My Favorite Mistake

Rating:
Summary: No Mistake
Review: This book was lively and entertaining, with a lot of underlying insight. While Faith learns to live down her past mistakes, she builds a more meaningful future for herself. Her long-lost love, Flynn, is strong with being a bully, and sensitive without being sappy.
All the characters are sharply drawn--men, women, children and dogs. There is even a good dog and an evil dog. What happens to them is often surprising, but never unexplained.
The Midwestern setting rings true--and I have been there. The small-town people talk, act, and think the way they should.
None of the humor in the book is mean. There seems to be a lot of compassion even in the most farcical situations.
My favorite scene is at the bar called the Roof Rat, when two conflicting events are scheduled for the same evening--an academic wine party and a hockey team beer fest. The resulting mix of personalities is hilarious.
I would definitely read another book by Beth Kendrick.


Rating:
Summary: Your Only Mistake Would Be to Miss This Book
Review: "My Favorite Mistake" is a story about a girl named Faith, who has long since left her hometown in the state of Minnesota, and is now based out of Los Angeles. She is a world-traveling culinary writer currently visiting Italy for an article, when she gets a phone call from her younger sister Skye back in Minnesota. It seems Skye has gotten herself into trouble once again and desperately wants Faith to come home. (Home as in Minnesota, not Los Angeles). Skye's husband has left her, she is pregnant, and the bar that they co-own is in financial trouble. Faith at first is adamant about not wanting to go home for various reasons, but after a couple of terse phone calls (one from Faith's own ex, who can't stand her but really thinks she needs to get back to Minnesota to help her sister), Faith gives in. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she packs her stuff up and takes a road trip to Minnesota.

Thus begins Faith's adventure. She vows to save her sister, save the bar, and reconcile with (or just avoid entirely) her ex-boyfriend Flynn. But of course things don't quite go the way she plans. Her ex, who had proposed to Faith before she'd fled town with another guy ten years previously, seems to not be able to take being in the same room with her. Her scatter-brained yet lovable sister Skye is desperate to get her life together, but can't seem to pick a decent guy or show up for work on time. Worse yet, certain financial circumstances force Faith and Flynn to spend a lot of time together. When it becomes apparent that there is still a lot of sparks between herself and Flynn, Faith realizes she must come to terms with why she ran off in the first place, and whether she still has feelings for him. (Feelings other than physical, that is!) Will she be able to find herself, help her sister, and save the bar from financial ruin? Will her sister get her act together? These and many other questions will be answered when you read this book.

"My Favorite Mistake" mixes together a perfect recipe of romantic suspense, sisterly love, friendship, exciting plot twists, and wonderfully flawed characters for a delightful read. The main character Faith is very funny and real, and I often found myself laughing out loud at some of the things she says. The other characters, while all possessing various flaws, come across as very likeable and realistic. You'll find yourself rooting for them even through all of the mistakes they make!

The plot of "My Favorite Mistake" was flawlessly executed, stubbornly holding my attention until the very end. Pretty much from page one, things start happening at a fast pace. Beth Kendrick does an excellent job at both keeping the reader informed about what happened in the characters' pasts, and moving things along in the present.

Many readers will be able to identify with the main character, because she is just so down-to-earth and funny.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who loves a good story. (Just don't start it before going to bed or you'll be up all night!)

Rating:
Summary: fine contemporary romance
Review: A decade ago, Faith Geary fled her small Minnesota hometown with no plans to ever return and has kept to her vow until now. Her sister Skye hysterically calls saying her world has collapsed as she is about to file for bankruptcy as the "The Roof Rat" bar that Faith invested in and managed by Skye's philandering spouse Bob is failing, and divorce from her cheating husband is imminent. Neither moves Faith though her life savings could vanish if the bar goes into arrears as she co-signed the mortgage. Still she has spent a lifetime with the Skye falling calamities of her sis so she decides to help from a distance.

Her former lover Patrick Flynn calls Faith next to inform her that Skye is pregnant. Knowing that she is walking into landmines, Faith comes home. Skye shows no maturity as if the last ten years, the bar, and marriage never happened. Worse Faith still feels a deep attraction to Patrick, who remains angry with her for leaving him yet still wants her because he never stopped loving her.

The story line is often amusing but contains a serious undertone on actually responsibility for one's actions (and not just saying so as seems to be the norm). Faith is a fine lead character who upon her return quickly realizes why she escaped the insanity in the first place. Patrick furbishes realism as he displays anger while wearing his heart on his sleeve until he realizes that his beloved will leave again without resolving their feelings if he remains irate. With the eccentric support cast adding humorous depth, contemporary romance fans will appreciate this you can go home tale.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: A book that made a few mistakes
Review: Before I get started, I must say that this wasn't a Bad book i.e. one you just simply can't get through. You can get from point A to point Z without having to throw the book against the wall. For the most part, it started off fairly good but its only a matter of time before you realize not much makes sense in this story. Faith Geary, a bohemian culinary writer is summoned home to help mend her younger sister's broken heart when husband #2 walks out of the door and to also save the business that her sister is or was on the verge of bankrupting. But as far as I can tell, our supposed hilarious heroine does very little in solving any of these issues. You never understand why the only bar in town was losing money nor how the Einstein sisters turned everything around.
I agree with another writer for this book needing to be mass market instead of trade because it's an open and shut romance story...maybe.
The hero Patrick Flynn- is another story entirely. By the end of the book I finally figured out why I wasn't too crazy about the man who supposedly stole Faith's heart--HE ACTS TOO MUCH LIKE A WOMAN. Seriously, I've never seen a man charged with so much estrogen in all my life. 'I don't want to talk about it' is his theme song. Sure, he had a broken heart from Faith leaving town AFTER HE DUMPED HER, but after a while, you just want to hand the guy a pacifier. There was absolutely no chemitry between Faith and FLynn in the entire story. There has to be more fireworks on the FIFTH of July than what transpired between this great couple during their impromptu weekend together. Heck, she had to get drunk, the man wasn't speaking to her. Which in retrospect might have been a better thing, because when he did speak, you just wanted to hand over that pacifier again. Gee, Can't understand why he's still on the market.
Scene after scene only serves as a writer trying to reach a word count, because they certainly serve no purpose to the story. i.e-Anything having to do with Leah and her family. Mrs. Hammond's dog biting her, any scene having to do with Sally Hutchins.
Where was the character growth? Our heroine is the same person in the begining of the book and at the end. And I forget...what was the plot?
The scenes I found funny...I don't think was meant to be funny. Like Faith placing calls to her sisters on tips on how to win Flynn back since her sister knows about men. Hello?? The woman's second husband just left her for another woman. What does she know about keeping a man?
Plus, any time Faith's sister is depressed, Faith buys her something or hands over her credit card--this is how the sister got the bar in the first place. Note to author: there's a difference between abling and enabling spoiled brats.
And plot contrivance galore--but the main one--Flynn and Faith are both owners of the bar-but neither knew about the other? What? The author tried to explain this as Flynn didn't sign his name to anything...well, that means he doesn't own anything.
I do recommed this book if your bored, snowed-in, or a close friend of Ms. Kendrick. Otherwise, pass.

Rating:
Summary: Not chick lit, should have been mass market ...
Review: Despite what most would say, there *IS* a difference between those mass market sized romances and trade size paperback chick lit books. Almost immediately this turned into a mass market romance. It wasn't bad, but it was a romance with silly scenes and a predictable ending.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious romantic comedy...
Review: Faith Geary left behind her small town home ten years ago, not ever intending to return. That all changes when her sister Skye calls in tears, on the verges of bankruptcy and divorce. Even then, Faith doesn't intend to return, but then she gets one more call, from Patrick Flynn, her once upon a time love who delivers the killing blow that sends her back to Minnesota. Skye's pregnant. Faith can't stay away while she is so needed after that.

**** Stepping back home is stepping into chaos. Flynn is still angry at her for leaving, Skye is irresponsible as ever, the bar whose mortgage she co-signed is teetering on the edge of going under with her life savings, and all her old feelings are coming back to life. Romantic tensions run high and laughs are plentiful in this heartwarming read. Toward the end of the book, there are two absalutely priceless scenes that will have you rolling on the floor, giggling. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore for Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Please...
Review: I agree with another reviewer. This book was readable, but the characters did nothing for me. Oftentimes, I felt the author was trying too hard to be funny. How did the girls turn the bar around...did they turn it around? I mean that why Faith went back to the town. I didn't see the heroine build much of anything. She was too busy trying to please everybody and in turn I didn't care for her too much. I wanted Flynn to stop with the ultimatiums and expecting everything to be HIS way. His last temper tantrum just disappeared the moment the heroine relented and decided to stay in town. That all he wanted in the first place. I kept waiting for the hero to sweep me off my feet or even her, but it never happened. Maybe the next book will be better.

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Mistake is now a favorite book
Review: Readers of chick lit - and anyone who appreciates a very well-written story - will love MY FAVORITE MISTAKE.

New author Beth Kendrick is a talent to watch. She skilfully tells the story of Faith, a smart, savvy woman who has been doing just fine, thank you very much, living far from her family and her high school boyfriend. However, when her younger sister Skye calls with the perfect hat trick (my husband ran off; the business in which you invested your life savings is about to go bankrupt, and, oh yeah, I'm pregnant), Faith has no choice but to leave Los Angeles and return to the small town in Minnesota where she grew up.

Faith thinks she is going home to straighten out her sister's life, but as she runs into certain faces from her past (not the least of whom is Flynn, the boyfriend she abandoned ten years ago), Faith learns that maybe her carefully constructed life in LA wasn't so fulfilling after all. Her return home sets in motion a journey of self-discovery that is at once funny and touching. I found myself giggling at one page, blinking back tears at the next.

Witty and clever don't begin to cover Kendrick's way with words. The author's unique voice is one to treasure, and MY FAVORITE MISTAKE quickly became one of my favorite chick lits of this year - or any year.

Highly recommended!