This novel was much more emotional and intelligent than Emily Giffin’s previous novel and I loved it. It reminded me more of Lian Moriarty’s writing with the private school scandal and the rich community involvement. Yeh characters were fascinating. It was an excellent read!

One photo will irreversibly change the lives of two families in the latest Emily Giffin novel.

Nina Browning has it all. She's married, she's rich and her son was recently accepted into Princeton. She had everything she wanted. She gives back to her community by dedicating her free time to her philanthropy and attending event after event on the arm of her handsome husband.

Nina didn't come from money. Her life could have been very different if she had remained with her high school boyfriend. She could be living close to her parents and her best friend Julie. Instead, she lives in a mansion where money is not an object. But when her son Finch gets into trouble after taking a picture of a half-naked Lyla, she begins to wonder when things went wrong with herself and her family.

Tom Volpe is a single parent. He raised Lyla by himself and he's proud of her accomplishments including getting a scholarship into Windsor's Academy. Everything changes when he's called to pick up a drunk Lyla from a friend's house. It gets worse when he sees the damaging photo in question. Needless to say, Tom is furious and he asks the school for retribution.

Not too long after Nina, Lyla, Tom, and Finch will meet.

Kudos to Emily Giffin for weaving great topics throughout her storyline. Date rape, social media, and accountability all play a big part in it.

Social media can be used for good but more and more, I see it used to attack one another or to hurt peoples' feelings. This is exactly what happens when a picture of Lyla at her most vulnerable spreads all over Windsor Academy.

I supported Tom's decisions especially since Lyla had trouble understanding the severity of the picture. I don't think she realized a half-naked picture of her on the internet is forever. Tom was there to protect his daughter and fight for her rights. He wanted Finch to pay for what he did and I can't say that I blame him for it.

I liked Nina but I had some issues in the way she approached her family during the scandal. I'm not saying that Nina caring for Lyla's wellbeing was a bad thing, on the contrary, Lyla needed people in her corner.

Finch's character was hard to read. At times, he seemed like a good kid and at others, he seemed to be a douche who had everyone fooled.

My one complaint is about the ending. I felt the conflict was resolved all too fast and way too easy.

Cliffhanger: No

3.5 Fangs

As a high school librarian, I recognize that this book will not appeal broadly to many of my general YA readers, but this story speaks to readers of all ages -- the parents who are facing the fact that their children might do something horrific and they can't always be there to control the situation, as well as the teenagers who are facing the reality that their choices have consequences. I would select this book for my more mature high school readers as well as my teacher patrons who use my library for pleasure reading material.

I enjoyed this book regarding a difficult topic, especially in today’s MeToo climate. The author did a good job of making the characters relatable. I would have liked a little more details of how the characters story played out before the epilogue.

Amazing read like all of Emily's books!!! Such a different story. Had me captivated the whole time. For sure one you want to pick up. Great summer read

Thank you, NetGalley, for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review. Each chapter is narrated by one of the story's characters, a literary device that I like. Nina, raised middle class, marries into a wealthy Nashville family. After her husband sells his tech business for beaucoup bucks, she moves into the upper strata of society. Their only son, Finch, attends a private school and has just been accepted to Princeton. Across town, a carpenter named Tom is raising his teenaged daughter alone after his alcoholic Brazilian wife takes off. Layla attends the same private school on a scholarship. Both teens attend a party where alcohol is served and a salacious and racist picture of Layla is taken which, of course, is widely shared. In trying to somehow rectify the situation, Tom and the boy's mother become allies. The book was well written and contemporary.

A very well written book told from the point of view of a mother, a teenage girl her son wrongs, and the girl's father. The three quite different characters each had a distinct voice. The book examines what happens when parents think the best and decide their kids are "good" and because of this stop paying as much attention to everyday occurrences. The book makes you consider whether your perspective changes gradually over time, or if it takes one single significant event to change things. I loved that Lyla, the teenage girl, is extremely strong but still has vulnerable teen characteristics.

Nina lives a very wealthy life, her husband is rich and her son Finch , is privileged, drives an expensive car, money all the time, private school , everything at his fingertips .
Sometimes one gets lost in the privilege and wealth and forgets morals, and decency. When Finch does something he can’t find back from and his father and him try to cover it up and throw their power around to make it go away, Nina rediscovers herself and her self worth and takes a guys look around and re evaluates her life and her sons path and how she wants To change things
At times I was screaming throug the pages at these characters .
I loved these characters and I wasrouyjbg for all of them.
This will remain one of my favorite all time books !!

Nina seems to have everything -- a big house in an idyllic neighborhood with her loving husband and son, and not a financial worry in the world. Yet after her son, Finch, makes a rather large mistake one night at a party, one starts to realize that perhaps her life isn't perfect.

This book was far beyond a light read; packed with modern-day issues that teens and young adults (and their parents face) this book is a wonderful platform for discussions around topics that teens need to learn about. I found the story very engaging, the characters realistic, and the topic all too real. I would love to share this book with students, relatives, and young people everywhere. Overall, this is an entertaining read with an important message.

All We Ever Wanted was an amazing book. It centers around teenage drama, but it centers around a teenage girl and what happens to her, the girl's father, and the perpetrator's mother.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book. I thought 98% of the characters were well-rounded (Polly being the exception - we only really deal with the girl herself towards the end; everything before that is always someone else's opinion), and it was very easy to distinguish who was talking by their voices and what was going on in their section of the world. Even the minor characters were easy to tell apart. The book has good pacing, good plot, good voice. All in all this was a really great book. 5/5 stars!

I enjoyed this book! Having raised a couple boys, the late teenage to young adult years are worrisome for any parent, and thus I could identify with the characters. The issues of wealth, what wealth can buy, sexting, and parenting that the characters wrestle with are real life.

Poignant, very relevant to the woman’s movement, but not my favorite read! The book tackles extremely serious issues that face the generation of young teens growing up with social media. How quickly things can escalate, private becomes very public and quickly effects every aspect of your life. The storyline faces class issues of the have and have nots as it involves a very affluent teen boy and a young girl of a working class single father home. The boy took very disrespectful pictures of the girl as she was passed out at a party. And they quickly became public. The affluent mother is devastated, the affluent father only concerned about appearances and what it will do to his acceptance to Princeton. The girls father, a volcano ready to blow. Rather than a story, this is a series of lectures, admonishment and a study of inequality. Not my favorite but in the authors defense, important, nothing lighthearted about this read at all. Thanks to Netgalley for my ARC of this book!.

This was my first Emily Griffin book, and it was an overall engaging reading experience.

I don’t always love books with multiple perspectives, but it worked really well with this storyline. Getting to see the motivations and thoughts of the three main characters helped to make me feel more invested and interested in the characters. It did take a few chapters to get absorbed in the story, however.

I felt the story itself was very timely. I had a feeling how the story would go, but here were still some surprises along the way. I felt like the epilogue was either unnecessary or too short. I either wanted some more information or I wanted to just imagine the future for these characters all on my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love Emily Giffin books. I seem to never be able to put them down once I start one and this is no exception. This is another must read.
I love how see shows Nina’s relationships with so many people. At first you think this book is about marraiage when someone goes wealthy and fall apart but it takes a dark turn. I can say this one surprised me and it was one you had to read to find out what happened.

I received an advance copy of this book from net galley in exchange for my review of this book. I love Emily Griffin books and I was so excited to get this one. But due to the subject matter, I struggled with this a lot. It centers around a HS boy and girl and a photo that is sexually explicit and racist and the aftermath of that. There are moments that are dark which was a departure from other Giffin books. But despite the subject matter being hard for me, I devoured the book and felt very satisfied with the ending. A good read, although not a Giffin book that I’d re-read over and over again as I have with several of her others.

I really enjoyed this book! I have always enjoyed Emily Giffin’s so I was thrilled to be able to read this one. The story is told by the 3 of the main characters. It deals with the topic of teens and how social media is a part of their life that could very possibly ruin their reputation and cause very serious issues. It is also about the rich and those who are middle class and trying to make ends met. It is also about a marriage and how wealth can change two people. I would highly recommend this book.

In this story, three people must choose between family and values. Nina was the mother of a boy named Finch accused of taking a nasty picture of a drunk girl (Lyla), and sending it out. Tom is the father of that girl. Nina is married to a very rich man who "helps" his son, who has been accepted into Princeton, and this scandal might keep him from attending. Tom is a hard-working carpenter trying to raise his daughter on his own; his wife left them years ago. Finch has a girlfriend Polly, who fights with him on the night of the scandalous incident, and Finch blames Polly for taking the picture and sending it out, because she was jealous of the looks Finch gave Lyla at the party. And then the story continues...

I was thrilled to receive an advance copy of Ms. Giffin's latest book from Netgalley. I was even more thrilled after I read it that I didn't have to wait until publication.

Giffin outdid herself on this one. I've been a fan since Something Borrowed, but this book is on a whole new level. We should all improve in our life endeavors as well as this author has.

It's hard to tell more about the story than what's written in the book's synopsis without giving something away. I loved the characters and the story that Giffin placed them in. This book took me through several emotions--outrage, compassion, awe, disbelief, and finally settling into utter relief.

Thank you, Ms. Giffin for such a wonderful read!

Emily Giffin does it again! This book is amazing! What a fantastic read about real life issues that we have to face living in today's world. It is both enlightening for parents and teens. As a mother of two boys I honestly have felt that this book has helped me learn a few lessons in parenting. I was totally captivated by the characters and extremely invested in the story.

For an ARC, this was pretty darn good! It could’ve been a higher rating if the ending hadn’t left me feeling so dissatisfied. Other than that, I was surprised to have enjoyed this as much as I did.

So 3-star ratings are always hard for me to rate; sometimes a 3 star read is actually a good read, but lacking in a couple areas—and sometimes it’s not that good of a read, but very unique. In this case, the story wasn’t unique (it reminded me of the novel Asking For It), but everything flowed well (the writing and storyline). Plus, I wasn’t sure if people were being truthful throughout the book or not (especially Finch), which was a nice change. Normally, I’m really good at knowing when an author is trying to trick the reader.

I enjoyed how realistically flawed all the characters were—they felt like real people with real problems—not like perfectly flawed characters woven into a perfectly flawed story. No; those aren’t real. They were troubled and stumbling through life like a lot of us are.

Segueing off Giffin’s “not-so-perfect-yet-realistic-characters,” the ending was disappointing (like many people feel with their lives!). And while in many ways it was perfect with how Lyla’s and Finch’s & Kirk’s and Nina’s situations were concluded, I thought it was too rushed and lacked a powerful “punch.” There could have been a lot more aded towards the end. Though, I thought how Lyla became a lawyer after all of that was a perfect end to her story.

Overall, I went into this with no expectations and came out with good feelings. It’s a good story that trips you up several times, when you’re not busy relating to the characters. If the ending had been more developed, I would’ve given this closer to 4 stars.