Winter Reading Challenge 2018: She Regrets Nothing by Andrea Dunlop (Chrissy’s review)

 

She Regrets Nothing
written by Andrea Dunlop
published by Washington Square Press, 2018

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Target, Walmart, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Did I enjoy this book? It wasn’t bad. I did stay up past my bedtime to finish it because I wanted to see how it finally ended.

Here’s the thing, I didn’t feel like this was Laila’s story as the blurb would suggest. She was a main character, but not the sole focus. I thought Laila was an ungrateful brat. I don’t know where she got her entitled attitude, but it really turned me off. I didn’t like her at all. In the beginning, I thought Laila’s story was going to go in a slightly different direction, then I thought it was going to end very differently than it did. Her twin cousins were there, but they were throwaway characters. I didn’t think they added much to the story except a place to stay in New York City for Laila.

The star of the story for me was Liberty. I loved Liberty. I thought she was sweet, kind, and hard-working. Her family life was something we learned a bit about, but I wanted to know more. She had a past that affected her in a big way. We kind of learned what happened, but it was almost glossed over. I wanted this story to be hers. I also would have liked to know more about the Lawrence family and the big secret. I kept waiting for more. I’d love to say what I would have liked, but I don’t want to give away the story.

 

Would I recommend it? If I would be asked about it, yes, I would recommend it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do so.

 

About the book – from Goodreads: In the tradition of The Emperor’s Children and The House of Mirth, the forgotten granddaughter of one of New York’s wealthiest men is reunited with her family just as she comes of age—and once she’s had a glimpse of their glittering world, she refuses to let it go without a fight.

When Laila Lawrence becomes an orphan at twenty-three, the sudden loss unexpectedly introduces her to three glamorous cousins from New York who show up unannounced at her mother’s funeral. The three siblings are scions of the wealthy family from which Laila’s father had been estranged long before his own untimely demise ten years before.

Two years later, Laila has left behind her quiet life in Grosse Point, Michigan to move to New York City, landing her smack in the middle of her cousins’ decadent world. As the truth about why Laila’s parents became estranged from the family patriarch becomes clear, Laila grows ever more resolved to claim what’s rightfully hers. Caught between longing for the love of her family and her relentless pursuit of the lifestyle she feels she was unfairly denied, Laila finds herself reawakening a long dead family scandal—not to mention setting off several new ones—as she becomes further enmeshed in the lives and love affairs of her cousins. But will Laila ever, truly, belong in their world? Sly and sexy, She Regrets Nothing is a sharply observed and utterly seductive tale about family, fortune, and fate—and the dark side of wealth.

 

 

* This post contains affiliate links.

** This post first appeared on Every Free Chance Books (everyfreechance.com) on February 22, 2018.