Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Mistakes Were Made

To switch up my previous pattern, I started this book on audio and quickly switched to the ebook once it was available. It starts with a pretty steamy scene, which I wasn’t expecting right off the bat, and I did not feel comfortable listening to that in public. Once I settled into my more comfortable reading mode of the ebook at home, I enjoyed it. I loved all the characters (except for Parker, but she was the youngest one, so her annoying attitudes make sense) and how they engaged with each other. The spice level was at least 3 out of 5 and there was good variety in the spicy scenes (a major problem I’ve seen in a few sapphic romances). While this is an age-gap romance, I didn’t feel like Erin was belittling Cassie or taking advantage of her. I always think the trope of “too attractive to resist” is weird, but I let it slide. There were also lots of funny scenes. I even laughed out loud a few times.

The main ick I got was probably because I knew too much information. Cassie’s dream is to be an aerospace engineer, but her longtime dream graduate school is CalTech

and she ends up at MIT

. It felt like the author just Googled “top engineering school” because there are a ton of other schools that are better aerospace and NASA recruiting schools. She also, stereotypically and vaguely, spends her spare time in a “shop”. She’s a senior in college. If she’s getting into CalTech, she has to be the president of at least 1 club, active and part of the honor society, and working on her senior design project. It would even make sense if the shop was described as a part-time job, but it does not appear to be part of any of those things. Also, she didn’t interview for an internship until spring break of her senior year. All the best internships would’ve, more than likely, been filled by then. My annoyance stems from the fact that I am a somewhat recent mechanical engineering graduate. I don’t think most people would realize such inconsistencies, and they didn’t have a huge impact on the plot, but I had to put my rant somewhere.

Overall, I still really enjoyed the story and I will probably try some of the author’s other work. It has good spiciness and I liked the chemistry of the main couple. It got me out of a bit of a reading funk and made me laugh multiple times. It was just the description of the engineering college experience that I had problems with.

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theespressoedition's review against another edition

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4.0

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stacy837's review

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emotional funny inspiring 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

4.5

Lots of w/w sex but the emotions and nuances conveyed by the author and audiobook narrator were great

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amberinpieces's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

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torihbu's review

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emotional funny slow-paced

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

2.0

DNF
this isn't my type of book, but it was recommended to me for the "weird plot." i was expecting something more surreal or even sinister, but it turned out to be a story about a middle-aged divorced woman sleeping with her college-aged daughter's best friend. while that's a slightly complex premise, the story itself is not at all complex or gripping. this book clearly isn't for me, but i know someone out there would love it, so i gave it 2 stars

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jaebella's review

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funny lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

Was really excited for this but, it was just disappointing. I felt like there was more sex scenes than actual plot. And I get that Erin was trying to push Cassie away but it just came off bitchy. Lastly everyone in this book needs therapy.

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displacedcactus's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced

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

Age gap romances aren't normally my thing, but this was just the right amount of messy drama to be a fun change of pace.

I did have a couple of frustrations with the book. Erin, the MILF, felt a bit sketched-in at times. Throughout the book, she's working on trying to get a free clinic launched, but while this idea is mentioned several times, and we see her working on it, the details are so incredibly vague as to why she wants it and what her goal is for it.

And as someone who has never experienced campus life, I had some concerns about Cassie's drinking.

We find out pretty early on that Cassie's mother is an alcoholic and drug addict, so it feels weird that only one side character ever addresses Cassie getting sloppy drunk. I know that heavy drinking at parties is a normal college-age thing, but it was so emphasized in the early chapters that I thought this was going to be part of her character arc, when instead her problem drinking mostly resolves itself as her other problems resolve themselves.

On the other hand, one thing I did really like (spoilers for MC's relationship with her own mother):

We learn right off the bat that Cassie is not really in touch with her mom, due to her addictions and generally being a bad mom. No one ever judges Cassie for this choice, and there's no forced reconciliation, nor does the mom show up to serve as a villain.

If age-gap romances (between consenting adults), forbidden romances, temporary long-distance, MILFs, college romance, or messy awkwardness are your jam, this book is a pretty decent read, but I don't think it's good enough to recommend if you're neutral or negative towards the tropes.

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lidia7's review

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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