Some Mistakes Were Made

SOME MISTAKES WERE MADE is a sweeping and riveting YA contemporary romance read. The book is told from the perspective of Ellis, a young woman who has just graduated from high school as she travels back home for a major family party and throughout the past, chronicling her relationship with the Albrey family. Ellis was brought into the Albrey family's orbit when she helped Easton steal back his comic book from the school. The police officer who found them called their parents and took them home, though they were waylaid by Easton's mother who offered to bring Ellis home herself.

In their house, Ellis found something she always wished she had, a place to belong and a family of her own. At least, until the events before her senior year of high school, which resulted in her being shipped away to a distant aunt in California who agreed to take her in for that year. Tucker, who was a year older than her and Easton, has been doing his freshman year of UCSD while Ellis finished high school, and the family has paid for her ticket to go back for the mother, Sandry's big birthday party.

Ellis is still carrying a lot of hurt over the way she was sent away but also over the end of her relationship with Easton. Full of angst and all the passion of young love, this book chronicles their past and present in a consuming and evocative read.

What I loved: This is an absolutely emotional read that pulls the reader into Ellis's angst, longing, and heartbreak. The reader is hooked from the start, wondering how she arrived where she is and the paths that brought her to this place of sadness and emptiness. The answers are slowly revealed throughout the read, and the writing is incredibly compelling, leading to those answers and hoping for Ellis and Easton to resolve all the tension and passion that is constantly hanging between them. The writing style felt raw, genuine, and evocative, and really told this story beautifully.

The characters are extremely compelling, with Ellis and Easton both feeling so real with their vulnerabilities, trouble with things left said and unsaid, and their pressure points. It was impossible to not fall in love with them - and the whole Albrey family. Tucker and Dixon were also characters I wish I knew in real life, brothers who know how to bicker but also how to be there for each other and see past each other's facades.

Beyond the consuming romance, there are also some really important themes around family (biological and found), friendship, and the people whose impressions never really leave us. Ellis has had a challenging life with a family who seems to constantly fail her, and the Albreys are her safe space, creating a home for her that she has trouble trusting. We see the beauty and flaws of such relationships through Ellis's eyes, but also the importance of these connections that have the power to alter the path of an individual.

Final verdict: Consuming and evocative, SOME MISTAKES WERE MADE is a beautiful story of family, love, and redemption. Highly recommend for fans of AMELIA UNABRIDGED, THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR, and ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES.