Blog Tour and Giveaway: Regret Me Not by Danielle Sibarium

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’s 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?

I am sitting here three days after reading Regret Me Not and I am still torn about how I feel about this book.  There things that I really liked about the book, and then there are things that almost made me put the book down and walk away. 

Let’s start with what I liked.  I liked how Brayden took the time to get to know Kenzie and worked his way so that he was in her life and that she could go to him when she needed him.  He was there during a very stressful time in her life and didn’t turn his back when so many others would have left without a second thought.  Brayden was more than just the typical football quarterback, he is a good guy with true love for Kenzie, and even when again he should have turned his back on her for what she pulled. 

Kenzie, lord I have a like hate relationship with her.  I will admit 90% of the book I couldn’t stand her, and her reasoning behind a lot of her actions in my mind were utter bullshit, but she had a dose of reality when she saw that sometimes what you think is best is in fact the worst thing you could do.  Once she saw that Brayden loved her and would forgive her for one massive mistake on her part I think she finally believed that he did love her like he said.

There is something that tore my heart out and absolutely had tears in my eyes, so have tissues ready because even with me not overly loving this book, I cried and unless you don’t have a heart you will too.

Now let me move to what I hated about the book.  Okay hate is a harsh word, let’s go with strongly disliked.  Kenzie’s selfishness that only her feelings counted and that she knew what Brayden would do when they were apart.  She was so stubborn and then when she finally got her wish, she was upset because he moved on.  Now who he moved on with pissed me off so I was pissed at Brayden for a while too.  Her attitude at times just grated on my nerves.  She never took into consideration what Brayden wanted, which was her, she judged her sister who needed her love and support more than her cold shoulder.

Overall, this book is one that shows that sometimes the grass is not greener on the other side, that you never really know what you have until it’s gone.  It is also a book that shows the healing of a relationship, loss, and true tests of a relationship when the unthinkable happens.  And while I am on the fence about this book (I personally think it’s just me), it really is a good, emotional, angsty read that will piss you off, make you cry and finally make you smile.  

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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.

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Review: Hopeless by Colleen Hoover

Choices.

Lies.

Secrets.

Our lives are made up of choices. The choices we make. The choices others make. Then come the lies and the secrets about those choices. All of these things conspire to shape our lives whether we want them to or not.

The choices made by Sky, Holder and her mom change Sky’s life forever. The lies and the secrets they keep about those choices will shatter her.

Sky is 17 years old and she’s been homeschooled her entire life. She finally talks her mom into letting her go to public school for her senior year. It’s that decision that changes her life forever. She meets Dean Holder. Resident bad boy. Only he’s not the bad boy everyone makes him out to be. He’s just…..misunderstood.

Dean Holder is feels he’s hopeless. He’s let two people down in his life and he’s scared to death he’s going to let someone else down. So, he holds himself back. Only he can’t hold himself back from Sky. She speaks to him in a way no one else has. He’s connected to her. She’s connected to him.

Sky and Holder’s relationship took me back to high school. With all the horrors and joys that only adolescence can bring. The horrors of the cruelty of high school kids. The joys of that first kiss, first touch, first date. It took me back to sneaking off to find a place to make-out, and finally ending up making out in the front seat of a car. And then there’s the emotional angst of boyfriends. Men are so moody when they’re teenagers, all those hormones!

I made the mistake of starting this book in the late afternoon. I say this was a mistake because I couldn’t stop reading until I finished it…at 3:00 AM!!!! I was riveted. I had to know what lies and secrets Holder was keeping from Sky. When I finally found them ALL out, I was shocked! But the biggest shock wasn’t Holder’s lie and secret. It was another one. One that left me speechless. And the person who held that lie and that secret made it all that much worse.

I felt the rage and despair that Sky felt. Then when all the lies and secrets were out there, I felt Holder’s as well. What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger. So they say.

Add Hopeless to your GoodReads list.