Regrets Only by Kieran Scott

Read this if you enjoyed Big Little Lies, Desperate Housewives, murder mysteries

Paige Lancaster, single mom and prodigal daughter, has returned to the East Coast from her prestigious, well-paid job in Los Angeles, writing for the smartest detective series on television. Something terrible happened to her back in Hollywood. Okay, two terrible things, one featuring a misplaced tire iron—and now she’s broke, homeless, and living with her widowed mother and eight-year-old daughter, Izzy, in her Connecticut hometown.

Paige needs to buckle down and find a new writing gig but first, she meets the movers and shakers of Izzy’s school’s Parent Booster Association, run by the intimidatingly gorgeous Ainsley Anderson, who just happens to be married to Paige’s old high school flame, John.

Then she shows up at the annual Parents and Pinot fundraiser, held at Ainsley and John’s dazzling mansion in the toniest part of town, where she’s caught in a compromising position with John, accidentally destroys the guest bathroom, overhears an incriminating conversation, and discovers that her purse has gone missing. And later that night, Ainsley turns up dead at the bottom of her own driveway.

Did she fall? Or was she pushed?

Paige may have only written about detectives, but she is convinced she can handle a little undercover sleuthing. After all, it’ll give her an excuse to spend more time with John. Still, she can’t help but wonder: could he be capable of murder? Or could one of the PBA members have planned a dastardly crime to reach the top? But the most important question of all: will Paige ever get her life back on track?

Out on January 10

Regrets Only by Kieran Scott is a twisty whodunit set in a wealthy suburb filled with cut-throat PTA moms and equally suspicious spouses. Paige moves back to her East Coast hometown after an unfortunate incident in LA involving a tire iron. She immediately reconnect with her high school boyfriend John only to discover that his wife is the formidable PTA President, Ainsley. She and her clique are admired and feared by many but when someone from their inner circle is murdered, the list of suspects is impressive and the secrets that are uncovered are jaw dropping. This is a fast paced, deliciously gossipy novel that will keep you entertained from beginning to end.

I absolutely devoured this book! It was a fun, easy world to escape into that was filled with wealthy suburban moms, gossip fueled PTA meetings and old high school crushes.

Paige Lancaster moves back home to live with her mom and daughter in Connecticut after losing her job as a screenwriter in Hollywood. While searching for a new writing gig, Paige meets the other moms in the neighborhood and quickly learns the catty dynamics of the local PTA. One night, Paige attends a PTA fundraiser at the house of the PTA president (who is now married to Paige's ex from high school). The next day, the PTA president is murdered and her high school ex is the number one suspect. Paige inserts herself into the investigation and the drama continues to unfold from there.

I didn't guess the "whodunit" for this story which is always a plus! This book is being marketed as "a new novel in vein with Big Little Lies" and that honestly feels accurate to me. It's scheduled to publish on January 10, 2023. I highly recommend pre-ordering this one for yourself or requesting it in advance from your local library.

This was a very entertaining domestic thriller. Rich housewives in a PTA like situation with lots of secrets and lies!

We meet Paige who has moved home Connecticut from California after an incident at work that caused her to lose her job writing a popular TV police show. She and Izzay, her daughter, are currently living with her mother. She's in her 40's and starting over is the last thing she wanted, but here she is.

Paige encounters the women of the PBA - not PTA, PBA - Parent Booster Association. And the PBA accepts nothing short of 100% enrollment, which they quickly put Paige on notice about. The main members are the PBA President, Ainsley, along with Lanie, Bee and Dayna. Ainsley's husband, John, is Paige’s high school boyfriend, and Ainsley is not happy she has returned. The other three are unsure about Paige as well.

The morning after a big PBA party at her home, Ainsley turns up dead. Was it an accident or murder? And now the mystery starts. Everyone appears to be a suspect and it was entertaining to watch them all squirm. And now you'll need to read it to find out what happened to Ainsley.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I had high expectations going in. This sounded like a great thriller with suburban drama. It definitely had all of that with some twists and mystery. However, there were a lot of characters to keep track of that all felt similar. I still recommend this book, but be sure to pay close attention to the various characters so you don’t lose track between the multiple viewpoints.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and Kieran Scott for the advanced copy of Regrets Only in exchange for my honest review.

This book is exactly what I needed to get out of the reading rut I've been in lately. Drama, alternating POVs, and a bunch of petty characters with secrets galore. If you were a fan of Big Little Lies, I can almost guarantee you will enjoy this book just as much!

Whenever I thought I had a certain mystery figured out, I was never actually right, which is an element I will always appreciate in books.

This was admittedly my first read by Scott, but I can't wait to read her debut novel Wish You Were Gone after enjoying this one so thoroughly!

Regrets Only will be on US bookshelves January 10!

After Paige has a meltdown during work in L.A., she packs up her young daughter and heads home to Connecticut where the town is pretty and the women are perfect. When she's late to pick up her daughter from school one day, she runs into three perfect women - Lanie, Dayna, and Bee - who try to take her into joining the PBA. She also runs into her ex-boyfriend (soulmate) John and realizes it can't get much worse. Against her better judgment, Paige agrees to join the PBA. Unfortunately, it gets worse. At a PBA meeting, she is introduced to the Queen of the PBA, Ainsley, and comes to find out, Ainsley is also John's wife. Things get even crazier when Ainsley ends up dead and the local Hot Cop asks Paige to be his informant. The PBA women begin to turn on one another and the secrets from this perfect small town begin to unravel.

A solid 4 stars. That's what I kept thinking when I read this book. The writing was good and the suspense was good but I knew that I had read this same story before. It seems to be the storyline in quite a few books, to be honest. I continued to enjoy it but felt like the conversation between the women was jumpy and forced at times. However, I didn't regret reading it in the end so... 4 stars.

Paige Lancaster was a writer for a successful Detective series in L.A., but after getting passed up for a promotion that should have been hers-and losing her temper as a result-she now finds herself broke, homeless, and back to living with her widowed Mom, with her eight year old daughter, Izzy, in the town she grew up in.

Her daughter Izzy’s first couple of days at school don’t go very well. Paige is late for pick-up-struggles to parallel park her car since she hasn’t done so since 11th grade-runs into her high school boyfriend John (awkward) and has all of this witnessed by the perfectly put together mothers who run the Parent Booster Association for the elementary school-participation 💯 %.

These women were probably your typical mean girls, now all grown up with prestigious husbands, money and nothing better to do but plan elaborate fund raisers for the school and blackmail each other!

But, when the President of the PBA, John’s wife Ainsley, gets murdered-suspicion is cast on Paige-because she and John were caught alone, at the annual Parents and Pinot 🍷Party.

Having written for a cop show for years, Paige knows how this goes-They look at the husband first…but if he gets cleared…his former lover is scrutinized next…

Maybe, Paige can use what she has learned from writing for the Detective show to do some undercover sleuthing of her own, and get closer to the Hot Cop, Dominic Ramos, in the process?

Although I didn’t enjoy this book as much as her last “Wish You Were Gone” it did keep me entertained.

I was expecting (and would have enjoyed) MORE “sleuthing” and less “mama drama” but if you like stories with plenty of dirty laundry-this one is for you!

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up!

Available January 10, 2023

Thank You to Gallery Books for the gifted ARC, provided through NetGalley! It was my pleasure to offer a candid review!

Fun book about mommies who back stab to get powerful positions in the local parents’ organization. Wealthy housewives with nothing to do but spend money and outdo each other get caught in scandals as one of their group members dies suddenly. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

Loved this book! Fans of Big Littles Lies and Desperate Housewives, this book is for you! A fast paced novel, that I read in about two settings. This book is told in 3 POVS: Single mom Paige down on her luck, competitive mother of 3 Layne with an absent husband, and asocial Nina. The book centers around the queen bee Ainsley, who meets an untimely demise, and investigates who kills her. As the investigation continues, we find out that this small town is full of buried secrets. I thought this was a great, captivating read! This was my first reading experience with this author, and I can't wait to read more.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Regrets Only" and all opinions expressed are my own. I just need this book to end already. I found it hard to like the characters and storyline. This book just wasn't for me. Slow moving story.

Bored housewives, bratty kids.....suburban Connecticut. It's all nice and quiet until the PBA president winds up dead.

Paige has moved from California after an 'incident' and is currently living with her mother. Besides her daughter, she's pretty sure that life is just about over. She's quickly pulled into the drama of suburban mom's and the who's who of the town drama. It's very Big Little Lies.

This isn't going to break any new ground in terms of drama but this will help speed the winter along with some fun drama. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book in advance of its release.

This is your typical domestic thriller loaded with rich, bored housewives, their fading husbands, their bratty kids - classic, and enjoyable! There isn’t anything brilliant about this, but it was an entertaining read.

Paige is our protagonist. She moved to Connecticut from California after “an incident”, and she and her daughter Izzy are now living with her mother. She’s coming up on middle-age, she’s pretty much starting fresh, and aside from her daughter, she isn’t feeling like there’s much more to life.

Along comes Ainsley, President of the PBA (no, not PTA, this is the Parent’s Booster Association, and nothing less than 100% involvement is acceptable). She and her lackeys - Lanie, Bee and Dayna - run the school and the town. Ainsley is married to John, Paige’s high school boyfriend, and isn’t happy that Paige is back in town. The other ladies aren’t so sure about Paige either…

One night after a booster party, Ainsley is found dead. Did she fall, or was she murdered? If it was the latter, which of the people with a grudge could it be? This turns into a classic whodunnit, with a lot of neighborhood drama, as the book goes through finding out how Ainsley died.

As I mentioned, this wasn’t brilliant, but it was definitely engaging and slightly humorous. It wasn’t deep, the characters were clichés, and the whole situation was pretty implausible. However, I liked it despite these things - I don’t think this was supposed to be deep, it was just supposed to be good. And it was! Four stars for being an enjoyable book that kept me entertained the whole way through.

(Thank you to Gallery Books, Kieran Scott, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on January 10, 2023.)

Regrets Only is a fast-paced, entertaining thriller that will make you never, ever want to join a parent booster group in a wealthy suburb. Some of the characters were a little flat until closer to the end of the book, but the incredibly intense "competitive mom" vibe that most of them bore was extremely realistic. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book!

Paige Lancaster is a single mom who leaves her LA career under questionable circumstances to return to her hometown and move in with her mother. She is in for a rude awakening when she goes to pick up her 8 year old daughter Izzy from school and meets the other mothers who run the schools’s Parent’s Booster Association. Paige is intimidated and a bit in awe of these women, especially Ainsley Anderson who not only heads up the prestigious PBA, but also happens to be married to Paige’s old boyfriend John. She feels pressed to join the association and finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation after attending a fundraiser at the Anderson’s home that leads to a death of the host Ainsley. Was it a fall or was Ainsley pushed? Everywhere she turns, there seems to be motives and guilt..(including herself) This was a fast paced novel which was extremely entertaining and had a lot of surprising twists. I gave this book 4 stars.

Regrets Only is a snarky read great for moms. It was well-written with fun characters, unfortunately I couldn't relate to them.
Thanks Gallery and NetGalley for the digital review copy.

Thank you Netgalley & Gallery books for an eARC of Regrets Only by Kieran Scott. I absolutely loved Wish You Were Gone by this author, and was thrilled to get my hands on this book before pub day!

In this book, single mom Paige returns to the neighborhood after something terrible happened to her in Hollywood, leaving her broke and homeless. She’s now living with her mother and eight-year-old daughter and finds herself sucked in to the drama of the suburban moms at her daughter’s new school. Of course, the head of the Parent Booster Association, Ainsley, is married to Paige’s old high school flame, John. Paige finds herself going undercover to investigate the secrets of the parent-school association moms (and dads) after one individual is found dead. Murder, adultery, embezzlement…what will she find?


This book is compared to Big Little Lies, and I have to say it lived up to those vibes for me! I absolutely love suspenseful drama stories about suburban moms with seemingly perfect lives. I enjoyed each point-of-view that the author provides and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next - These moms are crazy…This one had me on the edge of my seat, but also laughing at times - what a balance.

What a fantastic mystery! I really wasn’t sure what had happened until it was revealed.

Well worth the read here. I’ll be excited to get my own copy once it’s published in January!

Regrets Only was such an incredibly entertaining book! A mystery set in the suburbs, where the most important parts of the day are gossiping at school pickup and attending Parent Booster Association meetings for the school. The story is told in multiple perspectives: Paige, who has recently returned to her hometown after leaving LA in disgrace; Lanie, soon to be PBA President and second in command to the queen bee of the town; and Nina, the outsider who thinks she has proof of shady dealings in the PBA. After an event held at one of the biggest homes in home, current PBA President Ainsley falls to her death, and far too many people have a motive for her murder.

There was a ton happening in this book, which kept my interest and kept me flipping to the next page. I loved Paige’s character and how she didn’t attempt to change herself to fit in with the other moms at the school. She was by far the most real character here, surrounded by people with plenty to hide. There were surprising reveals into the backgrounds of the main characters, and a twist when we finally learn what happened that night and what led up to it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

While I love dramas about suburban moms, I could not get into this one. The main characters all blended into each other and I couldn't put together the interest for them. Their development happened too slowly and I found myself not really wanting to pick it up.