This book was a solid five stars for me- until the rushed (possibly unfinished) ending. The premise of the story was launched by Sybil's disappearance, yet it was never explained where she was or how she returned. The storyline with her high school boyfriend and trip to the hospital was also a loose end for me- was she pregnant/abused/hurt/dealing with mental health? Why didn't she ever tell Emma? I know the story is about Emma and Theo and their journey- but I'd love a little more information on what launched Sybil (the tequila? the talk with Theo? general fear?) and therefore launched Theo and Emma's journey.

3.5 ⭐️

Emma is in Malibu for her best friend Sybil’s wedding. A few nights before the big event, the girls in the bridal party go out to celebrate when Finn Hughes, Emma’s high school debate partner and ALMOST love interest turned rival, shows up. The next day, two days before her wedding, Sybil is MIA. Emma, the fixer, sets out on a wild goose chase to find Sybil. The only catch - she needs Finn’s help, specifically the use of his car, as it seems Sybil has run off to San Diego. Then Vegas. And further. Searching for Sybil has Emma also searching within herself, healing old wounds and redirecting her own future.

As a fan of the Bachelor/Bachelorette, I was looking forward to reading this debut novel from Hannah Brown. I ended up liking this it well enough thanks to the second half. Finn is such a lovable MMC, and elements of Emma and Finn’s relationship felt relatable.

I thought the first half of the book was slow moving, with the characters arriving at a location then pages upon pages of their history being told before they moved to another location with the history telling taking up another chunk of pages. The second half had a lot more action/movement to keep the story flowing at a good pace. I ended up enjoying the story the more I continued on.

Ultimately this would be a fun road trip read this summer.

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for this advanced copy of Mistakes We Never Made.

This is a perfectly serviceable romance but I didn't enjoy the structure. The book leaves some essential plot points unresolved - clearly in an attempt to get the reader to fork over money for Sybil's sequel. I also REALLY didn't like that Sybil's medical procedure is clearly an abortion but the book wouldn't use the word.

Mistakes We Never Made was such a fun, easy to read romance! I read Hannah Brown's other book, God Bless This Mess, and was so curious to see how she would do writing a fiction novel so I was excited to read this one. It did not disappoint!

Emma and Finn have been friends since high school but certain circumstances have always kept them from being together. They're brought together again for the wedding of their mutual friend, Sybil. Things go awry when the bride goes missing and Emma and Finn go on a road trip to find her and bring her back. It was entertaining, funny, and I could totally see bits of Hannah's personality in Emma.

My only complaint is that I feel like Sybil's storyline wasn't resolved in the story. I was left confused why she went missing and what happened in high school with Finn. However, it does seem like it was set up for a sequel so maybe we will get more of her story in another book! Other than that, this was a fun read and if you're a fan of Hannah you will like this story.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I had no idea who the author of this book was till I read the foreword. That said, I enjoyed the plot and rapidly changing setting. I can see a potential series for the other characters.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

A little slow start, but then the story picks up. The characters were relatable. The ending felt a bit rushed and i would’ve loved for the author to tie up some of the stories in the epilogue. Overall, easy to read and a cute story!

What drew me to this book was the author, Hannah Brown, from the Bachelorette and the cover was beautiful. I love romcoms and this one was good - not earthshattering but a good, solid read. Sure some parts of the book were slow paced and some plot lines were never resolved - which is very frustrating to a reader - and the miscommunication trope was too much at times - but all in all a fun read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Hannah Brown's debut romance novel, Mistakes We Never Made follows Emma Townsend and Finn Hughes as they navigate their tumultuous "almost" relationship, filled with missed opportunities and undeniable tension. Forced to attend a mutual friend's wedding, they must conceal their past as they grapple with their mutual disdain. However, a series of unexpected events during a road trip to find the missing bride forces them to confront old feelings, leaving Emma to ponder if risking her heart again could be more than just a mistake.

I thought this was okay! It dragged on a bit for me and felt pretty basic, not grabbing me like some of the other romances I've read recently. I do think Hannah's voice (from what I have seen of her on the Bachelor and online, etc.) did come through, though, which is great! I realize this is her first book so I'm sure she can only get better with time if she continues to write more.

If I had to tell you to either read or skip, I'd lean skip. BUT, if you like forced proximity, road trips, some flashback chapters, runaway brides (lol), and a second-chance romance, I say give it a go!

This book was provided to me free for review as an ARC from Forever, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing.

This sweet love story was surprisingly well done! I have to say that I was initially drawn to it just because I am a fan of the Bachelor and didn't have high hopes for the quality/content of the book. But this turned out to be a charming story of second chances, friendships, and learning to love oneself. I appreciated that it had enough feeling and emotion without being too spicy (probably about a 2 or 3 on the spice scale). This definitely had a miscommunication trope weaved in so if that is something that is not palatable to you then you probably wouldn't enjoy this. I did catch myself picturing the author as the main character which made things a little comical because they are similar, but the MC is definitely not a direct reflection of the author. There were some details/phrases/scenes that felt a little repetitive, but this was very much an unedited ARC so some of that may be weeded out when it is fit to print. Overall I highly enjoyed this, and dare I say, I would recommend this (I am a casual romance reader, so it's not often that I recommend something in the genre) to friends. With it coming out in May this could be a hit of the summer as it begged to be read on a plane en route to someplace sunny.

Alright… where do I start. I received this eBook complimentary from Netgalley and Forever Publishing in exchange for an honest review. I was feeling lumpy before it so I started a buddy read of this book with a friend.
She was much faster in finishing it than I was haha. But I’ll start with the cover, I like it. I like the colours, I like that it’s of scenery and I like that the words are big and take up space.
Secondly, when Vivi said we should read this one (we have two we were deciding to read) because it was by Hannah Brown I had no idea who that was hahaha. Then she said she was on The Bachelor or Bachelorette I can’t remember but I still didn’t know who she was because although I am a huge fan of reality TV, The Bachelor/ Bachelorette has never been one I cared for at all. I guess a lot of what happened in the story or how she made characters happened in real life.
I found Mistakes We never Made to be an easy read but there were too many characters to keep track of and some that really added nothing to the story for me. Her friend that went on the reality show and the guy cheated on her and she told our main character not to talk to him if she saw hi and of course she bumped into him randomly and yelled at him. Didn’t add nothing to the story. I found her dad to be an irrelevant character as well, yes they meet up again after X number of years but nothing was resolved. So why even add that in?
I also found random things that we don’t learn they why’s of so that was annoying. Why was Sybil in the hospital we never find out. I want to make an assumption but I’ll never know. And it’s brought up multiple times.

I’m not sure if I would recommend this book.

I feel indifferent towards this book. I didn’t like the FMC but I think it’s because she embody a lot of the things I don’t like about myself so it was hard to read. The road trip was fun and I loved the story line. 3.5 stars.

While I'd love to say I loved this book, in truth, I thought it was meh and I could tell it was a fictional debut. In some instances, such as her dad leaving, it felt repetitive and brought up too often.

Originally, I picked it up because of the author, Hannah Brown. I have liked her since her time on the Bachelor/Bachelorette and when I found out her book was on Read Now for NetGalley, I grabbed it.

Quite early on, I found myself losing interest in both the plot and the characters. The plot felt unrealistic to me and quite predictable. As our FMC, Emma was probably my favorite character because she developed the most throughout the story. While Finn, the MMC, was not horrible, he seemed very surface level. I must also mention Sybil, Emma's best friend and bride-to-be, who is terrible and annoyed me throughout.

Emma and Finn's banter was enjoyable, but there were times when the interaction made me wish they'd grown up.

I give this one 2.5 (3 rounded up) out of 5 stars as I didn’t feel the need to DNF at any point but still did not love it. Thank you NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Initially, I was quite intrigued by the missing bride storyline and the forced closeness of Emma and Finn, the main characters. However, as the narrative unfolded, my enthusiasm waned. The plot seemed bogged down by miscommunication, with minimal resolution. Although the pace picked up somewhat in the second half, I remained underwhelmed. It's evident that there may be further books featuring other characters, but I'm unsure if I would be invested enough to continue reading. I probably wouldn't have read this if I knew who the author was. I don't watch the Bachelor, and do not care about the crossovers in the book.

2.5 stars. In the beginning I really enjoyed the missing bride plot and the forced proximity between the two main characters, Emma and Finn. Unfortunately as the story progressed I found myself losing interest. I typically read a book in 2-3 days and I never found myself exited to go back to read about what happened next. It continued to be a lot of miscommunication and there was very little resolved. The second half picked up a little bit but I still wasn’t blown away. It seems obvious there will most likely be additional books with the other characters. Not sure if I would really care to read anymore. I wish I liked it more as I am a Hannah Brown fan and loved her biography.

Love love loved this!! I loved the adventure and the first love and how you really didn’t know if they were going to end up together or not. I also loved the flashbacks and how they really added to the story and helped explain the current state of their relationship. The perfect summer read!

Thank you Read Forever for our free copy of Mistakes We Never Made by Hannah Brown

Rating: 4 star
Genre: Romance

Thoughts: As soon as I saw that the Hannah Brown had written a romance book, I knew I had to read it! I thought this was so fun & cute! I adored the core four and already to look forward to what I hope will be more books about the other characters in this book! This book was a wonderful balance of witty rom com humor and deeper storylines around how the main characters grew up & what they experienced!!

When Emma’s best friend Sybil runs off the weekend of her wedding, Emma goes on a road trip to find her. She brings along Finn, her *almost* on-again, off-again, friend/enemy/fling to hopefully find Sybil and save the wedding.

I really liked the flashbacks to earlier times in Finn & Emma’s relationship, and I also loved all the nods to Hannah’s time on the Bachelor/Bachelorette (the podium, the toast, etc.).

I didn’t love that after the entire book being largely about Sybil and her upcoming nuptials, that we were given zero resolution to her story. I realize this was set up for a sequel, but I wanted more in THIS book.

When a bride runs off without a word just a couple days before her wedding, Maid of Honor Emma knows it's her job to jump into action to find Sybil and return her to the wedding before anyone even realizes there's a problem. She sets off on a road trip with former friend Finn (the man she almost dated in high school, almost hooked up with in college, and almost started a relationship with just a few years ago). There are some predictable but entertaining travel mishaps and Finn and Emma find that their chemistry never really went away.

I don't doubt that this one will have plenty of readers because author Hannah Brown remains one of the most popular figures to have come out of the Bachelor franchise but this book is just okay. The general plot is fine, I liked the flashbacks that were interspersed throughout that gave context to the current state of Finn and Emma's relationship and there were a few nods to Hannah's time on the Bachelor that will serve as fun Easter eggs for fans.

Here's what didn't work for me: Finn came off as an idealized character, almost a bit of a caricature. Aside from a couple moments of poor communication, he's not given any flaws or much of a chance to grow as a character. For a romantic comedy, I can maybe put that aside. The main flaw for me was how much of this story was never resolved. It seems like Brown and her team are trying to line up other books for the women in Emma's friend group, which means there are a lot of running questions that never get answered and leaves the reader (or at least this reader) largely unsatisfied at the book's end.

I really enjoyed the banter and this one really did give me some feels. Finn and Emma reunite during two mutual friends' wedding in Hannah Brown's "Mistakes We Never Made." Finn and Emma have always been friends, but past occurrences have prevented them from falling in love.
After the bride gets the willies and flees the wedding to "find herself," Emma, the maid of honor, finds her and takes Finn along.
I cheered for Finn and Emma when they got in the car since their road trip was so well-detailed. Contemporary romance fans will love Brown's colorful characters and story. Start your summer with this book.This was my first Hannah Brown novel, but I won't stop. Stellar performance.
Thank you to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this arc for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this arc.

This is a great second chance romance between Emma and Finn, who spent a chunk of their lives wanting to be together but not getting the timing quite right.

I felt a bit of ‘The Hangover’ in this movie with the hunt for the missing bride. I am aware of who Hannah Brown is and could see the humor of bits and pieces of herself she sprinkled in throughout the story.