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Regretting You

Regretting You

Risk everything regret nothing
Women's FictionRomance
Pages
363
Published
2019
Language
English

Synopsis

Morgan Grant has spent sixteen years constructing a life she can be proud of, built around her daughter Clara, her marriage, and the obligations she accepted when she became pregnant at sixteen. When a sudden tragedy disrupts everything she believed was stable, Morgan must rebuild her understanding of her marriage, her past, and her relationship with her daughter — while Clara, processing her own grief simultaneously, begins falling for a boy Morgan disapproves of. Told in alternating point-of-view chapters between mother and daughter, Regretting You examines how well we actually know the people closest to us and whether grief and disillusionment are survivable when they arrive at the same time. A Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

EmotionalReflectiveSad
Multiple POVsBetrayalSecond Chance

Genres

Women's Fiction Romance Contemporary Romance Literary Fiction Drama Young Adult

About the author

C
Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover was born on December 11, 1979, in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and grew up in nearby Saltillo. She earned a degree in social work from Texas A&M University–Commerce in 2004 and worked in social work, latterly as a counselor for the federal WIC nutrition program. She began her first novel, Slammed, on a borrowed laptop in 2011, originally intending it as a Christmas gift for her mother, and self-published it in 2012; its word-of-mouth success led to a publishing deal with Atria Books....

Characters

Morgan GrantProtagonist

A mother rebuilding her understanding of her marriage and daughter after a sudden tragedy.

Clara GrantProtagonist

Morgan's headstrong sixteen-year-old daughter, chafing against her mother's rules.

Jonah SullivanSupporting

Jenny's boyfriend and Chris's best friend since high school; he and Morgan investigate the crash together and grow close in its aftermath.

Miller AdamsSupporting

A classmate who has quietly had feelings for Clara for years; their relationship gives her an escape from the tension and grief at home.

Chris GrantSupporting

Morgan's husband and Clara's father; his death in a car accident, and the affair it uncovers, sets the novel in motion.

All characters in Regretting You

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Regretting You written from multiple perspectives?

    Yes — the novel alternates between Morgan (the mother, in her thirties) and Clara (her teenage daughter). Each chapter is clearly labeled. The dual-POV structure is central to the novel's argument: the same events read very differently depending on where you are standing in the family.

  • What tragedy sets the plot in motion?

    A sudden death in the family early in the novel disrupts everything Morgan believed was stable about her life, including her marriage. The nature of the loss is not a mystery — it happens at the novel's opening — but the revelations it triggers about Morgan's marriage unfold gradually.

  • Who are the romances in Regretting You between?

    There are two. Clara falls for Miller Adams, a classmate who shares her love of film, while Morgan grows closer to Jonah Sullivan, her late sister's partner and her husband's best friend. The two storylines develop in parallel and intersect through the family's shared grief.

  • Is Regretting You a standalone novel?

    Yes — complete in one volume with no sequel and no shared characters with other Hoover novels.

  • Did Regretting You reach any bestseller lists?

    Yes — it was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Published in December 2019, it continued Hoover's pattern of strong commercial performance with each new standalone release.

  • What makes the mother-daughter dynamic in Regretting You distinctive?

    The dual POV prevents the reader from comfortably aligning with either Morgan or Clara. Each character is sympathetic in her own chapters and frustrating in the other's. The novel uses this structural tension to argue that family understanding is harder than family love.

  • What content warnings apply to Regretting You?

    The novel involves sudden loss, grief, and revelations about a marriage that reframe the family's history. It contains elements of emotional abuse and betrayal within a long-term relationship. The loss itself occurs early and without warning.

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