Regretting You

*5 Stars*

Um, wow. Where to even start with this one. This book is such a journey. There are so many issues at play here – a Mother and Daughter’s relationship, a bond between sisters, a bond between friends, trust issues and teenage relationships and reactions.

I devoured this in one day. Half the time I wanted our main ladies to just get together and talk, I wanted to yell at them to get their act together and sit down and talk it out. The angst in this book, just waiting for all the truths to be revealed to every character, was unreal.

This felt like such a real book, and the issues that CoHo has written about are very real too. She did a wonderful job with this book, and I honestly just don’t know how to review it. Except to say I was hooked from the start, and it really is a journey through the story.

Highly recommend.

Regretting You was such an emotional read, everything you would expect from a best selling author like Colleen Hoover. If there’s one thing you need to know about Colleen, is that she manages to combine enjoyable romance plots and real life problems together —and the result is always outstanding.

This novel revolves around Morgan, a woman who tries her best to prevent her seventeen year old daughter Clara from making the same mistakes she made when she was her age. It has dual point of view, showing us how some life-altering events affect both Morgan’s and Clara’s lives. We get to see them making mistakes, finding love and affection. Dealing with grief and hurt. Being human.

The first chapter begins with a flashback — seventeen year old Morgan finding out she’s carrying her boyfriend’s (Chris) child. While most highschool relationships don’t work out in the long run, especially when there’s a child involved, Morgan and Chris find themselves happily married seventeen years later. Morgan’s life is considered to be good —a thoughtful husband, a sweet daughter, a loving sister with whom is is super close. And her sister’s “old-new” boyfriend, Jonah. A man who has always made Morgan’s heart flutter, even though it was wrong to feel that way. Because he was Chris’s best friend. And her sisters boyfriend. And she was pregnant. All those reasons resulted in Jonah’s sudden departure from their lives, which lasted seventeen long years.

A life altering and heartbreaking event changes the family dynamics, and some major secrets are revealed. The life Morgan’s always known is now shuttered, but she’s determined not to let Clara ever find out about the betrayal their loved ones committed without an ounce of guilt. Jonah has arrived at the perfect time. A time when both of them need each other in order to deal with the feelings of grief and betrayal.

For Clara, meeting Miller was the best thing that could happen at this point in her life. Their mutual interests, their personalities and their obvious attraction made them perfect for each other. Clara’s overwhelmed with feelings of grief and emptiness, and on top of that she has so many unanswered questions. Questions that Morgan doesn’t want to answer, because it would alter her daughter world, and her feelings towards her family members. Those unanswered questions lead to major misunderstandings, threatening to drive Clara and Morgan apart.
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“Right after something tragic happens, you feel like you’ve fallen off a cliff. But after the tragedy starts to sink in, you realize you didn’t fall off a cliff. You’re on an eternal roller coaster that just reached the bottom. Now it’s gonna be up and down and upside down for a long, long time. Maybe even forever.”
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This book made me want to throw it to a wall so many times while reading it!! I just wanted to grab Clara and Morgan right out of the book and just make things right between them. I couldn’t even blame Clara for her stupidity and constant suspicion towards her mother, because she just didn’t know the real facts and it was completely understandable for her to be confused and jump to conclusions. I loved the two male characters, Miller and Jonah so much. Jonah, despite being betrayed and lied to by his girlfriend and Morgan’s sister -Jenny-, turned out to be such a selfless and responsible adult who doesn’t shy away from his responsibilities.

And Miller… Ugh! He was such a sweetheart with Clara and especially during the last couple of chapters he made my heart melt. He was so affectionate and understanding with Clara, even when most men would’ve run for the hills when confronted with women’s outbursts.

I loved Morgan. She is a classic example for selfless love. She always put her daughter’s happiness before hers. She hid the awful truth from her daughter wanting her to have beautiful memories for her loved ones and not feelings of bitterness, even if that meant her daughter would despise her and make her look like the bad guy. She never regretted giving birth to her daughter, but that didn’t mean she wanted Clara to make the same choices and put her dreams on hold as well. She is an amazing mother, wife, and woman.

Lastly, Clara. I found her such a relatable character, a typical teenage girl who’s world turned upside down. Sure, there were many moments where I wanted to give her a slap or ten, but at the same time I couldn’t fully blame her for her reactions. Thankfully during the last couple of characters I ended up loving her just like the rest of the gang.

This book is about mother, Morgan, and daughter, Clara, dealing with loss, love, and lies in their lives. We get POV from both of them. I’m going to go ahead and put this as a spoiler warning because the whole premise is pretty much a spoiler. Spoilers ahead! Spoilers ahead!

Morgan was a teen mom; despite not fully sure of her feelings, she married the baby’s father, Chris. Now, it’s 17 years later and they are still married. Morgan thinks she has a happy life, but she can’t figure out why she is still feeling unsatisfied. Morgan is the people pleaser type; she puts others before herself too much and is given little appreciation for it. Her daughter, Clara, hero worships her sister, Jenny, and thinks her mom is just the worst; as a teenager often does.

Morgan’s sister, Jenny just had a baby and is marrying Jonah. Jonah was an old friend of Morgan, Chris, and Jenny’s when they were all younger; he dated Jenny briefly, but moved right around the time Morgan announced her pregnancy. About 17 years later, he ends up having a one night stand with Jenny when he returns for a funeral, so with Jenny telling him she’s pregnant, they decide to marry.

When Morgan’s husband, Chris, and her sister, Jenny, die in an accident together, turns out her husband and Morgan’s sister were cheating with each other, and Morgan’s sister’s new baby is actually Morgan’s husband’s. Morgan and Jonah are both trying to deal with the aftermath of the accident and the cheating; Morgan wants to keep it from her daughter, Clara, but that causes it’s own problems. Plus, it seems there was more of a connection between Morgan and Jonah than most thought. They have a deep connection; I wish they didn’t have to be put through so much, but it’s so sweet to see their feelings come to light.

Daughter Clara starts having more of a connection with school mate, Miller, but he has a girlfriend. She’s not happy about the girlfriend, but continues to hope Miller and her will connect more romantically. I wasn’t a fan of some of Clara’s actions during this time, but it’s all handled well. Plus, Miller and Clara have such a sweet connection! Clara is dealing with the death of her dad and her favorite person; her aunt, so when she misinterprets some things, she becomes a bit of a brat and over-dramatic. I really hated how she treated Miller at times, but she does make up for it some. Miller is totally wonderful; except for he should’ve dumped his girlfriend as soon as Clara was single all the years ago. I also wish Miller and Clara got a redo on a momentous occasion together; I wanted to read it done right for them. They are a fun couple through, and it’s great how supportive Miller is.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story; aggravating at times, but hopeful and touching too. I’m glad how things worked out in the end.

This book made me fall in love with reading again. I cannot get enough of Colleen’s books!!

+5 stars!’

I might even start crying right now writing this. I don’t know what Colleen Hoover has but every time I read a book of hers I just know that I’ll be ending up ugly crying. I don’t know why I kept pulling this book off. Probably because I knew it will be emotional and inspiring and I wasn’t reading that kind of books at the time. Or I don’t know. But Oh My God. This book right here was like a totally healing process of everything, of love, of grief, of betrayal and relationship between a mother and a daughter.

I don’t want to write about what the book is about. I think I’ll spoil it to you if I do. But I definitely want to talk about what each character made me feel. Morgan, she was this 34 years old woman, mother and wife who didn’t know what she wanted in life and how to fill up the emptiness that she didn’t want to recognise not even to herself. She was such a strong woman, such a good good mother and just so emotionally broken. I don’t blame her for any decision that she took in life and I’m proud of how she overcome everything and finally let herself be happy. Jonah was this quiet man that barely smiles but when he did it, it was honest and warm. He had also a big big heart and was such a good father to his son. His decisions when he was younger were totally heartbreaking but for him because he was so selfless and I admire that about him.

Clara… this teenager that was mature enough and sometimes wasn’t. She went through something I know how it feels so I related to her in some parts. She made me miss my dad even more than I do every single day. I understood her emotions and actions. I understood her pain and grief. And Miller, this incredible young boy that was such an amazing boyfriend. Boy had to have patience for Clara and he was so understanding. He was full of surprises and when I think about it, I just cry a little more. I loved him so much. I loved them so much.

I can’t even express my total gratitude to Colleen for writing this story and this characters and the way it is written. I’ve never read a book that is narrated by the mother and daughter until now and it was an amazing experience that I highly recommend to everyone. I’m amazed by this book. I just think about each character’s emotions and my heart breaks. Even more for Jonah and how far he would go to respect his friend’s feelings and relationships. Morgan and Clara’s relationship was breaking but when the truth was told, it fixed them and it just teaches you that it’s always best to tell the truth than hide it because maybe it is heartbreaking. But it’s better to live the truth than a lie. I completely loved this book and it’s definitely one of my favourites

After devouring It Ends With Us and Verity I should have known that Regretting You was going to be amazing! I read the whole thing from start to finish in one day and I absolutely loved it. Hoover writes characters with so many layers that you cannot help but get your heart involved. There were times I just wanted to shake both Clara and Morgan but then I realized that even though the way they navigated through things was messy it was real and honest – and their love stories intertwined within their coping was beautiful. I loved the way the book ended and I closed it wondering if this same thing happened to me what would I do.

Loved this book and did not see that massive twist at the beginning. What can I say? I dive straight into a Coho book blind. I was sometimes frustrated at the mother for not being more open and honest, but apart from that I loved it and had a few tears by the end.

Imagine the tendrils of your marriage shattering in an instant. Morgan has the life that others can only dream of……a devoted husband, a nice home, and a daughter that is soon headed to college. What she didn’t have was a plan for the future. As a stay-at-home mother, Morgan put all of her future dreams on hold to be the wife and mother that she wanted for her family.

One moment will alter Morgan’s life in the most unexpected ways. Secrets that have been there all along will slowly make their way to the forefront, and Morgan will have to find a way to recover. How do you pick up the pieces when you begin to question everything in your life? Through it all Morgan knows that family must come first. That may be easier said than done when there is betrayal swirling around every corner.

Regretting You is a standalone from Colleen Hoover that should find its way onto your reading list. It is a story that will lead you down an unexpected road as you look through the eyes of Morgan and Clara. Nothing could prepare this mother and daughter for the events that were about to rock their world. It’s a journey of betrayal, lies, and heartache that must be experienced through the written word. What stands out the most is the way Hoover will pull you into the story and wring every emotion from your heart.

On the flip side of that, I found myself pretty frustrated with Morgan. Would I act the same way this mother did? I can’t say that I would walk the same way in her shoes. I know that I had more questions than answers when I closed the book on the final chapter. What was it that bugged me the most? Probably the predictability in Morgan’s actions/reactions. Considering the bombshell that was waiting in the wings in this novel, I expected something unpredictable to unfold.

Now – did I confuse you will my ramblings?? That is kind of the state I found myself in when closing the page on the last chapter. One thing is for certain….Regretting You is definitely a novel that will leave you thinking.

This was my first Hoover book and it did not disappoint. I LOVE her simple writing style, unexpected twists, and unforgettable characters. And having tow love stories in one was a huge bonus!

This story was a perfect combination of sadness and passion. Throughout the the chapters I see how the story evolves and I want to scream, then next chapter I am smiling, this goes on for the majority of the book, all the emotions are felt and at the end there’s only one word that fits.

Epic!