Cleo McDougal Has No Regrets
Allison Winn Scotch, 2020
Amazon Publishing
328 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781542021227
Summary
Politics is a test of wills in a sharp, funny, and emotional novel about truth and consequences.
Cleo McDougal is a born politician. From congresswoman to senator, the magnetic, ambitious single mother now has her eye on the White House—always looking forward, never back.
Until an estranged childhood friend shreds her in an op-ed hit piece gone viral.
With seven words—"Cleo McDougal is not a good person"—the presidential hopeful has gone from in control to damage control, and not just in Washington but in life.
Enter Cleo’s "regrets list" of 233 and counting. Her chief of staff has a brilliant idea: pick the top ten, make amends during a media blitz, and repair her reputation.
But there are regrets, and there are regrets: like her broken relationship with her sister, her affair with a law school professor… and the regret too big to even say out loud.
But with risk comes reward, and as Cleo makes both peace and amends with her past, she becomes more empowered than ever to tackle her career, confront the hypocrites out to destroy her, and open her heart to what matters most—one regret at a time. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 12, 1973
• Where—Charlottesville, Virginia; Seattle, Washington, USA
• Education—B.A. University of Pennsylvania
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Allison Winn Scotch is an American author with six books to her name. She grew up with a school-teacher mother who loved to read and passed her passion for books onto her children.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Allison worked as a freelance writer for popular magazines (a lot of "10 best ways to…" columns), but all the while she was honing her skills as a novelist. First one novel (awful), then another (not as bad), until finally in 2007 she published The Department of Lost and Found.
Since then, she has followed with, Time of My Life (2008), The One That I Want (2010), The Song Remains the Same (2012). The Theory of Opposites (2013), In Twenty Years (2016), Between You and Me (2018), and Cleo McDougal Has No Regrets (2020).
Allison lives in Los Angeles with her family and dogs. When not novel writing, she writes celebrity interviews and profiles, which she says indulges her obsession with pop culture. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
A heartfelt tale of hypocrisy, ambition, love and more.
Good Morning America (online)
Scotch’s trademark humor and heart are on full display in this expertly plotted and characterized outing. The author’s fans will devour this, and it will win her new readers as well.
Publishers Weekly
Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing is a rousing anthem to the power of womanhood. Cleo is an eminently relatable character who finds redemption and empowerment over the course of her journey.
Authorlink
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for CLEO MCDOUGAL HAS NO REGRETS … then take off on your own:
1. Describe Cleo McDougal. Prickly, yes, but does that make her unlikable in your eyes? Does your opinion of Cleo change over the course of the novel? If so, how and why? Same for "no"—if your opinion of Cleo doesn't change, why not?
2. (Follow-up to Question 1) Consider Cleo's rise, at the age of 37, to the position of a U.S. Senator and possible presidential contender. What does it take to reach those heights, not just as a male but, more to the point, as a female?
3. (Follow-up to Question 2) While this book isn't explicitly political, it takes place in the political arena. What are the double-standards in the political world that author Allison Winn Scotch explores? Is the sexism in politics different from, say, the corporate, professional, academic, or scientific worlds?
4. Cleo refuses to accept offers of help from others. Why? Is it because of her idea of self-reliance… or perhaps it has to do with the power dynamics involved in allowing others to help, at least according to Cleo? Do you know people like that? Are you yourself prone to decline someone's offer of help?
5. Talk about Cleo's familial relationships. How would you describe her as a mother? What about Lucas—do you find his teenage snark funny? What about the fact that Cleo has not dealt with the matter of Lucas's father? Then there is Georgie, Cleo's younger sister. What's the history behind their relationship which makes it so difficult?
6. What do you make of Cleo's list of 233 regrets? Why has she compiled such a list and kept it up over all these years? What is the purpose of the list?
7. Talk about your own regrets: do you have your own list? Maybe your regrets tend to be simply vague, uneasy memories that occasionally (or frequently?) crop up to remind you of your missteps. Or perhaps they're more pronounced. Have you ever made attempts to repair the missteps in your life which you regret?
8. Gaby decides that Cleo should addreess the top 10 regrets at the top of her list in order to repair her reputation. Does that mean that Cleo's regrets—and her desire for reparations—are inauthentic? Discuss Cleo's journey as she goes about attempting to atone for her missteps.
9. By the end of her journey, what does Cleo learn about what it takes to become a truly good person? In fact, how would you define the qualities of a "truly good person"—what is required to be one? Does Cleo become that good person?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)