Healing after a tragedy is hard enough. Doing it when you’re haunted by past betrayal and so many things left unsaid?Feels nearly hopeless. Is it impossible to come back from so much anguish and all the regrets? Can you ever truly mend your heart and move on?Or are Penelope and Linc destined for a life of punishment and pain?They’re about to find out whether the line between love and hate is … line between love and hate is clear. And if moving on after loss and the sting of deception is even possible.
Reviews
Holy heartache. “Regrets slayed my heart. Angst-lovers, this book is not to be missed. Brilliant writing from Nicole Dykes. I couldn’t ask for more in a book!” – LJ Shen, USA Today and #1 Amazon bestselling author
“Tears flowed, my heart ached, and I could feel the anguish in my soul.” -Keri, Goodreads
“This is not your sweet, tragic love story. It’s got hard edges that keep you turning pages.” -Rmederios, Goodreads
“Nicole (Dykes) went really deep for this one and she didn’t disappoint. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for forbidden love, love triangle, tragedy, and just a great love story.” -Alexandra, Goodreads
“It’s got heartbreak, betrayal, guilt, and forgiveness. Yes, all that emotion packed into one book. Absolutely phenomenal.” -Emma, Ever Growing Book Obsession
“Nicole Dykes delivers with Regrets. It is an emotional roller coaster of a book and it takes you for a ride and the best angsty/dark way. Five out of five enthusiastic stars.” -Ash, Goodreads
“This is a love triangle story. Don’t let the blurb fool you. Prepare yourself. And what you think you know… Just prepare yourself.” -Jessica, Goodreads
“This book just proves why Nicole Dykes is my favorite author.” -Stacy, Goodreads
“This book hits the ground running. The intensity is real. Buckle up, buttercup, you have no idea what you’re in for!” -Elle, @Literary.ya
“Nicole Dykes is a new to me author, and what a punch to the heart this book was for a first timer… I’m still slightly in recovery mode, but I can’t get over how much I felt while reading this book!” – Elizabeth, The Book Boutique
“Powerful, emotional, all consuming, painfully beautiful and worthy of more than 5 stars.” -The Book Fairy Reviews
“Regrets is everything I love about Nicole Dykes’ writing dialed up to the next level! It’s darker, edgier, and more deliciously addictive than anything she’s written before. A forbidden romance full of angst, lust, and passion I couldn’t devour quickly enough.” -Ari, The Red Hatter Book Blog
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I listened to this in one sitting! I couldn’t bring myself to stop the story. Linc and Penelope are such tortured souls. The narrators…oh my goodness, they are so perfect! I will listen to anything by Tor Thom. I can’t recommend this enough as it was absolutely an amazing listen.
The first book in the Sterling Series definitely packed a punch in the drama department! An almost love triangle, almost forbidden relationship vibes as the heroine Penelope (P) grows to love two brothers, who have both been fascinated by her from the day they met.
Linc is the eldest brother and a bit of a rebel, the son to do as he pleases, drink, drugs, woman he is a player but when he was a child he was captivated by a young foster girl Penelope and brought her into the Sterling family fold. When Linc saw his younger brother Colt also taking a shine to P he knew his brother was the better choice for her. Colt is the sterling who upholds the family reputation and the one their Father holds to a high standard, to marry for status and keep their position in the societal circles. Colt begins to struggle to balance his feelings and the pressures put on him to be the perfect Sterling son and this all builds up to one set of disastrous turn of events.
With Linc and P both struggling to come to turns with what has happened they are drawn together again but their guilt fuels the angsty fire between them and their family is torn apart. I loved the intensity between Linc and P, he is a bit of a douche, mean, teasing and a total tease; but she is not one to back down and gives as good as she gets. Regrets has an enemies to lovers feel about it, but it’s because they shouldn’t be together but they can’t help the feelings they both have.
The book is packed full of emotion, and I really felt the turmoil from P, Linc and Colt and how this affected their youngest brother Asher too (his story is going to be an interesting one). Regrets for me is the kind of romance I love, not overly flashy, it’s real and it’s raw, the characters have depth and they are well developed, you truly understand what drives them and their decisions and you get lost in the story completely. When the gut punches came they totally side swiped me and I was stunned, I had that ache in my gut that comes with the moments of heartbreak in a really good read and that is what cemented this book as an almost perfect read for me!
Sometimes all broken people know to do is to continue to hurt. This story has me reeling for these characters and all they went through. It was beautiful, sad, twisty, and high steam level ! Loved it from beginning to end.
Yikes this story took me through a gambit of emotions! This is a deep, gritty soulful book! I could let help but feel for the characters. They have depth and touch on all the emotions that are available. This reminded me of family drama that you would see on a soap opera. One girl and two brothers equals a messy family. It’s interesting how everyone has regrets for a different side of the coin.
We also get introduced into Linc’s family in here. They are all intruiging and I think they would each make for a good story. I hope Asher calms down as he gets older. The epilogue was a perfect
Overall this is a wonderful story. Full of sweet love, hard love and compelling characters. I did listen to this on audio. Tor Thom and Charley Ongel did a good job narrating.
Oh my Heart!
One girl, two brothers, love triangle, forbidden love, secrets exposed, plot twists, need I say more. GAH!! I have no words for this story, it was absolutely heartbreaking! This is my first time reading/listening to a Nicole Dykes book and loved every minute of it. Nicole Dykes knows how to write a forbidden romance that will stick with you and make you go through an emotional rollercoaster you don’t know if you can recover from. Penelope, a foster kid, is welcomed into the Sterling family at age 11. She and Colt fall in love, but it is obvious she also loves his brother Linc. After 10 years of Colt and P being together, tragedy strikes, circumstances change, secrets are exposed and Linc and P are left to pick up the pieces and move on. Linc and P were perfect for each other, so angsty, raw and real. Their grief and guilt over losing someone they both loved so much was so heart wrenching. Listening to this story was even better. Tor Thom and Charley Ongel are new to me narrators and did a phenomenal job voicing this story. They really understood the characters and story which made this book come to life. This is definitely worth a listen!
3.75 Stars
Audio Review;
Nicole Dykes is a fairly new author to me and I am familiar with the narrators Tor Thom and but Charley Ongel is a new narrator to me. This was gripping. Emotional and honestly, heart breaking. This was a forbidden romance, with all the angst that goes along with that. The audio was engaging and I love the sound of Tor Thom’s voice. I volunteered to listen and review a complimentary copy of this. All opinions are my own.
4 star Review Regrets (The Sterlings #1) by Nicole Dykes
AUDIO REVIEW:
Nicole Dykes is a new author to me although I am familiar with the narrators Tor Thom and Charley Ongel.
This was at times a hard book to listen too. Regrets is a forbidden romance that is emotional, raw and gritty.
There’s a fine line between love and hate and Linc and Penelope walk it uncertainly. This was a roller coaster of a listen and the narrators certainly brought this story to life for me.
Can a broken heart truly be mended? Will their loss bring them together or destroy them? There were numerous twists and turns and the grief and heartbreak felt real.
This book is one of my 2020 favorites. When it came out in audio I had to have it because seriously it’s that good. Let me tell you. From the first deep sexy sentence out of his mouth I knew the author scored on finding the perfect male narrator. I mean this man could read the ingredients off a box and make it sound sexy. The female narrator is just as wonderful! Sultry and feminine they are the perfect duo for the Sterling family books. They are just plain sexy. (Found out they were married and it makes you wonder if after reading some of these scenes ummmmmm).
I absolutely love the Sterling family series. This being the first of four. Each book is amazing with its own vibe. This book is angsty and dark and tortures your soul with its struggle. The book in print is phenomenal. In audio it’s a whole bee ball game. It is elevated to beyond perfection! Seriously Nicole is killer at melting you’re heart, sucking every emotion out of you and enveloping you so tightly in the story you have lasting. Feelings for the characters after she’s done. Superb
I loved this book!! Nicole did a great job with Penelope and Lincoln. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
The best thing about being part of a promo group is the ability to read new authors. Now Nicole Dykes is not a new author but she is new to me and what an introduction I received by reading this story.
Regrets is a story about love, love of family, love of youth and true love. Lincoln, and his brother Colt’s lives were forever changed when they walked onto that basketball court at age 11 & 9 and met Penelope. This is a story of these three people and their lives. It is not a smooth life as no life really is, but Nicole gives these characters depth and vulnerability and makes them relatable. She makes them real. You will be sucked into this story and you will care about the Sterling family, you are going to root for them and hope for a happy ending.
This is Book 1 of a 4 book series and it does its job, it hooks you so you want to read the rest of the books. Nicole Dykes wrote a heartbreaking yet heartwarming story here, and I’m glad I got the opportunity to read it.
Regrets is so aptly named because the two main characters have so many regrets! The first book in this series by Nicole Dykes focuses on Penelope, Linc, and Colt. Linc and Colt are brothers and they both meet Penelope at the same time. There is sexual tension between the three, and they all struggle to separate and acknowledge their feelings with each other.
I don’t know if this is a spoiler, but the story centers around Linc and Penelope and their disastrous self sabotaging actions after the death of Colt. Both Linc and Penelope go through so much internal conflict regarding their guilt over their part in Colt’s death, their feelings for each other, and how they’re going to move forward. I feel for Linc here, and he sacrificed his feelings a lot to make sure that his brother and Penelope were happy together. Even after Colt’s death, he continues to sacrifice his own happiness because he cannot overcome the guilt and uncertainty he feels. This story is about two people finding love and leaning into their love and accepting that it is beautiful and worth fighting for, even if others do not believe it to be “right.”
Nicole is a new author for me and man I am regretting not reading her sooner!
I can not wait to devour the rest of this series.
Regrets is filled with so much angst, intensity, emotion and fire that once I started I didn’t want to put it down.
I loved seeing the relationship between Penelope (P) and Linc flip from past to present. It just built the connection that they had and really made me feel for them.
The hurt, the desire and the dynamic between them was just perfectly present.
Can’t wait to read book two now!
What did I like about this book? EVERYTHING!!!
“Life is messy, and people are flawed. We all make mistakes, especially when we’re young.”
Omg, seriously peeps… this book took ahold of my heart, squeezed it slowly, and left me feeling emotionally drained and an absolute mess… and I loved every minute of it!!!
This story completely different to what I thought it would be. It revolves around three main characters, brothers Linc and Colt Sterling and Penelope (P) Jones, who met ten years ago when the boys ventured into P’s rough neighbourhood looking for a game of basketball. The Sterlings are a well off family and live in a beautiful house in the most affluent part of Kansas City; whereas P comes from a broken family, has had a tough life living in and out of foster homes. The three kids immediately form a strong friendship bond, and it doesn’t take long for P to become an integral part of the Sterling household.
An important point to note is that the storyline flits between past and present, which is crucial to the storyline, as it helps with the overall flow of the book. It also makes for a more compelling read, and gives the reader a better understanding of the three main characters, their different personalities and why they found themselves in their current predicament.
The story is told from a duel POV (Linc’s and P’s) after tragedy rocks the Sterling household. We watch as they both try to deal with their grief and personal regrets, for transgression they both committed in the months leading up to the tragedy. The emotional anguish and inner turmoil they felt really resonated deep within me, and my heart broke into a thousand pieces on many occasions while I was reading this beautiful story.
This book is sooo beautifully written and definitely one that I will remember for a very long time! I personally place this book in the same class as one of my favourite emotional reads, Ryan’s Bed by Tijan. Go on… what are you waiting for? Read this book!! It’s AMAZING!!!
THE REVIEW FOR THE BOOK REGRETS BY NICOLE STERLING.
GENRE: CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE.
TROPES: LOVE TRIANGLE, ANGST, EMOTIONAL, TEAR JERKER, UNPREDICTABLE PLOT.
AUTHOR: NICOLE DYKES.
TYPE: BOOK #1 OF THE STERLING…CAN BE READ AS STANDALONE.
POV:DUAL POV…
MY RATING: 5 STARS.
Two brothers…One girl…
Definitely going to be a hard choice…
Penelope was a foster kid who just stumbled upon town boys in a playground and her life turned over.
One brother gives her hots and others love her more than anything. But every good side has a bad side…and their situations turn to worst quickly… She and Linc did something that ruins their family forever…and now they have to live in Regret…
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This book hurts…but love triangles are supposed to be angsty…but this was something else…
Both of them have a love-hate relationship and they find pleasure in hurting each other.
I loved the chemistry between them…The family drama.. the action.. feels.
I love how the book goes back and forth in the past and present seamlessly. And the secrets every turn of the book made it an unpredictable and unputdownable book.
“Both of us relish pain mixed with pleasure, both craving punishment for our many sins.”
Both of them did some unforgiving toxic things but at the end they found solace…the end is what matters..
I received this ebook from the author who is new to me. The blurb for this book really got my attention and I’m so glad I read this book because WOW. This is a love triangle between the heroine and 2 brothers. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was blown away. The story is tragic, sad and heartbreakingly raw and emotional. The story is told from the past and the present and from both Penelope and Linc’s POV. My heart hurt for Linc’s family and for Penelope. She had a rough life and Colt and Linc helped save her as a child but that’s when things get complicated. This love triangle reminds me of Damon, Stefan and Elena from The Vampire Diaries a little because Penelope is obviously in love with both boys but doesn’t realize it. There’s also a huge secret revealed that I didn’t see coming and it changed everything for me! I thought this story was executed beautifully and was a really interesting take on a love triangle with brothers. Thank you Nicole Dykes for the ebook!
Wow
Unconventional is the first word that comes to mind with this one.
But it was so good in all of its differences. I needed something that didn’t follow a cookie cutter, and this definitely gave me that.
Angst levels were perfect, the drama, the whole nine yards.
I think I might be in love with the Sterling family.
I was generously given an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
h: Penelope aka P
H: Linc
(Dual POVs)
Ho-ly shit. This book messed with my head. Half way in, I wasn’t really sure if I was a fan of the characters. I didn’t necessarily agree with some of the actions that transpired from Linc and P. I don’t know how, but the author completely made me do a 180 without even realizing it. What is this sorcery?!? By the end of the book, I felt like I had a better understanding of P and Linc and everything just clicked. That twist! That was a good one!
Favorite quotes:
Both of us relish pain mixed with pleasure, both craving punishment for our many sins. -Linc
“You never could resist saving me, Linc.” -Penelope
“You saw the real me from day one, and you wanted me.”
“I did.” His lips dance over mine. “I do.” He presses a light kiss over my lips. “I always will.”
Regrets is brutal but 100% bingeworthy.
This is my first book by Nicole, but definitely not my last! It’s dark, edgy, and chock full of angsty heartbroken characters, riddled with guilt as they battle each other in an attempt to deal with their grief. As awful as Linc and Penelope are towards each other, there’s no denying their chemistry is off the charts.
Nicole is a phenomenal writer and absolutely wrecked me emotionally. It’s been a few hours and my emotions are still all over the place
Definitely recommend!
I’m the biggest sucker for angsty reads and this book was a perfectly poured top shelf shot of angst.
There are books that you can’t put down and you lose sleep over because you HAVE to know what’s next…This book wasn’t that—this book was one I wanted to take my time with so I could savor it for as long as possible. I truly didn’t want it to end and while I dreaded putting it down because I was so fully invested in the story, I hated the idea of it ending even more.
I wish it was longer because I floved it that much, but it’s a perfectly wrapped package for anyone who craves angst.
Nicole Dykes is a new-to-me author and what a first read! I finished the book a couple of days ago and it is still sitting with me, the character’s heartbreaking journey tumbling around in my head.
Regrets had me hooked from the beginning. Dykes draws you in with characters who feel so real. Each chapter she gives you just enough to keep you intrigued and wanting more. I wrapped myself up in the story and devoured it in two sittings. (It would have been one but you know, adult responsibilities).
Regrets is about two brothers (Linc and Colt) and one girl (Penelope). They build fast connections but you know very early that tragedy impacts their lives and you follow the characters through their grief. I love how Dykes does not back away from showing us this messy journey. As the story develops she provides twists and revelations that rock you to your core. You think you know how the story is going to go, then you learn something new and it makes you question everything. Regrets has you think about how your choices affect your life and when you learn about others’ actions, how does that change the way you feel.
*The book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.