Regretting You is Colleen Hoover’s 2019 contemporary novel about Morgan Grant and her teenage daughter Clara, whose already strained relationship shatters when Morgan’s husband Chris and her sister Jenny die together in a car crash and a hidden affair comes to light. Its key lessons concern honesty, grief, forgiveness and second chances, and it suits readers who want an emotional family drama with romance and dual perspectives. This summary explains the story, main themes, key lessons and honest reading value.
The book is best for readers who like family drama mixed with romance. It is worth reading if you enjoy mother-daughter tension, grief, first love and hidden truth. It may not work for you if you want a light romance or a plot with calm people making neat choices.
Quick Book Details
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Title | Regretting You |
| Author | Colleen Hoover |
| Published | First published December 10, 2019 |
| Genre | Contemporary romance, family drama |
| Standalone Status | Standalone novel |
| Main Topic | Grief, secrets, love and mother-daughter conflict |
| Best For | Readers of emotional family stories |
| Main Message | Truth hurts, but silence can hurt more |
| Kindle Length | 363 pages |
Regretting You is a 2019 contemporary novel by Colleen Hoover that blends romance with family drama. Colleen Hoover’s official page describes it as a story about family, first love, grief and betrayal. It also notes that Morgan and Clara are a mother and daughter who want nothing more than to be unlike each other.
The novel is a standalone contemporary romance. It was first published on December 10, 2019. Goodreads lists the Kindle edition at 363 pages.
What Is Regretting You About?
Regretting You is about a mother and daughter who love each other but cannot talk well. Morgan wants to protect Clara. Clara wants freedom and trust.
Morgan became a mother and married young, putting her own dreams on hold, and is determined to prevent Clara from repeating her mistakes. Because of that, she fears Clara will make the same choices.
Clara sees her mother as too strict. She thinks Morgan does not understand her. That gap grows wider after a family death.
Chris, Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father, is described as the family anchor. The main story begins after Chris dies in a car crash, and Jenny, Morgan’s sister, dies in the same crash. Soon, Morgan learns that Chris and Jenny had been having a secret long-term affair.
That secret changes everything. Morgan tries to protect Clara from the truth. But silence only makes their pain worse.
Regretting You Book Summary
The story starts in the past. A prologue is set about seventeen years before the main story, when Morgan is a pregnant teenager. She is sixteen and pregnant by her boyfriend, Chris Grant.
In the prologue, Morgan confides in Jonah, Chris’s best friend and the boyfriend of Morgan’s sister Jenny. Jonah secretly has feelings for Morgan, but she commits to Chris, and they marry and raise their daughter, Clara.
Seventeen years later, Morgan is a wife and mother. Clara is sixteen. Their bond is tense. Morgan wants order. Clara wants space.
Chris seems like the calm center of the family. He keeps peace between Morgan and Clara. Then he dies in a crash with Jenny.
At first, the crash feels like a tragic loss. Then Morgan discovers that Chris and Jenny had been having a secret long-term affair. Jenny and Jonah had reunited and have an infant son named Elijah. Jonah later learns that Elijah, the baby he believed was his son, was fathered by Chris.
Morgan is crushed. Jonah is hurt too. Morgan keeps the truth from Clara to protect her daughter’s memory of her father. But Clara feels shut out. She is grieving and angry.
Clara also carries her own secret guilt, believing that a text she sent to Jenny may have contributed to the crash. At the same time, she grows close to Miller Adams, a classmate who shares her interest in filmmaking.
Morgan does not trust Miller at first. Clara sees this as control. Their fights grow sharper.
Morgan and Jonah also grow close again. They share grief, shock and old feelings. Clara sees this and interprets it as a betrayal of her father.
The story builds around secrets. Morgan hides the truth to spare Clara. Clara acts out because she feels lied to. Both think they are right.
In the end, the truth about Chris and Jenny comes out. It hurts. But it also clears the fog. The epilogue offers a hopeful close that shows where the characters land after the truth comes out, rather than a dramatic fairy-tale resolution.
Morgan and Clara do not fix all pain at once. But they begin to hear each other. That is the real heart of the book.
Main Characters and Points of View
The novel is told through two alternating first-person narrators, Morgan and Clara. This dual structure lets readers see both sides of every conflict, which is central to how the story works.
Morgan Grant is Clara’s mother. She became a mother and married young, putting her own dreams on hold. She is determined to prevent Clara from repeating her mistakes.
Clara Grant is Morgan’s sixteen-year-old daughter. She wants freedom and trust, and she chafes against her mother’s control. She becomes involved with Miller Adams, a classmate who shares her dream of making films.
Chris Grant is Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father, described as the family anchor. He and Jenny die together in a car crash.
Jenny is Morgan’s sister. She dies in the same crash as Chris. She and Jonah have an infant son named Elijah.
Jonah is Chris’s best friend and Jenny’s partner. He secretly had feelings for Morgan in the prologue, and after the crash, he and Morgan grow closer as they share grief. He learns that Elijah was fathered by Chris.
Miller Adams is Clara’s classmate and love interest. He shares her interest in filmmaking.
Key Themes and Lessons
Communication and Honesty
The central conflict is driven by Morgan and Clara’s inability to be honest with each other, more than by the tragedy itself. The story shows how love and good intentions can still lead to conflict when people fail to communicate honestly. Morgan hides the affair to protect Clara, but the silence does real harm. Clara fills the gaps with fear and anger.
Regret and Second Chances
The novel explores regret, forgiveness, second chances and rebuilding trust after everything familiar has fallen apart. Morgan’s regret comes from choices she made young, and the affair forces her to reconsider the life she built.
Grief and Betrayal
Chris and Jenny’s deaths bring grief. Their affair brings betrayal. That mix is hard. Morgan and Clara are not just mourning loss. They are also trying to understand lies.
Mother and Daughter Conflict
The main relationship is the fight between love and control. Morgan and Clara love each other but do not know how to speak with care. Their bond feels real because both are hurt. Neither one is fully right. Neither one is fully wrong.
First Love
Clara and Miller’s story adds young love to the book. Their bond is softer than the adult pain around them. It also shows why Clara wants her own choices.
Lost Dreams
Morgan gave up a lot when she became a mother young. She loves Clara, but she also lost parts of herself. This theme gives the book more weight.
Best Ideas from the Book
Love can look like control. Morgan wants to protect Clara, but Clara feels trapped. Love can turn into control when fear takes over.
A parent can be hurt too. Clara sees Morgan as the problem for much of the story. But Morgan is also grieving. This reminds readers that parents can be lost, lonely and wrong.
Secrets do not stay still. The secret about Chris and Jenny keeps spreading pain. It affects Morgan, Jonah, Clara and Elijah.
People can be both loving and flawed. Chris is not shown as one simple thing. He was loved by Clara. He also betrayed Morgan. That mix is painful, and it is why the story feels messy in a real way.
Healing starts with hard talk. The repair between Morgan and Clara starts when the truth comes out. They do not need perfect words. They need honest ones.
Regretting You Review: Is It Worth Reading?
Regretting You is worth reading if you like emotional family drama with romance on both sides. The best part is the dual view: Morgan and Clara both get space through alternating first-person narration. You may be angry at one, then understand her later.
The weak part, in this reading, is the drama level. Some choices may feel too neat or too timed for impact. Some readers may also feel the secrets last too long. This evaluation is interpretation, not a settled fact.
Goodreads lists the book at 4.09 average from over one million ratings, and it was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Readers’ Favorite Romance in 2020. These figures reflect user opinion on a reader platform and change over time.
Still, the book is easy to read. It has strong feeling, clear stakes and a real mother-daughter core. That is where it works best.
Content Warnings and Reader Fit
Common Sense Media rates the book as suitable for ages 16 and up and notes it contains sex and drinking. This is one reviewer’s assessment, not an official rating.
The book deals directly with grief after death, family betrayal and a secret affair. If those themes feel heavy to you right now, this may not be the right time to read it.
Who Should Read Regretting You?
Regretting You is a good fit for readers who like family stories with romance mixed in. It works well if you enjoy grief, secrets and strained bonds.
You may also like it if you want a Colleen Hoover book that is more about family pain than one main romance.
This book may fit you if you like:
- Mother-daughter stories.
- Family secrets.
- Sad romance.
- First love.
- Grief and healing.
- Colleen Hoover books.
- Fast emotional reads.
- Stories with two points of view.
Who Might Not Like This Book?
You may not like Regretting You if you want a light romance. The book has romance, but grief and family pain drive most of it.
You may also dislike it if you do not like teen drama. Clara makes rash choices. Morgan also makes mistakes. That is part of the story.
This book may not fit you if you avoid:
- Family betrayal.
- Parent and teen fights.
- Grief after death.
- Secret affairs.
- Messy choices.
- Fast emotional turns.
- Romance during grief.
Regretting You vs Similar Colleen Hoover Books
| Book | Best For | Main Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Regretting You | Family drama with romance | Standalone novel centered on a mother and daughter |
| Ugly Love | Intense adult romance | A separate Colleen Hoover title with a different central couple |
| It Ends with Us | Social issue romance | A separate Colleen Hoover title with a different central focus |
| November 9 | Twist-heavy romance | A separate Colleen Hoover title built around one date each year |
| Reminders of Him | Redemption and motherhood | A separate Colleen Hoover title focused on guilt and second chances |
For a closer look at one of these titles, see this summary of Ugly Love.
If you care most about the mother-daughter bond, Regretting You is the clear pick among these titles, because that relationship is its center. If you want one main couple at the center, the other Colleen Hoover titles above are built around a single romance rather than a family.
How to Apply the Lessons from Regretting You
- Tell the truth with care. A hard truth can hurt, but hidden truth can hurt for longer.
- Do not parent only from fear. Fear can make love feel like control. Trust matters too.
- Let teens speak. Clara needs rules, but she also needs to feel heard.
- Do not bury your own dreams. Morgan’s story shows what happens when you stop seeing yourself.
- Give grief room. People act strange when they grieve. That does not excuse harm, but it helps explain it.
- Ask what the other person knows. Many fights come from missing facts. Morgan and Clara both suffer from this.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Regretting You About?
Regretting You is about Morgan Grant and her daughter Clara. After a tragic crash reveals family secrets, they must face grief, anger, love and truth.
Is Regretting You Worth Reading?
Yes, Regretting You is worth reading if you like emotional family drama. It may not fit you if you want a light romance or a calm plot.
What Are the Main Lessons from Regretting You?
The main lessons are about truth, grief, trust and family repair. The book shows that silence can hurt more than hard truth.
Is Regretting You Better Than Ugly Love?
Regretting You is better if you want mother-daughter drama with romance. Ugly Love is better if you want a more intense adult romance. The two books serve different reader preferences.
Why Do Some Readers Dislike Regretting You?
Some readers dislike Regretting You because the drama feels heavy. Others feel Clara and Morgan both make rash choices for too long. These are reader opinions, not settled judgments.
Final Verdict: Should You Read It?
Regretting You works best as a family story. The romance matters, but the mother-daughter bond matters more.
The book gives both Morgan and Clara room to be wrong, which feels real. People in grief do not always act well. The main issue, in this reading, is that some drama feels pushed, and a few moments may feel too neat. But the heart of the story still works.
If you want a fast, sad and clear story about grief and repair, this summary gives you the map. The full book is still worth reading for the deeper feeling.
