My Favourite Mistake By Marian Keyes

*This post contains spoilers so if you haven’t read My Favourite Mistake By Marian Keyes and all 6 other books in the Walsh Sisters series please don’t read any further

This is a completely new type of blog post for me. I don’t think that I have ever written about books before. However, this will not be a regular book review. Mainly because quite honestly, I have no idea how to write a book review without giving away the entire plot. Plus, I can’t write all poetically like the reviewers do. You know, with quotes like;

“The author doesn’t simply write — they choreograph words into an interpretive dance that I absolutely was not prepared to witness.”

“The author wields words like they’re wielding a celestial paintbrush dipped in pure emotion. Every sentence felt like it tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, ‘Feel something.’”

“This book didn’t just change my life — it rearranged the furniture in my soul. I closed the final page and immediately needed to lie face-down on the carpet to process my emotions.”

Anyway, thats enough of that!

It’s only in the last few months that I’ve really got back into reading. When I was a teenager, I would spend hours wandering around Waterstones, inhaling that gorgeous new book smell, with a hint of coffee from the nearby coffee shop. Every Saturday, I would pick a new book, eager to get home and lose myself in the pages, promising myself that this time I would slow down and savour every word. Inevitably, I would devour the book within 24 hours, reading into the early hours of the morning with no regrets.

As I got older and phones got more advanced, reading took a back seat. I preferred social media, Candy Crush, and more recently, good old TikTok.

However, with my son starting a new school, I found that I had some free time. Due to the drop off and pick up system, I no longer have to get out of the car. I also discovered that the signal isn’t so great, so I wasn’t able to check social media or play my latest game of choice (Whiteout Survival, if you’re interested.)

So, I took a book on the school run called ‘Again, Rachel’ by Marian Keyes. It’s a book that I’d tried reading 4 or 5 times before but gave up on. With my phone signal lower than 00’s low rise jeans, I had no choice but to read and suddenly I was thrown back to my 14 year old self, reading hungrily. Before I knew it, I’d finished the book and my fingers already reaching out for the next.

I absolutely adore Marian Keyes and her books. She has this amazing way of writing that makes me feel every emotion of the narrator, especially with her book ‘Anybody Out There’. Good grief, I bawled my eyes out reading that book.

Anybody Out There is the first book I read in the Walsh Sisters Series. In total, there are 5 sisters and 7 books. Here’s a recap, just in case you need one!

The Sisters

Claire

The eldest sister. She’s loud, knows what she wants, and usually gets it! She has a younger partner, and they have 4 children between them.

Margaret

She’s the sensible one, good with money and lives a quiet life with her husband and 2 children.

Rachel

Middle child. She developed a drug habit while living in New York. Married a ‘Real Man’ who wears too-tight trousers

Anna

She spent her life away with the fairies. She moved to New York, and fell in love with a wonderful man called Aiden. They married, and had a happy life until he died in a car accident 10 months later. Honestly, I’m still mad at Marian for killing him off.

Helen

She’s a private investigator and honestly, is a little bit scary. She says what she wants, and can be a little bit mean, but gets away with it.

All the sisters have a book, with Anna and Rachel each having 2.

The Books

Watermelon – Claire

Rachel’s Holiday – Rachel

Angels – Margaret

Anybody Out There – Anna

The Mystery At Mercy Close Helen

Again, Rachel – Rachel

My Favourite Mistake – Anna

My Favourite Mistake? Not Mine!

It was Anna’s book that prompted me to write this blog post. It’s the latest book in the series and to be perfectly honest, it’s left a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth. It’s called ‘My Favourite Mistake’ and let me tell you, it’s definitely a mistake in my opinion! I was so excited to read about Anna’s life. I felt every emotion whilst reading her first book, and I was looking forward to that again.

In this latest installment Anna is 48 and has become disillusioned by life in New York. So, she breaks up with her boyfriend, Angelo (I honestly was not expecting her to get with Angelo in the first place!) She quits her job, and moves back home to Ireland.

Unfortunately, I struggled to stay focused through certain chapters, which made it harder to stay engaged overall. There was a lot of unnecessary detail to the book, which didn’t add to the story. I also found that there were too many new names and characters to try and keep track of. I was tempted to start a chart at one point!

Major Spoiler

One problem I had with this book is Anna’s friend Jacqui. Anna and Jacqui fell out for years, because Jacqui was jealous/angry that Joey had feelings for Anna and that they kissed and Anna didn’t tell her. Then, when they make up, Jacqui goes on this massive rant about how miserable and boring Anna was after her husband died and that she, Jacqui, had to pick up the peices and deal with it!!

The very worst part of the book for me was the fact that Anna ended up with Joey. Narky Joey! What on Earth possessed Marian Keyes to do this? Personally, it felt like an afterthought. Maybe she always planned for Anna to end up with Joey, but it felt like she had 2 left over characters and just decided to put them together. It feels forced, and not the ending I was expecting at all.

I would have loved for Anna to end up with Mitch or Nicholas from the spiritualist church. I know that she found that part of her life embarrassing (trying to contact the dead) but Mitch would have been perfect for her. They both understood the loss that each of them had suffered and had seen each other at their worst. I found it a little odd that neither Mitch nor Nicholas was mentioned in this book, as they played a part in her grief journey.

It was also a shame that Jamie wasn’t a part of Anna’s life anymore. I know that Aiden fathered a child with someone else, and died, but Anna really loved Aiden and made a big deal out of meeting his son. Aiden was hardly mentioned in this book, which struck me as a little strange.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts on these books. I’d love to know what you thought. Did you enjoy the book? Were you happy that Anna ended up with Joey? Or was there someone else you would have liked her to end up with? Was there something else you liked or didn’t like? Please share your thoughts, as the only person I have been able to talk to about this is my husband and he hasn’t even read the books, and doesn’t care anyway!