LOVED All Good Things by Amanda Prowse! I am a huge fan of this author and found this novel to be one of my new Amanda Prowse favorites. This book was hard to put down, with its amazing characters and story line. So many family complications and dysfunction, bubbling below a deceivingly perfect surface. I enjoyed it tremendously! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

I was super excited to receive my copy of this book as I am a massive Amanda Prowse fan. This is a multi layered book and just as you think you are getting to know the family, you are introduced to new members and it takes another twist.

This story covers a multitude of family dimensions across neighbouring families, from infidelity to layers of lies and debt. Whilst reading this book, there are definitely favourite characters and those that you don't gel with.

I instantly loved Cleo and Georgie for their desire to be different and loved watching their story unfold alongside that of the other members of the Kelleway family. Whilst Daisy who has been watching her neighbours with envy from her bedroom window for their perfect lives, gets to see the reward of hard work and the value of her family.

The differences between the families are apparent throughout, yet the families paths keep crossing throughout this story as more and more of the indiscretions come to light.

I highly recommend grabbing a copy as this was a brilliant book, that I just wanted to curl up and keep reading.

This is a story about families and how what you might see from the outside is not what's really happening. This is the story of two neighboring families, seemingly so different.

I had a favorite ride at an amusement park. It was called Pandemonium and it was a type of roller coaster, but the cars could be make to go in circles, as you were following the track, and there were sudden turns in the track. I had to think that this story was like that ride. Lots of quick turns, lots of drops and rises, and so much fun.

Definitely a different type of story, but I couldn't put the book down. I'd give it 4.5 stars.


After over a week since first submission and submitting 3 times to Amazon, I'm am still waiting for my review to go live

Dysfunctional families can make for very funny and interesting reading but not in this case. I’m not sure why this normally excellent author failed to hold my attention but fail she did.

I finished this one last night and I'm still a little uncertain how I'm feeling about it... This book follows the Kelleway family and their next door neighbors the Harrops as they proceed through one evening and into the next day. This book is entirely relationship based - although a baby is born, a marriage ends, and there are a few other events, it feels like nothing happens. I kept reading as I wanted to see how things would turn out or resolve, and I have to say I was disappointed in the way the book abruptly ended. Maybe the author was just trying to capture the natural flow of life and that things continue on even after our story wraps up? There is a lot of drama introduced and then not really followed through. The book is well written and the characters are very well developed. I just wasn't really sure I was sympathetic toward any of them and didn't feel any strong connections.

Amanda Prowses's latest novel iAll Good Things more than shores up her reputation as one of the most loved authors in the UK. She is renowned for her realistic portrayals of family relationships and dynamics, and this book is no exception.
SYNOPSIS
Daisy Harrop has always felt like she exists in the background, and since her mother stopped getting out of bed, her life has come to a complete standstill. Daisy would give anything to leave the shabbiest house on the street and be more like the golden Kelleways next door, with their perfectly raked driveway and flourishing rose garden.

Winnie Kelleway is proud of the beautiful family she’s built. They’ve had their ups and downs, but this weekend, celebrating her golden wedding anniversary is proof of their happiness, a joyful gathering for all the neighbours to see.

But as the festivities get underway, are the cracks in the ‘perfect’ Kelleway life beginning to show? As one bombshell revelation leads to another and events start to spiral out of control, Daisy and Winnie are about to discover that things aren’t always what they seem.

MY THOUGHTS ON ALL GOOD THINGS
The Kelleways, through the eyes of Daisy next door, are a glamorous, aspirational family, but in reality, they're anything but. Very few of the family are likable characters. Two of the men are toxic throwbacks and the matriarch is a terrible snob.

Cassian, the young son, and object of Daisy's attention, was an interesting character because initially the description of him as good looking, popular and clever put me off (not to mention his name). I felt sure he'd be arrogant and thoughtless. He turned out to be thoughtful and evolved, particularly compared to his father and grandfather.

Winnie, his sister, also got my back up at the start by appearing to be the usual stroppy teenager, although as is often the case, she was quiet and polite with her parents, but living a secret life of under- age night clubs.

Lisa, Daisy's mum, is depressed and hardly ever drags herself out of bed.

As with all Prowse's novels, we find ourselves reacting to the characters. We either like or dislike them; sometimes we sympathize, sometimes we nod because we remember the emotions being shared.

Over the course of the book we discover links between some of the characters, and we learn secrets and have surprises. Ultimately it's uplifting, but not in a patronising "everyone lived happily ever after" way.

Be careful what you wish for; the grass is not always greener; pride comes before a fall….All of these phrases & more can be applied to this fabulous family drama. Some of the characters really resonated with me, perhaps that’s why I felt so invested in this book.

Daisy Harrop has always coveted her neighbour’s life. Her mother is virtually bedridden with depression & her father works all the hours under the sun. Her neighbours seem perfect. Matriarch Winnie has been married to Bernie for 40 years, they have two children & grandchildren; she is unrelenting in letting the world know how well they’ve all achieved. Daisy fancies Cassian, Winnie’s grandson, big time; he also happens to be her brother’s best friend. She works as a waitress in the local Italian restaurant where the Kellaways are holding their anniversary celebrations. Let the games begin…

I have read this author before & so I know her writing style but this book seemed so much more relatable. Fleshed out characters, Winnie is just vile, meant that the threads were strong even though some were a little obvious. Everyday problems took on huge significance - affairs, sexuality, financial difficulties, mental health issues & more are there.
I didn’t feel as though I’d been reading very long & only just got to grips with everyone’s storyline when I’d finished it. More please.

The Kelleways and the Harrops have been neighbours for generations – but they couldn’t be more different. The Kelleways are rich, have a beautifully decorated house, luxury cars and love to flaunt their wealth. Winnie Kelleway loses no opportunity to get the family over and have a celebration. The Harrop house is shabby and drab and what’s more Lisa Harrop, the Mom, has been in depression for a few years – everything seems hopeless.

Daisy Harrop envies them their life – as she studies hard and works parttime in a restaurant – and comes home to a quiet house and microwave meals. She has a huge crush on Cassian, the grandson of the house, and also a friend of her brother, Jake. But everything is not as it seems. Unbeknownst to Daisy, her family is more intertwined with the Kelleways than she realizes. There’s history there that has the potential to shatter marriages and lives.

Amanda Prowse scores another hit with family drama, raw emotions and several plot twists that leaves the reader engrossed and entertained. Believable characters and a great story line meant I just had to finish the book before the day ended!

Do you ever find yourself wondering how the other half lives? Daisy Harrop has always dreamed of living a life that has more to offer. Her mother rarely gets out of bed and their home is in great disrepair. The realization that her life is as far from lavish as one could get pushes Daisy to blend into the background.

The Kelleway’s are the extravagant neighbors who are constantly setting the pace in luxury. From their lavish home to the fancy cars, the Kelleway’s lifestyle screams wealth. Daisy often finds herself dreaming of what it would be like to possess such fancy things. As the Kelleway’s celebrate a golden wedding anniversary, things unravel that expose the façade that this family keeps under wraps. Daisy will learn that the old saying ‘be careful what you wish for’ holds true for the Kelleway family as well.

All Good Things explores what it is like to live in the shadow of wealth. It focuses on the Kelleway family and their next door neighbor Daisy. The secrets that unravel in the book were a tab predictable but definitely relatable. While they lacked the shock value I expected, it still was an easy read. The Kelleway’s will take you round the merry-go-round in this fictional tale of woe.

I absolutely loved the story that was told from different points of view throughout. Sometimes things look perfect on the outside but when you get inside… I just love the character development in this ! thank you to NetGalkey and The publisher.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing Lake Union Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest book by Amanda Prowse - 4 stars!

Teenage Daisy has always envied the Kelleway family that lived next door and had a huge crush on their grandson, also her brother's best friend. In contrast, her family just doesn't compare - her mom is depressed, her dad and brother mostly checked out, their house the worst on the block. But when the entire Kelleway family gathers at the Italian restaurant where Daisy works for an anniversary celebration, some chinks start to show up.

Told in many different POV from both Daisy's family and the Kelleway's, this is definitely a cautionary tale about the grass being greener on the other side, as well as the destruction family secrets can cause. Always a good read from this author!

Daisy Harrop is a 17-year-old young woman, whose life hasn’t always been easy. Her mum, Lisa, suffers from depression and spends her days under a blanket, either on the sofa or up in the bedroom. Daisy’s dad, Marty, works his backside off at the mail sorting office, and when he’s home, he does all the chores that his wife would normally do before she became ill. D’s older brother, Jake is always in his bedroom playing computer games, or hanging around with his best friend, Cassian Kelleway.

You see, Daisy is a bit jealous of the Kelleway clan. Cassian’s grandparents, Winnie and Bernie, are Harrop’s next door neighbours. The Kelleways’ house has an extension, their garden is pristine looking, and the older couple always look their best. Plus they drive a nice car.

Daisy cannot help herself by comparing her family’s dilapidated house (and garden) to her next-door neighbours. Sometimes she wishes that a tiniest slice of Kelleways’ happiness would rub off on her family…

Winnie Kelleway is a woman who likes everything to be perfect: her appearance (plus her family’s), her parties, her lawn, even when she puts her bins. She is a true show-off and boy, she likes to flaunt it.

She’s been married to Bernie for 40 years and the reader meets her on the day of their ruby anniversary. The Kelleways are planning a grand celebration at the local Italian restaurant. The whole family is coming, and Winnie is feeling lucky. So very lucky.

However, underneath all that perfection, the cracks are beginning to show. It appears that the anniversary night is a catalyst for them all, as it all starts to unravel.

Everyone has secrets.

This is the Queen of Family Drama at her best. In this story, written from different points of view, we meet normal people, all of whom face different struggles and challenges. I felt like I could relate to them (well, apart from Winnie and Lawrence – truly awful people!).

I really felt for Daisy and her family. When I was reading her story, I thought of a saying ‘The grass is greener on the other side”, only we know that it isn’t. The Kelleways are far from perfect and Prowse portrayed that magnificently.

The theme of striving for perfection was prevalent in this story. Lawrence who was never happy and always on the lookout for the next best thing, Winnie who was preoccupied with her own image and what would other people think.

In this book, the author shows that nobody is perfect and nobody will ever be perfect. We can only strive for the important things, like health and family, rather than materialistic possessions.

Overall, it is a great book, well worth a read.

All Good Things can always be found when you immerse yourself into one of Prowse's books. This was absolutely wonderful, a gorgeous family drama centred around the Harrop's and the Kellaway's. Both families are total opposites of each other, the one common trait they share...secrets!

The characters are so realistic, they could almost be your neighbours. Many heavy topics were mentioned, yet all handled in a sensitive manner, making the characters even more relatable and real.

Well written, engaging and so enjoyable.

I am always curious when I hear of an author who has published many, many books in a genre I love and yet they were previously unknown to me. And so it was that when I saw that Amanda Prowse, author of more than 30 books was being offered for blog tour that I went ...why not. I mean all those books must mean that there are people out there buying her books, right?

Daisy Harrop is a bit anxious for her evening shift. She works as a server in a small Italian restaurant in her town. She loves the owners, she works hard, but tonight the restaurant has been booked out by the Kelleways, her next door neighbours. Her glamourous, rich, loving, close, popular next door neighbours. Which is everything that Daisy is not.

The Kelleway's are coming together to celebrate the 40th wedding anniversary of Winnie and Bernie. In attendance is their golden boy son Lawrence, his long suffering wife Julie and their children Cassian and Domino. Also in attendance is their heavily pregnant daughter Cleo, who never quite shone as brightly as Lawrence, and her husband George.

Daisy has often longed to have the life of the Kelleways. Instead she lives in the drab and messy house next door. Her mum is depressed and never leaves the house, her dad works hard and then there's her brother Jake. Daisy longs for the Kelleway's life, and has strong feelings for Cassian.

However, over the course of the night, we as readers get to see how appearances can be deceiving. Lawrence is flashy but there's no substance. Julie is tired of covering up for him, and for having to run every time his business deals collapse. Cassian and Domino are emotionally wounded after being ripped out of their beautiful life in Melbourne unexpectedly, and they are both hiding big secrets of their own.

This book has an unusual structure. All the events take place over the course of one evening, with flashbacks to the past to tell the story of what led to the place with each of the characters finds themselves. All of the characters are given a voice, which means that there are a lot of perspectives. There were times when I was surprised by some of the perspectives, but not necessarily in a good way.

I will say that I did want to keep reading this book to see how it all played out, but I didn't particularly like many of the characters. There were liars and cheats, shallowness and deception, and just plain awfulness. There were only a couple of characters that seemed to have any integrity whatsoever. And I struggled with the ending. I was reading away and then realised I only had a couple of percent to go and there was still so much that was unresolved, which is pretty much how it ended.


It is always good to take a chance on a new author, but in this case it didn't really work for me unfortunately.

Check out other stops on the blog tour. Maybe others will have enjoyed this book more than I did.

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources, Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Rating 2.5

𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨!

I love Amanda’s writing style and she sure does how to write a good family drama. Two families, two different realities, but appearances can be deceiving, and not everything it’s as it seems. For fans of family drama this is a great read.

Thank you Suzy Approved Book Tours for this tour invite.

𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 by Amanda Prowse released August 15, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

Is the grass always greener on the other side of the fence? Daisy has a rough home life after her mother’s depression has affected the whole family. She remembers when her mom was fun and vivacious, but she’s become mostly reclusive. She dreams of the neighbors family who is always laughing and has parties and events.

Winnie has it all by appearances, but can money buy you happiness? She’s sharing 40 years of marriage with her husband and her family has a big party to celebrate. Daisy is working at the Italian restaurant where the party takes place and as the wine flows and the night moves on, major family secrets come tumbling out. Daisy gets a good reminder to not judge a book by its cover or a family from its facade.

The story is told by several points of view which really added to the story. Since each person has their own perception, I thought this was a good way to understand what has happened previously. Many different topics are such depression, infidelity, LGBTQ, divorce and financial matters are brought up.

Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours @mrsamandaprowse and @lakeunionauthors for my gifted copy.

The strength of Amanda Prowse’s books are the wonderful, realistic characters and the way she writes to interweave all the stories. For me this book was no exception. Each chapter was told from one of the characters which I really liked.
As always a story of love, family, hope and looking forwards with hard times, difficult decisions and the odd ‘car crash’ moment that I could just feel was coming. All of which were very credible.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

This is the story of two families that live next door to each other but love completely different lives. The Kelleways are all flash and posh and the story is focused on the weekend of their fortieth anniversary. They’re having a big fancy party, as everyone would expect, at the restaurant where Daisy, who lives next door, works. Daisy happens to have a crush on the grandson of the anniversary couple so she doesn’t want to work the party, but of course she has to because she needs the money. Daisy and her family don’t have the luxuries that the Kelleways do, so Daisy does her part to help out. Daisy’s mom is depressed, so she doesn’t come out of her room often, and her brother seems to lack the confidence of the typical teenage boy. Her father works hard to keep them afloat so when he’s home he’s tired, and his only respite is hoping and praying for the day when his wife will feel better and their life will resume again.
Soon we start to see the cracks in both families start showing and they are more intertwined than one would expect. Daisy soon learns that not all that’s shiny is gold. And they all learn that not everything is as it appears to be.
A semi interesting look at dysfunctional families.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

I have read many of Amanda Prowse's books and will continue going back to them. She writes such thoughtful, multi-faceted stories that are both very real and very sensitive. Recommended!

There was so much hype around this book, I was really intrigued and excited to read.
However I was left really disappointed!
I just got super lost at the beginning of this book with the amount of characters, and then just couldn't keep up. I just didn't 'get it' - it didn't really go anywhere, and it just kept reiterating the same point, going round in circles.