User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Again another upgraded review with my dream cover! (Thanks to my amateurish graphic skills)
IIIIIIIIII LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVEEEEEE ITTTTTTTTTTTTT SOOOOOOOOOO MUCCHHH! And I decided to name this book “Loving You” with fuchsia colored cover (of course it’s my favorite color)
You want to see my version of cover. Here it is ha ha ha!
COLHO!!! You’re my all-time favorite romance writer who can perfectly create both YA and adult stories and thankfully with this book, you gave us two different amazingly heart wrenching and emotional stories.
And I finally understand why you chose “ORANGE” as a cover color you queen of sarcasm!
I waited too long to get this book into my hands and definitely hate all the lucky readers who are chosen to read it before me!!
It was more painful than waiting for GOT’s last season for whole 2 and 5 years (we all know how it resulted! I threw away my TV from window and cancel my HBO membership!), listening Matthew McConaughey’s Oscar speech, eating brussels sprouts for dinner ( because there is nothing in your fridge and you need to fill your stomach to consume more booze!), listening my besties’ and husband’s burping contest (yes, I have to find better friends and educate my husband with raw meat)! So yes, I celebrate the release date with too much champagne and next day, I started my reading with a heavy head (I thought some construction company rented my brain cells and start to build a skyscraper inside my brain!)
THOUGHTS:
At the end of first quarter COLHO terribly punched us! (Some kind of same twist we got from the beginning of “All your perfects” but this one cut deeper to me, to entire characters of the book and my entire neighborhood because I read this book aloud to educate my environment and guess what my mother and sister in law already start wearing matching t-shirts that words printed on: -We love you COLHO- and of course they stole her books from my library but I forgave them because I changed the covers with Lord of the Rings series just teaching them some manners!)
I think I rooted more for YA romance parts because Miller and his grandfather stole my heart from the beginning. Miller and Clara’s love story started with an obstacle like “Maybe Someday” book has. But it resolved faster and we reach for the good parts, seeing their attraction and falling in love with each other.
I’m not gonna talk much about the story but I want to tell how this book made me feel: It made me cried several times, it made me pissed off, it made me excited, it made me sigh million times, it made me smile, it made me laugh, it made me scream and finally IT MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH
THIS BEAUTIFUL CHARACTERS AND THIS FANTASTIC BOOK!
I had a sh**ty romance year because most of my favorite romance writers released what the hell is that kind of disturbing, disappointing books. And some of them released their thriller debuts (actually they were good but I still wonder why they gave up creating emotional, tear jerker, pant melting romance stories?)
I can only say that: I loved Morgan’s strength and standing for her daughter to save her from emotional turmoil even it makes her look like an unlikable mother.
Jonah was a little doormat hero but he was still adorable, trustworthy, humble guy. I adored how he raised Elijah and how he treated with respect and caring to Morgan.
Miller ( I also love the beer brand) is my raising star and his final gesture made me want giving him 5 gazillion stars! And Clara’s smartness, toughness, maturity to face the depressing ( at some parts she pissed me off and completely lost her control which made me sad for Miles but she was still likable and better character from most of the YA characters I’ve read lately) situations earned her several brownie points which I wanted to share her but I already ate them.
OVERALL: Thanks to my staring Queen (take a look her beautiful staring photos at her instagram account) who never ever disappoint me with her talented writing and memorable!
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Rating: really liked it
“I’ve only ever wanted to be with you.” 
If books were dresses, Colleen Hoover comes out with the ones WITH pockets!!! _______________
A Story You Won't Regret Every single time I pick up a CoHo book, I get pulled into such a distinct feeling. It's a nostalgic, hopeful, smiling-through-the-tears feeling that I can never find elsewhere.
Regretting You exceeded my expectations and completely annihilated me. There is so much to be said of how well-crafted and beautiful this book was and I don't even know where to begin...
"Sometimes when we’re alone, he looks at me in a way that makes me feel empty when he looks away."
Let me start by suggesting that you should read this book with no prior knowledge of what the story entails. This is why this review is going to be spoiler-free, because that is honestly the only way you get to experience all the shocking and heartfelt moments for what they truly are.
Morgan and Clara's story are both so different but the way they weave together is flawless. Colleen Hoover always writes
more than just a simple boy meets girl romance book. The main aspect of this book that I loved was the way Morgan and Clara loved and struggled with each other. This book could be read by a father, a mother and a daughter - it has a different tale to tell for each I think. Her writing is exceptional in this especially because she dealt with two completely different characters undergoing two completely different story arcs and developments. I could clearly distinguish between the voices and the separate accounts of grief.
“Dinner is ready. Go tell them before he gets her pregnant.”
You always get a mixture of humor, love and loss with CoHo books and this did not fail to go above and beyond that. Also, I do think this can be placed on the boundary of YA and NA. (I'd personally agree with the YA Contemporary rating).At first, I worried that I wouldnt be able to appreciate the romance stories within this book because I was too invested in the actual plot of the family, but I could not have been more wrong. The romance in this made my heart pitter-patter just like a CoHo book always does. I swear, Colleen outdoes herself every year.
It's weird writing this review because I usually have to go through pages and pages of highlights and notes that I made so that I can end up with a clear and succinct review to express my thoughts but I had close to no notes/highlights for
Regretting You. That's how unputdownable this was. I was a 4 am in the morning type of crazy when I realized I had finished 80% of the book in less than a day. That's the worst kind of obsession with CoHo books, you end up reeling because you just swallowed the entire story up and now you're left having to wait for the next time she decides to grace us with a novel.
“I didn’t think our first kiss would be like that,” he says quietly.
“Like what?”
“Sweet.”
“How did you think it would be?”
His eyes wander to the few remaining customers still lingering. “I can’t show you in here.”
I absolutely loved this and my adoration of how this woman can take a story and make a masterpiece never fails to leave me stunned.
Rating: really liked it
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Colleen Hoover. I just never know what I'm going to get with her, so I always approach her books with caution. And I'm happy (and relieved) to report that
Regretting You was a complete win for me.
We follow mother/daughter duo Morgan and Clara. Morgan had Clara when she was only 17, and put her dreams on hold to raise her daughter. The two love each other, but often clash due to their strong personalities. When tragedy strikes the family, the two must put aside their differences and try to come to terms with their new circumstances.
This story has all the best of Colleen Hoover. It delves into the complex relationship between a parent and a child, the challenges of growing up and seeking independence, and how to move on after tragedy. It's a rich sketch of the tapestry of life, with the messiness of everyone's feelings and expectations, and what happens when they all collide.
I found the passages around communication and misunderstandings to be particularly poignant. They underscore both how easy it is to let feelings of hurt and resentment build up over time, as well as the difference it can make to approach a loaded interaction with calmness, kindness, and honesty.
The supporting characters in this book are real highlights. Miller and his gramps are both so sweet and sarcastic, and they steal every scene they're in. They provide the perfect comfort to Clara through her anguish and heartbreak. It makes me wish they were real so that I could have them in my life.
I seem to either love Colleen Hoover's books (most of the time) or find them extremely questionable (every once in a while), and I'm glad this fell in the former camp. Right now is a stressful time, and this was the perfect heartwarming story to pull me away from that. It's comforting to read about love and kindness making a difference, and that there will be time again for happiness after tragedy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
See also, my thoughts on:Verity
It Ends with Us
Layla
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rating: really liked it
Unpopular Opinion Who’d have known I was signing myself up for a disaster when I picked this up,
le sigh.
2.5 Stars
This was a MESS, and I’m having a serious case of NEBRASKA headache. Being in Clara’s head made me want to commit murder. I’m sorry, but despite understanding the whole situation, I just CANNOT with this book!!!!!
The whole plot was messed up. Everyone ended up with the wrong person because of some
shitty circumstances. It was also
predictable, but in a way that still took you off guard when the twists happened because they were full of hard truths and just so tragic.
The characters, despite all the good things y’all were saying,
were flawed (which was a good thing) but also a pain in the ass. Except, for Miller of course. 💁♀️
The mother daughter relationship that y’all praised this book for (and maybe I don’t have a place to judge because what do I know about being a parent??)
grated on my nerves. I didn’t like the way they treated each other. It was really hard to root for either of them when you, being the reader, knew what was going on. The misunderstanding was frustrating to no end.
Here’s what I did like.
The duo pair romance worked surprisingly well despite one being an adult and the other as young adult.
The ending was so heartfelt and adorable. The last 30% of the book was the only time I felt emotional and not full on rage. Meanwhile,
the writing was seamless and addicting. I’ve read the majority of CoHo’s books, and at this point I know not to doubt her story telling skills.
(Read as an Audiobook)
Rating: really liked it
ngl, i enjoyed this. i wish it had leaned more into the messiness but overall this was solid. mostly bc i have pretty specific taste in tropes (mutual pining jazzes the hell out of my jollies) and this worked for me.
Rating: really liked it
Regretting you ? nah. the only thing i’m regretting is reading this book 🙄
Rating: really liked it
❥ 3.5 / 5 stars[ UPDATE : 15 December 2019 - FULL REVIEW ]If you’ve seen my ratings of CoHo’s books before, you might already see that I’ve never gave her books lower than 4 stars. But..... why is this book different? Let me tell you.
First of all, a warning. Regretting You is teeming with dramas as always as her previous books (maybe a little bit more than the older ones, I guess) so if you want to add some drama to your life and in case you don’t mind being upset because of its story, just go for it. But if your life is already stressful enough, I suggest you pass it since it also actually gave me a headache.
Okay, I’m getting to the point now. The reason why I gave it only 3.5 stars is that there are a few things in the story that bothered me.
The first and most frustrating one is the character named ‘Clara’ or the daughter. I know she’s only a 16/17-year-old girl so being hot-tempered or childish sometimes is kinda understandable but I just can’t stand the way she thought of her mom. It seems like she had prejudice against her all the time. Whatever her mom did or said was always wrong to her. And it got me like ‘Can’t you just stop whining and listen to your mom?’ because it was really annoying.
Oh, and I don’t like her decision to do that action after finding out something that night, either. (if you know what I mean) That was the stupidest decision EVERRRR. If you to revenge someone, find some ways more creative!
Next is the plot. I don’t know what others think but it’s sort of repetitive and predictable to me that I can predict what would happen next in the story and when the supposed-to-be twists actually occurred, I didn’t even surprise. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by that because I truly want CoHo to prove my predictions wrong but unfortunately, she didn’t.
(Sometimes I think that maybe I was being under her desk while she was writing this. If not, maybe I read too many books. LOL)
Furthermore, some parts in the book were quite boring since nothing happened much. I think it could be shortened.
(No offense but I mostly mean Clara’s parts. I don’t want to know about her. Period.)
Next next next, this is not even important but...... WHY DIDN’T MORGAN READ THOSE LETTERS?!!!!!!!!
I waited and waited until the end of the book, keeping thinking when she would read them because I really wanted to know what it said inside and it turned out that BOOM! she didn’t read them and even worse, she teared them into pieces. WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!!! You made me so curious and then, you turned your back on me. THANKS.
However, although this is not one of the best of CoHo’s books, it’s still in the mediocre list when compared to other books and I still recommend it because even if there is something in the book that bothered you, trust me, you’d still enjoy it because of her writing that makes the book so addicting and unputdownable. Plus, it might help get you up from reading slump. (like me, for instance. I have to thank her for that.😂)
In short, it’s a not-that-great-but-absolutely-fun read.
P.S. Please tell me that I’m not the only one who laugh at this....
“He feels like a professor of my body, and I feel like an inexperienced student.”
Don’t know why though but it’s funny and kinda cringey to me.
Rating: really liked it
*Outstanding*
The simplicity and consistency of the storytelling is the strongest aspect of this book. With faultless pacing from the very first page, we meet characters who are in the midst of defining moments predicated on a single decision. When fate dealt its hands, that tapestry provides the backdrop for a story with much heartache, but also hope and growth and love.
The thing I most appreciate is how Hoover kept a distance, never manipulating the situation. To take a premise such as this without embellishments or distractions is nothing short of masterful storytelling.
This book is one that should be read without spoilers so I'm not even going there. Suffice to say it dealt with weighty issues which, considering the enormity, were handled with respect to both the characters and THE READER.
At the tail end, and as if she knew we needed a good laugh, Hoover throws us a bone with the mockumentary which was the perfect antidote to the many heartaches and tears we'd just experienced. Unexpectedly, I exited the lives of these characters with a sigh of joy instead of a heavy heart. Thank you!
Rating: really liked it
ive never given a CoHo book fewer than 5 stars and im sure as heck not gonna start now.
what really surprised me was how much i enjoyed the family aspect of this. i really love how CoHo portrays her romance, so i was worried the focus on the mother/daughter relationship would detract from that, but it doesnt!
if anything, focusing on two different romances is what bothered me (if i can even consider it bothersome - which i probably cant). i really appreciate both them. i actually wish she had written two separate books and given each pairing their own story, just so i could have that much extra time with them. but i understand how each character connects and i think the story does benefit from it.
so again, another wonderful book by the queen of romance and human connection.
↠ 4.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
Regretting You is a story that depicts family life. It introduces us to four characters Morgan, Chris, Jenny (Morgan's sister) and Jonah (Chris's) best friend. These four have spent every waking hour together as a group since graduating high school.
We are taken through their early relationships to the adults and people they have become.
Chris and Morgan are now married and have a teenage daughter, Clara who is 17. Jenny and Jonah are now the parents of a two month old baby boy.
You also get the story of Clara and the beginnings of her relationship with Miller.
From the beginning of the story, you get hints of what is happening with these four and find out that Jenny and Chris are having an affair and the baby that she has told everyone that is Jonah's is actually Chris's.
So there is a lot going on BUT instead of reading something adult I thought it read more like an intense immature teenage storyline.
Morgan was happy to blend in with the wallpaper. She was one of those people who didn't grow up and I thought her issues were down to not pursuing her life the way she wanted to. Clara said she "lacked passion" and she did but that was because she allowed that to happen. Morgan was a typical ostrich and buried her head in the ground when issues arose. Instead of being that person she wanted to be she continued to be "part of the wallpaper". I would have liked her character more if she had matured in this story. Instead, she became an adult version of the teenager.
I thought the plot needed expanding. I needed to understand and know more about Chris and Jenny's affair. Why? It had been going on for a long time. When did it start and how did it develop?
When Jonah and Morgan finds letters and cards written by Jenny to Chris, it was time to man up and read them and get some answers. Instead, she tore them up when realistically anyone in her position would want to read them especially being a scorned wife. Throughout the story, Morgan asks herself "why didn't she see it"? Good question because as a reader I would have liked to understand more about that also. Maybe those letters would have given her the answers, help with some closure and deal with the anger.
What about Jonah? Didn't he deserve more? Jenny was clearly pregnant with Chris's child when she slept with Jonah and her motivation was to pass the baby off as his. Too may weapon's being used in this story without a clear idea of motive.
Avoidance of facts was clear by all of these characters. Avoidance of the affair, avoidance of the child that was fathered and avoidance of living up to their real feelings. Immature in their actions and read like angsty 17-year-old teenagers instead of 30+ adults.
So this was a no from me. I needed more.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 Gave Me All The Feels, Emotional Stars! Simply put Colleen Hoover does it again.
This book about grief, love, friendship and family took me on such an emotional roller coaster. I loved the characters - CoHo has such a way of making her characters come to life. It feels as if you know them. I definitely felt that here.
There is a dual romance that worked really well within the story. You will find yourself invested in both these relationships and rooting for the characters to have a true shot at some well deserved happiness. The mother-daughter relationship represented really resonated with me and touched my heart.
Doesn't Hoover have a gift for thinking up the BEST leading men?! She knows how to make you fall for these fictional characters as if they were real. Both Jonah and Miles stole my heart. They now have a special space for themselves amongst my most beloved "book boyfriends". Trust me - you'll fall for them too. Just remember I claimed Jonah first! 🥰
So if I loved this book so much, why then the picky 4.5 rating you ask?! I don't want to give away any spoilers BUT there was one piece of the story that was left unanswered and this girl wanted in on the first hand knowledge - badly! I closed my kindle with a thud of aggression at NOT having the satisfaction I wanted. Why CoHO, Why? Your characters might have been fine with it but this reader wanted, no I needed, that closure! 😉 Still, I can't really hold it against you. You know just how to get to me and I'm here for whatever you decide to write next girl!
A HUGE thank you to Colleen Hoover, Montlake Romance and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an arc of this book!
Rating: really liked it
4.5 StarsWow, this story is incredible. I will admit, after discovering this book is YA (or at least has a POV from a sixteen year old character) I was trying to lower my expectations, because I haven’t been a huge fan of Colleen’s past YA books. But this book is exceptional.
I went into this book completely blindly, which I love to do with Colleen Hoover books because her stories are so surprising and she’s able to write so many plot twists into a contemporary story, it’s fascinating. So I recommend jumping into this book without knowing much, all you need to know is that it mainly centers on a mother/daughter relationship and that it will make you cry.
The only reason I hesitate to give this a full five stars is because I wasn’t super obsessed with the YA romance in this book, I never really am when it comes to YA romance for some reason so that’s probably just a me thing, but I was 100% here for the adult romance happening in this book. This book also really hit me emotionally and I cried a few times.
This book described grief in such a raw and honest real way it hurt my heart to read at times. I think Miller’s grandpa is my favorite character in the book, he’s just so awesome. (view spoiler)
[I love Jonah so much, he was so freaking swoon worthy and kind and selfless. I adored all the scenes with him and Elija, and I love the way he stepped up and patented him considering the circumstances. I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance between Clara and Miller, they were cute but forgettable. I do like though that she wants to be an actress and he wants to be a director, that’s cute! I kind of wish we found out more about Chris and Jenny and when it all began and how it happened - but I guess I can appreciate the real ness of never finding out about it like Morgan is never able to find out about it... but the curious part of me is dying to know!!! (hide spoiler)]HUGE thanks to Kristen Dwyer for sending me an ARC copy, I appreciate you!!!
Rating: really liked it
4.5 STARS
You get a little bit of everything.... A story full of emotion, both a mother's and a teenage daughter's POV, authentic characters and some sticky situations that may have you questioning their decisions, motives, and wondering how many more secrets are lingering in the past.This story was easy to fall into and I became invested in the mother/daughter journey which is full of life lessons, drama, regrets and trying to hold it all together.
At times I was shocked and teary-eyed. I was asking myself, "How would I handle this?" There are also moments of humor, holding my breath for the next chapter and hoping for the ending I wanted so badly!
I won't give anything away, but this one is beautifully done with the right amount of drama and a few shocking revelations! Get ready!
Thanks to the Publisher for my review copy. OUT on December 10, 2019
Rating: really liked it
*top 1 disappointing read of 2019*
This is so messed up.
Really messed up.
And I am seriously questioning myself why I enjoyed it.
I am happy about these in the book:
The writing style is amazing, fast paced and gripping.
The characters are realistic and well-developed.
The plot sucks but yes, it rightly tells that we do mess up our lives and we cannot decide who we fall in love with; some things are better left buried between families.
The thing with Colleen Hoover's books is that once you start reading it, you just cannot stop no matter what the story is, no matter how flawed the characters are, no matter how gross/cringy some scenes can get to and no matter how toxic the relationships are. I do love the sense of not being able to stop reading her books even though I get to seriously consider why I am reading such books.
The emotions hit hard in this one too.
The story is all about cheating and infidelity in the first place. No. No. No. Do not even try to convince me it's all about the emotional stuff between a mother and her teenage daughter. It's there but the teenage daughter is angry because of all the fking sht her parents and her aunt committed all their lives with all the cheating/infidelity and that too amongst the family. Yes, everything starts from there.
The plot:
Morgan is married to Chris after getting pregnant at 16-17 years of age. Clara is the daughter. Jenny is Morgan's sister, Clara's aunt. Jonah is Jenny's husband. Elizah is the newborn, Jenny's kid (actually Chris' child. Yes, sisters doing this to each other and their husbands being attracted to the sister of their wives. Wow!).
There's always a sexual tension between Morgan and Jonah whenever they are together. Chris and Jenny die in a car accident all of a sudden. Morgan and Jonah discover that they were cheating behind their backs. Jonah discovers Elizah is not his child. Morgan gets to know this as well.
Clara manipulates Miller (the guy she's in love with) to sleep with him (cringy dialogues and sex scenes alert!) when she comes to know of her mother's affair with Jonah. And that too around the time of funeral of both her dad and aunt.
The book sends a very wrong message trying to convince that whatever the heart desires is correct even if it hurts your husband, your sister, your kid and that even cheating/infidelity has its own good reasons. What the hell. Seriously?!
Regarding the main characters:
Of course, as a human being I understand the so called 'emotions' of knowing how your sister and husband has been cheating behind your back this whole time but hey, are you doing anything different? You hooked up with your dead sister's husband right after her funeral.
And Clara? The teenage daughter. Wow. You seriously know how to hurt a guy. Miller doesn't deserve you. Of course, every adult you are close to have been cheating and you are so lost. I get that. But you being disrespectful to your mom and your aunt's husband is something I don't like at all.
I won't lie I really enjoyed reading this book but I feel like I am loving something I must hate because it's so damaging and harmful to read about. Well, toxic to be precise.
I hate all the characters. I hate the plot behind. I hate the message the author is trying to convey through this book.
I just cannot like a book based solely on the writing style. I don't want to sympathize with characters and themes which are really morally disgraceful and harmful.
I will have to think a million times before picking up another of her books.
Maybe.
Rating: really liked it
I’m fighting some sort of cold/flu thing and my sleep patterns are all messed up, so I read
Regretting You in a few hours the other night and early into the morning. Nice to be crying when you can’t really breathe!!
Morgan was 17 when she gave birth to her daughter, Clara. She and her boyfriend Chris got married when they found out she was pregnant, and the course of her life was different than she imagined it would be. Although she wishes she would’ve been able to finish college and get a job, she doesn’t regret the years she spent taking care of her daughter.
Now, 16 years later, she wonders what’s next. Clara seems destined to follow in her footsteps in ways that make Morgan worry she’ll repeat her mistakes. It’s only when Chris gets involved that he can keep the peace between them, and try to keep Clara on the right path.
But when Chris is killed in an accident, it upends their lives in many ways, and Morgan isn’t really sure what to do now. Clara is testing her in every way and Morgan is trying desperately to protect her daughter from truths that might destroy her. Should Morgan sacrifice her relationship with her daughter to protect her, though?
As Clara falls madly in love with a boy that her parents thought was a bad influence, she is buffeted by feelings of anger, grief, and guilt. And Morgan finds herself turning to the one person she shouldn’t, but at 34, doesn’t she deserve a future, too?
"The day I found out I was pregnant, I stopped living life for myself. I think it's time I figure out who I was meant to become before I started living my life for everyone else."
Hoover once again delivers a story with rich character development, strong emotions, and situations that could happen to real people (even though you hope not). There aren’t a lot of surprises in the book but I couldn’t stop reading it, even as it kept getting later and later!
I don’t love it when the plot of a book turns on people’s assumptions and failures to communicate with one another—and boy, is that the case here so much—but Hoover gets you so wrapped up in these characters it doesn’t matter.
This is the fourth of her books I’ve read in the last few months. (I've also read
Verity, It Ends with Us , and
Ugly Love .) I’m thankful she’s written a bunch, because I am a huge fan!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.
You can follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh/.
