Review: They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours

They Call Her Regret

by Channelle Desamours

Release Date: February 17, 2026

2026 Wednesday Books

Ebook ARC & Audiobook; 320 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250337702

ASIN: B0F5PCNFMP

Audiobook: B0F7J3C8PF

Genre: Fiction / YA / Horror

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

2 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Every year horror-loving Simone Washington throws an epic Halloween party for her classmates. Party-planning is her favorite escape from the dark secrets in her past, and this year, she’s taking things up a notch with an invitation-only event to celebrate her eighteenth birthday—something that will leave the halls of Pinegrove Academy flooded with gossip about the big ghoulish bash. The overnight stay at Doll’s Head Lake will be filled with spooky pranks and scary stories told by the fire—including the legend of a local witch named Regret.

But those dark secrets from Simone’s past are forced to the surface at the party when her best friend Kira dies under questionable circumstances. The witch appears and offers Simone a deal: if Simone can figure out how to release Regret from the curse trapping her at the lake within fourteen days, all of Simone’s regrets will be erased. If Simone accepts, Kira’s life will be immediately restored. But if she fails, Kira will die again—and Simone will be the one to kill her.

 

My Thoughts

They Call Her Regret is one of those books that took me two tries to get through as I tried reading it, failed, then the publisher sent me an audiobook and I finally finished it that way. But I will admit to tuning out section of the book because the story was sort of slow at times and I was cringing a lot at the portrayal of mental health in this book. I really should have DNF it at that point.  

 

Simone is the MC and I didn't empathize with her at all.  And let me be clear, I don't have to like a character, but I do need to understand them and their motives, but I didn't like Simone, nor did I connect with her on any level. She tries to come off as so cool as she is the 'great' organizer of these amazing Halloween events every year and everyone waits in anticipation of what she will create every year.  To me, she came across as condescending, mean to most of her friends, and someone who was quite selfish and thought her trauma was so much worse than anyone else's. She was quite dismissive of anyone else's feelings and honestly, any time I thought the author was coming close to a revelation for Simone, she pulled back and Simone went back to just being plain awful and all about me. One of her actions at the beginning of the novel just set me right off from her character and I totally disliked how she treated her friends Kira and Cory. I was actually glad when Kira behaved the way she did and hoped for more from her as the story went on, but I was disappointed in that as well as Kira came across as wimpy and the author didn't bother developing her character in any way.  Simone was so judgmental and critical of everyone, but honestly, I wish the author had her do a little more introspection on her own behaviours and actions as that would have been nice to see. 

 

And Cory? His character bothered me to no end as he seemed to be created to validate Simone's behaviours and didn't have an original thought in his body or brain. Puppy? Even when we learn more about him towards the end, it didn't quite match what was happening in the story so I felt somewhat disappointed. 

 

So, let me explain. The plot was actually somewhat interesting in the beginning and I liked the atmosphere of the teens partying in a remote cabin celebrating Halloween.  This is the kind of thing I like so I was prepared for all sorts of shenanigans.  But Simone's choice left a bad taste in my mouth as it was all as it was all about her being a victim. Hell, no. She was so convinced that her friends needed her to make decisions for them about who to date, who to be around that she was so condescending in her comments and in her behaviours.  The author tried to throw in some twists and turns, and they would have worked better if Simone wasn't so bloody awful. I did think things were turning around when I learned the reason behind Simone's broken relationship with her mom, but it was ruined yet again by the way mental health was treated in this book.  Mental health is NOT EVIL!!!!  I am going to leave that here and you can judge for yourself when you read the book, but it turned me right off as I was prepared to give this book three stars at this point.  

 

Verdict

They Call Her Regret did have a cool atmosphere and I did really like the concept of Regret, but I was not a fan of how the concept was portrayed through Simone's character.  The actual writing style was fine, even if the plot was uneven and there were a lot of good things in this book, such as the twist in the end. Unfortunately, there was little build up or tension in this book for a horror novel, nor was there really a feeling of dread about what would happen should Simone fail at her task. Or perhaps I stopped caring. Hard to tell. As always, check it out and see for yourself.