The Life She Wanted tells the story of Pandora, a woman who was determined to succeed in business and in life. I enjoy reading books with strong female leads, and Pandora certainly met that criteria. After marrying a wealthy man, becoming a mother, and beginning a career as a dressmaker, scandal strikes her family. Pandora does what needs to be done in order to rebuild her career and life. This is a great book!

I loved the story of Panodra. A girl born into modest means but as she marries into money she finds herself seeing her dreams come true. From Greenwich to the gorgeous French Rivera, can Pandora make all her dreams come true?

Set in 1926, step back in time and find yourself emerged in Pandora's life as she you want her to succeed. Loved my first book by Anita.

Thank you to @Netgalley and #LakeUnionPublishing. Pandora Carmichael is the daughter of a tennis instructor for the wealthy Van Nuys family. Though they treat her as well as their own kids, she still has to find her way in the privileged world with no title. Can she marriage rich and fulfill her dream of becoming a fashion designer or go to secretarial school and barely make ends meet? Sweet read! #TheLifeSheWanted #AnitaAbriel #July2023

Thank you to Net Galley and Lake Union Publishing for the chance to read and review this book. The opinions expressed are my own.
This is the story of aspiring dress designer Pandora Carmichael. It takes place in 1920's New York. Even though Pandora is born into modest means, she is able to rub shoulders with the wealthy because her father is a well known tennis player. Pandora dreams of fitting into the Gilded Age Society as well as a husband and family. She also wants to design dresses for the ladies of New York Society. This is the story of how she made her dreams come true. I enjoyed this story, and I really liked the setting. I read it quite quickly because the story grabbed my attention so quickly. I recommend this book if you like Gilded Age Stories!

Wealthy families, societal expectations, life in the 1920’s in New York., and a likable main character, Pandora, made this a fun and immersive read all the way through.

Pandora isn’t wealthy, but she grew up around wealthy families. She has a big heart and big dreams. She envisions a life of being happily married and also working as a fashion designer. At the time when married women didn’t work, she truly wanted to have it all.

However, things do not happen the way Pandora dreams they will. We follow her journey over several years that follows her from the highs of the roaring 1920s to the lows of the 1930s depression era. I read this book very quickly as the book left me wanting to keep reading with all the issues Pandora had to contend with. I found myself totally immersed in the time period and really just got lost in the plot overall. I flew through this book because of that and wanting to see what happens next with Pandora. Also worth mentioning, the side characters in this book have their own story lines as well from Pandora’s point of view and are equally very interesting.

Thank you to Lake Union Publishing, Anita Abriel, and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced reader’s copy.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed The Life She Wanted. The female protagonist Pandora Carmichael is in the centre of a glitzy lifestyle in New York suburbia during the roaring 20s. Bus she is in the outside looking in as she is not born to it, rather her farther works for them as a tennis coach.

Pandora is a worthy protagonist - feisty intelligent and hard working.

The Life She Wanted follows Pandora through her life a teenager on the fringes, to becoming a central part of the life she wanted.

Very enjoyable. Be prepared to read this in one sitting as its very hard to put down.

A look at how a woman could try to get ahead in the 20's, when most women had to get married to be accepted. Pandora lives on the edge of the world of the wealthy and privileged and wants to become a fashion designer. But getting accepted by the elite means marrying into them. But marriage is not all it seems and there are new challenges resulting in scandals and Pandora has to make her way using her own resources and finds out who her real friends are. The fashionable world of New York and the south of France in it's glittering heyday, this gives the reader the feel for the times.

Not the worst book in the world, but lacking depth. It's words put together to make a good enough story, but no substance.

Because the writing in this book didn't impress me, it took me really long to get through it. Writing style is something I care about a lot, so I wasn't too attached to the story either. The characters were bland and didn't leave an impression on me. I didn't find myself reaching for the book in my free time.

The premise was really interesting. 1920's NYC, sign me up. I normally eat this stuff up. However, the book lost its way a bit. The MC is interesting enough, but it was not enough to fully engross me in what was a meandering plot. I enjoyed parts of it though and I think it's quite an easy historical read.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Set in the roaring twenties with all the glitz of that era. Pandora is such a wonderful character. She just wants to be a designer and find a man who loves. She had no idea how difficult it would be to achieve both. Great story and even greater escape.

New York in the glamorous 1920s! The Life She Wanted follows Pandora Carmichael, just a regular girl who has grown up surrounded by the glitz and glamour of wealthy families (e.g. the Vanderbilts and Astors have cameos!) thanks to her father being a tennis coach. Seeing how the other half lives, and a burning desire to be a fashion designer, Pandora hopes to secure this life for herself, not secretarial school like her father has saved for. However, will this dream life give her everything she hopes for?

Pandora is a strong willed, inspiring main character. She seeks to climb the social ladder and not be trapped into the boxed role of women at the time. Her friendships with Archie and Virginia are fun and give us insight into how the rich lived their lives. Archie shows how he must turn down an opportunity at Oxford simply because the expectation and family pressure is that he joins his father's firm. Through Virginia we get to see her starting her own printing press and being an advocate for female voices and authors. I wish we could have gotten even more insight into Virginia, as this is a fascinating course she charted. I also loved the relationship Pandora had with Millie and how she helped Millie improve her social standing through office work instead of the factory.

I found the journey of Pandora interesting to follow. She went through many phases of her life in the book and we got to see her resilience and determination through each one. The backdrop of the Depression towards the end was a perfect backdrop to show how she overcome every challenge to end up in the Life She Wanted.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

I enjoyed my first title by this author. I loved the setting and the characters. The main character, Pandora, was easy to root for.
My only quibble is that I wanted a little more insight and time spent on her marriage and its particular issues.

I will definitely be reading more from this author and I would really love a book on the character of Virginia!

This gave a really good feel of the 1920's and the classes.

The story is built around a strong heroine who desperately wants to find love and break the class barrier.

A wonderful story.

What a story - there is so much going on in this book, it's fast moving with intriguing characters.

Pandora lives with her father on an estate of weathly socialites. She's befriended by Virginia and Archie and guided into their glittery world. Pandora fancies herself in love with Owen, but soon finds out that his interest is in another. Determined to get her designs notice and open her own boutique, she takes all the advantages she can from her new world. She meets another man and marries, just as she thinks her perfect world is going smoothly and she's about to open her boutique, tragedy strikes and her world is turned upside down.

Pandora is a passionate character, she's determined but seems to lack some depth.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a digital, temporary ARC in return for my review.

A strong female character who knows what she wants in the late 1920’s/early 1930’s New York.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this book but I loved how many feelings this book gave me and seeing the main character Pandoras journey.

The only reason this is not a five star book is I do wish we’d gonna more information/backstory on the side characters. Although the author does do a lovely job at showing Pandora’s growth over the years.

Thank you to the publisher and author to providing me an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review

Interesting story about the 1% and their children’s lives and loves. Easy and fun read, would recommend.

I love when a girl is actually independent and have a dream to follow.
The book follow a girl's live and how she try her best even with whatever happen to her.
Don't expect much romance in this book , but more of how a girl fighting to get what she wants .

This is my first time to read to this author and this was easy going book ..
There is a few typo to be honest but it's really few it doesn't affect the plot so this book worth a try totally.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Pandora Carmichael is our main character in this story set in the late 1920s. Even though she wasn't born into privilege, with the help of her friend Virginia, she can go to luxurious parties and meet high class and influential people. After meeting Harley Enright, Pandora feels like her life will become how she wants it to be: married, having children, and finally opening the boutique of her dreams. But will it really turn out that way?

Personally, it was hard for me to start due to the amount of times I read Pandora's name in the first chapter, which easily could've been edited out. The book was still alright. The writing wasn't super extraordinary and gave you only what you really had to know. Simple descriptions and mainly focusing on the main character herself.

I loved the idea of an empowering woman who has her goal in an era where women still barely have any rights, even though they can finally vote. The 1920's is about women rebelling, and you could really find that back in the fashion of that time. So having this about an aspiring female fashion designer is great. I just wish Pandora had more character to her. I didn't really feel the empowering woman in her until somewhat later in the book, which disappointed me. I, also, wish she was an overall more likable character... The amount of times I have rolled my eyes because of her way of thinking, comments and actions was painful. But the story ended nicely and was in some ways really enjoyable; that's why it got the star-rating it got.

I really wish we saw more of the side characters, because they carried this book hard. Especially Pandora's friend, Virginia, would've even made an amazing main character. Her views were very daring at that time and it really made her an interesting character. Especially when we get descriptions of some of her outfits and hairstyles. It was great.