Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard: A Review

Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard

When Was It Released?:  
11th October 2011
Where Did I Get It From?:
From the publishers for review. 
Who Published It?:
 Harper Collins
Number Of Pages:
352pages

Now, before I begin, I have a confession to make. It's a confession that may shock some of you. I have to admit that before reading Everything We Ever Wanted I had never read a Sara Shepard novel. Before you all start throwing things at me, I promise that I will be reading her others novels, especially her Pretty Little Liars series. So, therefore as soon as I had the opportunity to review Everything We Ever Wanted I jumped at the chance. After all I just had to see for myself the reasons why everyone is so in love with her novels.

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.

The first half of Everything We Ever Wanted was very slow moving in terms of plot, as not a lot seems to happen. This part of the book seems to focus more on the characters themselves than what is happening within the story. I found this meant it was a little difficult to get into the novel to begin with. In the second part of the novel the pace does move a little quicker with changes happening within each of the characters lives. While the pace is relatively slow, I did find the writing to be beautiful. The descriptions really brought the story to life and the writing really made me want to read more.

The characters within Everything We Ever Wanted experience a wide range of emotions that as a reader I was swept along with and able to feel with each character. Sylvie, Joanna, Charles and Scott are each going through inner turmoil for different reasons, and this added real depth to each character. While I did want to find out what happened to each characters life I did think that it was very difficult to relate to and actually like any of the characters. Sylvie in particular seemed a little cold and self centered at times, which lead me to dislike her until late on in the novel. I did enjoy the way Sara Shepard is able to dig into the depths of each character and really get into how everyone deals with their roles as, mother, wife, son etc.

Overall I did enjoy Everything We Ever Wanted finding the book to be brutally honest, emotional and beautifully written. While the novel is more of a look at the characters themselves than having much of a plot it was still very entertaining. I would recommend you try this novel if you enjoy Sara Shepard's previous novels. I still cannot wait to try Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars series.