Kristin Dwyer

Sarah Dessen meets Adam Silvera in the debut YA romance everyone is talking about!

Ellis and Easton have been inseparable since childhood. But when a rash decision throws Ellis’s life—and her relationship with Easton—into chaos, she’s forced to move halfway across the country, far from everything she’s ever known.

Now Ellis hasn’t spoken to Easton in a year, and maybe it’s better that way; maybe eventually the Easton-shaped hole in her heart will heal.

But when Easton’s mom invites her home for a visit, Ellis finds herself tangled up in the web of heartache, betrayal, and anger she left behind . . . and with the boy she never stopped loving.

Some Mistakes Were Made

ReadwithZanariah 

Collected them like pieces of memories, tucking them away into the parts of her heart that she could keep for herself. They were the only things that stayed. After she left. And she took all the breath from my lungs. After all the people who promised to stay left. And said they understood didn't. After all the laughter was gone. After the sun faded from the sky, I still had the words. They are all I have left. Written on scraps of paper that I tuck away into notebooks and boxes and pockets of pants to find later like buried treasure. Ilet paper and ink speak since she doesn't anymore. Bold. Even when she couldn't be. Those words are the parts of us I hide. They keep our secret. I breathe in and out with wordless breaths. I smile without language. I speak words that aren’t true. Only the words she spoke are. Only her. Words I feel deep down in parts of myself I can’t find without her. Words that whispered to parts of me that change a person. They trail behind me like morning fog clinging to the surface of the lake. They shift on the air and cast a spell. And they are all I have left of golden smiles, soft breaths, and summer skin stretched over a heart that beats in poetry. All I have left of mornings filled with honeyed light and whispers that slide across me like velvet. All I have left of initials carved into wood and the sharp points of dreams pushed into brightly coloured paper with faraway names written in latitude and longitude. I run my fingers against the inky flicks of the words and imagine her lips speaking them. She said she loved words and they are all I have left.”

Life is just a series of small choices, and you can only see the one in front of you, but it leads you to the next and the next. Eventually, you’ve ended up somewhere you don’t even recognize.”

Swifties, Outer Banks bingers, or Emily Henry fans, this is the ya contemporary romance for you!!

With a friends-to-lovers romance across socioeconomic lines, a precious found family with annoyingly likable big brothers, and angst for DAYS, Some Mistakes Were Made is emotional, compelling, and hopeful.

CW: underage alcohol use, brief drug mention, incarcerated parent, parental abandonment

Liz Griffin

Swifties, Outer Banks bingers, or Emily Henry fans, this is the ya contemporary romance for you!!

With a friends-to-lovers romance across socioeconomic lines, a precious found family with annoyingly likable big brothers, and angst for DAYS, Some Mistakes Were Made is emotional, compelling, and hopeful.

CW: underage alcohol use, brief drug mention, incarcerated parent, parental abandonment

Julie Janis

I should probably start with the positive. I enjoyed the flashback chapters leading up to the conflict the story focused on. Those were the chapters I wanted to read the most. It was interesting reading Ellis and Easton's relationship progression and seeing just how much they went through. I also liked the family dynamics and how Ellis was a part of the family. That was really sweet.

Now what I didn't enjoy were quite a few things. First, Ellis was an incredibly unlikeable character. There were so many flaws to her that were clearly stated multiple times throughout the book. It was so much to the point that I felt the author was convincing me to hate her. I understand why she has so many flaws because of her background and family abandoning her. With that being said, I would have much rather read a story of her growth in overcoming rather than put a love story in the mix. I felt like she hadn't totally grown in the end. 

Let's talk about the love story now. It's incredibly unhealthy. Period. There was so much miscommunication and unnecessary drama when the characters could have just spoken honestly with each other from the beginning. There were horrible arguments, to the point that I don't even know how they could still forgive each other, let alone love each other. With everything they went through, I just can't support their relationship.

Overall, this book was depressing and made me feel icky inside. I also didn't appreciate the loads amount of language. I know I'm the minority here, but this book was definitely not for me.

About a third of the way through the book, I texted a friend I was not feeling it. It was an okay read but not what I expected. Note: I expected A LOT. So blame me.

BUT about halfway through the characters just got to me. I felt myself suddenly tear up and I didn't stop crying until the last word, acknowledgements included, and I didn't know how to continue with daily life hours after putting the books down.

Some Mistakes Were Made cut through my soul. The characters felt so real. I fell in love with them and my heart broke when theirs did. 

Kristin's writing style seems simple but it's a craft, a talent to convey so many emotions in so little words. I flew through the story, I was right there in between the pages, in the house with Ellis and the Albrey family, and I wish I could have stayed there a little longer. Maybe even entire summer?

Janne Janssens

I'm a sobbing mess. 😭

About a third of the way through the book, I texted a friend I was not feeling it. It was an okay read but not what I expected. Note: I expected A LOT. So blame me.

BUT about halfway through the characters just got to me. I felt myself suddenly tear up and I didn't stop crying until the last word, acknowledgements included, and I didn't know how to continue with daily life hours after putting the books down.

Some Mistakes Were Made cut through my soul. The characters felt so real. I fell in love with them and my heart broke when theirs did. 

Kristin's writing style seems simple but it's a craft, a talent to convey so many emotions in so little words. I flew through the story, I was right there in between the pages, in the house with Ellis and the Albrey family, and I wish I could have stayed there a little longer. Maybe even entire summer?

Akansha

I read a review about this on booksta where someone said this is a Taylor Swift song meets Colleen Hoover and that was the only reason I picked it up. 

This was just okayish at best. I get it Ellis was just a teenager and and had shitty parents but she was mad at Easton and his mom because they gave her a chance for a new life when she almost threw it away. The way she treated Easton at times, if you reverse the role I would have been furious. 

Alexandra Dawning

Holy crap, this book.

I read it in one sitting, I literally didn’t move from my seat until it was done.

I don’t normally read contemporary romance, but I am SO GLAD I read this book.

Best book of the year so far.

Alli King

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC! 

So, I don’t normally read contemporary YA. It’s just usually not my jam… but I couldn’t put this one down! Kristin Dwyer does an incredible job immediately pulling you into the emotions of Ellis, and doesn’t let you go for the entire book. 

Ellis and Easton were best of friends from early adolescence- to the point of Ellis being quasi adopted by Easton’s family. Feelings evolve, as they do… and then before they have a chance to really unpack said feelings *spoiler alert*, Ellis makes a choice that jeopardizes both of their futures in order to protect her ex-con father. This results in her being sent to live with her aunt in California, and she cuts off contact from Easton. When she returns to Indiana and has to see Easton again, things are… complicated. 

I laughed. I cried. 
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even if (as Kristin herself said) I also wanted to smash their faces together for 350 pages.

Some Mistakes Were Made

Reviews

Highlights