Mistakes We Never Made by Hannah Brown
Contemporary chick lit, romance. Second chance. Multiple time-lines via flashbacks.
Three nights before the wedding of Sybil and Jamie, four besties have arrived early in Malibu to party, reconnect and wish the bride well. Emma has written a detailed schedule for the days that she wants everyone to follow, to get the maximum fun out of the weekend. She’s best at organizing after all. Emma is not happy to have Finn crash the girls party. She and Finn used to be friends falling in love, before their relationship ended in heartbreak. The next morning, as Emma is getting everyone ready for their spa appointments, they find the bride-to-be missing. Seems she’s run off to San Diego for her preferred spa treatments. Or wait, now her phone is pinging from Las Vegas. Emma and Finn join forces, jump in his car, and try to chase down the bride. As they spend the days in the car, chasing from location to location, they have the chance to talk and reconnect. Maybe they can figure out where bings went sideways.

Emma is structured and organized to the max and seems to know what’s best for everyone, even to the detriment of enjoying the time with her friends. I had to admire the patience that Finn shows as they search and drive and deal with issues along the way. Maybe the privilege of money, but he seemed to have more depth than that.
The scenes with her family were a bit heartbreaking but clearly needed.

Happily the second chance was what they needed for their hea.
3.5

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. ( )

Emma and Finn have been friends since high school. Attracted to each other, but the time was never right. They gather together to celebrate one of their friends. When the bride seemingly gets a case of cold feet and runs, Emma and Finn are begrudgingly on the road trip to find the bride. Close quarters and long hours in a car make them face past mistakes and future decisions.

Debut novel by reality personality Hannah Brown. I jumped on the chance to read this because I enjoyed her outspoken honesty on the bachelorette. I thought this was well written. The author put so much of herself in the book, since watching her on TV, I felt I knew much of this book. It was a fun story line, but it seemed to drag out in places and I felt frustrated with the characters, and never really connected with them or felt their chemistry. They all felt immature and shallow. Emma and Finn’s personal issues were handled with empathy, lending well to their development. The ending wrapped up quickly, but some of the storylines were disappointing and ambiguous. Can you say sequel? Enjoyable enough beach read, enjoy with a glass of sangria.

Thanks to Forever(Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley for this ARC. This is my honest opinion.

3.5 Stars raised to 4 for Goodreads purposes. ( )