Mistakes and Other Lovers

by Amy Lovat

El O'Reilly is exceptionally good at making mistakes. Mistakes
-falling in love with the charismatic youth pastor, Mace, while engaged to her high school boyfriend
-breaking up with her fiancé the night before Valentine's Day
-walking out on her family
-dropping out of uni with no plan B
-ghosting her old friends
-kissing her new friends
-sleepless nights with beers and bongs and boys and girls.

But when Mace proposes to someone else, El's world finally breaks. Will she go back to the safe love she's always known, will Mace realise that she's the one, or will El forge her own path into the unknown?

Mistakes and Other Lovers explores the pressure, pain and freedom of being on the cusp of adulthood and realising things aren't what you thought they'd be. That disappointing the people you love (and yourself) is inevitable. That making mistakes might be the best thing you've ever done.


PRAISE FOR MISTAKES AND OTHER LOVERS

'Mistakes and Other Lovers heralds a bold new voice in Australian fiction. With a sharply-observed exploration of the anxieties and freedoms that come when seeking both selfhood and adulthood, Amy Lovat is one to watch.' Hannah Kent

'Amy Lovat is a captivating, evocative and stunning writer. Mistakes and Other Lovers is a spectacular debut with richly painted characters who delight and debauch in the messiness of love and youth.' Sally Hepworth

'Amy Lovat's writing is unflinching, vivid and pulsing with energy and desire. Reading her is like settling in for a juicy chat with your funniest, raunchiest, messiest friend.' Emily Maguire

Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Romance, Book Club, Coming Of Age, Mental Health

336 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2023

Reviews

[John Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard to believe this is a first book by Amy Lovat from Newcastle, where this book takes place. Two of my favourite all time authors are also from Newcastle, Michael Sala and Wendy James.

I found much of the writing exemplary and the story completely engaging, although it was about a 20 something woman who is stuck and a bit lost in life. Giselle (only her parents call her that) aka El has made some choices of late that do not sit well with many, including her parents and fiance. She's broken off her engagement, left uni to work at a coffee shop and pretty much ghosted her friends.

The description of El's thoughts and new 'friends' show us that we often only have one true good friend with all the others masquerading as such. Although the narrative was sometimes frustrating for me as the reader, El was true to herself and saying she had no idea what she was doing or where she was heading, but eventually we discover that his is ok.

Some quotes (can't take them from a library book and use on Goodreads, can't even cut and paste, just copy it down here):

'And here we are, pretending we're something we're not. Bringing each other up and lifting each other up above the rest because we don't know how to just be. The sun goes behind a cloud and somehow it feels like winter again. Goosebumps prickle down my arms. I feel a gentle, excruciating vibration of unwanted adrenaline from the soles my feet to my hips and I suddenly need to kick my legs out and spasm and punch a hole in the sand where my head should be.'

'Seriously, I've been thinking about this. Twenties are for figuring it out. Thirties are for doing it. Forties are for living.'

'"I don't think you have any idea how inspired I am by you," she says. "It was so brave, what you did. What you're doing. There is so much power in not knowing what you want."' El's best friend Gaby.

The writing was so good, I'm giving it 4.5 stars. I came across it as a new ebook at my library. Good stuff.

[Gloria (Ms. G's Bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️3.5 Stars⭐️
Mistakes and Other Lovers is an entertaining contemporary fiction debut from Australian author Amy Lovat. The story is set in Newcastle, Australia where we follow twenty something year old Giselle (El) our narrator as she’s fumbling through a raw and raunchy journey of self discovery, making new friendships and falling in love with a magnetic youth pastor. The characters in the story feel so very realistic.

El has left her since high school boyfriend she’s engaged to and is now stuck in party mode, unfortunately she doesn’t realise she’s being manipulated and used by people, she’s a little self destructive too.

The social circle of the youth church group is interesting and simmering with scandal.

An intriguing and gritty story of not knowing what to do with your life and who you are.

Thank you so much Pan Macmillan Australia for a copy of the book


Publication Date 11 July 2023

Publisher Pan Macmillan Australia 


[Cheree · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pushed through so I could give this a proper rating. There may have been a story/point somewhere in here - but it was overwhelmed by the cliches, poor structure and two dimensional characters, particularly the lead El. I finished and wasn’t sure what the author was trying to impart - I learnt a lot about making coffee though (El making coffee comes up way too much).

[Carlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes I miss being in my twenties. Then I read a book like this and remember that, actually … no thanks.

Mistakes and Other Lovers puts into sharp, pulsating words the messiness of not knowing what you want from life and making every mistake under the sun figuring it out.

We follow El as she steps away from her fiancé, family, friends and uni degree in favour of new people, late nights, sex, drugs, music and, unexpectedly, religion. But which version is the real her?

Amy Lovat has perfectly captured the tumult of young adulthood. Her prose is heady and fresh, yet full of wisdom and vulnerability. I loved El’s journey of self-discovery; I laughed, I cringed, I yelled at her, I wanted to hug her. It’s a wild ride.

Bonus points for taking me back to my uni town of Newcastle, where I spent my own early twenties. Ah, memories 😌

Congratulations Amy on a cracking debut!

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title is v true to El’s life.

The last 50 pages are absolute page-turners

[Larissa Larin · Rating 3 out of 5]

messy. wild. beautiful. the plot featuring basically an off brand hillsong threw me.
but overall enjoyed it. displayed the chaos of living in your twenties well.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love a twenty-something Australian coming of age. El is annoying, makes terrible decisions and is drawn to all the wrong people but this makes for a very enticing story. I liked how Lovat focused on unhealthy relationships but how the characters yearned for them nonetheless. An interesting and entertaining story about being lost in your twenties.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading a novel set in Newcastle was a truly surreal experience. I loved how this was written and how the plot unfolded, introducing characters and slowly letting us get to know El as our protagonist. A special debut from Amy, will be thinking about this for a while.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is an easy 4.5 stars.
The way Amy captures the turmoil of making life decisions in your twenties is addictive! It's incredibly easy to read and draws your attention to the rewarding and difficult parts of life~ the need for connection, second guessing yourself, the motives of others etc.
Very high on my list of fantastic reads in 2023!

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for any teenager wanting to attend a church or youth group. It was a really uncomfortable and unsettling read in that it perfectly encapsulates the seemingly obvious horrendous choices we make in our late teens and early 20s. I found the main character equally frustrating and accurate. The Newy setting was fun too

[Fiona Astridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The debut novel from the author and although it wasn’t my choice it was a decent read. I feel like it is aimed towards a younger audience and not someone who is far from that lifestyle. I possibly would have related better being closer to that bracket of life choices and dilemmas.
I always enjoy Australian novels as the description of the towns and landmarks always makes me feel comfortable and at home!

[Kelly Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to this read. However, I had trouble empathising with the main character who was struggling to find herself and seemed to throw herself into one challenging situation after another.

[Rhianne Crook · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fact that this book has only 300 ratings is a crime.

One of the best Australian coming of age stories I have read in a long time.

[Vivian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another average book about 20 something angst - full of melodrama and torment but with a religious twist. Our lead El, who seemingly enjoys being used by her layabout friends and her mysterious boyfriend Mace, is spectacularly stupid and addicted to people who don’t care about her. By the end of the book she has learnt not a single thing.

The dialogue is repetitive and at times infantile. The plot stretches reality - so many convenient coincidences, so many chance meetings. Added to this, the so called Church pastor is actually some sort of masterful gaslighter who is at the same time is so dim that he doesn’t realize that his social media feed betrays a totally different reality. It really is impossible to care for, or like, any of these characters. It’s all really quite ridiculous.

[Milly Kenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was objectively bad. Every character was incredibly toxic and extremely hard to empathise with, and there just seemed to be 0 point to it all. Only reason this wasn’t 1 star was because I managed to finish it.

[Tamika · Rating 5 out of 5]

El is in her early twenties, engaged to her high school sweetheart, when suddenly a switch flicks and everything in her life changes. We spend a lot of the story following the friendship of El, Kik and Lux and how their worlds all intertwine. This is a story of really finding yourself and what you really want. Finding out what the true meaning of happiness is. It’s chaotic in all the right ways, explores some deep familial issues and the pressures of societal expectations. A wonderfully written debut that kept me captivated and got me out of my reading slump. Amy is so good with words, really reaches in to the emotion and you can feel it through the pages, I am already dying to read Amy’s next book!

[Julie Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a difficult read, both too close to home and also entirely wrong. I felt angry with specific characters for choices they made, particularly how these did and didn’t fit with my own experience of evangelical churches in my youth. I’d say that’s testament to it being good writing, but not necessarily fun reading.

[Yaz Ashraff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coming of age story that is compelling and yet makes you want to look away from the main character El’s journey. It is hard to read because you’re waiting for everything to fall apart for her but so realistic that you can’t look away! Would highly recommend this book.

[Bess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept waiting for something to happen, or to develop some level of care for or investment in any of the characters, but then I reached the end of the book and nothing had happened and I felt like my time had been wasted.

[Sophia Menidis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was definitely not a read I expected. I don’t know what I expected when I came into this book but I don’t think it was this. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

We all have images in our mind about what our lives will become. Mostly these images are influenced by society and the expectations that may be held for our lives. For me, that image has always been, go to school, get good grades, go to University, get a degree, get a job, get married, have kids, live happily ever after. That’s the line. But frankly I’m on step 3 of that list (go to University) and I have no clue what I want to do with the rest of the steps that are ‘supposed’ to follow. What job do I want? Will I meet someone? Do I want to get married? Do I want kids? What will make me happy?

I feel like this book by Amy Lovat perfectly encapsulates what happens when someone finally realises that this list set out by society will not get them to that final step of happiness. Instead, El decides to drop out of university and break off the engagement with her high school sweetheart in order to find some sort of happiness which she knows she will not find if she continues down the path set out for her.

As the title suggests, she makes lots of mistakes. Lots. But she learns about love and friendship and life and figuring out what to do to make herself happy. This is the next step in the ‘coming of age’ genre. You’re of age but what now? What do we do next?

I think Amy Lovat has a brilliant writing style that is easy to engage with which is important for this book as it is often hard to watch El make mistake after mistake when she admits that she knows better. It raises important societal questions and as someone who is in her 20s and has no clue what she wants her life to be like, I found great comfort in knowing I’m not alone in these feelings during this time in my life.

[Lee Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a woman in my late 40s, this book took me straight back to my early 20s and the drifting and impact of others on my choices that I experienced. The main character El, embodies this time of life and the resistance to the expected path vs trying to figure out who you are.
I devoured it in 2 days, shirking other responsibilities to find out what impact Mace, Lux, Kik and JD would have on El.

[Gavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good "modern Australian female" coming-of-age story. OK, it wasn't inner-city grunge, it was Newcastle grunge, but it felt a bit derivative of similar novels published over the last few years. One of the best aspects was the setting among the new young church groups - which I felt provided an opportunity to set it aside from similar books - but the morality and ethos of those organisations didn't really land. Nicely nuanced central character. But El's obsession with Mace never really felt real to me. Was it true love?

[Billie-Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not finish.
Nothing particularly mind-blowing here.
Maybe I'm biased because I partied in Newcastle in my early 20s, and went to a Hillsong-esque church in my teens.
Prose was pretty unremarkable, at times a little try-hard (not edgy, as seems to be intended).
I feel bad dissing this book as I like the author (parasocially), and think she has the depth to make her writing deeper.

[danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I genuinely could not tell you whether I enjoyed or hated reading this book

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

[Audiobook] 4.25 stars

For want of a better word, I am a shook. This book was an entirely unique experience for me. Cutting so close to home with the vivid combination of a millenial coming-of-age story set against a vivid Novocastrian backdrop, with the peculiar but pertinent addition of storyline with the failings of a charismatic multi-campus megachurch. It was honestly a little creepy reading something so specific, yet so close to the real world. It’s like Amy Lovat has been sitting at our dinner table, wine glass in hand, for all the stories shared with friends over the last few years. In saying that, she’s always welcome. The way this book is written, I’m sure she'd have some stories to tell.

Personal connection aside, the novel was so evocative for the subtle complexities of young adulthood. Of situationships that grip you, of friendships that the ebb and flow, of the stifling pressure of finding your way. The whole novel had that grungy, grittiness that always reminds me of the urban charm of Newcastle. And the novel felt time-stamped with the early/mid 2010s, as if written through the lens of 2012's Valencia filter on instagram. The tone was smart, peppery and cutting. The characters felt real and authentic, like I had most definitely met them on the sticky floors of King St in 2008 then wondered why I still had them as Facebook friends in 2025. The novel was the perfect reminder of why I am passionate about reading Australian authors, the power of homegrown place and voice in literature. I loved the experience of reading myself into the pages.

In saying that, I do find myself a little dissatisfied with the ‘messy girl’ genre these days. Perhaps it was of a time and place too. I did feel like we were reading El and a certain point in time and wondered what mid-thirties El would have been doing now. This book is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea (disclaimer, check out the themes before picking it up), but it was definitely my long black. So inspiring to see a local author at work. And I’m dying to debrief with someone.

[Mayra Alejandra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uff. Definitivamente este libro fue un constante "Sos una pelotuda de mierda" contra la protagonista.
Me dió mucha rabia que se rodeó de personas horribles que la trataban como un culo, sabía que solo la estaban usando Y SEGUÍA DE IMBÉCIL ALLÍ 🫩
Ahh pero para ghostear a su familia y amigos reales allí sí.
Todo el mambo con el tal Mace (predicador cristiano, tatuado, hipster y adicto al sexo) me pareció tan innecesario?? El man se la culeaba sin condón, ella tomaba la pastilla del día después como si fuera una menta Y LA PENDEJA SEGUÍA Y SEGUÍA SUFRIENDO POR UN HOMBRE QUE SE IBA A CASAR Y QUE ELLA SE EMPEZÓ A CULEAR ESTANDO COMPROMETIDA CON BRENDAN.

En un punto simplemente dejé de sentir empatía por la protagonista. O sea sí qué mal todo pero eran males buscados, trataba mal a las personas que sí la querían de verdad y después se sorprendió porque su nuevo círculo de "amigos" era falso??

La tal Lux me cayó mal. La tipa era una manipuladora y parecía que su misión era perseguir y joder a El y El lo permitía.

Que bueno que no me leí este libro antes de su segunda novela porque sino, habría pasado de todo.

Admito que en algunas partes quedaba expectante de qué iba a ocurrir con la historia pero por lo demás qué pereza.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amy Lovat’s debut novel, Mistakes and Other Lovers, is a moving exploration of limerence, told through the perspective of El, a young woman in her early 20s. When she falls in love with Mace, a charismatic pastor, El turns her back on everything that has defined her until now, as she yearns for Mace to love her in return. Though loving Mace feels endless and bottomless to El, it is a journey that she travels through to ultimately find her own strength. It’s a gripping story, vividly told and it wasn’t until I got to the end that I realized how worried I’d been that El wouldn’t survive.
I loved the setting in Newcastle with its streets, beaches, historic and neglected buildings and warehouses. Amy’s writing is lush and vibrant while grounded in realistic detail. Obsessions can be monotonous (it’s kind of the point of them) but this felt very real and believable. I can’t wait to see what Amy Lovat writes next.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy it, however I wish the 'rebellious' characters weren't so religious lol. I'm 25 and from Aus and let me tell you, I sincerely doubt any of those die hard christians would really have been like mace and his mates. I reckon kik should have been a true newcastle surfer guy who is like really an fboy but pretends he's this authentic and genuine guy but then sleeps with a billion girls and breaks their hearts. I just thought it was silly that they didn't have s*x and all the 'cooler' people in town were a part of the church scene. Weird. Other than that, I actually did enjoy the book. Obviously being freshly 25 and having no idea what I'm doing with my life resonated with me. Cool that it was set in newy too. Yeah idk. I think the premise of the book would have been a lot better with just stoner surfer dudes instead of the 'church'.