Some Mistakes Were Made

– Kristin Dwyer –

Harper Teen

Published 26 April 2022

♥♥♥♥♥

 

I knew that Some Mistakes Were Made would be gut wrenching. And it was. It was also incredibly hard to put down, tear-jerking and made my heart ache. In a good way. Such a delicious, agonising way.

For all the readers who love books about brothers, this one is for you. For all the readers who love resilient, angry and strong survivors who have to face so much more than is imaginable, this book is for you. And readers who love tortured, broken relationships romance, you need to read this book RIGHT NOW!


While every little undercurrent of this book is about Ellis and Easton it’s also so much about brothers, family, belonging and being able to accept the love that is offered.

The synopsis of Some Mistakes Were Made is vague and I don’t really want to give many other details but the absolutely delight of this book is how it is exquisitely crafted so that you slowly fill in the details of the story as you read, chapters alternating between present time and a range of times in Ellis’s childhood. As I was reading I was desperate to know what had happened, what mistakes had torn these characters apart. These chapters from Ellis’s past are so vital to showing the reader everything that she has fought to survive and exactly what Easton means to her. It could have been so easy to dislike Ellis but that was never, ever going to happen because the amount of empathy that is built for her, seeing the world through her eyes, is just incredible and makes this book so powerful.

I absolutely adored Easton’s brothers. Tucker is gorgeous and such so supportive of Ellis, even if he gives her a hard time sometimes, and Dixon is just hilarious and perfect. I loved all the moments the brothers are fighting, which has to be like the 90% of the book, and yet every time they stand up for each other, are there for each other and consistently show up. While I adored the heartmelting ending, I needed more of Tucker and Dixon, and Tucker absolutely needs his own story and happy ending, so if Kristen Dwyer could just write Tucker his own book, that would be great, thank you. And I think Dixon also needs his own book and while she’s at it, how about a novella about Sandry and how she came to choose and marry strong, supportive Ben. I’ll just go ahead and add those untitled books to my to-read list, okay? Perfect.

I’ll be putting this book under new adult, because despite the chapters from Ellis growing up, this really feels like a new adult book. Ellis has just finished high school and is looking to her future, while still wrestling with her past. There is some pretty mature content, check my advisory guide below for more details, and I see that this book is really going to appeal to adults who enjoy YA/NA.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

More information

Category: Young adult fiction.

Genre: Realistic

Themes: Family, romance, relationships, brothers, addiction, friendship,

Reading age guide: Ages 14/15 and up.

Advisory: Strong sexual references, full sex scene with details, details of oral sex, sexual references and references to sexual relationships. References to drugs, drug dealing, drug and alcohol use, intoxication and addictions. Frequent course language, f*** (38), sh** (53), bit** (1), pi** (2), di** (1).

Published: 26 April 2022 by HarperTeen

Format: Hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook. 400pages.

ISBN: 9780063088535

Find it on Goodreads

Buy it on booktopia

* This post contains affiliate links. That means I might earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on my site at no cost to you. It helps to keep this site running.