Another fantastic read from Amanda . I love all her books and this is no exception . A book of love, loss and family I could not put this down . I related to certain parts of the story towards the end through personal experiences . This book made me smile and made me cry but above all it's a book that makes you remember to appreciate what you have in life and to be thankful . My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my arc copy which I have chosen to review

This is a story which will bring you to tears and make you want to hug your children. After reading "The Idea of You" I feel so blessed to have my family and can’t imagine what it must be to not being able to get pregnant. Amanda Prowse story about Lucy is very sensitive and shows that it’s a battle for every one involved. Highly recommended!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing!

I won't be able to review this book as it is about miscarriage and that's too emotional for me right now

Amanda Prowse does it again, a novel full of life, heartache and love. Lucys struggles to conceive while simultaneously trying to forget about a secret past and dealing with a step daughter who hates her and has her own issues drew me in completely and I finished the book in one sitting.

Lucy Carpenter is approaching forty & thinks she finally has it all: a wonderful new husband, Jonah, a successful career and the chance of a precious baby of her own. Life couldn’t be more perfect.
But becoming parents proves much harder to achieve than Lucy and Jonah imagined, and when Jonah’s teenage daughter Camille comes to stay with them, she becomes a constant reminder of what Lucy doesn’t have. Jonah’s love and support are unquestioning, but Lucy’s struggles with work and her own failing dreams begin to take their toll. With Camille’s presence straining the bonds of Lucy’s marriage even further, Lucy suddenly feels herself close to losing everything
I have heard lots of good things about the author’s books but this is the first I’ve read but I’m now hooked.
An unputdownable book, that takes you on an emotional roller coaster. A lovely story which I can highly recommend

4.5*.  A hard but brilliant read which takes you on a real roller coaster of all the emotions. Such a difficult subject  matter, wonderfully written.  Lucy's story was just beautiful, a woman desperate to be a mother.  One to recommend. My thanks to the publisher & NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Another excellent book from Amanda Prowse. The characters are brought to life and feel like friends and you can tell the book is written from the heart. 
Amanda always gets to the heart if the subject and you can see the story all around you in real life, the suffering and dilemmas that real people are facing. 
This book will stay with me long after the last page has been turned.

This book made me bawl my eyes out from chapter three and onward. Never have I ever cried so much from a book. I don't even cry during movies and it takes books like the fault in our stars by john green to make me cry. I BAWLED this entire book. The reactions I felt to this book are so very real. I have never experienced anything from this book besides being a mother. But oh man I can only imagine the pain of these characters. I feared these things when I got pregnant. And still it's a very real thing for so many families. I did enjoy the happy ending as well but this book tore my heart out over and over again. I stayed up late when I had to work early the next day to finish it because I had to know there was a happy ending.

Title:  The Idea Of You
Author:  Amanda Prowse
Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing
Reviewed By:  Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"The Idea Of You" by Amanda Prowse

My View:

A good read that covered 'parenthood and family.'  The author gives the reader quite a story that dealt with Lucy, Jonah[newly married] and Camille who was her step-daughter[coming to live with them].  But for some reason or another Camille took a instant dislike toward Lucy.  Now, why was that?   I found this read very tear grabbing with all that came out of this very intriguing emotional read.  The characters were developed  but also complex and complicated with human needs and wants. The author brings all of this out in such a unique way giving the reader such a heartbreaking read that you could feel as you are drawn into this emotional story. Will this marriage be able to stand against all of the trauma that they were going through especially with Lucy wanted most of all to become a mom?   From the letters from Lucy's POV being full of emotions and then finding out what was the reason for them being presented was so very important and the up and down of feelings were so very important in this read.  How was Lucy's relationship with her mom and sister? Were these insecurities and conflicts normal for Lucy and Camille?   Yes, there  was heartbreak with devastating effects of the ultimate loss, but also there was  'love, hope, courage and family.'  I found that this author delivers to the reader not only the right characters to deliver such a important story but also does a wonderful job at giving the readers the right words that could only help one truly understand just what one goes through at a time like this. What will happen as this family has problems with 'anger, guilt, pain, and past secrets that will come out ['is what they don't have worth risking losing what they do have?']
and threaten all that this marriage as been built on?  This is where I say you will have to pick up this emotional and challenging "The Idea Of You" to see how well this author presents it all out to the reader to see what Lucy gets as the end. This author really works this story so well with covering the subjects:  'miscarriage, [suffered a loss or infertility], teen pregnancy and relationship breakups.'  

By the end the reader will gets a 'poignant love story that carries hope, love and forgiveness for all if it can only be accepted' as this love grows ever so stronger as it is given and received so freely.  This is definitely a wonderful story of the ray of hope, happiness and love that needs to be heard every single day!    

Thank you to Netgalley, lake union publishing and Amanda Prowse for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review. This novel was well done by this author!

So you pretty much know from the blurb where the story is going and if you have read anything by Amanda Prowse before you also know there's a good chance of tears. For some reason I didn't really take to Lucy and Jonah and it probably saved me from tears at their situation. That said I still found I was gripped by this emotional story and I'm sure it will be well received by fans of Amanda Prowse's previous books.

This is a new author for me and I really enjoyed it.  Amy is turning forty, and like most women, it’s her time for reflection.  She’s married to the love of her life, has her dream job, and desperately wants to become of mother.  Her husband, Jonah has a daughter from a previous marriage that he rarely sees. When her stepdaughter comes to stay with them for a while, Amy learns more about herself, her marriage, and her job, and relationships with her family.  She questions her priorities and finally reveals a secret that she has never spoken of to anyone.  She is on an interesting journey that many women will be able to relate to.

I’m an obsessive reader of crime fiction and thrillers, but every so often I need to escape from the world of murders, child abuse and gangsters. So I picked up this book, and I’m glad I did. The story is as gripping as, and more emotional than even the most harrowing thriller. The first ever book that had me in tears was “The Old Curiosity Shop”, when Little Nell died; one scene in this book competes with that Dickens scene. Do not read this book if you can’t handle highly emotional stories. 

Lucy Carpenter is forty years old and a high-powered advertising executive living in London. She’s just got married and they’re trying for a baby. It’s easy for her to conceive, but not so easy to progress to full term. Then her teenage step-daughter Camille arrives to stay with them for a couple of months, and everything becomes much more complicated because Camille seems determined to cause trouble. A second story arc is interleaved, consisting of poignant letters that Lucy writes to her (I assume unborn) child.

As is often the case, the prologue gives us many clues about the rest of the book - do read it carefully.

This is a wonderful story which explores what it means to be a mother. It’s extremely well told, and I’m very glad to have read it. 

Let me know what you think.

Avid Reader

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The Idea of You is the latest emotional, domestic drama from the exceptionally talented Amanda Prowse, who always creates such powerful and realistic stories about real life, heartbreaking situations and tragedy with such empathy and compastsion.  I wasn't able to put this book down, totally engrossed in Lucy and Jonah's lives and desperately hoping for a happy ending.  With a theme of love, loss and family, The Idea of You reminds us all to value what we have in our lives.

Wonderful, poignant, heart breaking but at the same time uplifting.

I will admit to a few tears as this story developed, you could feel Lucy's pain over the pages.

A tale of broken hearts being mended. Truly beautiful.

3.5 stars.
I received an e-galley from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I think I liked the idea of this book better than the actual book. Although it was a fast read for me and I totally empathized with the main character, there were times that I just wanted things to resolve for her- with her husband, with her mother, with her step-daughter, and with her daughter. I would love to read some of Prowse's other books, though.

Another good book by Amanda Prowse, with a difficult story line, which is what she does best.

Another heartfelt and uplifting read, Amanda's books do this to me every time, they make me smile, they make cry, the characters in this read were no different, easy to get to know and to relate to, the subject matter as always is right on the money dealing with ordinary women and the trials and tribulations they face every day, never depressing always uplifting, bring on the next one.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This is definitely an emotional read and a very personal one for the author. Lucy is an executive in a marketing firm in London when she meets Jonah at a baby christening and they begin their fairy tale marriage. Lucy is older and is desperate for a baby but finds out that things aren't as easy as she had hoped.

When Jonah's teenage stepdaughter comes to spend the summer with them, their relationship also isn't easy. Lucy struggles with jealousy and fears that Camille's arrival is taking the place of her dreams for a baby.

Interspersed are emotional letters that Lucy is writing whose meaning becomes more clear as you read the book.

This is a quick read, one I couldn't put down and one that deals with a subject that will resonate with so many. It also makes you think about motherhood and family and all the various forms that can take.

I would like to thank Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Idea Of You’ by Amanda Prowse in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Lucy Carpenter has a wonderful husband, Jonah, and a successful career but although she longs to have a baby she goes through a number of miscarriages which puts a strain on their marriage.  Camille, Jonah’s daughter from his previous marriage, arrives from France to stay causing Lucy to reveal a secret that she has kept hidden for the past twenty-four years. 
I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed a great number of Amanda Prowse’s novels.  Her latest, ‘The Idea Of You’, is a beautiful, poignant and sensitively-written account of a family’s love and strength that brought tears to my eyes.  This novel was a joy to read and and one that I wholeheartedly recommend.

It is no secret that if one is willing to read an Amanda Prowse novel, then one must also be willing to allow every single emotion to be wrenched from within them as the stories created by this author are told. I've no idea why, even now, I am still surprised at how emotionally exhausted I find myself, each time one of Prowse's novels reaches its end. I should know by this point that to go into one of Prowse's books is to sacrifice a small part of myself, a small space in my heart that will later inevitably become full of love for the characters I meet within Amanda's stories. You go into an Amanda Prowse novel yourself, but I do believe that you come out of them a different person, someone with experience which is taught by the author herself. These books change you, these books remain with you, and these books are incredibly special in that they are so real, raw and stupendously moving.

In Amanda Prowse's The Idea of You, readers are introduced to the Carpenters. Lucy and Jonah are newly married and enjoying their wonderful life together. As mentioned in the blurb, things really are perfect, and the only thing that could complete their world would be a baby of their own. Lucy knows she has it within her to be a mother. She can feel it in her very bones. She knows that she has got all of the love in the world to give, and there is no one she would rather give it to. But of course, life is rarely so simple, and proceeds to throw a number of obstacles in Lucy's way. In true Prowse style, readers are invited to walk alongside Lucy on this journey of loss, grief, hope and love which turned me inside-out repeatedly throughout reading, and left me utterly bereft and emotionally wrung-out by the time I reached the final page.

As is always the case with any of Prowse's novels, emotions are sky-high in her latest release, The Idea of You. I knew from the moment that I saw the cover and read the blurb that this would be a story I would not be able to refrain from crying over. It was impossible for me not to be affected by what Lucy goes through. Prowse never allows things to be easy for her characters, but this is something I enjoy so much when it comes to reading her books. The path is always bumpy but, by the end, it seems that the bumpy path was worth walking for what is achieved by doing so. The heartache that Lucy is subject to in The Idea of You is mountainous and, time and time again, just when the reader believes that perhaps Lucy is over the worst of it, she takes another emotional tumble and seems to find herself back at square one. The Idea of You is a novel of struggle and helplessness, of trying and trying again, of believing that something better is around the corner no matter how difficult it feels to uphold that belief.

Prowse explores a number of subjects within The Idea of You, delving deep into the emotional effects of miscarriage, and dissecting the bonds of family life, step-parenting and marriage in the most moving and tender of ways, leaving the reader completely involved in the characters' lives and circumstances. I myself have not experienced the topics raised within this novel, but Prowse's intense focus on emotions and how those emotions resonate throughout the rest of the family has opened my eyes, and I'm sure that there will be readers worldwide who will resonate with Lucy Carpenter's story on a deep and personal level.

Once again, Amanda Prowse has written a novel that not only educates but also evokes all manner of emotions from the reader throughout. The Idea of You is a beautifully hypnotising yet gut-wrenching novel that portrays flawlessly the strength of human courage and faith. Hummingbird Reviews is awarding The Idea of You by Amanda Prowse with five out of five stars. Prowse is an author who gives and gives, and I can only hope that she continues to do exactly for that many more years to come. Prowse is a natural storyteller who uses her heart to guide her character's way and it is impossible to come out of this novel having not been touched by it at all.