Reviews

The opening of this book had me thinking, “Wait, what? Why the gun? Whose kid? Which mom? What was going on?” It had me hooked from the start! Then you get into what has gone on in the last few weeks to lead up to this event. You get to know the women and men of the town, particularly the women of the PBA, the leader of the PBA, Ainsley, and the newcomer to town, Paige. From there, you realize that there is a lot more to the PBA, and to each of the women, than what is typical. And when one of the members of the town turns up dead, everyone is a suspect.

This book was filled with drama. It was very well-written and keeps you guessing throughout. Reminds me a lot of Big Little Lies. This is the first book from this author that I’ve read, but I will definitely read more. Highly recommend!

beautynbks's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was a decent enough to pass the time at work.

ahomelibrary's review

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Book Review — “Regrets Only: A Novel” by Kieran Scott (2023) published by @gallerybooks

Categories — Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Mom-Daughter/Parenting, Domestic Drama, Crime, Contemporary

Currently has a 3.64 rating average and a little over 1,000 reviews on Goodreads. It’s been compared to the hit “Big Little Lies.”

Quick Summary — A single mom, Paige, in loses her job and moves back home to the East Coast. She enrolls her grade school daughter in a local school with an extravagant Parent Booster Association led by a group of rich, beautiful, and “mean girl esque” clique. The leader, Ainsley, is the most beautiful and rich, plus she is the wife of Paige’s ex boyfriend. After a party at her mansion, Ainsley is found deceased… possibly murdered.

Paige works with local police to infiltrate the PBA to see if their antics could reveal things like bribery, fraud, adultery, and now murder.

My Thoughts ⤵️

I don’t know anything about Big
Little Lies, so I’m approaching it without comparison.

TLDR — 3.5 stars. Really interesting premise. I only knocked off stars for the ending which I felt took away from the believability and didn’t really fit with the rest of the story.

Anyway, here’s what I liked:

☘️ Interesting premise of Parent Booster Association drama + crimes

☘️ Quick paced when it mattered, made it easy to finish in a few hours

☘️ I didn’t anticipate the ending, and while I thought it detracted from the realistic story, I still liked not really knowing who did the crimes

☘️ Unlikable but realistic characters, again, I know some readers don’t like this, but I did. Paige makes horrible decisions I disagree with entirely; one POV character is a paranoid anxious wreck. I love that, it really makes it more engaging and realistic to me when characters represent a spectrum of traits and aren’t just perfect omniscient Mary Sues

tatterededges's review

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2.0

Too many tedious descriptions of what people wore.
Everybody in the book was described as hot/good looking/handsome… well except for plain Jane the super-brain but she was married to a really hot guy who was in a band so you know…
These people have the mentality of toddlers yet somehow are all rich and successful and manage to hold down jobs and navigate life, even though they can’t manage a single conversation without throwing something or self harming.
I’m supposed to believe that the main mean girl was running a gambling ring complete with a goon squad, racketeering and money laundering, to the point that most of the town was in hoc to her and nobody was talking about it?