Mistakes were Made by Meryl Wilsner Book Review

 

Cover of Mistakes were made:
Two women sitting at a bar. Blue upper half of picture and then a bar with bar stools.

I really enjoyed this book.

The romance was lovely, and you could feel the chemistry between them. 

While there is a wonderful sex scene in the first chapter it takes a long time before we have more, it becomes slowburn-ish we know they are interested in each other but her being the mom of one of her bestfriend and her being the bff, they know they "can't be together".

I loved the side characters and the friendships, how Parker being the daughter of one of our FL wasn't made into this big issue, but rather solved swiftly.

While I did not like Cassie's "She's not like other girls" type of comment in the beginning of the book when Erin (Parker's mom) takes whiskey as a drink ("... it was whiskey, neat. A no-nonsense kind of drink") it was a fun book. I just wish she hadn't made a comment like that, other drinks are not "nonsensical" I just hate it when people make women identifying characters hate on other women for things they like. I believe we are past judging and not supporting other women.

There are some scenes I wished we'd had towards the 3/4 of the book, about the struggles and some comments Erin made about "it not being serious" and about their age difference. I think if it had gone more in depth about it with more conversations between our FL's and not with their respective bff's it would've been more impactful.

I was happy there was no cheating or "making mistakes 'cause she's younger" thrope in this romance book.

A refreshing Sapphic Romance that I highly recommend. 

Bookarina

4/5 stars

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales ARC Book Review

 

Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book; my thoughts are my own.

I really enjoyed Sophie Gonzales's debut novel and so when I saw the premise of this book I was hooked.

I was so excited for this that I couldn't wait to read it.

Unfortunately, it was a letdown. I don't know why (probably because the full description wasn't available when I first learned about the book) but I believed it would be a NA or Adult novel because of the reality Bachelor-esque premise of the book.

Instead, they were 18? It felt weird to read adult conversations about relationship's they had as children and the lack of life experience for them to be looking to settle down and get married...

I feel like this premise would've been better if the characters had been older, not super old but older than "I just became an adult" (in most of the world since in the US it's like 21 to drink and all that)

I liked the "I want revenge" premise, unfortunately the romance wasn't really interesting. None of them are likable enough for me to care about their romance, one was rude and the other just hard to care about. 

I think the romance is so unbelievable because we don't spend enough time on it, there is too much of the book spent on Jordan and on the other contestant which meant we did not have enough time to see interactions and moments that made the romance realistic. I felt like they barely knew each other, but I did enjoy the small interactions they had.

Jordan didn't make a lot of sense, for someone we are meant to hate, it just didn't feel that way and his choices (who to keep etc) seemed inconsequential and made little to no sense with the information we were getting while reading the book which made the book seems slightly dumb/silly.

I was just disappointed, great concept and an unfortunately bad/poor execution.

2.5/5 stars

Wilting Violets by Anne Malcom Book Review

(this can be read as a standalone)

 I keep thinking about this book.

I really want to get it physically and I believe that upon a re-read it will become 5 stars.

TW: SA, Domestic violence, abortion, PTSD (guilt of not seeing the abuse, being abused, etc)
while not graphic it is mentioned and told in some amount of details.

This book is an MC age gap romance between the daughter of the new wife his best-friend has. While not his biological daughter once he marries the mother, he treats her as his.

He knows she's untouchable now, as his bf adopted daughter, but they have an undeniable chemistry, and he will go to all extremes to protect her and care for her. Our ML wants to keep his distance at first and the sort of slow-ish burn is to die for. I love when I can feel the tension and how he cares for her even after telling her they can't be together.

She is taken by surprise learning her mother will be getting married to an MC member, she until then was living abroad in school. She isn't as innocent as people believe her to be and is glad her mother is finally happy. She is dealing with some personal issues and has no intention of telling anyone. She wants to keep it together and not get in her mother's new life way.
To her grand surprise, her mother's new husband, makes it known he considers her his daughter and has no intention of keeping her to the side.
I loved how their daughter/father relationship grew.


***SPOILER***
I loved the fact that even in their "we can't be together" he (our ML) knows she is scared to drive in the rain and has panic attacks and so calls her and stays on the phone with her when he knows it will rain until she stops driving
***END SPOILER ***

There are so many things I loved about this book and while not a life changing book, it quickly became a new favorite, and I can see it becoming a comfort read.
This is a spicy book that had a great plot and was also simultaneously touching.
I highly recommend it if you are interested in it.
(I will be re-reading this soon)
4.5/5 stars
Bookarina