Heart-wrenching and highly emotive. Amanda draws you in, I spent many nights with tears in my eyes. I'm sure there are many women (and men!) who can relate to the multiple sensitive subjects, this book covers, and have been very thoughtfully written about.
Well done Amanda! Another 5* read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book.

I've been reading a lot of women's fiction lately and from the description, this book seemed like something that I would love. While there were definitely moments that I really enjoyed and was engaged, I mostly found the storyline slow. I didn't really connect with the characters or find them very likeable. I didn't dislike them, I just didn't particularly like them either.

This book deals with a difficult subject matter, and I'm glad I read it, but I probably won't reread or recommend to friends.

My score is closer to 2.5 stars as while I didn’t find the story interesting it was well-written. I didn't identify with any of the characters and thought they were quite quite unoriginal.

Forty year old Lucy is newly married to Jonah and would desperately like to be a mother. She has a high flying career but hopes to be able to juggle that with motherhood. However she doesn't seem to be getting the chance as she struggles with miscarriages. This is basically the plot for the first half alongside Lucy knitting a lot of baby clothes despite only being a few weeks pregnant. Things get slightly more interesting with the arrival from France of Camille, the step-daughter. The plot then descends into clichéd teenage spats with her perceived ‘wicked’ step-mother. This rather irritated me as most teenagers I know, including my own, have been nice people and I find books and media articles who portray them otherwise quite unfair and annoying.

When I saw this sitting on my shelf, it took me a few days to decide if I wanted to read this or not. This is not something that I usually read. However, once I started, I could not put it down. The story felt real! I felt every emotion...I cried and I laughed. You could easily Imagine this being you or any other woman in your life. A great read!

Lucy has been desperate to get married and have children. One dream becomes reality when she marries the handsome Jonah Carpenter whom she meets at a friends baby's Christening. Her second dream proves more difficult and there are some heartbreaking and poignant descriptions as events unfold. Unexpectedly Camille, Lucy's stepdaughter comes to stay and there are some well observed pieces of narrative as their relationship evolves. The book touches on some sensitive topics and I found myself hoping that all would go well for Lucy. Indeed in some ways it does but not necessarily how you would anticipate things would turn out. There is also a back story woven in to the main story which adds another perspective. Overall this is an emotional and well written read.

A really lovely book which has you rooting for the characters throughout and hoping for a happy ending for all.
It lost it a bit towards the end for me but it was still an enjoyable read with a satisfying conclusion.

This was the first book of Amanda Prowse's that I'd read and I enjoyed it very much. I thought she wrote in a contemporary, cozy style about issues of fertility, step-parenting, being a career woman and the insecurities we all face. I would be interested in reading other novels by this author.

This book was heartbreaking and yet so positive at the same time.
The story flowed and it was so well written I felt like I knew Lucy personally and felt real sympathy at the roller coaster of emotions she was dealing with.

Amanda Prowse dealt with the sensitive issue of miscarriage very delicately, almost beautifully and though I've never experienced this tragic event, I lived through it with Lucy.
There was only one tiny detail that annoyed me, possibly a factual error, when someone said in the book that they were having a boy when they were only thirteen weeks pregnant, I've had three children and was never told their gender until around week 20.

A small issue though and it didn't stop me reading the novel in just over a day.
Highly recommend.

This one hit home for me as I am turning 40 this year. A great book that entertained me thoroughly

A moving and evocative tale that follows Lucy through her anguish of lost pregnancies and her struggle to come to terms with her past. The strain on her marriage is compounded by her difficulty in being open about her feelings whilst Jonah her husband has distractions of his own. It is easy to feel Lucy's agony throughout the novel as she eventually comes to terms with her life.

The Idea of You, Amanda Prowse

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  General Fiction, Women's Fiction.

I'm a late addition to the Amanda Prowse fan-club, having only seen her works recently. This is my third read of her work. 
I put off reading this for a while, not because it didn't interest me but because from the last two I've read I was pretty sure it was going to be a solid read, one which absorbed my full attention and really tested my emotions. I have to be in the mood for that.

I'm a romance reader primarily - of all types - but so many of those are a little light and fluffy, fine if that's what you're in the mood for, but sometimes I want something deeper, a novel that really intrigues me, makes me think, makes me wonder what I would do if I was the main character. Amanda's books, at least the three I've read, are just perfect for those times. 

Its a very emotional read, great characters and in Lucy there's a part of so many women today. We have the choice now about motherhood, when to become a mum, or not to have children at all if that's our choice. 

For people like Lucy a husband goes along with this dream of motherhood. Some in her position go the single parent route, via a friend, an anonymous hook-up, or the medically safer route of IVF. Lucy wants the whole ten yards, the husband, the baby, the family home the traditional family unit.
She's getting older though, as friends and colleagues keep reminding her, time is growing close. Why do people do that? Assume everyone wants to be a mum, not knowing if its choice or circumstances that are stopping them? If its the latter then every reminder must touch at their heart, really hurt. 
Men don't get that, their peers never say "C'mon mate, those swimmers are shriveling fast. Clock's ticking for Dad of the Decade". They don't get frequent reminders of time passing, chances being missed and yet many are in Lucy's position, want to be fathers but circumstances haven't brought it their way. 
And then just when all looks promising it all falls down, and down and down. Poor Lucy, it was like one heartbreak after another. 

The character portrayals here were perfect. Lucy, I could feel her emotions, her longing to make her mum proud, and of course her dad, though he's been dead many years.
She keeps her longing for a family to herself, and gets kind of written off as one of those cold, career women, eternal auntie. Again, men never get judged in this way....
We feel throughout that she's carrying some deep anguish, that she has secrets, and wow when they come out, its like a toppling of a card house, everything falls apart just when the family need to pull together. 

Jonah was a lovely man, adored "my Lucy" - I love the way he calls her that, in that warm voice full of love. I can hear it in my head. 
He's so deeply in love, so happy that he has a second chance at marriage after the disaster that his first one was. It gave him Camille though, who's 16 now, and just as he and Lucy look set for the future they want after some setbacks, she arrives to stay for the summer.

Camille, a perfect portrayal of a mixed up teen, and most of them are just that. Its a time when everything seems to be wonderful or disastrous, its all highest highs and deepest lows. There's little happy medium, teens just career along, carried on their emotions and as for teen love...its intense. Often fades, leaving one party feeling heartbroken, til the next partner comes along but can win through. I met my husband at 16, he was 21, we married when I was 18 and had 40 happy years until he died. 
Camille felt so real, had a teen daughter myself and of course I can recall my own teen years. She seems to be dismissive of Lucy, she's cleverly manipulative in the way she acts, and tells Lucy how wonderful her mum is, her friends are, how absorbing and interesting life in France is. 
Lucy looks back to her own teen years, where her father had just died and she wasn't like Camille, didn't have her confidence, and did exactly as she was told. 

Teens seem to be so much more mature these days, Like Lucy I can recall being expected to obey adults without question, to not talk back, to be respectful even if they or what they wanted may not have deserved it. At 16 I was in many ways quite young for my age, though very determined to stick to and for my love.  In contrast Camille feels like 16 going on 26, and yet underneath is there a different girl?

Its a fabulous book, full of circumstances found in many families, and part of it is so relevant to my own experience.
I know exactly how Lucy felt, been there though a little different ending for me. Its a heartbreaking read at times, I had such tears for her, her anguish and wish for what so many people take for granted. Tears for Jonah too, he loved Lucy, was so happy at his second chance at marriage but it wasn't all plain sailing. 

Of course what I always want is a HEA, not for me books that end in doom and gloom, real life has enough of that and this book delivers a perfect ending. Not perhaps the one I'd expected, the predicable, easy route but one that's far more realistic while still giving me some smiles, and making me think all that they went through was worth it. 

Stars: five, a fabulous read, so very real feeling, with characters I could see and hear in my head, that made me very emotional for them.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

This was an emotional and empowering novel. Lucy has climbed the corporate ladder yet she feels she is missing something every important in her life. While others envy her, Lucy yearns for the lives of her peers, she longs to be sleep deprived because her child kept her up all night or to come to work late because her child was having a bad morning. As she sneaks again into the bathroom with a pregnancy test, I hoped that the results this time would bring the couple the baby they so desperately wanted.

When Camille arrives for the summer, Lucy has mixed emotions how she will fit into the mix. Jonah hasn’t seen his daughter for quite some time and now that she’s a teen, she’s become a different person. The apartment explodes as the three of them try to find their footing. Lucy wants to be a friend to Camille yet she is her stepmother and what exactly does that mean and then we have Camille behavior, which she can change in an instant. I liked listening to them and reading about them, these two women seemed to be fighting for space but what was really going on between them? The father, Camille adores him and he enjoys the attention that he gets from her. He doesn’t feel he is picking sides when things get heated between the three of them but the others in the household feel differently. The couple desperately wanted to have a child yet this goal seems to fall into the hands of Lucy when Camille arrives. I could feel how lonely and isolated she felt as she battled this alone while her husband was on stage being a hero for Camille. Camille finds a summer job where she meets Dex. He seems like a nice guy who has his life planned out, a guy who will go far and Camille falls hard for him. Dex is a game changer for this household, as he stretches this family to great lengths and the truth finally is revealed. What a terrific ending, I didn’t see that coming and loved how it all played out. There were such a variety of emotions for all the characters in this novel, I loved how they shifted around. I enjoyed this novel as it dealt with family, relationships, secrets, and first love.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest opinion.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book had powerful moments that shook me to the core. The main character is unable to conceive a child and has miscarriages, something I have never experienced. Her desire to have a child really touched me. The book was very good, got a little long in the middle, but overall was a good solid read.

Just finished this beautifully written heartfelt story of love, loss, tenacity and redemption. The author has brilliantly brought to life this family dealing with several life altering events and decisions. I love that none of the plot lines were over dramatized, nor over simplified. I was slightly concerned that the author may go off the rails on one story line, but it was not so, and each event was woven together perfectly. I could not put the book down! I also loved how refreshing it is to read a book that can tell a story of sometimes hard things without a mini lecture being inserted. A great read and highly recommend!

I have heard so many wonderful things about Amanda’s work, but The Idea of You is the first book I have read by her, and I promise you this – it will not be my last! Wow!! What a heart wrenching, emotional, beautiful book this is.

Exploring the struggle to conceive and have a child is something that affects so many people each and every day, and one that whilst we empathise, we have little understanding of how it must feel unless we have been through it. Miscarriage or the inability to conceive is often given the ‘aww’ sympathy reaction but not thought of as a catastrophic loss, which it can be.

The Idea of You explores the impact that this can have both on Lucy personally, but also on the relationship between her and Jonah. That overwhelming urge to be able to carry a baby and become a parent, the secrecy and feeling of failure that you keep from others.

It is further complicated that Jonah already has a teenage daughter Camille who doesn’t make things easy for Lucy, despite her best efforts to make Camille feel welcome. Can they overcome this, especially as Lucy’s urge for motherhood becomes stronger and Camille’s rebellion becomes harder?

This is such a moving book and written with such depth and well developed characters it felt very precious and as I was reading it I could feel my mannerism becoming soft and protective, and I wanted to nurture and honour it. I think this is because Amanda has produced a book so full of reality and realism that it felt like I could be reading someone’s true story and it deserved respect and understanding.

Thank you Amanda for writing a book which will only increase understanding and empathy for the people who have been in this situation, and for writing a book with characters that as a reader I came to care about. They will stay with me in time to come.

The Idea of You is a powerful, emotional read. I liked it, but didn't love it, because I don't think I am quite the right intended audience for this book even though I am in the same age range as Lucy, our heroine. Lucy is a successful 39 year old woman who is yearning for a baby, and a man, to fulfill her financially successful life. She meets Jonah at a coworker's wedding and they have a whirlwind courtship, and a few months later, marry quietly. A year later, they are expecting their first child together, but it's here where everything falls apart. As Lucy and Jonah deal with loss, Jonah's teenaged daughter comes to live with them and their marriage is tried and tested, as Lucy and Jonah both have a hard time getting along with his bratty daughter.

With each loss that Lucy and Jonah suffer, their marriage is further tested. When something huge happens (no spoilers here, though), their marriage is put even further to the test. I like how Lucy dealt with this huge surprise, and it's here where her character shines. It's also here where Jonah's character shows his faults. His reaction was a huge disappointment to me. I was expecting so much more from him, and when he let Lucy down with his extreme, rather immature and even malicious, reaction, I wanted to junk punch him. I can't imagine going through what Lucy was going through, had gone through in her past, and I wanted Jonah to be there for her the way he had been throughout their ordeal earlier in their marriage. When he wasn't there for her, I honestly expected their marriage to end.

Thank God they both pulled themselves up, showed their age and maturity level, and were there for each other and their family. I like the ending, it's all very sweet, and Lucy realizes that she finally is happy and fulfilled. She may not have gotten everything she wanted, but she did the best with what she did have.

I wish I were the right audience for The Idea of You, because if so, I think I would have loved it. As it stands, though, some of what I think Amanda Prowse was aiming for didn't resonate with me. I don't have children, although I am like a second mom to my niece and nephew, who were born when I was a teenager and whom I helped raise, and I have never suffered the losses that Lucy suffered. So I didn't completely appreciate some parts of this book that I think others who have been in Lucy's shoes would appreciate. Yet, I can give this a good review because it's well written, very emotional, and many of the characters develop quite a lot.

The Idea of you by Amanda is a heart breaking 5 star read.
Lucy is nearing 40 and all she wants is a baby,meeting Jonah at a Christening and after a whirlwind romance they get married,their love is one of a kind and they try for a baby but heart breaking miscarriage after miscarriage starts to make cracks in their relationship. Jonah's teenage daughter, Camille, from a previous marriage comes to live with them and Lucy starts to feel left out but when Camille falls pregnant and a long kept secret comes out,Lucy and Jonah must find a way back to each other and the love they shared. This was a wonderfully written book that tears your heart open but does have a happy ending.

This one wasn't for me. I couldn't get into the writing or the characters, who all seemed very one-dimensional.

This was OK. A predictable tale of a woman who unfortunately has a series of miscarriages and her attempts to get to know here husbands daughter. The characters were quite engages, and there were moments when I need to know what happened. It did keep my interest, but is not something I would ever buy for myself or give to friends

I did not enjoy this book. I felt like I could not connect with any of the characters. Maybe since I had my children young, I just cannot imagine wanting a baby and not having your life together at the age of 40. Even though I did empathize with the main character, Lucy, I just couldn't get on board with this story line and her emotions. Kind of depressing/annoying.