My Fault

My Fault is a contemporary young adult romance novel by Mercedes Ron, an Argentinian-born, Spanish author. Ron originally published the book in Spanish in 2017 on the social media website Wattpad, and it has since been translated into over 10 languages and published in English as My Fault. The novel is the first installment in Ron’s Culpable series and incorporates the enemies to lovers and forced proximity romance tropes. The novel was adapted into the film, Culpa Mía, by Amazon Prime in 2023, which received the best three-day viewership statistics for a non-English production in the company’s history. Told from main characters Noah and Nick’s alternating first-person points of view, the novel explores themes including the Search for Home and Belonging, The Relationship Between Love and Hate, and Overcoming Past Trauma.

This guide refers to the 2023 Bloom Books paperback edition of the novel.

Content Warning: The source material and this guide feature depictions of substance use, child abuse, and physical and emotional abuse.

Plot Summary

Noah Morgan and her mom, Raffaella Morgan, drive from their home in Toronto, Canada, to their new home in Los Angeles, California. On the way, Noah whines about their move. She hasn’t met Raffaella’s new husband William Leister or his 21-year-old son, Nick. She hates abandoning her friends, school, and house in Toronto and dreads living in an unfamiliar place with people she doesn’t know. Raffaella tries to reassure her, insisting she’ll love the Leisters’ house and get along fine with Nick.

Noah tries to settle into the Leisters’ palatial house. She appreciates that William and Raffaella are trying to make her comfortable by decorating her room and stocking her walk-in closet with expensive clothes. However, she just wants to be back in Toronto with her best friend, Beth, and her now long-distance boyfriend Dan.

Noah meets Nick for the first time and immediately hates him, and the feeling is mutual. Nick recently moved back in with William and feels that Raffaella and Noah are intruding on their lives. Noah seems like an immature little girl to Nick, and he warns her not to get involved in his private business.

One night, Nick and Noah attend a gala with William and Raffaella for William’s work. While there, Noah receives texts from an acquaintance revealing that Dan and Beth are now together. Noah feels betrayed and struggles to hide her feelings, but Nick immediately realizes how hurt she is. The two leave the gala early and attend a car racing party with Nick’s friends. While there, Nick suggests that they take photos of themselves kissing and send them to Dan so Noah can get her revenge. Noah agrees and is shocked by how much she enjoys being intimate with Nick. Nick also enjoys the interaction but feels confused by his feelings and abruptly ends the encounter.

Afterward, Nick, Noah, and Nick’s rowdy friends gather to race cars. Noah loves racing because her estranged father used to be a NASCAR driver. She hops into Nick’s car without his permission and races his rival Ronnie on a dare. Ronnie is furious when she wins and forces Nick to pay him and give him his car. Nick agrees but blames Noah for the situation.

Over the following weeks, Nick and Noah’s relationship becomes more and more confusing. Whenever they run into each other at home or local parties, they end up kissing. They enjoy being intimate but still can’t stand each other. However, Nick’s feelings start to change on his birthday. William and Raffaella give him four tickets to the Bahamas, and he decides to invite Noah to join him and his friends Jenna and Lion.

In the Bahamas, Nick and Noah spend more time together. They go to the beach, swim, talk, play volleyball, dance, and start to realize how much they genuinely enjoy one another’s company. However, everything changes for Noah when Nick attacks the guy she’s dancing with at the club. She tells Nick that if he’s going to be violent, she can’t be with him.

After the Bahamas, Nick apologizes to Noah profusely. He insists that he wants to be with her and promises not to hurt her. Afraid to trust him, Noah keeps pushing him away. She feels lost and alone and starts partying every night. Desperate to prove himself, Nick helps Noah whenever she can’t get home safely. One night, he carries her to bed and changes her vomit-stained clothes. On her stomach, he discovers a giant scar. He’s overwhelmed by emotion and desperate to understand what happened to her. Not long later, Noah is attacked by bullies who lock her in a closet at an initiation party. Nick comes to her rescue and brings her home. Once they’re safe, Nick asks Noah about her past. Noah decides to open up to Nick and tell him the truth.

The narrative shifts into the past as Noah tells her story. Noah’s dad had an alcohol use disorder and whenever he was drinking, he became angry and violent against Raffaella. One night, Raffaella wasn’t home, and Noah’s dad attacked her instead. She broke the window to escape him and sliced her stomach open on the broken glass. Afterward, Noah and Raffaella reported her father. He was imprisoned for his violence against Noah, who was only 11 at the time.

The narrative shifts back to the present. Noah starts to cry, admitting that she might not be able to have children because of her stomach injury. Nick comforts, holds, and reassures her. The two profess their love and have sex.

Everything is going well between Nick and Noah until Noah’s dad gets paroled, and he resurfaces in Noah’s life. With the help of Ronnie, who still wants to punish Noah for humiliating him at the races, Noah’s dad kidnaps her. He then extorts William, insisting he won’t let Noah go until he gets paid.

William, Nick, Raffaella, and the police locate Noah using the tracking device on Nick’s car, which Ronnie is driving. The police shoot Noah’s dad because he has a gun to her head. Nick and Raffaella rush to Noah’s side, apologizing and reassuring her.

A month later, Nick secures a new apartment. He gives Noah a tour, announcing that they can now pursue their relationship on their terms. They kiss, have sex, and profess their love for each other. Lying next to a sleeping Noah afterward, Nick realizes how much they’ve helped each other change.