When I first started reading this, my first thought was that it was another story about rich people, and it would be hard to relate to the characters. Luckily, that wasn't the case! Nin also grew on me as a character throughout the book--she wasn't who she seemed to be at the beginning of the book as you read more about her. The book switched perspectives every chapter between Nina, Tom and Lyla (is it me or are most fiction books doing that nowadays?) but in this book it really worked with the story. You would hear the same story from different perspectives.

This book sucked me in right from the beginning, and I loved the characters, especially Lyla and Tom. The book is so relevant right now since it deals with the use of snapchat and social media, and how actions on those sites can have real world consequences. I flew through this book in less than 24 hours, and is definitely one of my recent favorites of Giffin's. I definitely recommend adding this to your summer reading list, but make sure to add more than just this book because you will fly through it!

Emily Giffin has come SUCH a long way since Something Borrowed came out when I was in high school, pale pink and shiny and oh-so girly. All We Ever Wanted felt more like Lisa Scottoline and Jodi Picoult, in the best way possible. Giffin holds nothing back in this spicy take on current events - a single Snapchat gone rogue, and the world is on fire. Who is responsible? Who is at fault? There are so many questions here, and Giffin unpacks it all with finesse despite the length of this novel. Anyone who works with or knows a teenager should definitely take a look at this one (and that's probably everyone, pretty much, by the way) - I can't think of a better cautionary tale and a way to challenge your morals.

Emily Giffin does it again with another smash hit! This is not Giffin's typical Rom-Com book, but she hits it out of the ballpark with her newest book. Giffin takes a simple plot whereby a teenage boy takes a quick click on his phone at a party of a girl who is inebriated, and is somewhat exposed in the picture and the picture is soon posted on snapchat, and then circulated throughout the high school.
The book brings to light soooo many issues. Today's parents must take a step back and process the power of social media before they give their children a cell phone. We are living in a very "connected" world and our children are posting and sharing pictures and events that can truly change lives. The teen in this book , Finch, was very nonchalant, about the picture that he had posted even though it had racial and sexual undertones, and thought it was being shared to a limited audience. The book demonstrated that audiences are often times much broader than one initially thinks, and can be far more damaging. Giffin does an excellent job in developing the various parent characters in the book, and how their own upbringing and past experiences surfaced when they were faced with assisting their children in dealing with the after-effects of a compromising picture that went viral. As they say...it takes all kinds to make the world go round, and Giffin certainly did an excellent job of developing her characters in this book.
There were many twists and turns in this book which kept the reader turning the pages ...and guessing along the way. Thank you to Random House Publishing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for my review.

I really liked this book. Emily Giffin is just such a great writer and this was a quick read. The characters were fantastic. The topic is very relevant today and is a great reminder of the ramifications of a decision.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Emily Griffin through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I read this book in a day. I couldn’t put it down, but not because it was amazing, but rather a story that kept you wanting to know what truly happened. This book keeps your guessing. I enjoy Emily Griffin’s writing and I liked how each chapter is a different person but keeping the story moving forward. She filled this book with some characters you are rooting for and others your hate. Overall I rate this book a 4 Out of 5.

Emily Giffin’s book All We Ever Wanted is a can’t put the book down read. This is the first book from Giffin I have read. The plot is remarkably relevant in the era of the #TimesUp movement. I need to know what happened to Lyla, Nina, and Tom. The end felt rushed, but overall believable and satisfying.

Powerful story about parenting through difficult situations. Reminded me of Defending Jacob in terms of themes. Riveting drama.

Very current and relevant subject matter. I thought the book was really good. The reason it did not get 5 stars from me is because I didn't really care for how it all wrapped up in the end. I do recommend it though. It is definitely a good book for discussion.

I love all of Emily Giffin's books, but this is the first time I have ever rated one of her novels four stars. This is only because of the disappointing and unrealistic ending. I don't want to do spoilers so I can't be more specific, so I will just say that the ending left me disappointed and cold. I think she could have done a far better ending with a minimum of thought,

4.5/5 stars

Although I have read other books by Emily Giffin, this one seemed to have a more serious tone. It touches on very current issues such as sexting and race issues. I was left guessing through much of the book as to who had taken the photo in question and how they would or wouldn't be held responsible. I enjoyed all of the characters, but my two favorites were definitely Nina and Lyla. I could have done without the epilogue, but it did seem to tie the story up with a neat little bow.

In full disclosure, I did receive a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinions and review.

This is such a powerful and important book and I encourage everyone to read it. With the rise of teenage anxiety, depression, and self-harm and suicide that is happening today as a result of social media shaming and cyber bullying, it is so vital for these topics to be presented, shared, and discussed. Education, awareness, and intervention on these topics are crucial and I think this novel is a creative way to reach out to the readers and share the negative effects that social media has on teens.

Emily Griffin did a phenomenal job at capturing the emotions and turmoil of Lyla, who is a teenage girl experiencing the already confusing teenage years, and is now also struggling with the after effects of a night gone wrong.

The story is told not only from Lyla’s point of view, but also her father’s, and the mother of the boy who allegedly sent the inappropriate photo with a racist comment on it. It was easy to bounce between the characters and I feel that each of their emotions, opinions, and actions played key parts to the story.

This book truly did resonate with me and I highly recommend it. I love books about families, psychological and sociological issues, and also the coming-of-age transition, and this book encompasses each of these topics extensively. Though the topics are intense, it is an easy enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for this advance reader copy! Publishing date - June 26, 2018.

A great book that brings attention to a lot of current issues, most involving teens. I think this would be a good book for someone who has teenagers to read, because I think a lot of parents don’t know what’s really going on with their child.

I had a really tough time following this story. I did not connect with the characters or the story line for that matter. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this book for my honest review.

I have read Emily Giffin's books before, but this was like Emily Giffin on steroids. This story was deep and complex, and really kept me intrigued the entire time. I even found myself thinking about the outcome while I wasn't reading the book.

I think we see one of the main characters, Nina, go through a pretty big transformation throughout the book. In the beginning, it's like she's become so accustomed to being "high society", that she has taken on a lot of that attitude in her life. She tended to try to convince herself that she wasn't like those people. However, she would share beliefs similar to theirs, and always find a way to justify why HER reasoning was different and made more sense than theirs. It was almost her way to excuse herself for having thoughts or beliefs that others would find reprehensible. But after the incident occurs, you can see that start to shift. She stops making justifications for the similarity in beliefs that she shares with wealthy, entitled people. She tends to stick more to her core values, and doesn't make excuses for the bad choices that her family makes either.

I loved that the story was told in multiple points of view. While that can get confusing sometimes, I felt like there was enough character development and distinctness of voice that it was very easy to follow. There definitely would have been times that we wouldn't have gotten the entire story if this was told from just one person's POV.

I will definitely read more works by Emily Giffin in the future. While I still find this to be chic lit, it was refreshing to read something that really made you think and made you wonder what you would do if you found yourself in those circumstances.

This is a powerful and compelling drama and based on a current hot topic – consent. I enjoy reading a story with varying POVs which help to move the story forward and learn more about each character.

Lyla has been raised by her father and was fortunate enough to win a scholarship to a prestigious private school in Nashville. Lyla makes a poor decision to drink and thus begins the story with a picture with a racist comment that’s shared among several people. The school’s headmaster wants the honor policy enforced, which covers a wide array of actions, on and off campus. Nina and Kirk are the parents of Finch, who is accused of taking the photo and sharing it. Since he’s very popular, it makes things more difficult for Lyla.

Nina and Kirk are at odds with Nina believing that Finch should accept the consequences while Kirk thinks that his son is a good kid, shouldn’t have one instance have a serious effect on his life and college, and thinks he can just throw money at the problem. The more I learned about Kirk, I was not impressed as he thought his money made him better than anyone.

As the story progresses, Nina is left wondering how her life got to be so materialistic and did she fail her son? The children don’t want to disappoint their parents so some very important facts were not shared, which could have changed the outcome of this story and there were some tragic events.

The issue of consent comes up for several characters along with other criminal acts. Nina attempts to talk to Finch about honor and integrity and yet she lets him shut her out. Finch also has his father on his side so Nina begins to fight both for the truth.

It was difficult to like most of the characters at the beginning of the story with affluence, ‘class’ disparities, teens who don’t think many things are that important and want what they want, and the parenting styles. I ended up enjoying Lyla’s character the most but also Nina and Tom.

The ending was heartbreaking in many ways and yet some good came out of the whole ordeal, although I wish there had been more consequences. This was a thought provoking story and one that is seen often in the news with varying outcomes. I was left wanting just a little bit more information between the event, hearing and then almost ten years later. It seems that Karma took care of one character, which I was happy to read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this early copy.

A quick read with a mixed message.
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin is one of those books that I am really not sure what to think about. Compulsively readable, but with characters that are truly despicable, and only a handful of characters that are kind and good, I really struggled with the characters and their choices here.
Told in alternating POV chapters between high school age Lyla, Lyla’s father, Tom, and Nina, the mother of high school senior Finch. Finch takes a risqué photo of Lyla, captions it with a racist caption (Lyla is Brazilian), and sends it around to his friends. As Finch has just been accepted into Princeton, the photograph has serious repercussions for Finch’s future (not to mention Lyla’s).
Oof. Where to start. So much of this book is about privilege and money, and that just really irritated me. Turns out I don’t care for contemporary fiction that has rich people acting like jerks, especially when those characters never make any positive changes or ever get their comeuppance. Many of the characters here were just absolutely awful, and I really had trouble with a lot of the scenes. Why is attending an exclusive, wealthy school worth all of the drama? Why are people just so darn mean to each other? I never got a satisfactory answer or solution in this read, and I think that was part of my frustration with All We Ever Wanted.
In terms of our main characters, they were all three the most likeable of the bunch, although Lyla’s father, Tom, slightly irritated me with his constant chip-on-the-shoulder towards the wealthy that he had. He was sending Lyla to a fancy private school! Who did she think she’d end up being friends with and dating? He also had some anger issues that bothered me, and I didn’t feel he was as nice a person as the author was trying to portray him. I also am not so sure that his POV was necessary. Our main female characters, Lyla and Nina, were both interesting POVs. I liked Nina’s POV more than Lyla’s, just because Lyla’s own reaction to the photo and her decisions in the book felt a bit forced for the story. Nina felt more real, as she goes through the struggle of parenting, her marriage, and her wealth. I could feel Nina’s emotion throughout the book, and her desire to do the right thing.
This book kept me thinking about all of the different issues it brings up, and this would make a good book club read as I doubt anyone could read this and not have a strong opinion on the characters, the plot and choices made, and the issues involved. This book kept me entertained, but it certainly made me angry as well. I can’t say what I absolutely disliked about the book without spoiling it, but I’m sure that this read would make for some spirited book club discussions!

Bottom Line: A fast read that would make for some good discussion!

Having recently been to Nashville, including a home in Belle Meade, I enjoyed the local references. All We Ever Wanted fictionalizes a story I recall from the headlines. While it has falls into political and socio-economic stereotypes, I nonetheless enjoyed the story. It broached current topics like the Snapchat/sexting culture: "kids take photos like that all the time. Of themselves, of each other." My favorite observation: "Minigolf... is a metaphor for life. ... Do you take it seriously? Too seriously? Do you enjoy it? Do you keep careful score? Do you get upset when you lose? Do you cheat? And if you do cheat, how do you react when you're busted? Are you sheepish? Sorry? Do you do it again?"

Thanks to NetGalley/Random House-Ballantine for providing me with the ARC of this book for an honest review.

Wow. I love Emily Giffin’s novels and had high expectations for this one too. It was even better than I imagined it would be. The topics addressed in this book are so important and relevant to today’s society. The book addresses the fallout of compromising pictures of a girl being distributed to everyone in her school and how that action causes ripples through multiple people’s lives. It’s about families coming together or falling apart in the aftermath, finding out who their friends really are, and so much more.

The author was able to give separate and distinct voices to every character and this is what sets her apart from others. The way she wrote about Nina’s struggles to find the truth, help her son, and get back to being the person she was before she had money or the way she wrote about a father trying to fight for his daughter so that she would understand that she’s worth so much more was so moving. Even the secondary characters were so wonderful. I really loved Bonnie. The author makes you feel like you are right there with these characters. I wanted to follow these characters through the rest of their lives and not just this moment in time.

As someone who lives in Nashville, the book also did an incredible job of highlighting the city and some of cultural and socioeconomic divides that are present. This book has so many layers and themes that it will resonate with any reader. I highly recommend it!

Outstanding honest portrayal of an issue that can happen to anyone , anytime no matter the Social status, Rather it was a bad joke , harmful intent to hurt someone, or just plain bad judgment , the issue at hand portrayed in this story has happened ..The three characters describing the after affects are point on , the reader feels what the characters are going through, open the readers eyes to a issue that had gone viral in the story and could very well happen in real life / real time .The reader has time to think about the issue and how they would react to it , what would they do if they were in this situation .I love this author and how she gets to the heart of the matter , great read , page turner , good storyline that everyone should be aware of , this could really happen .

I have enjoyed every one of Emily Giffin’s novels, and this one was no exception. However, the content of the book was a bit different from her norm as it dove into deeper issues so prevalent in today’s world of social media and the “me too” movement. “All We Ever Wanted” is a powerful novel extremely relevant to today’s issues, and a must-read for all!