Everything We Ever Wanted

by Sara Shepard

How do you choose between your family and your history? Emotional and compelling storytelling from Sara Shepard, author of All the Things We Didn’t Say.

A late-night phone call on a Sunday evening rarely brings good news. So when Sylvie, a recently-widowed mother of two, receives a call from the head teacher of the school she's on the board of, she knows it won't be something she wants to hear. The school was founded by her grandfather, and she's inherited everything he strived to build up – a reputation, a heritage, the school and the grand old family house. And with this inheritance comes responsibility.

So when her son Scott is whispered to be involved in a scandal that led to the death of one of the boys he coaches at the school, it throws the family into chaos: Sylvie has to decide between her loyalty to the school that has been part of her family legacy for years and her son who she feels wants nothing to do with her. She starts spying on the dead boy's father, making an unlikely connection.

Sara Shepard's compelling new novel tells how hard it can be to really, truly connect to people, how making quick, easy judgments can come back to haunt you, and how the life you always planned for – and always dreamed of – often doesn't always turn out the way you imagined at all…

• ISBN13: 9780007304493
• Publish Date: 30 September 2010
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 336
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

In Sara Shepard's novel Everything We Ever Wanted there are varying shades of relatable characters that we, as reader's, are introduced to. This may make reading this book a bit uncomfortable at times, but it also helps to enlighten the reader as well. Shepard is a well-rounded seasoned author who has tackled many an issue in previous novels, such as her Pretty Little Liars and The Lying Game series. She is quite versed in penning and seemlessly incoporating the mystery element into her novels, quite flawlessly.

The way in which she writes her characters, is both natural and relatable. Some would argue, almost a bit too relatable but that's when you know an author is doing something right. When they possess the ability to take the their time in cultivating these characters and developing storyline's for them that cause the reader to self-reflect a bit and see shades of themselves in the characters presented. Everything We Ever Wanted may not be everything these character's thought it would be, nor what they necessarily hope for. There's a reason why we're told as children and adults, to be careful what we wish for because it might not be everything that we thought it would be.

In other words, it might not be everything we want.

Shepard manages to tackle the lack of communication in Sylvie's family, in such a way that's so real and honest, something that I personally think hits home more than anything and shows that sometimes when you do have everything, you find that you really don't. All of the monetary status in the world, isn't going to buy you a family that's built on honesty if you can't open up and talk to one another, and Shepard does a fantastic job of illustrating that in this novel. She goes gon to show the reader, that sometimes no matter how much a person tries, things just can't be fixed that easily with money or with words that contain hollow meaning after there's been such a lack of communication.

Everything We Ever Wanted is a mature emotionally written novel, that is sure to leave the reader introspectively examining themselves and their personal or moral values long after turning the last page. The only quibble that I would personally have with the book, would be the pacing. At times, it seemed to move a bit slow. Other than that, it is a wonderfully written and well developed book that is worth any reader's time.