Welcome to my stop on the Regret Me Not Blog Tour hosted by Gabby @ What's Beyond Forks?. Click here to follow along with the tour schedule.
Title: Regret Me Not
Author: Danielle Sibarium
Publication date: June 17th 2014
Genre: New Adult Contemporary Romance/A Touch Inspirational
Source: Review copy
For Mackenzie Green life is full of regrets; regrets from choices she made in the past, regrets for the things she'll never see in her future. She regrets letting her grades slip while her sister was in rehab, ensuring she'll never break away from the rumor-run, small town she lives in. She regrets breaking up with her future All American football playing boyfriend, Brayden Turner out of fear of getting hurt. Most of all she regrets every decision she made leading up to the night that changed her life forever.
It's only after Brayden cuts her off completely that Mackenzie realizes how much she wants him in her life. She learns that losing what you love breaks you, but sometimes it's the only way to tap into your inner strength.
Can Mackenzie find the courage to learn from her mistakes and move forward or will she spend her days consumed with regrets? Is it too late to convince Brayden she wants him in her life and that she's in it for the long haul? Most of all, can she accept that sometimes bad things happen no matter how hard you try to protect yourself from them? Can she put it all behind her or will she live an unfulfilled life full of regrets?
Regret Me Not took me by surprise with its emotional depth. I shared Kenzie's laughter right along with her tears. The story was beautiful and moving with a full range of emotions. I wasn't expecting to be taken on this journey but am so glad I was.
From the start I could tell Brayden was a genuinely good guy and cringed at the various ways Kenzie came up with to push him away. I wanted her to trust him almost as badly as he wanted her to do so. There aren't too many guys like Brayden out there, as Kenzie's sister found out the hard way, which made it even more difficult to stand by and watch this push and pull go on between them.
I didn't like Brayden's parents at all. To be fair, from their perspective it looks like all Kenzie does is cause their son pain. While I wasn't too fond of Kenzie's parents, I eventually grew to understand why they made the mistakes they did and began to warm up to them. They did a grave injustice to Kenzie by basically ignoring her through all of her older sister's problems. I'd be as hurt and angry as Kenzie if I had parents who treated me like I was nonexistent.
There were moments when my heart felt like it was beating right out of my chest - moments where I didn't know what was going to happen between Brayden and Kenzie and all I could do was hope for the best. I quickly became invested in this couple. While I didn't agree with some of the things Kenzie did, I can understand why she did them. They were easy characters to like and root for, flaws and all.
While Regret Me Not surprised me overall, the ending surprised me almost even more so. I didn't see it coming at all and thought it was realistic - I like endings that aren't tied up neatly with a bow. If you're looking for a novel that's easy to get into and a story full of emotional depth, I recommend this book.
My Rating:
Danielle Sibarium, YA and NA author, grew up in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout her childhood she transported herself into a fantasy world full of magic and wonder. Books were the gateway between her play world and reality. On any given summer afternoon she became Snow White sweeping and cooking for the dwarfs or Cinderella waiting for the prince.
In 2004, Danielle won Honorable Mention in the Southern Heat contest. In 2007, she collaborated with Charlotte Doreen Small to write songs for her CD More. Danielle wrote the lyrics for "Take My Hand" and "Goodbye", while Charlotte contributed the melody.
Danielle graduated from Farleigh Dickinson University with honors and currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and three children.
In October 2011, Danielle's debut novel For Always was released. She has since released The Heart Waves Trilogy, Heart Waves, Breaking Waves, and Waves of Love, as well as To My Hero: A Blog of Our Journey Together, Into You, and Regret Me Not.
Regret me Not sounds like a beautiful and heartfelt story, Jennifer! I added it to my TBR, of course. Your review is great, you truly made me want to read this story very soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting the giveaway :) I hope you're having a fantastic week.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
Thanks so much , Lexxie! That's the greatest compliment I could receive. Have a great week, and I hope everything's going well for you! :)
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