Initial Impressions: 3.75 stars -- Well, I wanted to fall in love with this book but it didn't quite happen. I expected to LOVE LOVE LOVE it because it was best friend turned boyfriend which is one of my most favorite things ever but this just... didn't quite work out the way I pictured it. 
 I LOVED David. He was my favorite part of the book for sure. I actually saw a bit of myself in Kelsey but there was also quite a bit about her that I just could not get on board with. I almost wish there was a split POV instead of going back and forth between past and present? 
 I really didn't like Ryan. I was not happy about the fact that he was such a big part of the story and for so long. 
 Usually I would blame this on the fact that I had hyped this book up for myself BUT there were quite a few things that I just was not on board with. I did enjoy it but not nearly as much as I thought or I had hoped. 
 Full review originally posted HERE at the Book Addict's Guide 5/15/15: I started on LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE very shortly after I was approved for the book on Edelweiss -- a story about best friends reuniting and possibly falling in love? That's everything I love and more! So Andi (Andi's ABCs) and I decided to read this one together because neither of us wanted to wait! 
 I always get too excited when I latch onto an idea or a concept and that seems to be what happened with LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE. Andi and I both enjoyed the book but it seemed to sit a lot better with her than it did with me (my stupid expectations). As soon as I hear "best friends", a scene immediately starts playing out my head and things didn't exactly follow that path. Now I'm not saying that it should but that's just part of the reason why I didn't connect with the book as much as I had hoped. 
 I started to worry when I didn't immediately latch on to the characters at the very beginning and as much as I tried, the only character I ever really ended up falling for was David (the estranged best friend) -- and this was an issue for me throughout the whole book. I wanted to love them all but I just couldn't click with main character Kelsey and I definitely couldn't click with Ryan (her boyfriend). David was my favorite part of the whole book! The best friends thing just really GETS me so I loved seeing the newly-found tension between Kelsey and David in the "present day" scenes and I sort of fell in love with him too during the "past" scenes! I wanted him to be MY best friend and I really enjoyed seeing his interactions with really everyone. He brightened up every scene for me! 
 Throughout the book we learn about Kelsey's friendship with David and that something happened to cause a rift between the two. Once David shows back up in Kelsey's life, it's apparent to him how much she's changed since they last saw each other and it wasn't a change he really liked. Sadly, it wasn't one I really liked either. The "old" Kelsey seemed like more of a tomboy, definitely more carefree, and that was something that both David and I seemed to agree on! Again, it's not a "bad" thing to change -- I've done plenty of it in my life -- but I just identified with the "past Kelsey" a lot more than "present day Kelsey" so to see where she was now and where she came from, I was sad to see that change (in reverse). 
 It's very hard when I can't identify with the main character or am not on board with his/her decisions. I just really wanted to get to know each character more and when things started to get heated towards the end, I felt like it was a little too late for me. I also really wasn't happy with the fact that as David and Kelsey were reuniting, they still had their own significant others or love interests. It took a while for any sort of action to really happen between the two (my lips are sealed as to what goes down!) but it's hard to root for two characters to fall in love when it means possible cheating on their significant others (if they don't break it off). 
 The book alternates between present day and the past, revealing bits of Kelsey & David's story along the way and I actually really liked the set up as I was reading. It was really great to be able to see those actual story lines play out from Kelsey and David's pasts and to witness their friendship forming and growing... But looking back on the book, I think I would have enjoyed it more if everything had taken place chronologically. Since my main hang-up seems to be that I didn't connect to the characters, I think I probably would have been more invested in Kelsey hearing everything from her past first. 
 All-in-all, LAST YEAR'S MISTAKE was a really good story but a lot of my own personal hang-ups prevented me from falling head over heels like I had hoped and expected to. The more I reflected on the book, the more I felt a bit disappointed that it hadn't turned out the way I had pictured it, but I definitely know that will not be the case for everyone. This was a really nice debut from Gina Ciocca and I really do want to try some future books from her! 
 Rating re-assessment: I think since it's been a few months since I read the book and I still feel disappointment over all other feelings, I'm going to settle on a 3.5 rating and bump my GR stars down to 3. Four stars means I usually liked it a decent amount and I just can't look back on this book without wishing that I had liked it so much more.