Book Review: My Fault by Mercedes Ron
- Paola Santana
- Apr 25
- 3 min read
Updated: May 27
My Fault by Mercedes Ron is a forbidden love, enemy-to-lovers YA Romance that became a BookTok and Wattpad sensation. It has now also been made into a movie by Amazon Studios. Originally written and filmed in Spanish, it was the biggest non-English movie launch in Prime Video’s history at the time of its release. So of course, as an aspiring author, I had to read the book to try and figure out what was the secret sauce.
BOOK SPECS:
Number of pages: 479
Format: Paperback
Genre: YA Romance, Billionaire Romance
Tropes: Forbidden Love, Stepbrother, Billionaire Romance, Enemy to Lovers
Original language: Spanish
SHORT REVIEW:
I did actually really enjoy both the book and the film. There are things that have been changed for the Amazon Original movie but, in my humble opinion, they have done a good job condensing the 479-page novel into a two-hour motion picture. All in one, a good read that will have you at the edge of your seat and, at times, unable to put it down.
HEART RATE:
SMUT SCORE:
FULL REVIEW:
Plot
The plot is interesting. Noah’s mum remarries, and she has to swap Canada for LA, budget living for billionaire lifestyle. Along the way, she falls in love with her stepbrother, Nick; gets involved in his underworld of car racing and fights; and has to face her trauma as the child and victim of domestic abuse. Sounds pretty good, right?
Being YA, My Fault is full of angst and drama. The action comes fast and furious (no pun intended) and the pace will keep you on your toes.
Characters
Then you come into the characters, which are all intriguing and keep you interested. Apart from Noah. From page one, she is pitched as a strong-willed female that doesn’t take any crap from anyone. That’s why Nick thinks he falls in love with her, and how many of the other characters perceive her. Except… She spends most of the novel throwing tantrums; being physically aggressive towards others, even though she claims to be against violence; and running herself into trouble because she just can’t read the room and keep her mouth shut. To top it off, she seldom – and I mean nearly never – makes the right decision, making a big deal out of small things and minimizing anything she should pay attention to. Being antagonistic is the only thing she is consistently good at.
WARNING: SPOILER INCOMING – jump the next paragraphs if you don’t want to read them.
For example, she runs her mouth at a drug dealer and gets herself and her friends shot at as well as costing Nick his racing car. But when she receives threating letters that appear to come from her abusive father, she doesn’t even tries to find out if he's still in jail.
Ok… I guess one could say this is how she is affected by her trauma. But if this is trauma, then why doesn’t it keep her from wondering around at night on her own? Surely, if you’re traumatized and receiving threats from your abuser, you wouldn't go off gallivanting on your own?
Then she gets kidnapped and thinks is good going to mouth off the guy holding the gun. Traumatized, but not enough to learn to read the room and keep from running her mouth.
SPOILER FINISHED
Having said all that, this is YA, and a level of naive ignorance is not only expected, but it also adds to the story.
Romance and Smut Score
YA has come a long way since Twilight, and the content of this YA novel is quite explicit. The chemistry and budding romance in between the two main characters sets the pages on fire, with a few smut scenes thrown in for good measure. Not only that, but Nick seems to do things at random, whenever he feels like it, and Noah is caught by surprise but goes with it anyway.
Writing
Told from both Nick and Norah's point of view, this novel is interesting and easy to read. The version I read is a translation, as the original is in Spanish, but as far as I can tell the translation has done it justice. And so has the movie, which is surprisingly close to the original.
Your Fault and Our Fault, the second and third book of the series, are now also available in English.
