{"id":5790,"date":"2026-03-12T05:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2026-03-12T05:00:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T05:00:57","slug":"mistakes-were-made-by-lucy-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5790","title":{"rendered":"Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is a particular kind of magic that happens when a romance novel refuses to stay in its lane. It starts as a fizzy, laugh-out-loud rom-com, and before you know it, you are crying into your pillow at two in the morning because a man has been secretly hiding dimes around his grieving sister\u2019s house. That is the experience of reading Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong>, a book that manages to be both devastatingly funny and devastatingly tender, sometimes in the same paragraph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This is the second installment in Score\u2019s Story Lake series, following Story of My Life<\/em>, which introduced readers to the impossibly charming small town of Story Lake, Pennsylvania, and the love story between romance novelist Hazel Hart and grumpy-sweet Cam Bishop. While the first book laid the groundwork for this world and its wonderfully eccentric cast, Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong> takes the spotlight off the page and onto the chaos magnet next door: Zoey Moody, Hazel\u2019s best friend and literary agent, and Cam\u2019s brother, Gage Bishop, who has been quietly falling for her since the moment he literally fell off a roof at the sight of her.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Opposites Who Never Stood a Chance<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Zoey Moody is a hurricane wrapped in designer clothing and fueled by sheer force of personality. She is broke, exiled from Manhattan\u2019s publishing world, and operating out of a hotel room that looks like a clothing bomb went off inside it. And she cannot work a calendar app. She is afraid of animals. She once had a bra stolen by a bald eagle named Goose, and honestly, that tracks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Gage Bishop, on the other hand, is the kind of man who has a five-year plan and a spreadsheet to match. He is a small-town lawyer who moonlights in his family\u2019s construction business, lives in a converted barn with a golden retriever who has no concept of personal space, and keeps bowls of dimes in his house for the most heartbreaking reason imaginable. He wants a wife. And he wants kids. He wants the whole predictable, dependable package.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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On paper, these two are a catastrophe waiting to happen. Score knows it, her characters know it, and the reader knows it. The joy of Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong> lies not in whether Zoey and Gage will end up together but in watching two people who are absolutely certain they are wrong for each other slowly realize they might be the most right thing that has ever happened.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More Than Just Banter and Bedroom Scenes<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What elevates this novel beyond standard romantic comedy fare is the emotional complexity Score weaves beneath all the witty dialogue and slapstick set pieces. Zoey\u2019s journey is not just about falling in love; it is about finally understanding why her brain works the way it does. Her mid-story ADHD diagnosis, delivered by a spectacularly blunt retired psychologist named Opal, is handled with both humor and genuine care. Score, who shares this experience with her heroine, writes Zoey\u2019s internal chaos with the specificity and empathy of someone who has lived it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Gage\u2019s emotional arc, meanwhile, centers on a devastating family crisis that forces him to confront painful truths about justice, forgiveness, and the limits of control. When his carefully ordered world fractures, it is Zoey, of all people, who becomes his anchor. The reversal is beautiful: the woman who cannot organize her own closet becomes the steady hand for the man who always has everything together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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There are several standout elements in Mistakes Were Made<\/em> worth noting:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The dual POV narration gives equal weight to both characters, allowing readers to experience the push and pull from both sides without either voice feeling shortchanged
\nStory Lake itself functions almost as a character, with its meddling neighbors, rivalry with neighboring Dominion, and community events like ultimate bingo that feel genuinely lived-in
\nThe Bishop family dynamics, particularly the brothers\u2019 relationship with their sister Laura, provide some of the book\u2019s most moving moments
\nScore\u2019s handling of Zoey\u2019s fraught relationship with her emotionally neglectful parents adds real depth to her commitment-phobia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Where the Seams Show<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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For all its strengths, Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong> is not without its rough patches. At 560 pages, the novel occasionally sprawls beyond what its story needs. Some of the middle-act subplots, while individually entertaining, create a sense of narrative congestion that slows the central romance\u2019s momentum. There are stretches where the book feels like it is setting up future installments in the series (Levi\u2019s story is already teased, and the author has confirmed a third book titled Just One More Chapter<\/em>) at the expense of tightening its own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Zoey\u2019s voice, while infectious, can occasionally tip from charmingly chaotic into exhausting territory. Readers who found her delightful in small doses during Story of My Life<\/em><\/a> may find that a full novel inside her head requires a certain tolerance for relentless energy. This is a matter of personal taste, but it is worth mentioning for those who prefer their heroines a touch more grounded.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The pacing of the romantic development also follows a pattern that Score fans will recognize from her Knockemout series: long stretches of tension punctuated by a relatively compressed coming-together in the final third. If you prefer a more evenly distributed romantic arc, this structure may test your patience.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Score\u2019s Signature Style at Full Volume<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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What cannot be denied is Score\u2019s gift for voice. She writes dialogue that crackles, internal monologue that reads like a stand-up routine, and emotional scenes that land with genuine weight. Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong> continues her tradition of building worlds you want to visit and populating them with characters you want to befriend. Chapter titles alone, ranging from \u201cNeedy Anaconda of Lust\u201d to \u201cEmergency Poop Would Not Be My Legacy,\u201d tell you exactly what kind of ride you are in for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The steam level is decidedly present and well-executed, landing somewhere in the four-chili-pepper range for readers who track these things. More importantly, the intimate scenes feel like natural extensions of the characters\u2019 emotional journey rather than obligatory pit stops.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Score\u2019s author note at the end, where she shares her own ADHD diagnosis and recommends resources, is a lovely touch that reinforces the personal investment she brought to Zoey\u2019s story. It is the kind of transparency that builds genuine trust between author and reader.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A Town Worth Returning To<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The Story Lake series has positioned itself as a worthy successor to Score\u2019s beloved Knockemout and Blue Moon series. Where those earlier works established her as a master of small-town romance with bite, the Story Lake books show a writer willing to dig deeper into her characters\u2019 internal landscapes while never losing her comedic edge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score<\/strong> is not a perfect book. It is too long in places, occasionally too busy for its own good, and asks a lot of the reader\u2019s patience before it delivers its emotional payoffs. But when those payoffs arrive, they hit with the force of a bald eagle dive-bombing your convertible: unexpected, chaotic, and impossible to forget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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If You Loved This, Try These Next<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Part of Your World<\/em><\/a> by Abby Jimenez: another opposites-attract romance between a big-city professional and a small-town sweetheart with real emotional stakes
\nFaking Ms. Right<\/em> by Claire Kingsley: chaotic heroine meets buttoned-up hero with Score-level banter and heat
\nThe Long Game<\/em><\/a> by Elena Armas: fish-out-of-water meets grumpy neighbor in a tight-knit community
\nThings We Never Got Over<\/em> by Lucy Score: if this is your first time in Score\u2019s world, her Knockemout opener is essential reading
\nIn the Weeds<\/em> by B.K. Borison: cozy small-town romance with a quiet hero and a heroine learning to stay in one place
\nRock Bottom Girl<\/em> by Lucy Score: another Score standalone featuring a heroine rebuilding her life in an unexpected small town
\nThe Cinnamon Bun Book Store<\/em><\/a> by Laurie Gilmore: cozy, bookish small-town romance with opposites-attract charm<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a particular kind of magic that happens when a romance novel refuses to stay in its lane. It starts as a fizzy, laugh-out-loud rom-com, and before you know it, you are crying into your pillow at two in the morning because a man has been secretly hiding dimes around his grieving sister\u2019s house. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}