Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review. Each chapter is narrated by one of the story's characters, a literary device that I like. Nina, raised middle class, marries into a wealthy Nashville family. After her husband sells his tech business for beaucoup bucks, she moves into the upper strata of society. Their only son, Finch, attends a private school and has just been accepted to Princeton. Across town, a carpenter named Tom is raising his teenaged daughter alone after his alcoholic Brazilian wife takes off. Layla attends the same private school on a scholarship. Both teens attend a party where alcohol is served and a salacious and racist picture of Layla is taken which, of course, is widely shared. In trying to somehow rectify the situation, Tom and the boy's mother become allies. The book was well written and contemporary.

A very well written book told from the point of view of a mother, a teenage girl her son wrongs, and the girl's father. The three quite different characters each had a distinct voice. The book examines what happens when parents think the best and decide their kids are "good" and because of this stop paying as much attention to everyday occurrences. The book makes you consider whether your perspective changes gradually over time, or if it takes one single significant event to change things. I loved that Lyla, the teenage girl, is extremely strong but still has vulnerable teen characteristics.

Nina lives a very wealthy life, her husband is rich and her son Finch , is privileged, drives an expensive car, money all the time, private school , everything at his fingertips .
Sometimes one gets lost in the privilege and wealth and forgets morals, and decency. When Finch does something he can’t find back from and his father and him try to cover it up and throw their power around to make it go away, Nina rediscovers herself and her self worth and takes a guys look around and re evaluates her life and her sons path and how she wants To change things
At times I was screaming throug the pages at these characters .
I loved these characters and I wasrouyjbg for all of them.
This will remain one of my favorite all time books !!

Nina seems to have everything -- a big house in an idyllic neighborhood with her loving husband and son, and not a financial worry in the world. Yet after her son, Finch, makes a rather large mistake one night at a party, one starts to realize that perhaps her life isn't perfect.

This book was far beyond a light read; packed with modern-day issues that teens and young adults (and their parents face) this book is a wonderful platform for discussions around topics that teens need to learn about. I found the story very engaging, the characters realistic, and the topic all too real. I would love to share this book with students, relatives, and young people everywhere. Overall, this is an entertaining read with an important message.

All We Ever Wanted was an amazing book. It centers around teenage drama, but it centers around a teenage girl and what happens to her, the girl's father, and the perpetrator's mother.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I thought 98% of the characters were well-rounded (Polly being the exception - we only really deal with the girl herself towards the end; everything before that is always someone else's opinion), and it was very easy to distinguish who was talking by their voices and what was going on in their section of the world. Even the minor characters were easy to tell apart. The book has good pacing, good plot, good voice. All in all this was a really great book. 5/5 stars!

I enjoyed this book! Having raised a couple boys, the late teenage to young adult years are worrisome for any parent, and thus I could identify with the characters. The issues of wealth, what wealth can buy, sexting, and parenting that the characters wrestle with are real life.

This was my first Emily Griffin book, and it was an overall engaging reading experience.

I don’t always love books with multiple perspectives, but it worked really well with this storyline. Getting to see the motivations and thoughts of the three main characters helped to make me feel more invested and interested in the characters. It did take a few chapters to get absorbed in the story, however.

I felt the story itself was very timely. I had a feeling how the story would go, but here were still some surprises along the way. I felt like the epilogue was either unnecessary or too short. I either wanted some more information or I wanted to just imagine the future for these characters all on my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love Emily Giffin books. I seem to never be able to put them down once I start one and this is no exception. This is another must read.
I love how see shows Nina’s relationships with so many people. At first you think this book is about marraiage when someone goes wealthy and fall apart but it takes a dark turn. I can say this one surprised me and it was one you had to read to find out what happened.

I received an advance copy of this book from net galley in exchange for my review of this book. I love Emily Griffin books and I was so excited to get this one. But due to the subject matter, I struggled with this a lot. It centers around a HS boy and girl and a photo that is sexually explicit and racist and the aftermath of that. There are moments that are dark which was a departure from other Giffin books. But despite the subject matter being hard for me, I devoured the book and felt very satisfied with the ending. A good read, although not a Giffin book that I’d re-read over and over again as I have with several of her others.

I really enjoyed this book! I have always enjoyed Emily Giffin’s so I was thrilled to be able to read this one. The story is told by the 3 of the main characters. It deals with the topic of teens and how social media is a part of their life that could very possibly ruin their reputation and cause very serious issues. It is also about the rich and those who are middle class and trying to make ends met. It is also about a marriage and how wealth can change two people. I would highly recommend this book.

In this story, three people must choose between family and values. Nina was the mother of a boy named Finch accused of taking a nasty picture of a drunk girl (Lyla), and sending it out. Tom is the father of that girl. Nina is married to a very rich man who "helps" his son, who has been accepted into Princeton, and this scandal might keep him from attending. Tom is a hard-working carpenter trying to raise his daughter on his own; his wife left them years ago. Finch has a girlfriend Polly, who fights with him on the night of the scandalous incident, and Finch blames Polly for taking the picture and sending it out, because she was jealous of the looks Finch gave Lyla at the party. And then the story continues...

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of Ms. Giffin's latest book from Netgalley. I was even more thrilled after I read it that I didn't have to wait until publication.

Giffin outdid herself on this one. I've been a fan since Something Borrowed, but this book is on a whole new level. We should all improve in our life endeavors as well as this author has.

It's hard to tell more about the story than what's written in the book's synopsis without giving something away. I loved the characters and the story that Giffin placed them in. This book took me through several emotions--outrage, compassion, awe, disbelief, and finally settling into utter relief.

Thank you, Ms. Giffin for such a wonderful read!

Emily Giffin does it again! This book is amazing! What a fantastic read about real life issues that we have to face living in today's world. It is both enlightening for parents and teens. As a mother of two boys I honestly have felt that this book has helped me learn a few lessons in parenting. I was totally captivated by the characters and extremely invested in the story.

For an ARC, this was pretty darn good! It could’ve been a higher rating if the ending hadn’t left me feeling so dissatisfied. Other than that, I was surprised to have enjoyed this as much as I did.

So 3-star ratings are always hard for me to rate; sometimes a 3 star read is actually a good read, but lacking in a couple areas—and sometimes it’s not that good of a read, but very unique. In this case, the story wasn’t unique (it reminded me of the novel Asking For It), but everything flowed well (the writing and storyline). Plus, I wasn’t sure if people were being truthful throughout the book or not (especially Finch), which was a nice change. Normally, I’m really good at knowing when an author is trying to trick the reader.

I enjoyed how realistically flawed all the characters were—they felt like real people with real problems—not like perfectly flawed characters woven into a perfectly flawed story. No; those aren’t real. They were troubled and stumbling through life like a lot of us are.

Segueing off Giffin’s “not-so-perfect-yet-realistic-characters,” the ending was disappointing (like many people feel with their lives!). And while in many ways it was perfect with how Lyla’s and Finch’s & Kirk’s and Nina’s situations were concluded, I thought it was too rushed and lacked a powerful “punch.” There could have been a lot more aded towards the end. Though, I thought how Lyla became a lawyer after all of that was a perfect end to her story.

Overall, I went into this with no expectations and came out with good feelings. It’s a good story that trips you up several times, when you’re not busy relating to the characters. If the ending had been more developed, I would’ve given this closer to 4 stars.

I would give it three and a half stars total if I could. I felt like some parts were predictable but towards the end there were some surprising twists. Lyla grew on me and I was rooting for her but felt like she made some foolish mistakes but I guess that is part of being a teenager. I enjoyed the setting of Nashville.

Decent book. The premise was interesting but I thought Nina was pretty shallow and I'm not sure I buy her lack of support for her son. I liked Lyla a lot though. A good book if you want a book that makes you think a little while remaining a pretty light read.

As an Emily Giffin fan I found this book to be very different from all her previous books...but in a good way! The book format reminded me of Jodi Piccoult’s writing style which I also love. I started off skeptical and thought I might have a difficult time connecting with the main characters due to their wealth and socioeconomic status but I quickly got sucked in and found Nina to not only be relatable but likable. The topics the book touched on were relevant to current events today without being unbelievable and over the top. My only complaint is how quickly it seemed the book ended! I would have loved to been able to see more detail into the consequences each character faced. I definitely recommend this book.

Every so often, a novel comes along that makes you feel uncomfortable. That may sound like a negative thing. It isn't. I'm talking about a book that gets you to rethink some things, and that makes you realize how surprised you can be by someone you thought you really knew.

Emily Giffin's new book, All We Ever Wanted, is told from the viewpoints of three different characters: a wealthy "society" mom who appears to have a golden life; a teenage girl who often feels like a fish out of water (looking back, didn't we all); and a dad who has gone to great lengths to protect his daughter.

The book begins with an innocuous enough sentence, that you soon realize holds a dark promise: "It started out as a typical Saturday night." The story goes on to reveal a single incident at a teenage party that got out of control (think, a terribly inappropriate photo that goes viral), which has now torn apart the lives of several families.

We get to know the families' backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, and secrets. I sympathized with each of the three POV characters in different ways. Of the additional characters, though, not everyone is telling the truth, and I found my allegiances and conclusions shifting at a couple different points in the story. Once the truth finally comes out, several characters are left to pick up the pieces and put them back together into something resembling a life.

I won't give away more details about it, except to say this: both as a woman, and as the mother of a teenager, the party incident that caused all the trouble was uncomfortable. And that's where the wondering begins...

... Will "kids be kids" no matter how "good" they are or whether they come from a "nice" family? (As one of the characters indicates: kids do this all the time to each other!)

... What happens when we try to raise our children to be decent, moral human beings, and we don't get the result we expected? How about if one parent has a very different set of values than the other?

... How do we spend our entire lives protecting our child from harm, but step back and let them take the fall when they've done something terrible?

I don't have the answers. But I think it's clear that this novel touches on so many issues being discussed these days: consent (#metoo & sexual boundaries); the role & responsibility of social media; an "entitlement" culture that lets a certain few think they'll never suffer consequences for their actions.

All We Ever Wanted was hard to put down. I read half of it one evening and didn't want to stop, but forced myself to go to bed around 3am. Oops. I finished the other half in one sitting this morning. I needed to learn what really happened, discover how each of the characters ended up, and process how I felt about it all. I'm still working on the last part.

This was an insightful, thought provoking, and relevant story, and I'm betting a lot of people will be talking about it this summer. Ms. Giffin's latest releases on June 26th... I'd recommend you pre-order it. Make sure you're well rested before you begin. :)

Emily Giffin has a winner here. I have read a couple of her books and I have liked them but this is my favorite so far. All We Ever Wanted is a page turner that deals with the very serious and timely topic of sexual abuse/harassment. Nina is a very affluent mother of a teen boy who posts pictures of a semi nude passed out drunk classmate... and to add insult to injury the picture has a racist blurb. Nina cant believe that her son has done this but as the story progresses she begins to see that perhaps he could be guilty, after all, her husband has become a perfect role model for bad behavior. There is a lot to think about here and I feel like this is the kind of book I want to discuss in a bookclub with a whole bunch of friends. Who would defend their kid no matter what and who would make them take responsibility for their actions even if it ruins their future?

When I began this book I kept putting it down and picking it up. The truths in this book are a reflection on our world today and how social media as well as wealth, discrimination and moral decline has affected our children. Over all I finished this book and felt that there is hope for our world but it will take strong, kind, honest people to stand up for their values.