They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours

e-ALC, 09:28:57
Narrated by: Kristolyn Lloyd
Release Date: February 17, 2026
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: February 10-11, 2026
Stand-alone 
Source: Libro FM (I received this ALC free from the publisher and Libro FM. This did nothing to influence my review!)
Content Warning: Death, Grief, Child Death, Murder, Alcoholism, Car Accident, Drug Use
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Bombshell/Cliffhanger Ending, Paranormal, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, YA, Witches, Mystery, Horror

     In this young adult speculative mystery, a teen must find a way to free a cursed witch in order to save her best friend before time runs out.
     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*

I gotta say, this was one of my most anticipated reads of the Winter and now that I’ve finally read it, I can truthfully say I was so right! This was SO MUCH FUN. This had everythign I needed to make this a me book and now I firmly stand on that decision.

Ok so the main thing I loved was the mystery. It’s been a long time since I read a book with a mystery that involved the entire town. For whatever reason I loved that. They actively had to go around and get clues from places. Nothing came easy to them and I loved that. (It sounds mean, but my pet peeve is clues falling out of the sky and just being easily found.) And they got to meet all these different characters as well. It felt like there was a real urban legend and they were looking for what to do about it. It reminded me a little of that Supernatural episode, Hell House. And I didn’t guess the whodunit until it was super close to the end. So yeah, that definitely made me happy as well.

I guess this brings me to the next thing. Regret’s lore and the way she came about was heart breaking but sooooo good. And the deals she makes? Ruthless. But also, the people who make them? RUTHLESS. And as it turns out, messy af too lol The more they found out about her the more I felt bad. I want a whole book based off her even though we get the whole story in this one. I want to see what happened from her POV.

The pacing of this was pretty wild. It started crazy, but then it kept going. Things just kept happening. And there was a haunted doll that was always there too that freaked me tf out y’all lol It was like it never stopped. And I mean up until the very end. I still have so many questions. So basically, if you’re like me, once you start reading this, be prepared to read it until you finish.

Overall, I give this