Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard
Published by Harper Collins October 11th 2011
352 Pages
Reviewed from ARC provided by the publisher
Summary
How do you choose between your family and your history?
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...
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...
The book has a lot of things going for it. Strong character development and an interesting storyline, and I had to finish it to find out what happened. I just wasn't able to connect with the characters. I felt apathetic to their lives and problems. The one character I cared about was Scott, I wanted to know the role he played (if any) in the boys death. I wanted things to work out for him. When I think more about it I wanted life to work out for Joanna too. I really wanted to love this one, and there were moments when I thought the pace would pick up but overall it fell flat for me.
I also really liked Joanna. She was by far my favourite character.
ReplyDeleteI liked Scott but I think he could have been explored more. I just didn't feel like I really got to know him