The Mistake

“Are you trying to buy your way into my good graces?”
“Yup. And excellent pun, by the way.”
“I wasn't punning. My name just happens to be a homonym.”
“I love it when you talk homonyms to me.”

There are books you read in a week, there are books that you might even finish over a couple of days, and then there are those addictive little gems that you inhale all at once, reading non-stop, often in the wee hours of the morning, showing complete disregard for your real life responsibilities, and loving every blissful moment of it. Flawlessly written—as I've now come to expect from this terrific author after the pleasant surprise that was The Deal—this is a story that had me grinning cover to cover, and while it had the perfect combination of engaging plotline and fulfilling character development, this was first and foremost a fun, heart-warming read. One I will definitely want to re-read very soon, whenever the fussy reader in me starts aching for a book to make me smile.

“He's John fing Logan, one of the most popular guys at Briar. And I'm Grace fing Ivers, one of thousands of girls who are crushing on him.”

Grace Ivers is a good girl—cautious, responsible, always in control, a freshman in college...and a virgin. She is the girl no one notices because she does nothing to attract attention, even though she would give anything to be seen by her one and only college crush, the star defenseman of the hockey team. But good girls like Grace are not even on John Logan's radar these days, his relentless pursuit of ‘easy lays' whose name he is not even expected to know being the only kind of ‘relationship' he appears to be interested in. Secretly, however, Logan craves the kind of intimacy and emotional bond his best friend and teammate, Garrett Graham, has found in his life, to the point of convincing himself of being in love with his best friend's girl.

When Logan and Grace accidentally meet, they are both pleasantly surprised by how effortless and enjoyable it is to spend time in each other's company, their flickering attraction gaining momentum quickly and irresistibly, and while one kiss is all it takes for it to ignite, one confession is all it takes to destroy their budding relationship. As quickly as it started, it all ends in an instant, leaving them both heartbroken and full of regrets.

“I was your distraction?”

Not a man to give up easily on what he wants the most in life, Logan then commences his stubborn and utterly entertaining pursuit of the woman who has captured his heart like no other before her, determined to make her forgive him and give them one more chance. He woos her unashamedly, becoming his teammates' running joke, but Logan is a man on a mission and he refuses to give up until the one who has stolen his heart is his once again.

“Give me another chance. Let me prove to you that I'm not an egocentric a**.”

There are so many fabulous layers to this story, all working perfectly together to deliver an engaging, uplifting, unputdownable tale of opposites attracting, of two people being exactly what the other needs, in good times and in bad, and never giving up on each other. Ms Kennedy has given us two characters who steal our hearts from the get-go—a popular jock, reformed womaniser whose loyalty and selflessness make him impossible not to adore, and a strong, independent, kind-hearted heroine who loves fiercely, but respects herself the same way. The hilarious banter, the heart-warming romance, the skin-tingling sex scenes, the colourful array of secondary characters—this book excelled in every aspect, keeping me enthralled for hours, and it again left me craving for more from the irresistible Briar boys and their kickass leading ladies.

“I don't want anyone else. All I want is another chance.”