Additionally, they use their full vocal ranges to express/portray the intimacy between Cassie and Erin and their chemistry, sensations, and moods during the novel’s intimate scenes.

Their expressive, vibrant, and sexy narration wonderfully depict the highs/lows of the characters’ emotions and moods. I love how they capture the snark, friendship, and love in Cassie, Parker, and Acacia’s relationships. Riley’s voice for Cassie expresses her cynicism and anti-social tendencies. She nails Parker’s immaturity. Németh-Parker’s narration for Erin expresses her frustration with her strained relationship with her daughter, guilt, and longing for a closer relationship. Both narrators brilliantly express their characters’ loneliness, desire, and passion for each other. The novel’s tone ranges from humorous, intimate, angsty, intensely emotional, and sizzling hot, and the narrators deftly shift between these tones. Riley and Németh-Parker’s narration complements each other and Wilsner’s snarky, introspective, emotional, and lively narrative style, delightfully bringing Wilsner’s captivating novel and fascinating characters to life.

Mistakes Were Made draws you in instantly with fascinating, relatable, multidimensional characters and an intriguing, sexy, multilayered, emotional story. I love Erin and Cassie’s chemistry, attraction, and connection. Wilsner develops their immediate, fierce interest into a beautiful, deep, multifaceted, and wonderfully written forbidden relationship without unnecessary drama. The author deftly explores and evolves Cassie and Erin’s relationship with humorous and sexy banter, flirtation, and passionate love scenes. Erin and Cassie complement one another, balancing each other. They’re so good together, making each other happy, filling in the empty spaces neither realized nor acknowledged needed and waiting to be filled by the other. I hate that they feel they don’t belong together or must keep their relationship a secret because of how people will react.

While Cassie’s bold, cocky, and self-isolating, Erin, on the other hand, is plagued by self-doubt, insecurity, and guilt in her personal life and relationships. Cassie, who has emotional baggage/issues from a tough childhood and home life, forms a unique bond with Erin allowing her closer than she does almost everyone—physically and emotionally. Erin makes her feel safe. Cassie makes Erin feel seen, wanted, needed, cared for, and about because she listens to and thinks about Erin and her needs/desires. But Cassie motivates Erin to pursue something for herself and step outside her comfort zone because of how she makes Erin feel. Cassie and Erin are so hungry and horny for each other and have so much sex. ALL THE SEX. Instead of detracting from the story or slowing the pacing, their intimate scenes reveal their characters and help show their evolution, the development/evolution of their relationship, and the story’s progression.

I love Cassie’s friendship with Acacia. She’s a stabilizing, guiding force for Cassie, and Acacia’s family became her surrogate family. Acacia’s a loving, loyal, supportive friend to Cassie and Parker. Parker, however, is immature, bratty, and manipulative initially. But Wilsner skillfully evolves her character.

Mistakes Were Made is a sweet, sexy, humorous, angsty, steamy, and emotional LGBTQ romance recommended for age gap and forbidden romance fans. It explores themes of found families, friendship, belonging, mother/daughter relationships, first love, soulmates, discovering where you belong, learning to trust, taking risks, and opening your heart to love.

CW: Past child neglect

Advanced review copy provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for review.

I will admit that the age gap between the two main characters was a hurdle for me on this one. But also, that it totally works on the whole. The writing is quick and fun. The characters are genuine people with pros and cons to each of them. What I love in a good romance is when the two mains bring out the best in each other, and these two do. Also, the intimate scenes were....very well done.

When Erin meets and hooks up with Cassie at an off-campus bar on Family Weekend, she never could have guess they’d meet on campus again - never mind that Cassie would be introduced as a best friend of Erin’s child. While both agree that this should never happen again, their desire for one another wins out again and again. But they couldn’t possibly work out… could they?

This was a messy, beautiful love story. I loved the shock of meeting again in this bizarre context, and how they both continue to seek each other out afterwards, even knowing the complexity of the situation.

The winter break trip was such a great part of this story, and definitely one of my favourite parts. This book is the pinnacle of “will they get caught?” energy - Erin and Cassie are so gone for each other.

And this book was SPICY. If you gauge spice level based on how open the door was, this basically didn’t have a door obstructing anything at all.

The narrators were fantastic, and this is a story I can see myself revisiting again and again - a fantastic story, and I hope that there will be more books like this soon!

I was really drawn in by the concept of this story, and I did enjoy it and was very happy with how it ended. I was constantly rooting for the main characters. Wasn’t expecting there to not be as much conflict when they were found out, which is what I was waiting for to happen. So it was interesting the turn that she took with it. One thing I wasn’t ready for was how sexually driven these women were, which isn’t something I usually like reading about as much. But it makes sense with the story, I just would’ve liked less.

Now the narrators? Absolutely fantastic and definitely helped drive the story a lot more! Loved them!

This book was so fun and easy to read …I definitely didn’t want to put it down ! I loved the tough spot Erin became tangled in! I loved that it was a unique story that I’ve never read before!!!! Well done!!!

***BOOK REVIEW***
⭐️: 5
🌶️: 3


This book just came out a little over a week ago and you’re going to be sad you haven’t gotten your copy yet!

WLW 👭
Secret relationship 🤫
Age gap 😱
Allll of the spice 🥵🥵🫦👅💦


Recently divorced Erin is in town for Parents Weekend and has a casual hookup. It’s only weird when her hookup, Cassie, just so happens to be a guest at breakfast the following morning.

This book was wild and hilarious and probably the spiciest queer book I’ve read this year. Definitely worth a read. I listened to the audiobook thanks to @netgalley ! Cannot recommend it enough!

#netgalley #arc #arcreader #audiobook #romancebooks #romancebookstagram #romcom

I don’t like age gap relationships on most days but this gave a lot of weird vibes. The best friend is sleeping with her mother and then the best friend has mommy issues and it kinda seems like she is using this woman she’s listing over as a replacement mom. Idk. This is super weird for me. It seemed like she was hoping for a mother in her friend’s mom as well as being attracted to her. I didn’t see them connecting as romantic partners.

4.25 stars

Phew, okay: the main couple in the story has a lot of on-page sex (and you know, good for them). I wasn’t totally sure how I’d feel about the concept of this story, but the early reviews sounded so promising that I decided to check it out anyway, and I’m really glad that I did. I enjoyed the diverse representation of queer relationships, the plot was fun(ny), and some of the major characters grew/developed noticeably from the beginning to the end. While it sometimes felt like it would end up being too predictable or artificially perfect, the ending was ultimately happy and fairly satisfying, and I did appreciate the writer’s style, perspective, and humour. I may pick up a physical copy of this one as well in the future, and I can’t wait to see what else the writer comes out with next.