REVIEW: "Regretting You" by Colleen Hoover
Moving through a stage of teenage rebellion, it would seem, is a rite of passage.
That being said, I'm not sure I ever really rebelled.
A rule-follower to the core, I once went as far as to write a letter to a substitute teacher, apologizing for the misbehavior of my classmates.
I’m not entirely sure why I never elected to rebel. I mean, I’m sure the promise of a consequence dissuaded me a bit. But, even absent that, I doubt I would have done anything profoundly rule breaking.
Because, to be quite honest, I never really had to urge to rebel.
Thinking back on it as an older, wiser, achier adult I wonder if, perhaps, I never rebelled because I never had a reason to.
Despite being the notably overweight, fatherless daughter of a single mother, my youth was almost entirely rosey.
By in large, everything was happy.
I was popular — in my own crowd of weirdos, of course.
I was talented.
I was smart.
I was funny.
Generally, people liked me, and I liked life.
So, really, I had no reason to act out.
No reason to shout at my mom or miss my curfew or smoke a joint or steal some beers or shoplift lip gloss.
This makes me wonder if, had I had some instigating event, I would have rebelled.
I’m leaning towards yes.
But that’s probably because I just finished Regretting You, the newest novel by Colleen Hoover, which features dual protagonists — one of whom is a teen who does just that.
*Disclaimer*
Before I provide a summary of this novel, I just want to provide a suggestion — one that will probably strike you as quite odd, TBH. I've talked before on here, I believe, about how I really try to avoid reading a synopsis prior to reading a novel. I avoid the jacket copy, the amazon summary, the Goodreads info, the Netgalley description… really, anything that could result in me developing expectations.
In an ideal world, I like to enter a book with zero preconceived notions.
I like to let it unfold before me, a beautiful mystery waiting to be discovered.
This is particularly true with Colleen Hoover books
I don't want to have any idea what is going to happen, because discovering it, organically, really is half the fun.
That said, I would really recommend that, have you not read this book yet, you stop reading here.
You don't even have to skip to the end of this review. It gets 4 out of 5 cocktails and while not entirely flawless, is definitely a satisfying read.
If you have read this book, however — or if you don't share my particular penchant for blind reading — then read on. But be prepared for a plot summary and then mild spoilers — in the event of a major spoiler, I will spoiler alert, of course, because I'm not a fucking monster.
*End of Disclaimer*
As this novel opens, we are introduced to a quartet of teens — who, surprisingly, have relatively normal names… not something you expect when dealing with CoHo.
A soon-to-be high school senior, 17-year-old Morgan is heading off to a late summer grad party with her boyfriend, Chris. Tagging along is her sister, Jenny, and Jenny’s boyfriend, Jonah.
Though she initially expects the night to be one of frivolities, it becomes anything but. While in transit to the party, she realizes she’s forgotten something. Specifically, she’d forgotten that she was supposed to have her period weeks prior.
Suddenly distracted by the fact that she might be gestating a baby, she finds partying next to impossible.
And, when an unwitting Chris gets drunk and encourages her to do the same, she finds herself feeling trapped — trapped in this party, trapped in this life. Thankfully Jonah, who shares her calm, quiet, reflective demeanor, gets her through what is an unavoidably fraught night.
Flash forward seventeen years.
Though she can still remember that night so long ago in vivid detail, Morgan, now the mother of 16-year-old Clara and long-time wife to Chris, doesn’t regret anything.
She’s happy with her simple, relaxing life. And as mismatched as they may have seemed initially, she and Chris have enjoyed a surprisingly happy union.
To make matters even more perfect, Jonah has recently moved back to town and is preparing to marry Jenny, with whom he shares an infant.
But then, as things have a way of doing, everything changes.
On what started out as a normal day, Morgan gets a call that will forever change her life. Chris has been involved in an accident.
A bad one.
But this accident, and the discoveries that come after, won’t just irrevocably alter Morgan’s life. They will also understandably impact Clara.
Having grown up in a sheltered, ostensibly happy family, Clara has little experience with heartache.
But she’s about to get a crash course — no pun intended.
Though this should be a time they lean on each other for support, the aftermath of the crash pushes Morgan and Clara apart, forcing mother and daughter to re-evaluate their relationship, renegotiate their familial roles, and reimagine their futures.
Though I am 6 novels into my Colleen Hoover exploration, I have yet to find one that didn’t make me cry.
And this novel was no exception.
When I say that, please note that I am not, generally, a crier. ASPCA commercials don’t leave me watery-eyed — even when backed with a rendition of “Arms of An Angel”. Hallmark movies garner an eye roll. Even my toddler approaching me with crocodile tears generally leaves me largely unmoved.
I mean, okay, I cry at the end of “Rudy” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus”… but I’m a fucking human.
Anyways, for some reason, no matter how different they are from novel to novel, the worlds Colleen Hoover builds and the people she populates them with never fail to bring me to tears — even when I’m stone-cold sober.
As I have come to expect from this author, the characters in this novel were exceptionally robust. Almost without exception* they were round and dynamic and believable.
They were the type of people you would want to be friends with.
The type of people you root for.
The type of people you cry for.
* My astrix brings me to my first critique of this novel. The one exception to the your-characters-are-so-fucking-amazing-let-me-put-them-in-my-pocket-and-keep-them-forever rules was Lexie, Clara’s best friend.
This character was… meh.
I mean, sure, she had a personality and interests and wants. But, really, they all felt a bit manufactured.
It is possible that, placed in any other novel, this character would have felt more than adequate. That the only reason I am deeming her wanting is that she paled in comparison to the other characters, who were all incredibly strong. But, whatever the reason, I wanted just a bit more from her.
My only other point of contention is the beginning — which is… weird for me, because I’m usually bitching about the ending.
Unlike what I am used to from CoHo, this one got off to a bit of a lurchy start.
For the first 50 pages or so it really lacked the CoHo razzle-dazzle <jazz hands>. It just didn’t have that enigmatic element that just makes a book unputdownable.
I was so surprised by this that I started to mentally draft some Trumpian conspiracy theories in my head: Maybe she didn’t actually write this. Maybe she was tired. Maybe she lost her mojo — where the fuck is her mojo?!? Someone get CoHo her mojo, stat!!!
But then, like magic, it was back. That subtle charm that allows you to sink into the novel the same way I cuddled into the flannel PJ pants and tattered Sixteen Candles t-shirt I wore for the bulk of my time reading this novel.
But after this wonky beginning — once I got sucked into it — I was fully fucking in it.
Completely absorbed.
Absolutely engaged.
Unbelievably invested.
Until the very last word.
Though not her strongest work to date, in my opinion, this novel was engaging and delightful and inarguably worth a sport on your TBR.
It earns 4 out of 5 cocktails.
How rebellious were you as a teen? Tell me about what you did — or didn’t — do in the comments, below.
Next up — another upcoming release that I can’t wait to devour. Want to see what I’m reading now? Follow me on Goodreads, and subscribe to my updates in the sidebar.
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