The Idea of You was the story of Lucy Carpenter, a newly married almost 40 year old who wants nothing more than to share in a pregnancy and the birth of their child with her new husband. As she knits little garments, while losing each pregnancy, she wonders if there will ever be a child to wear them. A beautiful story of how love can bring a family together in it's darkest moments.

This book just did not do it for me, unfortunately. I found it melodramatic and never became invested.

Let me start off by rewriting the blurb for this book: 40-year-old Lucy, recently married to successful car salesman Jonah, is upset when her new stepdaughter moves in for the summer, interrupting her desire to conceive a healthy baby after several miscarriages.

By ten percent in, I was bored and wanted to move onto another book. There's a "twist" near to the end of this one that the book builds up to through little asides. I wasn't impressed. I think I was supposed to be more so, but I hadn't realised that there was a mystery, so I was kind of like "oh okay cool."

I honestly just could not with Lucy. She makes me feel like a bad person because I should be sympathetic towards her, but I instead thought that she was melodramatic and selfish, always caring about herself. I can in no way relate to the pain of a miscarriage. But her friend could! And when her friend mentioned that she had had a miscarriage, Lucy's like "I don't care." Ugh.

Camille was the saving grace of this book and the one thing that made reading this not a complete drag. She's a teenager and she's very true to character. Her background ties into the way she acts, and I loved seeing her change around different people. She's melodramatic, too, just like Jonah and Lucy are, but she owns it. She works it. She is it. Lucy and Jonah are pretending to act like adults while secretly being super melodramatic which was boring.

I swear, the author mentioned at least ten times that Jonah likes soft rock and Lucy likes eighties. It was cute the first time. It was cute when Camille then joked about it. It was aggravating the third through tenth times. There were a lot of factors like this (I get it, chicken Kiev is a family joke...), a lot of tropes that were just endless. Poor Lucy, poor Lucy, poor Lucy. I want to see her stand up and appreciate something for once or do something good for the world other than bemoaning her life.

If you've been trying for a child or have considered adoption, this might be for you.
Maybe even if you're a mother you'll have more of a heart or this than I did. If not, then I don't recommend this.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Idea of You is a book with a nice idea, but is lacking a good follow through. I longed for substance and character development. The writing style leaves something to be desired. Had Amanda Prowse geared her novel more toward a Christian Fiction audience it might have been better. At least then the reader would be prepared for the mediocre inspirational writing that genre tends toward.

This story line is very emotional considering the statistics of women who suffer miscarriages. Amanda has written it in a powerful and heart wrenching way that only she can do. Lucy is a very talented woman, just approaching 40 and from the start you know that what she really wants is a baby before her time clock spoils things for her. Very little is referred to her previous 39 years but the reader is informed that not all was well there either in the baby and love stakes. Lucy is a career woman who has made it high up and is respected but she has difficulty watching others bring their newborns into the office to put them on display proudly and has to walk away as though totally disinterested. The reader is also informed of the previous boyfriend who did not want children under any circumstances who has dumped her, then married her cousin Davina and then very proudly they have produced a baby. Oh so traumatic. I found the christening scene a little on the way out side but instant love does happen. Lucy marries Jonah but because of her previous relationship and the fact that she keeps on having miscarriages things are not what she really wanted. Enter Camille, Jonah's 16 year old daughter, who comes to stay with them and puts even more added pressure on to the relationship. The family life with her sister and mother brings even more reality to this whole scenario. All the way through the book I wanted to give her a hug and tell Lucy that it would be alright in the end. I adored the ending as I am a complete and utter softy. Once again Amanda Prowse has shown how much she relates to everyday situations and she tells her stories from the heart.

A sensitive and thought provoking book, covering putting a child up for adoption and miscarriage, not for the feint hearted.
A tough read at times but beautifully handled.

The Idea of You is a poignant story about love, loss and hope.

Lucy Carpenter is a very modern woman. She is highly successful in her line of work — she is both respected and admired. But, Lucy secretly longs for a different life, and as she reaches the grand old age of forty, she evaluates her life and finds it wanting. She wants a husband and a family. And then along comes Jonah. At last, she has found her 'perfect' man, now all she needs to feel complete is a baby. But Lucy's journey to motherhood is a difficult one, and she fears that having a baby of her own may be nothing more than an unreachable dream

The Idea Of You is a poignant look at one woman's journey to conceive and carry a child to full term. For any woman who has suffered a miscarriage this is an emotionally charged read, as Lucy tries to come to terms with her loss.

This is a heartbreaking story, which had me in tears more than once. It is beautifully composed, and all the characters are well-rounded and believable. A wonderful story with a bittersweet conclusion.

I Highly Recommend.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.

This was a truly emotional and heart breaking of a read.

I found it to be a difficult read at times as it was emotional and very intense and quite sad in places. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it.

The author has excelled herself with this amazing story, the characters are so well written and thought out. You really feel for them and what they are going through.

Given the subject matter I really thought I'd struggle with this book but in fact it was the complete opposite as you are drawn into the story right from the first chapter and you can't help but want to know how it will all turn out in the end.

Warn engaging characters that won't let your attention waiver,. Keeps you totally in its grip until the very end.
Wonderful read

Sometimes you don't need original or unpredictable to make a great story. OK so I guessed the end at 36% (it was on my kindle) but that didn't stop me finishing it in a couple of days.

In the intro, the author boasts "I can write stories really quickly". I wonder if she took a little more time whether she could turn a good book into a great one? That doesn't detract from what it is though - an unashamedly simple, modern tale of the daily life of a normal woman.

I was invited to review this title, but have chosen to decline the invitation at this time.

Thank you,
Laura

This book broke my heart! It reminded me all too well of my own recent past! It's well written and highly emotional- I cried very much, Amanda gives a very accurate account of miscarriage! At least for me it was accurate, it reminded me of the feelings I had/have. I enjoyed Lucy's story but Jonah seemed patronising! But the family dynamic was very realistic, life often is stranger than fiction but here it comes pretty close! This book is a great but highly emotional read, enjoy with tissues!!

I really could not get into this book. I found the characters to be pretty shallow and uninteresting. The way Lucy and Jonah talked to each other was very juvenile. Lucy is close to 40 and Jonah is several years older than her. I just could not get into it.

And then when Jonah's teenage daughter comes to live with them and the way she treats Lucy? Ah, no. Not in my house. She is a spoiled little brat who does not clean up after herself and needs a severe talking to.

While I was not intrigued by any of these character, could not relate to them at all, I did finish the book.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

This book has many emotional factors at play -infertility, miscarriages, blended families, and teenage pregnancy. These are a lot of heavy topics for a story, and the book seemed to weigh me down emotionally at times. However, I persisted in my reading searching for the happy ending that I hoped to find. Overall, Prowse blends all of these story lines well.

Fairly average chic lit. After the whirlwind romance that seemed to lead to an unbelievably happy marriage I was just waiting for things to go wrong so was unsurprised when they did. It would make a good holiday read but not really challenging enough for normal reading.

I really enjoyed this book - the subject matter is something I have some experience of and felt it was handled very sensitively. The emotions that Lucy felt, also felt real to me and I could empathise with her story - the struggles adjusting to her new family set was also handled really well. The ending did the story justice and I would recommend this book to friends.

*Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

Lucy Carpenter is happily married to Jonah; all they need to top their happiness is a baby. It’s not easy though, becoming parents is hard tough. Their journey through it is heart breaking and touching. From miscarriages to misunderstandings, there is everything.

On top of that there is Jonah’s teenage daughter Camille, who makes life for Lucy really difficult, until she confesses something to her. Lucy herself has another secret, all the flashbacks at the end of the chapters are connected to that. So this story also includes some mystery as well.

All this puts Lucy’s and Jonah’s relationship on a test and it all gets really emotional and touching. Amanda Prowse’s writing is sensitive and poignant. I really liked how the plot developed and it just flows beautifully.

Make sure you have a box of tissues close by, you need them.

The characters in this book are authentic and real and I really liked the mixture of them. Camille added another spark and even though I didn’t like her at the start, I really warmed up to her.

This is a complete page turner! The way Amanda Prowse includes these touching topics is incredible, another fantastic book by this author! This lady is SO TALENTED!

What a poignant and sensitive book this is. Dealing with the trauma and sadness of longing for a child, losing a child, this is indeed dwells on an emotive subject.
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Lucy and Jonah have a happy and successful marriage, lacking the one thing they both long for , a baby. One miscarriage after another leaves Lucy sad and disappointed. Their marriage begins to feel the strain.

Jonah's teenage stepdaughter comes for a prolonged stay, which does not help matters. She is cold and rude to Lucy and is pleased to cause trouble. The strength of Jonah' love for her supports Lucy all the way, and family relationships are eventually restored with a bit of a twist in the tale.

It is a very well written novel, combining sadness, grief and yet steadfastness all to make a family complete.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book. I would be disinclined to give it to a friend due to the sensitive nature of the story. But I will read it again.

This probably wasn't the best choice for someone totally uninterested in babies or motherhood... But it is well written and engaging, and would be a powerful read for anyone with a shred of maternal instinct.

I would like to start off this review saying that The Idea of You contains very sensitive subject matter of miscarriage that might be difficult for some people to read. If this is you, you probably want to skip this book. For others it might be therapeutic, for me it was eye opening. This book was full of heart wrenching pages, from what I gather from the author's note at the end, Lucy Carpenter is having some of the same struggles she has in reality. The Idea of You was full of sadness and frustration, but poignant and full of hope. It is interlaced with great humor and sweet husband, so that helped break up some of the more dramatic and serious scenes. I read the book in one sitting, I couldn't put it down, but some of it was really hard to get through because of how emotional a toll it can take on you. I recommend The Idea of You to anyone who enjoys drama or women's contemporary fiction.