Definitely in the minority but I struggled so much with this book that I abandoned it at 35%. I am so disappointed as I loved the other books in this series about the Walsh Family. This one I just couldn’t click with. . Perhaps I’ll go back to it another time .

Ah the joy of being back with the Walshes. Reading these books is like taking your heels off after a night out. I’ve grown up with these women and there is such a fantastic sense of nostalgia coming back to their stories.

My Favourite Mistake is no exception. This time the story centres on Anna. Having something of a midlife crisis, she has ditched her job, her man and her life in New York and moved back to Ireland.

Finding herself employed to save a development in Maumtully, she is soon caught up in the life of the small town and its many ‘characters’. Complicating everything though is the reemergence of old flame Narky Joey in her life.

Small town Ireland, heartbreak, sexual tension and the perils of life as a 40 something woman all blend beautifully to create a brilliantly engaging story. As ever with Marian's books it's often hilarious and always packed with brilliant observations on being a woman.

Though this is just over 600 pages, I rattled through it in a couple of days. I should say too that if you haven't read any of the other Walsh stories, don't let that put you off. You can definitely read this one on its own as there's plenty of background info given to keep you right

This is another fabulously fun and relatable tale from the absolute Queen that is Marian Keyes.

Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the chance to read early

I loved reading about Rachel in ‘Rachel’s holiday’ and ‘Again, Rachel’ so I was excited to read another book by Ms Keyes. I hadn’t realised that this one centred on another of the Walsh sisters – Rachel’s sister Anna, and that Rachel and Luke would appear in the book with the rest of the Walsh clan.

Anna is living in New York with her boyfriend, and with a fantastic job in PR. Unfortunately the lockdown happens, and living in each other’s pockets is too much for Anna and Angelo and they break up. Work is also becoming too stressful, so Anna decides to take a sabbatical in Ireland with her family, and moves in with one of her sisters. However, she soon gets purloined to help out some friends with their new high end development, which is getting some major resistance from the locals, and Anna’s PR experience is needed to smooth the way. The problem with this is that it brings her back to Joey Armstrong – the one who broke her heart several times, and the one who got away.

I love reading about the Walsh family, and was happy to meet this crazy family again in Anna’s story. As with all Ms Keyes’ books it is well written, with strong characters, gritty and hard hitting and definitely not shying away from difficult subjects. If you loved the iconic Rachel’s holiday, you will adore this book.

Marian Keyes is an amazing writer, This book once again follows the Walsh family and focuses on Anna.. I loved it. Every time I read a book of Marians it feels like coming home and being wrapped in your favourite blanket. I love Anna Walsh and the family and I had to ration this book as I didn't want it to end, Anna has left her partner and her job in New York and returns to Ireland and settles in a tiny village of Maumtully., Marian describes so well the small Irish village and the characters you meet in them, I loved how the Walsh family feature, and the return of more like the gorgeous Joey Armstrong.

As always Marian writes so well this book is hilarious, relatable and engaging. I have no doubt that this book will do incredibly well as it is superb and I cannot recommend it enough.

It was just brilliant to be back with the Walsh family. This time we were with Anna, Rachel’s sister and I adored her. I galloped through the chapters, devouring 600 pages in two sittings. It was perfectly paced, and so emotionally intelligent, thought-provoking and hilarious. I've said it before and I will say it again- no one willl ever be able to find funny in the familiar quite like Marian Keyes. A must-read. Thank you, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the advance copy.

I was delighted to receive a review copy of this as I’ve read most Marian Keyes books and had had plans to buy this when it came out!

Fans of Marian Keyes will be pleased as this has all of the things we look for in her books. Lots of believable and funny characters and a good and gripping story. I read it really quickly and enjoyed it very much.

I rediscovered Keyes a few years ago, and was genuinely thrilled to see she had a new book out AND it had a member of the Walsh family in.
Unfortunately it didn't hit the mark for me.
Too similar to previous books? Too predictable? Not enough other Walsh family members?
I don't know, it just felt like hard work sometimes.
But then other times it felt warm, and funny and just what I expected.
I'm glad I read it, but I'm not racing for the next.

So this is a story about Anna. Anna is one of the Walsh sisters; so prevalent across Keyes’ novels either in their own story or side characters. Anna is in her late 40’s, perimenopausal and following a break up, on her way home to Ireland. Given a role to help friends out in a far flung corner of the country, Anna soon finds herself amongst a cast of old and new friends, as she investigates events at Brigit & Colm’s country retreat.
Back in the day, I lived for Marian Keyes’ novels and so I guess it’s loyalty that keeps me coming back, even though over recent years I have really struggled with some of them.
The writing is trademark Keyes with all of its wonderful Irish spirit, family strife and will-they-won’t-they romance. I just don’t think this type of plot is original enough for me anymore. I mean we could all see the ending a mile off!!
However what Keyes did really well was to highlight, and celebrate, a woman going through menopause. The highs, the lows, the struggle for HRT and ‘shock horror’ the portrayal of a character who at 48 still wants to have sex. Thank you Marian for representing!

I was delighted to receive an ARC of Marian Keyes’ new foray into the lives of the Walsh sisters in ‘My Favourite Mistake’. Fans of Marian will know the Walsh family intimately through some of her previous novels such as ‘Rachel’s Holiday’ and (also involving the protagonist Anna Walsh) ‘Anybody Out There?’. If you a newcomer to Marian though, don’t worry! My Favourite Mistake gives you all the background you need and I envy that you then have all of Marian’s back catalogue to work through. For me, reading a Marian Keyes novel, is like wearing your favourite outfit - you feel secure and safe but it is also a pure joy! She is a master at writing romantic, comedic novels that cover more serious issues. My Favourite Mistake visits Anna post-pandemic in New York questioning her life choices and considering a major change in moving back to Ireland. It examines friendship, loneliness, community, marriage, the realities of mid-life and menopause but all with Marian’s special light touch. It really sparkles, however, when all the Walsh family is together - I have never read any other author who can write the banter and conversation of Irish families like Marian. This is another brilliant read from Marian Keyes!

FROM THE COVER📖


She has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that?

Anna, it turns out.

Trading a minor midlife crisis for a major life event, she switches the skyscrapers of Manhattan for the tiny Irish town of Maumtully (population 1,217), helping old friends Brigit and Colm set up a luxury coastal retreat.

Tougher than it sounds. Newflash: the locals hate the idea. So much so, there have been threats – and violence.

Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry. There’s no ugliness she hasn’t seen. No wrinkle she can’t smooth over.

There’s just one fly in the ointment – old flame Joey Armstrong.

He’s going to be her wingman.

Never mind their chequered history. Never mind what might have been.

Because no matter how far you go, your mistakes will still be waiting for you . . .

REVIEW⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

First want to say a massive thanks Netgalley and Michael Joseph for the ARC, it really made my day.

As I long time fan of Marian Keyes’s work in particular anything with Walsh sisters in it, this review was always going three stars at the very least.

Rachel’s Holiday is still my favourite book after these years and is one I have read again and again, I have grown up reading Keyes wisdom and wit. I was so excited and really intrigued to see what happened to her next when Marian revisited Rachel in Again Rachel however I was a little disappointed but still really enjoyed it so when I saw she was revisiting Anna I was both excited and a little weary.

The last few of Marian’s work haven’t quite hit the mark in the way her earlier did, The Woman Who Stole My Life and The Break really didn’t work for me they were of course good reads and were well deserved three stars but I didn’t connect with them. I loved Grown Ups and felt it was a return to best.

Anna Walsh’s first outing was a book that stayed with me long after reading so I was hoping her next instalment would not only be a return to Keyes best but also leave me wanting to reread again and again in the same way I have done with Rachel’s Holiday and Anyone Out There.

Starting off in the middle of the covid pandemic we hear from Anna Walsh in the first POV as she starts to reflect on her life the reflects lead to big changes. We follow Anna as she faces her past while moving in a new direct. We are given insight to her life before and her life now.

Told with the usual wit, heart and craic I was charmed as ever with Walsh family and cast of characters ( be warned there is a lot, while I love the vast mixture of minor characters I did think there was maybe one too many in this a lot were just names with real no purpose) with their true life realism and the little quirks that give them nuance and character. Marian sure can capture people she writes such strong well developed characters that make you want hear more and more about them all. In this novel I fell in love with the newest addition to the Walsh family Regan she was pure "gas"

Marian manages to interweave as serious topical news subject in the novel( the menopause and how women are treated in general regardless of age) and does with a good humour and realistic scenes. Making her point all the more.

The story is well paced and keeps your interest. I loved how the snippets about the past discussed events from the previous Walsh books but with more detail and background, each novel adding to the depth of the novels . I love the fact that all the characters experiences in the past have clearly made them the people they are, so everything that happens now comes with the added baggage of what’s gone before. Impacting the story in the now.

As always Keyes captures a time and place beautifully with her observations within the book. Her use of language is what I can only call unique but utterly fabulous from the names of the characters, the saying and the nicknames I chuckle away and often find myself using them. I was overjoyed to hear my all time favourite expression "feathery stroker" by chapter 3.

I never thought I'd fancy a male character as much as I did Luke Costello...until this book...Renter Narky Joey/The Go-Boy/Mr Joseph Armstrong...In my mind Jamie Doran😍😍😍

What I always loved about Keyes earlier work was that despite being classed as chick lit it very much wasn't there was always a darker edge and a not quite so happy ending but I have found in her later work things are maybe just a little too perfect in the end and I find some of how of the issues are play out little too good to be true this novel was bit like that in places and the ending certainly was. That being said I loved it all the same.

It was delight to reunited with the Walsh family and there friends I found this book charming, well written and a total gas.

Make no mistake about it this my favourite book this year

This return to the Walsh family drama and chaos was just what I needed this week, I not only love this latest book from Marian Keyes but I want to now go back and revisit the previous Walsh titles to enjoy all over again.
Funny, sexy, feisty and pure joy, this is something to bring so much comfort and hope, with a focus on friendship, grief, and all of our fears and flaws. I just loved it.

A new book about the Walsh family is like catching up with old friends. By now, many of us have grown up with the Walshes – I was in my mid 20s when I read my first (Rachel’s Holiday) and I’m now in my early 50s and still eagerly awaiting each new book. Just like all the others, this one doesn’t disappoint.

Marian Keyes is a wonderful writer. Her characters are completely believable, each with their strengths and weaknesses and each novel adding to their depth. I love the fact that all their experiences in the past have clearly made them the people they are, so everything that happens now comes with the added baggage of what’s gone before.

My Favourite Mistake centres again around Anna, who’s had enough of New York and is ready to move back to Ireland, particularly after the strains of the pandemic. She is recovering from the loss of Aidan, recently split from Angelo and, to find work and help friends through a crisis, moves to a small town a few hours outside of Dublin. Here she works on the launch of a new resort, makes new friends, gets reacquainted with old faces and is frequently swallowed into the Walsh chaos.

Once again, this is everything you want from a Marian Keyes novel. I’ve always loved the fact that there are plenty of romantic situations and relationships but those with friends and the often maddening family are just as important, and the friendships between women are central in many ways. This book is hilarious, relatable, sexy and moving by turn and I inhaled it within a day. Fabulous.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Michael Joseph for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

#MyFavouriteMistake #NetGalley

First I must confess that I have never read a Marian Keyes book. Luckily that doesn’t matter at all and it’s perfectly possibly to jump in with this book. I think I have found them at just the right time of life.

Anna has returned home to Ireland after becoming disillusioned with life and her partner Angelo post-Covid. She lands a job helping Cold and Brigit manage some PR disasters at their new luxury retreat venture. In doing so she has to work with Joey, the source of long standing angst and repressed lust. Can they work through their differences and help save the retreat? This is small town Ireland. Gossip is rife and everyone knows everyone’s business.

The writing is warm and engaging. The characters are relatable (mostly). The pacing is good and kept me wanting to read on without getting too bogged down at any point. I would happily go and read more of these books even though they wouldn’t usually be my first pick of genre.

It was my wife who introduced me to Marian Keyes. Not literally, but that would be nice. She is a better novelist than anyone gives her credit for. I mean, she is already a worldwide success. But when Grown Ups hits Netflix with a mighty TU-DUM in 2026; some of us we can say we read it in six years ago before the world got weird.

Like her previous novel, Again Rachel, she’s returned to The Walsh family. Like most families, a wonderful ball of tension. Anna pivots from a swanky job in New York and a broken relationship, to overseeing a wellness retreat in the rural Irish town of Maumtully. Assisting her, is Joey -possibly, the great unspoken love of her life. Can they build happiness as much as keep small town gossip at bay?

You’re in for a treat, whether you’re a newbie. Keyes is brilliant with language, as deft as she is Rabelaisian. So, we get a full description of what a ‘feathery stroker’ is a much as we get a new phrase, beardy glarer. She’s also brilliant with set pieces - so here, we get a party (that almost develops into a threesome), a karaoke evening, a gallery opening and a family party.

Above all though, there is the genuine craft of a novelist whose books are funny, warm, good natured and are given the space to breathe. She writes excellent sex scenes too!

I can’t recommend this enough. It’s published on 11th April by Michael Joseph and I thank them for a preview copy. #myfavouritemistake.

Well why can I saw? Worth the wait!,

Marian has, to the delight of millions, revisited once again her beloved Walsh family. This time the protagonist is Anna, last seen mourning the sudden and devastating loss of her beloved husband whilst living in New York (although she been glimpsed in subsequent Walsh books). This time, Anna is back in Ireland. Back in the bosom of her family. With no job, no HRT, o money and no get up and go. Until she quite literally gets an offer she can’t refuse…..

As well as revising many characters from the previous books, Marian cleverly introduces new faces as Anna starts to make her way out into this brave new world in which she finds herself. But in the midst of everything going on, there’s one major spanner in the works. A spanner named Joey (again long term fans will be pricking up their ears here!)

I was absolutely overjoyed to be able to read and review this book and I left abandoned housework, children and much more behind as I indulged myself with this book. I literally did not want to put it down at all.

Thank you Marian for continuing to delight your legions of fans.

The continuing saga of the delightfully eccentric Walsh family. This time it is Anna, penultimate youngest of the five daughters.

Anna has the best job in the world, a job that her sisters love, working for McArthur On The Park, PR company to the BIG (HUGE) makeup brands. Never short of a serum or a moisturiser, Anna is the go to girl for freebies, all lapped up by her sisters and her mum. During lockdown Anna makes a big decision to not only split up with ultimate Feathery Stroker Anjelo, but also to leave MOTP and return home to Ireland. The other Walshes think she has lost the plot. Taking a temporary job to help out family friend Brigit, Anna reconnects with Narky Joey, a blast from the past.

OMG it’s good to have these lovely characters back! From page one I knew I would love this book as I have done all the others (ssshhh! Don’t tell anyone but Rachel and Anna are my favourite sisters 😱). Marian Keyes is a joy to read. Her stories are a delight and I never want the book to end. The old gang are all back together and though recollections amongst them may differ, it’s so good to hear from them again.

With a cast of thousands there are personalities galore, all perfectly depicted in a typically wonderful Irish town. There is humour and angst, all in a story that has you laughing then crying.

The most magical of storytellers has done it again, the world would be a far sadder place without Marian Keyes.

Thank you NetGalley and Michael Joseph.

I loved the Walsh family series first time around and catching up yet again with the (mostly) more mature sisters is just as lively as ever. This time we’re back in Anna’s life right in the middle of her deciding she needs to leave her boyfriend, job and - to her family’s consternation - her New York life and move back to Ireland. Unable to find a suitable job she agrees to help out Rachel’s friend Brigit for a week as she’s personally suffering a family tragedy right at the same time the business venture they’ve sunk everything into is under threat. With the assistance of Joey, whom Anna last saw in painfully circumstances, she’s aiming for a PR triumph in a brilliant sounding Irish village which has such fabulous characters and the situation really brings out Anna’s best self. The Walsh family drive her as insane as ever which is such good fun and the charged atmosphere between her and Joey obviously adds to the whole story. In amongst the whole warmth of this there’s Brigit’s family worries and Anna’s issues contending with menopause and the varied attitudes of health professionals which is beyond relatable. I did really love this book, there’s a special Marian Keyes magic in all the Walsh family books and this totally lived up to my expectations, it was engaging, funny, sad and everything in between with that wonderful familiarity certain book characters just have - brilliant.

Anna leaves a seemingly glamorous life in New York to go to Ireland. Her family think she is crazy, especially since she gave up a great job in the beauty industry. Also her apartment and her partner.
This is a funny, and sometimes sad book, very reflective and it describes the effects of the pandemic and lockdown in a way that is hilarious.
Highly recommended.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of the novel.

My thanks to Michael Joseph for the ARC and Marian Keyes for continuing to exist. Honestly I don't know what I'd do without her. Having been a fan since I was fifteen, she's not even making the menopause seem less scary by tackling it - along with a host of other issues, as usual - in her latest novel, My Favourite Mistake.

Anna Walsh is my favourite of the sisters, closely followed by Rachel, so this wasn't a hard sell. But it has a few risky elements - in the first Anna book, there isn't even what she'd call a 'vrizzon,' between herself and her romantic interest in this book, Joey Armstrong. Her mind, in Anybody Out There? is firmly on her recently deceased husband Aidan (a heartbreaking story), being there for her pregnant best friend Jacqui and choosing between three potential lovers, ending up with Angelo Torres, who she breaks up with in lockdown at the start of this novel.

I wouldn't pick Narky Joey over Angelo myself, but Marian Keyes is mistress of the ret-con, having turned two of her former side characters (boring 'lickarse' Margaret and 'space-case,' Anna) into dynamic, sexy heroines of their own stories. (The only Walsh book I wouldn't return to is Helen's - she's best in small doses - and I can see why she hasn't done another full Claire book, despite her story being the one to start it all off). Jacqui's memories of their time in New York are not the same as Anna's, and sometimes in this book her 'tell it like it is,' attitude seems cruel to Anna, but it's still a relief to see Rachel and Brigid, and Anna and Jacqui, back together as best girlfriends.

There are a few too many characters and a few weird names (though not as many as she was putting in a few years ago, thankfully) but I feel like it will improve on further readings, as many of hers do, and I was delighted to get the bonus of an advance Marian, which, like many of her books, has helped me get through a busy week and see the light on the other side (and be less worried about the menopause)! Thank you, Marian!