Review: My Favorite Mistake – Chelsea M. Cameron

Posted 10 January, 2014 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 24 Comments

Review: My Favorite Mistake – Chelsea M. CameronMy Favorite Mistake by Chelsea M. Cameron
Published by Harlequin HQN on 27 August 2013
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

5 Stars

Two secrets. One bet. Who will break first?

Taylor Caldwell can't decide if she wants to kiss her new college roommate or punch him.

On the one hand, Hunter Zaccadelli is a handsome blue-eyed bundle of charm. On the other, he's a tattooed, guitar-playing bad boy. Maybe that's why Taylor's afraid of falling in love with him, or anyone else. She doesn't want to get burned, so she needs him gone before it's too late.

Hunter himself has been burned before, but Taylor's sexy laugh and refusal to let him get away with anything make her irresistible. Determined not to be kicked out of her life without a fight, Hunter proposes a bet: if she can convince him she either truly loves or hates him, he'll leave the apartment—and leave her alone.

But when the man behind Taylor's fear of giving up her heart resurfaces, she has to decide: trust Hunter with her greatest secret, or do everything in her power to win that bet and drive him away forever.

*I received a free ARC of My Favorite Mistake from Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

My Favorite Mistake is made of awesome! Great story, excellent characters and anticipation galore. Both Hunter and Taylor have their own very dark secret they try to keep hidden, and they don’t do relationships. They don’t fall in love. They don’t share.

To say Taylor is upset when Hunter shows up at her door to inform her and her two friends, Renee and Darah, that he’s their new roommate is an understatement. She has no place for a boy in her life, let alone in her dorm. And Hunter is so cocky she hates him on sight, of course, it doesn’t help that she has a deep feeling of not ever being able to trust any man. My Favorite Mistake is a beautiful story of two broken people, they don’t need anyone to fix them, but a little help to be able to mend themselves isn’t out of the question.

A character driven story, My Favorite Mistake kept me up reading most of the night, and I dreamed of Hunter and Taylor for the little time I was able to sleep, only to continue reading as soon as I woke up again. These two characters have made bantering into an art-form, and the anticipation of them maybe being more than word-sparring is so well done! I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I cringed, I nodded my head in agreement. And My Favorite Mistake is the first book to enter my favorite 2014 shelf.

The writing is from Taylor’s point of view, but the way she observes Hunter helps the readers to understand him almost as well as Taylor. A lot is also in dialog, and those are both hilarious and hard. Coming from a dark place, they both have some pretty mighty demons to battle, and Taylor doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to fight hers. She really didn’t count on Hunter making her battle those by having her battle with him, though. And their word-plays are truly great. I fell completely for both of these characters very early on in My Favorite Mistake, and that love only grew and grew throughout the story. I would love to read more about them, even if everything is more or less resolved in the end.

The plot is pretty straight forward, but it all seems so real that it was a great pleasure to read. And it is refreshing to read a contemporary new adult romance where the romance almost takes the back seat to the characters and their growth. And as I said before, the anticipation is one of the things that made me love My Favorite Mistake so much. There is no insta-love, neither Taylor nor Hunter needs to have a special someone in their lives to feel worthy, but as they get to know each other better through exchanging barbs, they realize that life can be even better if both the good and the bad stuff can be shared with someone else.

I also have to add that I must have something that attracts me to characters who can play music – Hunter got to me from the moment he showed up with his guitar, and he knows how to use both that and his voice to his advantage. Some of the sweetest moments happened when Hunter was playing his guitar. The sensitivity shone through, and it was as if those were some of the times he really let his true self show. Taylor is a very strong character in many ways, she can take care of herself, she knows how to defend herself, and she is all prickles and hard exterior. At the same time, she’s vulnerable and I loved to see her grow and finally be able to share her past with her friends. My Favorite Mistake really hit me in all the right places, and I highly recommend it to all readers who enjoy contemporary reads.

The bouncer looked like he was probably on the football team and greeted Mase like they were long-lost friends, doing that weird one-armed hug, back-pat thing dudes do when they don’t want to hug.

When I came back from the shower, Hunter was in bed, shirtless and in just boxers, sitting with his back against the wall, guitar in his lap. It was a scene most girls would have swooned over.

Hunter was breathing quietly, but his disturbance in the room was unmistakable. I didn’t know why, but guys breathed differently than girls. Deeper somehow.

Sweet Christ it was like I’d died and gone to breakfast heaven. I really hoped he wouldn’t use his cooking skills as leverage for sexual favors. for this, I might have to give in.

We wandered with our smoothies a little more. I popped into the bookstore to see if they had the new book I was waiting for. They had one copy left, and I did a little happy dance in the aisle as I snatched it up, giddy.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been down south.” “Well, I’ll just have to take you. I don’t want your first experience to be with someone else.” “You’re talking about traveling, right?” “Right.”

“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll protect you,” I sad. “I’m not scared.” “Liar.” “Sex goddess.” “Wuss.” “Beautiful.” I sighed. “You’re going to make my head gigantic.” “I’d love you even with a giant head.”

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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24 responses to “Review: My Favorite Mistake – Chelsea M. Cameron

  1. Okay, I have finally picked which book I’m going to enter in Jaclyn’s giveaway. I’ve been trolling my TBR list, but now I just have to get this one! What a great review. One of most compelling parts has to be you saying the romance almost takes a backseat to the characters and their growth. Another one to the list. Happy Friday, Lexxie. You’re on a roll with these great reads.

    • YAY Robyn. I hope you’ll love this as much as I did. I always seem to love stories where the guy plays a guitar… But there’s so much more to this story, and it’s written to underline the anticipation.

      I’ve been pretty lucky with my picks of books so far, I hope it will continue this way 🙂

      Thanks for stopping by, Robyn 🙂

  2. I love this review! I have been excited about this book for some time so I’m happy to see some positive reviews coming out about it.

    Glad you are getting into you ARC pile you mentioned!

    Thank you for stopping by and the great review.

    P.S.: I love the excerpt!

  3. You have me sighing and swooning, Lexxie. And you have spent more of my gift card! 😉 I can’t wait to meet Hunter, this sensitive musician who challenges Taylor to grow. And I can’t wait to meet Taylor, this strong, independent woman who goes toe to toe with Hunter. You know I love a story with strong characters who grow through the course of the story. Can you tell how badly I want to read this just from reading your review?!? 🙂 This is an excellent review, my dear!

    Happy Friday, Lexxie! I hope you’ve had a fantastic day so far! *hugs*

    • That gift card must have had quite a big amount, no? I feel like I’ve been pushing you to buy more books than usual these past days, and I can’t really say I’m sorry about that. You are going to love both Hunter and Taylor. They are great.

      Thanks for stopping by, Brandee. Have a fantastic Friday yourself! *hugs*

  4. Sometimes, even if the plot was mediocre, we would still find the book worthy of a 4-5 star rating just because the characters are so awesome. I am glad that the author really made a good job in bringing our characters to life. 😀

    And wow, don’t we all have a soft spot for musician heroes and heroines? I don’t know but they really exude an aura of smexiness when they have music in their person. Hahahaha. Dream of this book, my friend. 😀

    Have a good day ahead!

    Charlotte @ Thoughts and Pens recently posted: Double Standards On Reading
    • True, Charlotte, the characters really have to touch me in some way for me to love a story.

      You have a soft spot for musicians, too? They totally make me swoon 🙂 And it’s true, there’s some extra smexiness to musicians 😀

      Thanks for stopping by, Charlotte 🙂 Happy Friday.

    • Me, too! Character driven stories can get away with lots of other things that aren’t great… And I think you’d really enjoy Taylor and Hunter!

      Thanks for stopping by 🙂

    • I have come to really love New Adult stories lately, Melliane. Because they are a little more spicy than YA, but the characters are still quite young.

      Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Happy reading.

  5. I am so glad that you enjoyed this one Lexx! I loved the bantering as well. I can tell that this book really got in your head, since you even dreamed about it. That’s happened to me a few times as well. The second book of this series was on net galley a little while back. Maybe it’s still on there? Wonderful Review Lexx as always!!!

    Lindy@ A Bookish Escape recently posted: Blog Tour: Rome (Marked Men #3) by Jay Crownover
    • yeah, it really doesn’t happen very often that I dream about books and its characters while I’m sleeping! I do think about the stories I read, but actually dreaming of them – not common!

      Thanks for letting me know about the second book, I’ve just requested it 🙂

      And thanks for the compliment, Lindy 🙂

    • Yes, definitely. This one really made an impression on me! Such great characters, and dialogues that seemed very real.

      Thanks for stopping by, Braine.

    • LOL, I never noticed that on the cover, but you’re right, she’s either trying to keep the shirt on, or he’s not fast enough to get it off 😀

      It is a very funny story, Wendy 🙂 But now, I can’t unsee that cover 😉

      Thanks for stopping by.

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