Title: Regretting You
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication: December 10, 2019
Publisher: Montlake
Genre: Teens, YA Fiction
Pages: 363
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.
Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.
With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.
While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.
REVIEW:
How are you supposed to feel when you lose your husband/father AND sister/aunt at the same time? That is exactly what “Regretting You” focuses on from the back and forth view point of the wife and daughter left behind.
I loved the raw emotions displayed by each of the main characters and how the story is continuously told, but flipping views from mother to daughter and back with each chapter. The book showcases the anger and situations of a teenage girl (like drinking, sex, skipping school) as well as the difficulties parenting a teenage girl – all while handling grief. The climax of the book focuses on the mother keeping the truth from the daughter, but the explosion of emotion was worth the wait.
At times, I was frustrated with the daughter for her behavior toward her mother, but maybe that is a personal issue I have. I also am turned off when people don’t get a chance to saw what they want, which the daughter didn’t allow from her mother. None of this was enough to stop me from thoroughly enjoying this though.
I would not recommend this book if you have recently lost a parent or spouse, as it provokes real emotion. However, I think if you enjoy tear-jerkers, coming of age type books, or light romances, this is a great book for you!
STAR RATING: 4/5
Pick up your copy of Regretting You by Colleen Hoover on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your local bookstore. Also make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave feedback for the author when you are finished. Make sure to check out more from author Colleen Hoover on her website HERE!
