A review by ahomelibrary
Regrets Only by Kieran Scott

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