EVERYTHING WE EVER WANTED by Sara Shepard

As many of you know I am a fan of Sara Shepard.  I have read every book she has written and enjoyed them all.  She is mostly known for being a YA author who has written the wildly popular Pretty Little Liars series and the newer series The Lying Game.  Both series are now shows on ABC Family.  Pretty Little Liars is about to wrap of their second season and The Lying Game has just begun this summer.  Both of which I am hooked on.  But she also has written two books outside the YA arena; The Visibles and Everything We Have Ever Wanted. 

My review today is about Everything We Have Ever Wanted.  I was able to read a galley of the book through Net Galley.  I just love that Shepard can fill my craving for juicy, page turning YA, as well as mature, thought provoking novels.  Everything We Have Ever Wanted has a multifaceted story about family, history and love.  About forging ahead after great and deep disappointment.  I felt emotional tired after reading because I felt for the characters and their struggles.  Sometimes things cannot be simply fixed, as is with life.   Everything We Have Ever Wanted will not disappoint.

This title will be released on October 11, 2011

A recently widowed mother of two, Sylvie Bates-McAllister finds her life upended by a late-night phone call from the headmaster of the prestigious private school founded by her grandfather where her adopted son Scott teaches. Allegations of Scott's involvement in a hazing scandal cause a ripple effect, throwing the entire family into chaos. For Charles, Sylvie's biological son, it dredges up a ghost from the past who is suddenly painfully present. For his wife Joanna, it forces her to reevaluate everything she's hoped for in the golden Bates-McAllisters. And for Scott, it illuminates harsh truths about a world he has never truly felt himself a part of.

But for all the Bates-McAllisters, the call exposes a tangled web of secrets that ties the family together: the mystery of the school hazing, the event that tore Charles and Scott apart the night of their high school awards ceremony, and the intended recipient of a certain bracelet. The quest to unravel the truth takes the family on individual journeys across state lines, into hospitals, through the Pennsylvania woods, and face-to-face with the long-dormant question: what if the life you always planned for and dreamed of isn't what you want after all?