Politics is a test of wills in a sharp, funny, and emotional novel about truth and consequences by the New York Times bestselling author.
Cleo McDougal is a born politician. From congresswoman to senator, the magnetic, ambitious single mother now has her eye on the White House—always looking forward, never back. Until an estranged childhood friend shreds her in an op-ed hit piece gone viral.
… hit piece gone viral.
With seven words—“Cleo McDougal is not a good person”—the presidential hopeful has gone from in control to damage control, and not just in Washington but in life.
Enter Cleo’s “regrets list” of 233 and counting. Her chief of staff has a brilliant idea: pick the top ten, make amends during a media blitz, and repair her reputation. But there are regrets, and there are regrets: like her broken relationship with her sister, her affair with a law school professor…and the regret too big to even say out loud.
But with risk comes reward, and as Cleo makes both peace and amends with her past, she becomes more empowered than ever to tackle her career, confront the hypocrites out to destroy her, and open her heart to what matters most—one regret at a time.
more
12/3/21 – A light, but thought-provoking, read. The story follows a single mom/senator as she navigates the political climate of Washington DC as well as motherhood. The story shows the tricky balance while also including enough fun stuff on the side and drama to keep you interested. The character is a bit rough around the edges at the beginning but comes around by the end.
I love Allison Winn Scotch’s work, and devoured this one, which was jam-packed with resonant insights on the nature of ambition, motherhood, politics, misogyny, regret, and the clashes that happen when all of them come together. If that makes it sound like a Serious Book, it’s not — Winn Scotch is so good at weaving these themes into the story of one woman’s quest for success, it’s not that you’re reading about Big Things, you’re just reading about Cleo, because you want to follow Cleo’s journey. Probably my new favorite from this author.
Allison Winn Scotch hopes that her eighth novel, Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, resonates with readers as “a thoughtful reflection on being a woman in this specific moment in time, . . .” It is a powerful exploration of female ambition, friendship, and learning to be comfortable and unapologetic in one’s own skin. And yes, those topics require a very different analysis with respect to women than they do in relationship to men. Which is one of the points Scotch makes with insight, humor, and compassion.
“Cleo McDougal is not a good person. She does good, yes, but doing good and being good aren’t the same, now, are they? In fact, her whole life Cleo McDougal has been a cheater. She cheated in high school, on the debate team, on the school paper, for a summer internship, and from there it only got worse. ” By the time Senator Cleo McDougal learns that her former best friend, MaryAnne Newman, has written those words in an online alternative “newspaper,” the piece has gone viral on Twitter and across the internet. Political blogs are having a field day at Cleo’s expense. Unfortunately, Cleo had taken the advice of her chief of staff, Gaby, imparted from her therapist: spend an hour each morning “unplugged.” So while Cleo completed her morning workout, showered, dressed, and dragged her fourteen-year-old son, Lucas, out of bed — all by 7:15 a.m. — her brilliant career may have imploded. She is utterly blindsided, not because she never thinks about MaryAnne, but because, over the years, she has “spent a lot of time trying not to think about her. How can you drive away from your past without even glancing in the rearview mirror? That kind of focus took effort.”
But MaryAnne goes too far. In the article, she alleges that Cleo had an affair with a married professor and speculates that he might be Lucas’s father. And it is Lucas who receives an alert about the article on his cellular telephone and informs Cleo about it.
In the hands of a less skilled writer, Cleo’s story could have been far less moving and emotional than the book proves to be. Scotch very specifically set out to write a tale that is not focused on romantic relationships or politics, and succeeds spectacularly. She deliberately created Cleo as a single mother because “being on her own was a statement that she didn’t need the man.” Cleo happens to be a politician and the story plays out against that backdrop, but the focus is on the way in which Cleo reacts to her former friend’s accusations and what she learns in the process. Interestingly, Scotch decided that making Cleo a politician was the “most overt way to exemplify all these ways women are being held to a higher standard because we saw it play out [in U.S. politics].” She didn’t think it would be “necessarily as effective” if Cleo was in the corporate world.
Cleo is intelligent, strong, self-reliant, and extremely ambitious, an attribute that is required to succeed as a professional woman, whether it be in politics or another career. Her image has been carefully cultivated and she knows that she must launch into a salvage operation in order to save her political prospects. Women’s reputations simply are not made or broken in the same way as men’s. She’s acutely aware that ambitious women are still viewed quite differently and judged harshly through a misogynistic lens. Cleo was about to announce her candidacy for the office of President of the United States, a dream she is not going to let go of without a fight.
At first, Cleo is believably defensive and denies MaryAnne’s accusations. But Gaby declares that Cleo is going to embark on a “No Regrets” tour during which she is going to confront her top ten regrets, culled from a list of 233 that Cleo was encouraged by her father to write down so she could later look back and decide if they were truly mistakes and, if so, learn from them. But the list hasn’t served her in quite the way her father envisioned. “She’d convinced herself that if she purged her misdeed on paper, recognized it for what it was — anything from an innocent mistake to an intentional obfuscation — she could pick it up and leave it behind her on the side of the metaphorical road, drive away with a clean conscience.” Of course, life doesn’t work that way. And Gaby’s idea sounds preposterous — no male politician would undertake such an endeavor, after all. But, as noted, Cleo is all-too-aware that the rules are different for men and women, and Gaby is insistent that Cleo must show everyone how liable and relatable she is, even though she’s made mistakes.
So she complies, but instead of simply confronting her past for the sake of her future, Cleo begins examining in earnest the choices she has made, the calculated ways in which she ensured that she attained her goals (congresswoman at the age of 25, senator by the time she was 31, and now, at 37, poised for a presidential run). She realizes that, over the years, she placed a high value on things that turned out to be less worthwhile than she estimated. She discovers that she justified her own conduct without considering the circumstances objectively, taking others’ perspectives and viewpoints into account.
In a particularly poignant and powerful encounter, Cleo confronts her law school professor. she acknowledges her role in their history, but indicts him for his behavior as she belatedly takes steps to ensure that no other young woman finds herself in a similar situation, something she could and should have done years ago. In the process, as a result of her newfound bravery, she finds herself inspiring other women and realizes that she doesn’t regret “burning it all down. If she had to do it all again she would. Tomorrow. That was the opposite of regret, she decided. That was living.”
At last, she comes to terms with having withheld information from Lucas, the son she loves and tried to protect. And reconnects with her sister, Georgie.
Scotch takes readers on Cleo’s journey with her as she confronts the choices she made, the people she hurt, the mistakes she didn’t own up to at the time, and the ways in which she failed to acknowledge and process her own feelings. Scotch employs her signature witty, often hilarious dialogue, surrounding Cleo with a supporting cast of characters that keep the action moving and prevent the story from becoming maudlin or cloying. The mother of teenagers herself, Scotch hits just the right tone with Lucas. His commentary and emotional reactions are credible, sometimes heartbreaking, and thoroughly endearing.
But it is Cleo’s evolution that is the centerpiece of the story, effectively and compellingly chronicled by Scotch as she navigates her listed regrets and seeks to set things right. She learns about accountability and forgiveness, and in the process gains new appreciation of and the ability to productively harness and direct her own power.
From Scotch’s perspective, the book is ultimately “about power: having it, losing it, abusing it, flaunting it, sharing it, craving it, and bequeathing it.” An”part of being a woman and being a human is that you just gotta rise up.” Readers will find themselves cheering for Cleo as she slogs through her past and makes decisions about her future. Because for all of her faults, she is empathetic. Every woman reader will see something of herself in Cleo, which is the real joy in reading about her sojourn, and cheer for her to rise up just as women all over the world are, at this time in history, rising up and demanding that their power be recognized and their voices heard.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader’s Copy of the book.
Really fun, sharply written, and was particularly entertaining as I read it during the late fall when politically things were very unsettling. It made me start to think about my own list of regrets, which can be a useful exercise!
After reading Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing I am wondering why it took me so long to read a book by Allison Winn Scotch! This book was insightful, funny, and even a bit emotional. I really loved the writing style, and the audio for this one was bomb since Julia Whelan narrates it. It gave me serious Charlotte Walsh Likes To Win vibes thanks to the political aspect, and I thought the writing was rather similar as well. Cleo was such a fun character and I absolutely loved her. She was strong and although flawed, a very realistic character.
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing, while funny, is not a light read. It hits on a lot of important topics and was also very contemporary with its look at social media and current trends. I thought the plot was more complex than I was expecting, and I really enjoyed listening to it. While heavy on politics, it also goes fairly deep into Cleo’s life, and I enjoyed how the author tied her past into her present. This book hit me in some unexpected ways, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more by this author.
Strong female characters win me over every time. They will you, too, in this insightful yet humorous story of a woman running for president.
Favorite line: “Emily shrugged as if, well, it was what it was so she became the full-time parent. Not because he was better at his job than she was, not because she was dying to pack lunches and fold laundry and run all the soccer carpools, but because in the default of the gender hierarchy, for some reason, the man’s needs came first.”
Who should read? Feminists, single mothers, politically-aspired, or career-driven women. (Have I missed any women? If I have, add them, too.)
Read entire review at https://cyndiezahner.com/reviews/
Senator Cleo McDougal is considering running for President – but that’s not what this book is about. It’s always in the background, sure, but what really grabs us is Cleo’s journey from a fiercely independent single mom to a woman capable of – and finding her strength in – connection.
An aspiring senator is tossed into a media frenzy which affects more than just her. Angst ridden, driven by choices she has made and coming to terms with them while evolving as a different person make this an excellent offering to read.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I think as we get older, it’s harder to finish books when we don’t agree with a character’s every decision. One of the great gifts of fiction is putting ourselves in new situations and asking how we’d react. When we are young, all the world is a question mark. As we get older, we run into situations we think we know inside out. The value here is letting someone else learn in front of us.
Chloe has many experiences I don’t have but she is a mother of a teen, like me. The road she took to get there is very different from mine, and I feel sharper and more aware from walking in her footsteps.
Plus, this book is funny.
I highly recommend it!
I enjoyed most of this book. The characters were all very well done and alive and real. I loved the premise, especially a woman running for president. I love that Cleo is a US Senator and planning a bid for president but is still so very human. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialog between the characters. Gaby’s energy is palpable. Lucas is 100% teenage boy and I think he’s going to turn out just fine.
Women carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and much of Cleo’s inner thoughts showed she had a soul. But there were so.many.inner.thoughts. Often repetitive. I read the first few chapters, I know what she overcame. No need to repeat it every chapter. I don’t really care about the random swearing – honestly it was so rare that it didn’t even distract – there were more repeats of parents dead, bad relationship with sister, all alone, single mom. And that was distracting. I skimmed paragraphs of Cleo’s overthinking.
This book has a lot to say and you should read it. So much of it is relevant to today and how our world works.
I enjoyed reading this story because it was witty, relatable on many levels, and realistic. I hope there’s a follow up. I’d love to know how things turn out for Cleo, Lucas, et al.
I am a fan of Allison Winn Scotch and was delighted when I learned she had a new book.
Politics and feminism can be dangerous topics in literature – they can be dry or inflammatory, preachy or disappointing. I found Allison’s wry wit and focus on the journey of our young, female senator protagonist the perfect solution. It was neither preachy nor dry nor partisan.
It sounds strange to say this is a light read with topics as heavy as these, but it was the perfect palate cleanser to the current environment we find ourselves in 2020.
And make no mistake, I use the word light read with the utmost compliment to the author. She deftly handles single motherhood, political maneuverings, the #MeToo movement, the complexities of female friendships, and the battle of a strong woman walking the tight rope of being strong without appearing too strong to alienate others. I found this to be a compelling read that easily led me along Cleo’s journey to redemption as she navigated addressing a list of her regrets after her former high school BFF called her out in a local Op-Ed that went viral.
This was a fun read and, quite honestly, would love to see what Cleo McDougal is up to in the future – sequel?
Cleo McDougal is a single mom of a teenage son who is also a senator thinking of making a presidential run. A friend from high school tells the press that Cleo isn’t a nice person. Cleo has regrets, who doesn’t? But Cleo has a written list of regrets! Her chief of staff tells her to pick 5 and let’s go fix them! This leads to an awesome book with humor, love, friendship and family. I loved the characters in this book and read the entire book in one day! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.