Title- Regretting You
Author- Colleen Hoover
Series- standalone
Rating– 3.9/5
Genre- contemporary/women’s fiction
POV- dual POV. First person, present tense
Trope- mother/daughter, accidental pregnancy, grief stages
Cover– doesn’t really represent the story and I’m still not fully sure how the title fits. The regret is opposite of how they feel … unless I missed something
Comps– John Green books
Plot/Blurb-
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.
First chapter-
Chapter 1- we get a vibe of how these teens acted in high school with their friends, boyfriends & siblings. It seems as if the main character will get pregnant at age 17 so I’m assuming the next chapter is her as an adult. The dialogue is realistic & the vibe feels genuine.
Character Development- character driven novel with lots of inner monologue
Best part- first kiss between blank and blank (no spoilers)
What I would change- little less predictability
Setting- high school and their home. Sometimes I got the “white room” syndrome where I couldn’t quite picture where we were
Prose- flowed well
Theme- keeping secrets from family members, betrayal, trust, reliving mistakes, long-lost love
Vivid sensory descriptions-
Dialogue- above average
Inclusivity- I don’t recall characters of diverse ethnicities or sexual orientation
Ethics/morals- affairs
Conflict/tension/obstacles- mother/daughter understanding each other, secrets/withholding information
Pacing- medium
Thoughts while reading-
Chapter 2- so we meet the daughters who is now the same age as her mother was in the first chapter. She’s crushing on a guy & I’m assuming this’ll be a mirroring theme of repeating mistakes. Gramps character is hilarious. I like how “real” and authentic everything feels.
Page 31- Sistet, Jenny, too? Seems a bit coincidental for all these accidental pregnancies from high school sweethearts.
Chapter 3- so Jonah is back in town. I see the drama between the sisters and their guys. My prediction is that Morgan and Jonah are somehow going to end up together or try and it falls apart making every other reader cry but me because I’m a robot. (Anyways, that’s gonna be a sticky situation).
So Morgan is stuck in a rut feeling that her life is too predictable and that she lives for her family instead of herself. She needs a change and to find herself.
Chapter 4- both? Shit!
Chapter 7- holy crap, my assumptions were on target. Elijah belongs to ….
Chapter 8- yeah the other woman isn’t the best choice.
Chapter 14 – I’m more interested in Morgan and Jonah then Clara and Miller.
Page 151- I disagree with not telling Clara about Elijah.
Halfway- the mother daughter struggle is so realistic. Even tho my own is only 8 I can feel it.
Chapter 22- adults shouldn’t put a teen in the middle of their issues.
Page 236- this is the most inner dialogue I’ve read read during a sex scene which is interesting. (Sidenote- When both a mom and daughter have a sex scene in a book it’s a bit uncomfortable for me for some reason)
Page 322- a 17 year old is dealing with a lot of deep stuff and it affects all the dynamics in each of her relationships.
Ending- Page 354- yeah I didnt quite understand the mockumentary either but loved the second surprise video. I kind of wish the story ended with Morgan instead of Clara, but all the bows are tied.
Cassie Swindon 