YVO’S SHORTIES #145 – Let’s Pretend This Never Happened & Regretting You

Time for another round of Yvo’s Shorties! This time around two completely different genres, but both books I’ve been looking forward to… I’ve been meaning to read Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson for years now, as I loved her humor in Furiously Happy, but sadly this first memoir didn’t have that same spark for me. Regretting You by Colleen Hoover was without doubt a great read though, although not my absolute favorite of hers.

Title: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened
Author: Jenny Lawson
Genre: Non Fiction, Memoir, Humor
First published: April 12th 2012
Publisher: HarperCollins
Finished reading: January 15th 2020
Pages: 328

“Everyone else there had a sophisticated palate. I had one that needed therapy, and possibly an intervention.”

I had so much fun when I read Furiously Happy back in 2016, and I’m still not sure why it took me this long to pick up Jenny Lawson‘s first memoir… I’ve been meaning to read Let’s Pretend This Never Happened for years now, and although I’m glad I finally did, a part of me was a bit disappointed by what I found. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad read, but somehow that spark of Furiously Happy wasn’t really there for me. The snarky, blunt and sometimes sarcastic humor is still there, and I can’t deny laughing out loud more than once. But other parts felt like the author was simply trying to hard to be funny and quirky. And when the supposedly funny bits are starting to feel forced it really takes away from the reading experience. Some chapters worked better for me than others, and I didn’t always like how she talked about sometimes heavy topics… It’s one thing to not take yourself seriously and make fun of yourself, but certain comments/chapters could be insulting to some. The photos are a nice touch though! All in all, while it wasn’t a bad read, it by no means lived up to my reading experience with Furiously Happy. Might it just be that it is because raccoon Rory doesn’t appear in this first memoir? Or was it the different focus in Let’s Pretend This Never Happened? Who knows, but I’m going to stick with Rory for sure.

Title: Regretting You
Author: Colleen Hoover
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: December 10th 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Finished reading: January 20th 2020
Pages: 365

“I feel like the contents of my life have shattered, and fragments of me have spilled out all over someone’s dusty hardwood floor.”

I’ve been excited to read this one as, while I seem to have a love/hate relationship with her books, I did enjoy her most recent books without exception. Regretting You uses a dual POV, switching between Morgan and her daughter Clara, to tell us their story in the aftermath of a terrible accident. Morgan found herself pregnant with Clara at seventeen and doesn’t want her now sixteen year old daughter make the same mistakes… This is soon put in perspective as their lives seemed to crash after the accident. Secrets come to light, grief makes them different persons and both struggle to see and understand the truth behind the situation. I have to say that the whole cheating angle REALLY bothered me, and especially how both Morgan and Johah were treated. Absolutely despicable! My aversion is a personal reaction though and while it made me enjoy the story considerably less, I do think it was described well. I was truly disappointed by certain behavior of certain characters though… And I can’t say I was that much of a fan of either Morgan or Clara. That said, I absolutely adored Miller and I quite liked Jonah too despite a few disappointments. It was interesting to see the different relationships evolve over time and see the plot develop and reveal its secrets and twists… And surprise: I didn’t even mind the sexy scenes! In short: while Regretting You isn’t my absolute favorite CoHo book and there were a few things that bothered me (including the whole cheating angle and certain behavior of certain characters), I can’t deny it was still an excellent read and I had a great time reading it overall.