Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Mistakes Were Made

I’m so torn on this book. The relationship between Cassie and Erin squicked me out a bit. I’m not usually into the age gap trope, but it doesn’t usually *bother* me. However, the fact that Cassie is Erin’s daughter’s best friend and that Cassie and Erin routinely had sex/made out when Parker was around the corner or down the hall is just cringey.

As someone else mentioned, if Erin had been Parker’s dad the whole story would have come off as disgusting and predatory.

Also, there was such an emphasis on Erin going to therapy, but nothing about Cassie going to therapy. I think most people can benefit from some sort of therapy and based on what we were told about Cassie’s birth family and how that has translated into how she approaches the world, I think she could probably use some therapy.

I enjoyed the writing for the most part (the sex scenes were 🔥 🔥 🔥) and the fact that most (all?) of the main characters were queer, so will definitely check out the author’s other book, but think I’ll be skipping books with this premise in the future.

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abigailkokitus's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was certainly a fun read, and the sex scenes were admittedly fantastic. I read the whole thing over the course of 48 hours. And there were times I laughed out loud. But I just could not force myself to like the two main characters. Cassie is annoyingly arrogant and conceited. Erin is constantly toeing the line between following her heart and being overly, grossly selfish. The “fuck should” gets annoying after a while. Going to the bathroom to make out with a girl when you’re supposed to be watching your child’s concert? Having sex with this girl when your daughter is literally down the hall? I’m sorry but that’s all a little icky to me. Those are things you “should” NOT do. But Erin doesn’t seem to care because she’s seemingly blinded by sex with a much younger woman and seems willing to throw away everything else to keep having that mind-blowing sex. It’s also strange how Erin notes how gross the fetishization of youth is… just to do exactly that. Just… ew. Ew to all of that. And sometimes I’m like… I just wish I could read a steamy romance that’s about NORMAL people. Not breathtakingly conventionally attractive people that are rich, working their dream jobs, achieving all of their dreams, etc. That’s just so unrealistic. When I read the words “when they bought the lake house” my eyes rolled so far into my head I thought I’d see my brain. Maybe it’s just because like, you know, eat the rich, but I hated that aspect of the story. And I know not ever book is meant to be realistic or whatever. But… anyway. Despite really not liking the characters or feeling connected to any of them, and despite the writing being fine but nothing to write home about, I’m still giving this three stars for the humor and the sex, and for the fact that it’s an easy, fun read overall.

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dropshift5568's review against another edition

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hopeful informative lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kangaroux's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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mold_munchr's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

I think maybe Cassie should go to therapy instead of having sex with her friend's mom. but hey that's just me

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annorabrady's review against another edition

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As someone who isn't as old as Erin, there's no way she didn't know how young Cassie was, especially with Parker being two years younger. I'm not even old enough to have a kid in college and yet college kids look like babies to me, I don't care how dimly lit a bar is. So for her to act scandalized and like she didn't know, is bad enough. But then she continues to manipulate Cassie, casting her aside and using her when it's convenient to her.

Also, as a general rule: if you feel the need to hide your relationship from the people you love and trust because you know they'll admonish you or it will hurt them, you shouldn't be in the relationship. Period. This is something both Cassie and Erin did. And it's a huge red flag.

Finally, it's clear that Cassie is using this sexual relationship as a way of coping with her own lack of parental affection and in the process she's using Parker's mom who Parker has struggled to have a good relationship with. She's self sabotaging in multiple ways when she really should just be in therapy.

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bookbuyingwithkatie's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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thereadinghammock's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A friend on discord recommended this book, and in my goal to read mostly queer books for most of Pride month, I figured it would be a great audiobook for my commute. Am I glad I read it? Yes. Were there times I thought I might DNF? A few times, but I think that's more about me and some of the things I had going on when/while I was listening than as a reflection of the book (yay anxiety). Did the relationship still make me a bit uncomfortable? Yeah, but it worked for them in the end, so who am I to judge?

If the relationship hadn't been queer and were a "my best friend's dad" instead of her mom, I would have been SO squicked out by it. Also, having dual POV was a big help because you knew where they both stood throughout the whole story. And sharing a name with one of the main characters was disorienting at times, for sure.

The age gap was just shy of 20 years, so significant, but Erin had been divorced for several years, so the relationship never felt like a rebound. Parker was definitely a bit of a spoiled little rich girl, especially that first trip home for winter break, and only irritated me a few times. She did a lot of growing up by the time we got to the end of the story.

Cassie was pretty impulsive throughout most of the story. Ballsy, and while she had a lot of growth as a character, it's almost like it happened in spite of all her choices. More often than not, it felt like Cassie grew up but refused to admit it to herself, only for the revelation to snack her in the face at some later point when it was plot convenient.

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