The Mistake by Elle Kennedy — Logan’s Second Chance Romance, Imperfections and All

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“You’re the last person I think about before I go to sleep, and the first person I think about when I open my eyes in the morning. You’re it for me, baby.”

I went straight from The Deal into The Mistake — no breaks, no palate cleanser. 

I loved Garrett and Hannah’s story so much that I genuinely couldn’t wait to see what Logan’s looked like, especially after watching him grow across the first book.

This one ended up being a more complicated reading experience for me than The Deal was. 

There’s a lot I loved about it, and also a fair amount that didn’t sit right. Both things are true, and I think that’s worth talking through honestly rather than smoothing over.

Summary

He’s a player in more ways than one… College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. 

For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. 

A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance. 

Now he’s going to need to up his game… After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. 

She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. 

This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat…and she plans on driving him wild.

Goodreads // Storygraph

What I Loved

I’ll say upfront that second chance isn’t usually a trope I gravitate toward. 

I tend to find them frustrating — too much time spent re-litigating the past instead of moving forward. But this one worked for me better than most. 

Logan’s character development across this book is genuinely strong, and watching how hard he’s willing to work to actually win Grace over, rather than just assuming history entitles him to her, made the trope feel earned rather than lazy.

Getting Garrett and Hannah’s story from a different angle was a nice bonus, but the real win here is how much more dimension Logan gets. 

He has real problems — family pressure, the uncertainty of life after college — and those problems genuinely shape the choices he makes. 

It’s not just backstory for flavor; it informs the plot in ways that make his decisions feel consistent rather than convenient.

Grace grew on me as the book went on. She’s giving quiet but fierce, which is a great pairing against Logan’s more outgoing energy. 

I liked that she wasn’t easily won over and that her hesitation made sense given what she’d been through with him.

The spice wasn’t my favorite overall, but the romance deeper into the book is where this one shines. The emotional payoff in the back half is genuinely sweet.

What Wasn’t My Favorite

There’s a fair amount here that didn’t work for me, so let’s get into it.

Grace being 18 at the start of the book genuinely gave me the ick. 

Rationally, I know everyone in this world is in college and the age gap isn’t dramatic. 

But emotionally, reading it landed differently for me than it might have a few years ago — and I think that’s just a product of where I am now, not necessarily a flaw in the book itself. I’d rather be upfront about that reaction than pretend it wasn’t there.

In a similar vein, the hookup-focused content early in the book also gave me some pause. 

I’ll be transparent that I’m not particularly familiar with college hookup culture, so that’s likely coloring my read here more than it would for someone with a different frame of reference. Just flagging it so you know where I’m coming from.

The ending was a bigger letdown for me structurally. The book spends real time building tension around Logan’s family situation and his anxiety about life after graduation, and then resolves almost all of it in the final couple of chapters with a suspiciously tidy bow. 

After all that setup, the wrap-up felt rushed rather than earned.

And I’ll admit — there was a point where I started wondering if Logan actually wanted Grace, or if he was chasing his own version of what Garrett and Hannah had. 

The structural similarities between the two books are hard to ignore. Swap fake dating for second chance romance, and there are stretches where it feels like Kennedy is retelling the same emotional story with different names attached. 

That’s not necessarily a dealbreaker, but it did make this one feel a little less distinct than I wanted it to.

Vibe Check

Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance, Hockey Romance, Second Chance

Mood: Emotional, a little messier than Book 1, sweet in the back half

Read if you love: Second chance romance, quiet-but-fierce heroines, characters with real external pressures, series continuity

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars (closer to a 3.75, rounded up)

Spice Meter: 2.5 out of 5 chili peppers (slightly less than The Deal, weighted differently across the book)

Would I Recommend It?

Yes. This book has real issues, but I genuinely came to love Logan, and Grace earned her place by the end even if she took a little longer to win me over than Hannah did. 

If you enjoyed The Deal, you’ll find plenty to like here too.

One important note: you can’t skip this one to get to Dean and Allie’s book, no matter how tempting that might be once you know what’s coming. 

The series builds on itself, and this installment matters for where things go next.

Final Thoughts

This was a messier read than The Deal for me, both in terms of pacing and some of the content that didn’t sit comfortably. 

But Logan carried it. His growth across this book is the most compelling part of the story, and by the end I was fully on board for him and Grace, structural similarities to Book 1 aside.

Next up is Dean and Allie’s book, which I’m told is a fan favorite — so we’ll see if it lives up to the reputation.

If you’ve read The Mistake, I’m curious — did the ending feel rushed to you too, or was I just impatient for more? And did Logan and Grace feel distinct enough from Garrett and Hannah, or did anyone else catch the parallels? Let me know in the comments.

Looking for my thoughts on The Deal? Find my review here!