Definitely different than anything else she’s done. And that’s great. I went into this expecting a cheating husband romance type thing. Nope. This is real, and raw, and current.

All We Ever Wanted is all we’ve come to expect from bestselling author Emily Giffin: an engaging, effortless, readable story that is deceptively likeable and painfully shallow. Giffin asks nothing from readers but a few moments of their time, and in exchange delivers high-gloss low-payoff novels that showcase entitlement and moral ambivalence disguised as depth. By now, her pattern is set, but this time, the stakes are higher.

--It could happen anywhere--

All We Ever Wanted is a domestic drama about the upheaval that occurs when the 18-year-old son of a wealthy and prominent Nashville couple posts a questionable photo of an underage girl, launching reverberations that upend the family’s smug existence and that of friends and relations as well. The premise is compelling. The execution leaves Giffin’s position unclear.

--Like us, only better--

Giffin’s bread and butter characters are what you might call beautiful people with first world problems. The first world is my address, so I’m game for domestic drama of the white privileged set. Heck, some of my best friends are wealthy Caucasians with country club memberships….

The problem is that Giffin wants to write her characters two ways, and it leads her nowhere. She seeks to explore the pitfalls of privilege, yet she absolves her heroines of mistakes and casts them as well-intended victims who are really good people, honest, if you just look behind the Chanel handbag and Mercedes SUV.

--Meet the mom--

When we meet her, the main character, Nina, has ridden high for two decades on the wealth and cache of her husband’s success. She is a walking fashion plate whose fondest expressions come not for her husband or son, but for the custom-made furnishings and designer clothes that her lifestyle affords her.

And good for her. That’s all fine. Bully for Nina, no one is judging. She married a wealthy guy, kept herself thin and pretty, it’s her life to enjoy fabric swatches and poached salmon lunches if she so pleases. But when Nina awakens from her comfortable reverie, she notices that her spoiled son and rich husband have bloomed into a degree of arrogant snobbery that appalls her. She spends the rest of the book castigating, criticizing, and rejecting them.

What she does not do is mother her son. She barely misses a Starbucks, but in the time it takes her to vilify her boy and drift out of his maternal reach, she never once grabs the scruff of his obnoxious neck to launch the tush-kicking that his behavior demands. Indeed, her son is facing dire consequences, either with severe punishment or life as an asshole. Moms step in; Nina steps out.

--Holding out for a hero--

The unsettling part is that, in Giffin world, Nina is the hero. Nina is the character with the moral authority. This woman whose choices have contributed to, if not created, the situation in which the family finds themselves, bails on them and casts herself as an innocent victimized bystander. She benefitted from every lackadaisically rich moment that led to the current problems, but neither she, nor the book, turn the camera on her and say, “Hey, lady, you know this happened on your watch, right?” Instead, her self-involvement and shirking are supposed to signal heroics and some sort of feministic coming of age.

They do no such thing, and this is Giffin’s authorial failing. She is a powerful storyteller with a weak moral compass for her characters. Her stories build a compelling, if cliched, setup, but she is neither honest nor complete when it comes time to dole out denouement and judgment. Perhaps Giffin loves her characters too much to make them fully flawed people; perhaps she is writing too much of her own personal conflicts between success and the desire to be perceived as good. Whatever drives her pen, it should know and demand more of stories and her characters. Hold them accountable, don’t make them so innocent. Let them come to it honestly.

--Right neighborhood, wrong book--

Giffin is right on one score: there are stories to tell here. The vulnerability of privileged suburban American life to sudden and shocking fragmentation is fertile ground for writers with the guts to write authentic characters and ambiguous conflicts. Two staggering, must-read novels, This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman, and The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian, delve into the split-second missteps and external forces that can disrupt and forever alter a modern family’s domestic tranquility.

In contrast, All We Ever Wanted is a minor entry in the genre. For Giffin fans, who appreciate the escapism of her breezy, readable style, this is another easy sell and quick read. For readers looking below the glossy surface, seeking the painful yet redemptive truths that quality fiction can offer, this one will leave you wanting.

I remember when I read Emily Giffin’s first book and I just couldn’t get enough of her writing so I eagerly read the second and was not disappointed!  Emily has gone on to write many novels and her latest is called All We Ever Wanted.

Here’s what you need to know:

Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she’s strayed from the person she once was.

Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school.

Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn’t always fit in—and her overprotective father doesn’t help—but in most ways, she’s a typical teenaged girl, happy and thriving. Then, one photograph, napped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.

At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together—all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.

I am so excited to read this new book, it sounds like a novel that will be hard to put down!

In true Emily Giffin style, this book pulls you in and brings you right into the middle of relationships and personal situations. Giffin developed the characters expertly, and I felt connected to them (mostly Nina and Lyla). They seemed real with real life situations and problems.

The story was also great. Mostly chick-lit, but it was deeper than that. There are themes of women empowerment as well relevant women issues relating to the "Me Too" movement. My only issue was that some of the dialogue was cheesy, but a great and interesting story overall!

Growing up and living in Nashville most of my life, I appreciated all of the call-outs to different spots and areas around town. It especially helped my ability to picture everything, and knowing a lot of about Belle Meade helped me understand exactly who these characters were. It felt like a real story. However, I did feel like it tried too hard sometimes, but I appreciated the love of Nashville that shined through!

*Thank you to Netgalley, Random House, and Ballantine for the ARC, for which I have given an honest and unbiased review*

Thought provoking and timely, given the current #MeToo climate. A family saga that lets you into the lives of those impacted by the decisions of teenagers and how those actions have widespread consequences. This book is very different from any of Giffin's prior books, but important nonetheless. If you are expecting the romance you usually find, this won't be where you will find it, but what you will find is a powerful story about a community and family and a true reminder that all actions have lingering consequences, all while told in Giffin's signature prose.

I received an advance copy. All opinions are my own.

Another awesome read by Emily Giffin.  She writes about bullying/shaming young women and the repercussions as well as elitism and raising children to grow up to be good people, while delivering a story that so many will be able to relate to in one way or another.  I couldn't put this one down!

This book is one of her best. Captivated me from the very first page and I didn’t want to stop reading. Her characters are very well developed. Definitely recommending this book to my book club.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
This is one of those books that you can't put down until you get to the last page.  One of those books that you just devour. 
It Is about love and family and about how sometimes you have to stand up for the things you believe in even if it costs you the people you love. Sometimes the people you love aren't the people you thought they were. 
After reading a lot of dud books recently, I finally found a winner.

Nina and her husband are well off. Living the high life after he sells off a tech company. Their son Finch has been accepted into Princeton. Life is perfect until one night at a party there is a photo that is sent of a girl in a compromising position. Was it her son Finch that did this?  As the story spirals Nina finds herself realizing that money is not always everything. Nina finds herself reflecting back to a traumatic event in her college days as she tries to figure out what happened.  I was not able to put the book down until I finished it. Once again Emily Giffin kept me in suspense and had me glued until the end.

Teenagers can make some awful decisions. That's just a fact. When Nina's son is accused of doing something to another student she has to decide whether or not to stand behind her son and do anything she can to try and protect his future, or to do what she knows is right. 

I really enjoyed this new book by Emily Giffin. I loved the characters, and the subject matter. This book left me wanting more. I wanted the epilogue to go on for about two hundred more pages. Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read an early copy of this book.

Quick read from Giffin that doesn't disappoint.  Book clubs & fans of women's fiction will enjoy.

Thanks to Random House/Ballantine for the ARC of this novel via Netgalley.  I am a huge Emily Giffin fan and have read all of her books, but this is quite the departure from a "Something Borrowed" type novel that she has written in the past.  That being said, this novel is really timely and I loved digging into the subject matter.  Finch, a white, extremely upper class senior snaps an inappropriate photo at a party and it goes viral.  Finch's mom Nina, who was not raised with a silver spoon, goes through the full range of emotions:  from disbelief, to denial, anger and certainly at its core, disillusion about who is this child that she has raised.  While examining their parenting skills it also draws attention to Nina's marriage and lifestyle, forcing her to examine just what this life of privilege has bought her and her family.  I don't want to give any spoilers by talking much about the other characters, not because they aren't a huge part of the story-because they are, I just felt that the most compelling view in this story was Nina's.  I think this will make a great book club selection, sure to bring about thought-provoking discussion.

I really enjoyed this book, told from the POVs of three of the main characters. When an inappropriate picture is shared of Lyla, the daughter of a blue collar single dad who is on scholarship at prestigious Windsor Academy, it sets in motion a chain of events that affect her dad, Tom, Finch (the boy that shared the picture) and his mother, Nina (among others). It remains to be seen throughout the book if Finch's wealth and privilege will get him off the hook or if he is even the one responsible after all. 

This book is a little heavier than Giffin's traditional chick lit books, dealing with social media abuse, sexual assault, privilege and what it allows those that have it to get away with, and bullying. It really makes you consider how a lapse of judgement can change so many lives in such devastating ways. Could be a great book club pick!

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I love Emily Giffin and she did not disappoint with All We Ever Wanted. First, I adore Nashville so already the setting won me over. The subject matter  - a teenager snaps an inappropriate photo of another teen and it gets around - is so topical and I thought Giffin did a good job with the he said/she said and why it's important to speak up no matter how embarrassing. Although Lyla was super annoying (begging her dad to trust her when every single action to that point had been her lying to her dad), the reader could still sympathize. And you know there are definitely people like Kirk and Finch in this world and I glad Giffin had Nina take a stand. I loved this book! Bonus points for the gorgeous cover. 

Thanks to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars -- I am not one of those women who automatically love Emily Giffin books. Sometimes I don't love her writing style, sometimes I don't prefer her plots, but sometimes I do. I definitely like her enough to give her books a chance but based on the description I really had no clue if I would like this book or not. I really surprisingly loved this book a lot. I say surprisingly because it's hard for me to describe WHY I liked this book in words. I'll attempt...  I loved Nina. I was rooting for her during the whole book and she had me on her side. This book is VERY relevant with the current #metoo movement without being too in your face. The feminist side of me liked the subtle but strong message. I loved that this book felt so real, like I was watching someone's life instead of a made up story by the author. The decisions that Nina made throughout her life seemed SO real to me. I tend to like multi-POV books because I feel it gives you a more in depth understanding of what the characters are thinking and I think it was done well in this book. This was one of the books by Giffin that I enjoyed her writing style.

Now if you ask me if I think all of my friends would give it 4.5 stars I would tell you probably not. It's not a light story and it may not touch others the way it touched me. Parts can be frustrating or disturbing, which I felt added to the "realness" of the story but others may find it less appealing. However, if you like Giffin books or well written women's lit books I would recommend giving this one a try.

Emily Giffin has been one of my favorite authors since Something Borrowed. It’s been a while since she’s had a new book so I’ve been following her writing progression on Instagram. I was overly excited when Netgalley approved my request to read the book before it officially came out. All We Ever Wanted is full of real characters who struggle to determine who they want to be and if the life they chose represents who they actually are. Emily, as she always does, doesn’t give you any indication that huge plot points are only a few pages away. Nina is the wife of a tech tycoon whose sense of entitlement is sickening. She quickly realizes that her Princeton bound son is following in her father’s footsteps. Nina must decide if she’s going to allow her son to get away with sending inappropriate pictures of Lyla, the young girl on scholarship, or fight to save her son from himself

All We Ever Wanted just joined my top 5 Emily Giffin books list! This book was FANTASTIC. I felt all the feels during it. Giffin knows how to write words that pull you in over and over again. 

I LOVED that the book was multiple POVs and that their stories all intertwine together. 

Definitely a lot deeper than her other books, but still just as good!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to NETGALLEY and RH/BALLANTINE BOOKS for the ARC!!!!  This book was amazing.  The subject, story line and characters were so contemporary and so believable.  As a parent of two high school teenagers and a sophomore in college, I could absolutely see this entire situation easily happening in my own affluent town where a lot of our life is about who has what rather than character and honesty.  I'd like to think that I would be be able to react the same as Nina did in her situation, that my daughters would be like as mature and level-headed as Lyla and my son would never behave like Finch.  But I guess I'll never know for sure.  Anyways, Nina is mom to Finch who makes a really bad decision in sending a revealing photo with a racist comment to his friends of Lyla, an underclassman at their private prep school--and the photo spreads quickly.  The story is told from several points of view including Nina, Finch, Lyla & Lyla's very strong single father Tom.  I thought it was going to be about how Nina and her very privileged husband help Finch by getting him released from any punishment that would jeopardize his bright future.   But it is NOT.  It is about how one mother realizes how her life and family are not based on love, respect, pride, honesty and character but greed and lies.  Also covers how parents so want to much to help their kids in any way possible and how their kids in turn do not want to disappoint them.  Such an amazing story and lesson here for everyone-I was glued to it from page one.  I highly recommend this book!!!  This would be an awesome movie and a great book club read!  Thanks again for the ARC!!!!!

Love this author, and I enjoyed the book immensely. I enjoyed seeing how all of the characters were interconnected as the story unfolded. Very entertaining.

Nina thought she had everything she ever wanted but did she really? When her son uses bad judgment by sending an inappropriate picture  to his friends of a girl passed out at a party that goes viral, causing problems for Finch,  as well as the Lyla, the girl in the picture, she finds that she and her husband do not agree on how to deal with it.  She also begins to question her relationship with her husband and her own life, wondering "where she went". A timely story told in multiple voices that kept me turning the pages as fast as I could. highly recommend.