Looking through the list of Kindle Unlimited books to find a good digital read this week, I came across Regretting You by Colleen Hoover. It’s a much different pace from her thrillers I’ve read before (check out my reviews of Verity and Layla) and its screen adaptation comes out later this week, so it was the perfect pick for this week’s Thursday book review.

Usually (from what I’ve read) Hoover delivers twisty, toxic, psychological thrillers with a dash of horror added in. This one, however, was a dramatic romance following the two narratives of the main characters – Morgan, a teen mom whose daughter is now a teen herself, and the daughter, Clara. When tragedy strikes in their home, all chaos breaks loose for the two of them. Morgan grapples with uncovering unthinkable betrayals from the two people she loved most in the world (her husband and little sister), while Clara struggles with the angst of teenage girlhood amidst family tragedy, juxtaposed with a whirlwind high school romance.

The only real complaint I have with this one is the name – by the end of the book, no one really seems to be regretting anyone, so it doesn’t feel like the clearest title. I also have one small, lighthearted complaint – the characters’ shared hatred for the color orange continuously comes up, and they REALLY throw shade on the color orange, and that just so happens to be my favorite color since I was nine. I laughed reading the line about “who would paint a wall orange” because that’s actually the color of my childhood bedroom at my parents’ house, and it still is to this day. Every time they insulted the color orange, I looked down at my sparkly orange nails and thought, “they’re wrong.”

Clara’s relationship with Miller brought me back to my high school days reading John Green books and hating how none of the boys I knew back then really fit the stereotypes found in those stories. For any younger readers of my blog who might be into those stories and feeling the same frustration, let me just be honest – you’ll find better guys like that in college. I did, and now he runs my website for me (and we’ll have been married for four years next month).

I would’ve liked to see more of how Morgan’s story played out. By the end of the book, it really focuses more on Clara, and I would’ve liked a stronger happy ending for Morgan as well. At least it’s implied, but I would’ve liked to read it more from her perspective – it would’ve given better closure in my opinion.

Romances and family dramas aren’t my usual choice to read, but ultimately I did like this one and I think I’ll try to go see the movie in theaters. Clara is played by McKenna Grace (who’s also a legend in the horror genre for The Haunting of Hill House and The Conjuring series), so it’ll be interesting to see her in a role more like this one. As always, I recommend reading the book before seeing the movie, so if you’re interested, you should grab a copy of Regretting You from my link!