Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing... or does she???

 

Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing
Allison Winn Scotch
Lake Union Publishing
August 1, 2020
Fiction

"Let's break out a map. Not the old out-of-date one that shows where we've been, but a crisp new one that shows where we might go. Let's embark on a new journey together, and see where it takes us." Leslie Knope

Cleo McDougal has a list of regrets that spans 20 years. Most of these regrets are innocuous, however, some are not, they are barnburners. For a Senator considering running for President, this is a dangerous list. What happens if it gets out? This mad dash novel is exactly what you end up with — more regrets and fortunately some bridges being rebuilt.

This book isn’t about that curse word —Politics, even though people might assume it is, and to a point, they might be right. The overall message of the book is the rendering of what happens to a strong woman who doesn’t show weakness when she runs right into the slammed door of said regrets- her childhood best friend posts an Op-Ed about her that is less than stellar or lovingly reminiscent. Cleo has to decide whether she faces Marianne or leave all the regrets in the past.

The big lesson from this book is that to grow, you have to face the fears, and more than likely set the world on fire to rise stronger from the ashes... even when you don't know you need to burn it all down.

There are a few places in the book that I got tired of the victimhood view of Cleo, or the bashing of a man in power just because she feels slighted by a decision of the senate leader based on the fallouts of one of the actions she takes to correct one of her regrets. This 30 something woman acts as if she is back in high school, not an accomplished member of one of the highest seats in the government.
Do women have to work harder to have mistakes accepted or overlooked, maybe, however, that isn't my experience, but I am sure it is other women's experiences. I just don't love man-bashing, especially when in the case of the book's circumstance it isn't based on whether she is a woman or not, but that her situation would take away from the point of the trip...

Overall, Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing is a good read filled with some fun and a whole lot of learning to become a better person. Regrets are strange bedfellows and to keep from letting them eat you up, you need to learn to love them or leave them.

3.5 Stars for a good read