**Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Crooked Lane Books for the ALC of this title!**

Available tomorrow, September 5th, 2023!!

As an audiobook, I really enjoyed this!! I don’t think I would have loved it as much if I had read a physical copy. With Regrets is all about catty suburban mama drama…… while the apocalypse carries on outside.

When a convoluted group of men and women come together for a dinner party and become trapped inside when the mysterious “glimmer” makes the outside air toxic - shit hits the fan pretty quickly.

I enjoyed the super dramatic stories from the group but really wanted more from the plot. There was almost a “slow burn” to the apocalypse aspects that I wish had been more front and center.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and narrator and would definitely check out more from them in the future!

Imagine attending a dinner party where you're not crazy about your host or any of her guests. Now imagine being forced to weather an apocalyptic event alongside them while you're separated from your family.

Buckle up! Lee Kelly takes readers on a wild ride in this action-packed story told through the eyes of four women--each facing her own challenges. Despite the imminent threat and its inherent danger, Kelly infuses this novel with humor and heart. I loved watching these characters develop and change under pressure.

Given recent climate issues, the "glimmer" feels a lot more real and possible than one might want to admit, reminding me of the way Emily St. John Mandel explored pandemic themes in her novels well before COVID.

I listened to the audiobook (thanks to NetGalley) and voice actor Gail Shalan does a stellar job of sustaining suspense as she expertly shifts voices to distinguish characters, keeping listeners hanging on every word.

I look forward to Lee Kelly's next novel!

A thrilling ride where the focus was on how outside disasters can affect the way people behave and who they view as a priority. With a majority of unlikeable characters this was a fun ride. The audio was pretty good but I wish each character had more of a distinct voice as they blended together at times. I listened to this at an increased speed and the voice didn’t distort.

It begins with a dinner party....

Britta Harris-Che is an Instagram posting lifestyle guru (#Brittasays), will not let anything get in her way of capturing the moment and posting it online. Not even a "red alert" concerning "the glimmer" that is spreading and killing anyone it touches. She is hosting a dinner party at her home and doing her best to impress her not so happy to be at the dinner party guests. When the red alerts go off, the guests try to leave but find that they must take refuge in Britta's wine cellar. They fear for their children's safety as they have been left with babysitters, they fear for their own safety, and they have secrets. Everyone is desperate, everyone wants to survive, everyone is annoyed and annoying, and Britta keeps filming.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. It was interesting watching the characters and wondering what I would do if something horrible happened and I was trapped and not able to get back home. This book, while entertaining, was also an interesting character study. With everything on the line, what do you do to survive. How do you treat others in the same situation? How does a traumatic, unimaginable event change you?

Although I enjoyed how the characters in this book related to each other and how their secrets came out, I wanted more of the glimmer. For a book in the horror category/genre, I was expecting something scary or more horrific. But perhaps the true horror is in the characters themselves, their secrets, and what drives them.

This was an interesting book that didn't quite thrill me, but I enjoyed how the author showed the plight of the characters and how "the glimmer" affected them individually. I also enjoyed how the author showed the importance social media plays in peoples lives, how being seen as being on top of things, affects one's self esteem.

Excited about the premise, but I feel like this doesn't work well in audiobook. Mixed media books are always hard to follow when listening and that the narrator really went out of her way to use a different style and voice for everything possible made this quite the difficult listen.

4.5 rounded to 5

I received this audio book via Netgalley to review! It's a long one so hang in there...

This is a dystopian, suspense novel about a mysterious invasion that takes place during a dinner party. All of the adults at the party have children at home that they can't get back to because if you go outside, you die. The invasion has blocked all cell communication, leaving everyone in the dark.

The opening of this story, when listened to, is quite jarring as it's composed of emails and news alerts. Very hard to follow when you're not looking at it but probably a great visual when reading. Shout out to the Poconos, though! Love seeing my region mentioned as a vacation destination, it's always a bit hilarious.

Britta is incredibly insufferable but the character arc is worth hanging on for. None of the characters seem like great people, but the point is that everyone has their demons. The story was especially suspenseful as a listener with a small child.

My thoughts on the narration: Gail Shalan does a good job in differentiating characters. No notes, honestly. 5/5 stars for her narration.

Thank you to NetGalley, Lee Kelly, Dreamscape Media & Crooked Lane Books for an audio ARC of With Regrets in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be produced (except for quoted synopsis).

"When recent NYC-transplant Liz Brinkley and her husband are invited to an exclusive soiree by their neighbor, “lifestyle guru” Britta Harris-Che, Liz’s immediate thought is hell no. Britta is insufferable, and Liz is wary to leave her young children with a barely-teenage babysitter. And yet she RSVPs anyway, trying to extend an olive branch to her withdrawing husband, who seems desperate to get in with the cliquey elite.

They’ve barely made it through their first round of champagne when a “red alert” comes through their phones: strange atmospheric masses, reported to look like “glimmering clouds,” have been spreading through major U.S. cities and killing anyone they touch. Authorities have one clear directive: Find shelter. Immediately.
A collective panic seizes the dinner party; all the guests have children at home. In the mad dash to their cars, they see it: a shimmering net floating over the town. The street is littered with wrecked cars and dead bodies. Leaving now is not an option. Instead, the group launches into survival mode, grabbing supplies to take shelter in the hosts’ wine cellar.

As tensions and suspicions among the party guests near a boiling point, Liz becomes increasingly willing to do whatever it takes to get back to her children, but she soon realizes there may be others in the cellar even more desperate than she is..."

I have to admit that I enjoyed this story more than I anticipated I would. It was a solid 4-star listen for me.

It reminded me of Stephen King's The Mist meets Bird Box meets The Happening - all rolled into a locked room/pandemic-like lockdown.

There was just enough tension & resolution between all of the characters to make it interesting & not repetitive or over-the-top. Just go ahead & not put too much thought into the male characters. They're all idiots & completely unimportant. The female characters is where it's at! They are not all friends going in, but the common thread of being mothers who would do anything for their children reigns supreme in this suspenseful thriller & to help their children, they're going to have to work together.

This was a fun & different read & I definitely recommend giving it a shot!

With Regrets by Lee Kelly
Narrated by Gail Shalan

In the almost two years that NYC-transplant Liz Brinkley and her family have lived in their ritzy suburb home, she has done a lousy job of assimilating and that fact is ruining her marriage. Now her husband has sort of tricked/forced her into attending an exclusive soiree by their neighbor, “lifestyle guru” Britta Harris-Che, and Liz is mad! Also attending are a few other couples of some sort of use to Britta although Liz is pretty sure she has been invited just to fill in the gaps of those who declined invitations.

Liz is fuming because Britta and Liz's husband wrangled a preteen babysitter without Liz finding out until the very last minute. The little soiree has other simmering and flat out in the open feuds brewing among various attendees. So many tangled and mysterious secrets among the men and women and once the liquor starts flowing it's unlikely that the secrets will stay secrets.

Then disaster hits! Not some little disaster but real apocalyptic disaster. Glimmering Clouds have descended on other countries, shutting down any communication from them. Deaths in the millions are announced and it's not long until the clouds are floating over the town. Mass destruction ensues with the group (at least those that hadn't attempted to escape and been felled) taking refuge in Britta's extremely well stocked and nicely appointed wine cellar. If a person ever needed to have a place to sit out an apocalypse, Britta's wine cellar is the place to do it.

Except...Liz's children are at home with the preteen baby sitter, a precocious girl if there ever was one, but still a girl that isn't even twelve years old. No way Liz is going to let this disaster happen around her while she is separated from her children. But with so many people in such a small space wanting things to be handled "their" way and with so many people still hiding secrets when the secrets just might not matter anymore now that the world could be ending, Liz is up against more roadblocks than just an apocalypse.

I usually stay away from horror but I enjoyed this story. The crazy influencer Britta, who can never ever turn off her influencer brain, is trying to record everything for her social media. Surely this will send her to new heights once all this mess is over. The inner thoughts of the women and all the snark in one small space was funny in a sick sort of way. Then there was the fantastic narration. Children are so important to the story even if they aren't seen much and the narrator does children very well. I also got a chuckle every time I'd hear one of the women talking while wearing their (sort of stolen) gas masks. Last but not least, I cannot believe I started the story disliking every adult (except the chef, I really liked the chef) and ended up changing my mind about many of the adults by the end of the story. But that is what an apocalypse can do to people, I guess, make them more likeable if they live to learn some life lessons.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC.

Wealthy suburban couples come together at a dinner party at a McMansion in their neighborhood. The hostess of the party is a popular influencer. The cast of characters includes an uptight, anxiety-ridden woman, the best friend, the town gossip, and the outspoken, pushy husband, just to name a few. Doesn't that sound like fun? During dinner, phones start beeping, warning the guests to take cover. And where do they hunker down? The wine cellar, of course. I enjoyed this book, and the narration was very well done.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the free audio book in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Gail Shalan who does a great job narrating!

Overall, I had a hard time with this one as I did not like any of the characters, well, actually loathed most of them, and found the apocalyptic "glimmer" to be too underdeveloped and unbelievable. I did find it funny that none of the friends/couples that were invited over to a social media influencers' home for the party particularly like the hosting couple but attended out of obligation or seeing it as a social climbing event.

Half way through I was ready to strangle Brita with her hashtagging obnoxiousness. As to the glimmer, I think that fell flat to its detriment. I thought there were too many scenes, characters, and subplots going on.

It was hard to keep everything straight and I really was not that invested to want to either. Good premise but execution could have been better.

I was a dystopian/post apocalyptic reader before most of you were out of diapers, so I jumped at the chance to review With Regrets. I was not disappointed.

Imagine you throw a VERY expensive, very elaborate dinner party on the night the apocalypse begins. And no one can leave the house because of the deadly, unknown thing happening outside. And nerves, and marriages, were already fraying before the party began.

This one is shades of War of the Worlds meets Lian Moriarty. I could see Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman at this party. Lee Kelly did a great job making the characters pop off the page, and I'll place my bet With Regrets will be heading to Hulu or Max in the near future.

Overall an excellent way to spend the day and narrator Gail Shalan gets credit for much of that. Very well done audio presentation.