Anna Walsh is back and slightly broken again. Back in Ireland, not knowing what to do with her life after leaving behind her high-flying job in New York, her apartment and her last boyfriend. Anna feels lost, not able to cope with the stress of her PR job anymore and sad from her amicable and very friendly breakup with Angelo. Suddenly she is not sure what to do.
When a job comes up to work for friends Brigit and Colm to save their luxury country retreat build and reputation with the local residents of a small town, Anna is thrown into the intricate world of new friends, small town gossip and the go-boy Joye – blast from the past she is not sure she is ready for.
But as they face each new crisis together, their friendship blossoms once again and there is hope for finally being together. But trust is earned and that seems nearly impossible for both of them.
I love the Walsh family - all the sisters and their different characters, so liking Anna was not a problem. Joye on the other side I struggled with a little bit – I found him weak and controlling - everything was down to him and his decisions. But one person I disliked completely? Jacqui – she is the worst friend I could possibly imagine – unsupportive, selfish, always the victim. For that – the book lost a star as I was just not interested in that relationship at all – I get it, but for me reading Anna and Jacqui’s past was enough – any future for them was not something I even wanted to read about and I think the book would have been better without it – at least for me.
But – bravo Marian – another fabulous book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

A well written and intriguing book that made me smile but also think as it's a fun filled and well plotted story about changing your life, getting some new but also losing part of you.
I didn't read the other novels about Walsh family but this one made me other books as I'm feeling like someone late to the party and who want to catch up
Excellent storytelling, empathy and multiple layers.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes evokes family dramas and dynamics and women's identity at a certain stage in life.

Anna Walsh is back, still in New York. But not for long.
Love the Walsh family and returning to any of their stories is like meeting old friends you haven't seen in a while.
What brings Anna back to Ireland? How did she find herself in the wilds of the West? Narky Joey makes a reappearance.
Lots to read and think about. A book about friendship and women and growing older.
Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC

A hilarious and heart-warming family dynamic that is typical of Marian Keyes' writing! I absolutely loved this story, which added more layers and depth to our love of the Walsh family. Every time you think you have a favourite member of the family, Marian brings a new book out and you can't make your mind up again!

If you like Marian Keyes, you will enjoy this. It's a deep dive on Anna Walsh, who we met in detail in "Anybody Out There". She's nearly 50, given up her life in New York and relocates back to Ireland post pandemic. There's a love story that satisfies, plenty of cameos from the Walsh sisters, and a bit of local work related drama that has to be solved.
I enjoyed the book. It feels familiar. It feels Irish. The language used is very Marian-like, if you follow her on social media at all. But it is not necessarily a page turner and we all know where the story is going. I was glad that I had reread Anybody Out There, shortly before this book, as I think it added more to the current read, by having had the deep dive on Anna's characters in her twenties and thirties.

I'm a big fan of the Walsh family so this was always going to be a great read for me. Did I love it as much as the earlier stories? Possibly not, but I still found this absorbing and enjoyable and would recommend to fellow Marian fans.

Marian Keyes is always a delight and My Favourite Mistake really delivered on all the things I love best about this author; her wit, her warmth, the way she writes about families

Who can resist another visit with Marian Keyes’ five Walsh sisters? In 2022 we were treated to a continuation of Rachel’s story in Again, Rachel and now it’s Anna’s turn. The second-youngest sister told her devastating story of grief in Anybody Out There? in 2006.
Anna has been in the background of the past few novels with her enviable life in New York working in beauty PR with all the samples her sisters could ever want. But she and her partner Angelo break up after “lockdown curdle” during the pandemic. Anna is 48 and burnt-out, she realises she hates her high-pressured job, is battling with anxiety and perimenopause and just wants to go home to Ireland.
After breaking her mom and sisters’ hearts with the loss of their beauty samples, Anna spends a few unemployed months in her sister Margaret’s spare room.
Then Rachel and her partner Luke rush in with their friend Brigit – she and her husband are building a high-end retreat in their tiny hometown of Mauntully to expand their business of yoga weekends and artists’ workshops. But they have had serious vandalism problems and the town’s people are not feeling much love for the retreat.
Brigit needs Anna to help sort out the issues quickly or their investors will pull out. But the investors’ rep is Joey, a friend of Luke’s with whom Anna has a mysterious past that’s linked to the end of her friendship with her bestie Jacqui.
It's a lovely, warm read filled with relatable emotions, and, as always, funny, or as the Walsh sisters would say absolutely “gas”. Marian’s books, which were first published in the 90s, continue to be the perfect combination of family drama, humour, and the messiness of life.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Marian Keyes has once again graced us with an exceptional read.

Inadvertently, I discovered that this book is a part of the Walsh family series, and I was overjoyed to reconnect with these beloved characters.

The narrative revolves around the theme of embracing opportunities, encapsulated in the saying, "You miss one hundred percent of the shots you never take."

Anna, at the age of 48, finds herself disillusioned with her life in New York City. Her job no longer ignites her passion, and her romantic relationship has reached its end. Additionally, she is grappling with the challenges of menopause. Consequently, she makes a life-altering decision to relinquish her current existence and return to Ireland, seeking solace and simplicity amidst her family.

Upon her arrival, she is promptly drawn into the midst of a crisis involving her sister, leading her to a quaint seaside town named Maumtully. Anna embarks on a mission to uncover the truth behind the opposition to a proposed luxury coastal resort in this tranquil Irish town.

Furthermore, destiny intertwines her path once more with the audacious Narky Joey, a man who evokes both love and hate within her. As we are aware, these two emotions often coexist in close proximity.

Marian Keyes' masterful storytelling shines through in this exquisitely crafted narrative, featuring meticulously developed characters that will undoubtedly evoke laughter and profound emotional connections.

Thank you to NetGalley, Micheal Joseph and Penguin Random House UK for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes

I’m going to say it. I am a Marian Keyes superfan. I love her tweets or whatever the hell we call them now. I love her honesty. I love her Strictly fandom. I especially love her sense of humour. I love that her books have drawn my stepdaughter into daily reading, because of course more than anything I love her writing. She puts all her quirk, wit and self-awareness into the characters she writes. She is a writing goddess! She gets better year on year and I loved this dive straight back into the Walsh family after Again, Rachel. Rachel has always been my favourite Walsh, but in this latest novel Anna really did steal my heart. Anna is nearing her fiftieth birthday and her high flying PR role in the beauty business is wearing a little thin. Although she’s always loved living in NYC, the pandemic left her feeling the distance from her family in Ireland. After losing her husband Aidan in a terrible car accident several years ago, her contact with his family in Boston has waned. Her subsequent relationship with Angelo - a ‘feathery stroker’ - has been conducted with respect, equality and a deep fondness, but never passionate, all consuming love. With a need to be near those she loves, she gives notice on her job, her apartment and her relationship.

Her family think she’s gone mad and she almost starts to think she’s made a huge mistake when a sudden job opportunity comes her way. Her sister’s friend Bridie has been building a luxury hotel and spa on farmland near the coast, but the project has hit the buffers. Locals have vandalised the site leaving machinery sabotaged and the luxury bungalows daubed with paint. Bridie and her husband have had the worst news, their daughter has been diagnosed with cancer and needs their total focus. What they need is an experienced but down to earth PR who will be able to converse with the locals in town, find out what their grievances are and hopefully, get the project moving forward again. Anna is booked into the local hotel and can be ready to hit the ground running, but there’s just one snag. The finance broker who has put together the deal for Bridie’s project is Joey ?? Joey was part of the Irish ex-pat community in New York when Anna and Rachel first moved out there. He was also one of the ‘Real Men’, a group of long haired, tight jeaned, rock gods who included Rachel’s husband Luke. Joey was hot. All tawny haired, with the most kissable mouth Anna had ever seen, not to mention his jeans which were just on the wrong side of decent. The first night they met Anna felt an immediate vibe and was full of anticipation until her sister Helen walked in. She saw Joey’s eyes immediately slide over her and become laser focused on her beautiful sister. Anna was immediately slighted and when Helen and Joey left together she decided to dispel this particular lean hipped rock god to the back of her mind. However, this wasn’t the last time their paths crossed. Joey has always been a mix of old flame and thorn in Hannah’s side. Can she put aside their past and work together on this project?

Anna has that wonderful characteristic that can’t be taught, she has an easy charm and an ability to talk to anyone from building contractors to the lady of the manor. She takes to M’town straight away, working out who are the cornerstones of the community and who has something to lose from the development at Bridie’s farm. Knowing that her NYC clothes won’t work in rural Ireland, she dresses in jeans and a waterproof coat and pulls her hair back in a ponytail. Minimal make-up leaves her looking fresh-faced and the facial scar from her accident with Aidan is exposed. She’s shrewd enough to realise that it gives her an advantage, no matter whether they people feel sorry for her, are curious or think it shows honesty and openness. She’s smart and has similar skills to her sister Rachel when it comes to communication. The openness, lack of judgement and appreciation that Rachel shows her clients in the counselling room, is equally fruitful when trying to get to the bottom of why certain people in town are against the development. Anna genuinely cares and within days can see where mistakes were made, where a concern was overlooked or an individual was inconvenienced. She can make the most insignificant person feel like the centre of her world and is soon making friends. We follow her investigation and watch her become more and more embedded in this quirky but beautiful little place. In between we see glimpses into Anna’s past, from the before and after devastation of Aidan’s death to her relationship with best friend Jackie and her daughter Trea. Jackie has been her best friend, a relationship that even survived Jackie’s fraught relationship with Joey. When Jackie becomes pregnant, Anna puts aside her own feelings for Joey and becomes her birthing partner and almost a co-parent to Trea. However, something happens to jeopardise their friendship and the women have barely spoken since.

A Marian Keyes romance is never just heart and flowers. It’s always about the heroine’s personal baggage and need for self-growth too. Often I prefer the inner growth to the potential relationship, but not in this case. I absolutely loved this couple and their story. We all have that someone who got away. For me it was a lanky and eccentric music lover called Glynn who would turn up at the door unannounced - often sporting flowers from the graveyard or my dad’s own flowerbeds. There was rarely any warning with Glynn, he might be waiting for me at school having invited himself for tea or have walked five miles from town with some song lyrics scribbled on a postcard that I just had to have. We would lie on my bed and listen to the Cocteau Twins, Ride and The Smiths. My dad would despair at his Joe Bloggs wide leg jeans with frayed hems that dragged mud and grass into the house. He had hair like Clint Boon from the Inspiral Carpets and a huge billowing parka that I stole and wore for two years straight. He also had a complicated home life and often reminded me of Snufkin from The Moomins, who loved the solidity and dependability of Moomin House but also needed time to wander alone whenever it suited him. I was hopelessly in love with him, but it took him three years to finally ask me out and I was scared that it was finally happening that I panicked and refused. Even now, every few months or so he sends me a Spotify track by House of Love or Northside and I love that little reminder of teenage love. Similarly, Joey and Anna have a very long history with several near misses and a deep friendship when he let her close. Although they’ve never had a romantic relationship it is Anna and not one of his many lovers who knows the truth about his upbringing and how damaging those years were. He has trusted her with his deepest secrets, but he has also hurt her, possibly more than anyone else in her life. He has also caused her to lose her closest friend. Yet Anna knows that once she also wounded Joey deeply, the details of which we only find out late in the story.

I loved the pace of the romance, with Marian Keyes knowing exactly when to drop in a flashback that explains everything and keeping that ‘will they/ won’t they tension without it seeming artificial. Often with rom coms I feel like obstacles are there must for the sake of it, but the flow is natural and I never felt like the outcome was a done deal. There were so many obstacles and items of baggage it felt like they were on the luggage conveyor belt at Gatwick. There’s everything from the past - him choosing Helen, then Jackie and then most of NYC if Mrs Walsh is to be believed, before Anna. Joey has so much work to do, not just about his childhood but about the here and now. Blending families isn’t easy and he has three adorable boys as well as Trea to think about. They’re both temporarily working on this project and in M’town so what happens when the hotel is built or if Birdie has enough and changes her plans? Anna might be healed physically, but her scar does bother her and has changed her life in ways she didn’t imagine. It does work as a filter, anyone it clearly bothers has no place in her bed. However, at times it does play on her confidence and when she sets up an online suggestion inbox for the locals there are enough hurtful comments to remind her of a time when she wasn’t okay. Joey is fit to murder the culprits but Anna rises above it and keeps moving forward, despite the hurt and the reminder that Joey didn’t even choose her before the accident. Is it possible to remain friends when they’re so close? Finally, there’s the beautiful setting, nobody does small town Ireland like Keyes and these people are imperfect, but hilarious. Some of their concerns are petty, but others are grounded in years and years of tradition. Work is hard to find in a small town so local tradesmen not being asked to contract was a huge mistake, but easily smoothed over once Anna explains the artistry and level of finish expected. Could Anna thrive somewhere like this, or is she just passing through? I loved, loved, loved this book and being on holiday I had the luxury of sitting in the garden in Glastonbury and reading right through to the end. This is peak Marian Keyes and if you don’t fall in love with Anna or her love story with Joey there’s clearly something a little bit wrong with you.

I don't think I have ever picked up a Marian Keyes novel without knowing I was going to love it. This one is another exquisite read, Anna has a great New York appartment, a high flying job and devoted partner, she has it all. As it turns out, she has it all but wants none of it. We follow Anna to a tiny town oin Ireland where we have a fly on the wall position to see her build the life and relationships she craves.

Keyes is such a reliable writer, her books never disappoint and even if you've forgotten the back story to all of her Walsh family characters you soon feel folded back into their company.
This book has a lovely domestic feel and it was nice to read a book that included the pandemic but in a way that I really recognised. Keyes always writes a form of fairy tale but sometimes that's just what you need.

I really enjoyed this book, great to be back with the Walsh family! You could read as a standalone but it does flow better to read them in order and you get to know all the characters. There are quite a few in that family! The joy of a new Marian Keyes book, warm and witty and you kind of want to live there. Highly recommend.

I was delighted to be approved for an advanced copy of Marian Keye's new book as she is a long time favourite author and this was didn't disappoint me. It was warm, funny, extremely well plotted - all the things I've come to expect. It was great to have familiar characters back but I also loved the new additions and the tales of small village life. Long may the Walsh family continue to entertain us!

So I really loved Anybody Out There - I think it might be one of my favourite Marian Keyes novels ever so I was so excited to read My Favourite Mistake and revisit Anna. I read this on holiday, having saved it especially, and it was the perfect book to wile away the hours with, however, if this was my first Marian, I'm not sure I would have said that it had the same spark as usual? An entertaining read as ever but just slightly missed the mark for me this time.

I loved getting caught up on the Walsh family in this book and in particular Anna who has moved on to a different stage of her life although Joey is still present in her thoughts and also her mind.

The uniquely Irish humour is one of my favourite parts of Marion’s books! Leaving New York and her high flying job to return to Ireland was a gamble for Anna but as we follow her story I related to many of the issues she was going through.

I was rooting for Anna to find her happy ending. A book of laughter, love , second chances and extended families I enjoyed it and would recommend it .

I hadn’t read all the books on the Walsh family series but it didn’t seem to matter. Marian Keyes writes humorous but very real stories about real people. Her character observations are well conceived and very true to life.
This was a really good read, with excellent storylines and lots to appeal to me. Love, laughter, humour and friendship.
A master of her craft. I would highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more from this talented author.

I was so pleased to meet the Walshes again. Every single one of the sister and Ma Walsh feels like an old friend. My Favourite Mistake brings us up to date with Anna's story and it is one of sadness and joy, written with the humour and tenderness that only Marian Keyes can. I didn't want it to end. So good.

Oh what a joy it is to be back with the delightful, quirky Walsh family! And especially to see how they are all faring as the years have moved on, whilst this one focuses on Anna, the family are very much in the book as well, with Marian Keyes giving the readers snippets of the background of each along the way, so no-one misses out.

Marian Keyes has such a delightful way of storytelling, that the reader will feel they are in the midst of the family. Her books are warm, comforting and life affirming in our sometimes crazy, fast world. Some poignant reminders too, of what living through COVID was like.

I loved reading about Anna and the issues she faced with her midlife crisis, finding much to empathise with, but written about with humour and a great level of understanding. The book includes delightful examples of Irish speech and some of the terms used, like ‘Narky Joey’ and ‘Go-boy’ making me chuckle.

Now the community of Maumtully is a whole new level of gorgeousness, full of quirky characters and reflecting life in rural Ireland, where everyone knows everyone and their business, a real contrast to life in NYC.

Whilst enjoying the humour and quips in this book, along with the regular family jibes, there are also serious subjects covered, like grief, ageing, friendships, family and relationships.

Love Marian Keyes books, particularly the Walsh family books, more please!