No Regrets by Claire Kent

No Regrets
by Claire Kent
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

My Review:
Told in first person POV, this novel starts out with the emotional pull straight away. I was near tears within the first few pages. It was such a heartbreaking start to a story. With that much emotion, I ended up reading small passages at a time because I wasn't prepared for that much intensity.

I wasn't sure how much I trusted the pull of Leslie and Josh. Or maybe I should say...there were so many large, emotional things happening in other areas of their lives, I felt overwhelmed and like maybe they were too fragile to know if they'd really work out. I didn't doubt that they felt connected, but I wasn't sure that their connection would last through non-dramatic times.

At the beginning of the book, Leslie's dog is being put to sleep. She's heartbroken and completely lost. She felt like she had no emotional connection outside her dog for years and years; although she does go out with work friends on occasion.

Josh is there for her, even though he's not really wanting emotional connections. They end up with a one-night stand that turns into casual sex, but they're both hiding their feelings in a rather obvious way.

This is an intense mix of emotional intensity and kinky sex. These two experiment a lot (i.e. give Leslie lots of experiences she's never had), but in a very raw, down-to-earth sort of way. They were fumbly and enthusiastic, which gave this story a different feeling than pure erotic romance. There was public-ish sex, anal sex, spankings and male dominance; but all of it was done with a hesitant, unpretentious manner. Although much of the sex communication was grunts and groans, there was a running dialog between the characters to make sure they were both enjoying their play.

In terms of no regrets, I didn't feel like Leslie did anything else with her life except taking the risk on casual sex. I liked her conclusions near the end of the book, but I felt like I didn't see other parts of her life becoming more confident or something. I'm not sure.

Josh was sweet and damaged. He was like this perfect guy to Leslie: treated her great, always seemed to have time for her, basically perfect. Except that he just wanted casual. He didn't ever call her. He took whatever she would give without really trying to give back to her or ask for anything himself. It was sad to see and it wasn't until the very end that he got over it. There was some allusion to a mental breakdown that he had before the story starts, but we don't really see if that affects him in a physical way besides not wanting to be in a relationship.

So here's what I felt: the conflict was only internal, there was never really a reason for these two not to be together, they were physical and real with a nice ending but wasn't sure they connected outside of using each other as a crutch. They were both physically attracted to the other and they ended up with believably happy feelings, but for most of the book I wasn't convinced they could stick it out. I had an uncomfortable feeling that without Leslie's despair,

They both had something to take from the other. Josh pampered Leslie and showered her with attention when they were together. It brought her out of her own head and gave her something to focus on. Leslie was such a nurturing person, Josh was able to get the caring he needed while still convincing himself that it was all casual. They used each other and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

This novel felt raw and gritty, real and poignant. There's no way to read it without having your heart strings tugged. I was left feeling happy that they worked out but still sad for all of their pain. It's one of those novels that you can only read when you're ok with discomfort and heartbreak.

I received a complementary ARC from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.