BOOK REVIEW: Regretting You by Colleen Hoover @colleenhoover @KCC_PR #regrettingyou #bookreview

A story of grief, love, loss, and moving on. Emotional and raw, this book seems to maintain an uplifting noted despite heavy content. It’s my first Colleen Hoover book and I get it! I now see why she is a favorite writer for so many!

About the Book

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.

Reflection

If I could describe Regretting You in a word, it would be “relatable”. And I say that never having gone through most of what the characters in this book go through, which may seem strange to say. Hoover’s characters are so authentic, though. The experience of first loves, of first encounters, of betrayal, seeking closure, and of moving on resonate so strongly. I felt that the characters reacted to the events of the book in a way that made them feel real, which allowed me to connect to them and feel what they felt.

When Morgan got pregnant too young, she married her high school sweetheart, Chris. And for the most part, they had a good life and a good marriage. But Morgan was also unfulfilled—giving up her college education and career for Chris, who eventually made enough money that she didn’t need to work. She spends most of her time taking care of their daughter Clara.

To say Morgan and Clara are the epitome of a teenage daughter and her mother not getting along would be an understatement. Clara is lovely most of the time, but temperamental with her mother. Clara micromanages Clara a bit, hoping to save her from the mistakes she made. Clara is closer to her father Chris and her aunt (Morgan’s sister) Jenny. Jenny is newly engaged to Chris’s friend from high school Jonah.

But when Chris and Jenny are tragically killed in a car accident, buried secrets begin to surface. In an instant, the lives of this dysfunctional family are thrown into chaos, and suddenly nothing is what they thought it would be. Clara begins to spiral out of control, Morgan tries to keep Clara from discovering a terrible truth, and Jonah finds himself alone with a newborn and no idea how to make things work.

Watching the characters grieve and slowly heal throughout the book was the true magic of the story. And trust me, as in life, things get much worse before they get better! But Colleen Hoover writes these stories with a realness that felt refreshing and cathartic. A wonderful story that pulled me right in.

Thank you to Kathleen Carter for my copy. Opinions are my own.