Hi ForeverBookers, I'm sorry I haven't been here in a while...I was in a bit of a reading slump :(. Anyway, for the past week or so I've been reading All I Ever Wanted by Lucy Dillon, which I got as an E-arc through NetGalley. This book releases in December 1st, 2016. This is an ADULT book because it has some bad language towards the end.
Half of the story is basically the story of a family that go through trials and tribulations to work out how to be happy. The other half is about a woman, who's just lost her husband (not a spoiler as it happens in the first couple of chapters) learning to see the world as an open place, where anything can happen.
Spoilers below...
We first see the family that go through a lot, together in London. It's not often that I've found a contemporary novel set in England, where I live. It was nice to see names of places that I recognise. There are the parents and two children, a boy and a girl in this story. They are playing a wishing game. At the end of this trip the daughter stops speaking. The rest of the chapters to do with them are basically about "love conquers all" I guess, and that whatever family problems there are, they can be dealt with.
In alternate chapters we follow the sister of the father of the family above. She helps her brother look after his children, sometimes. She doesn't really know what to do with herself her husband's unexpected death. She wants a family of her own and now the chance with her husband has gone. Her husband was a famous actor and so is having a biography of his life made. She meets someone through that but does everything work out, you'll have to read and see...
The things I liked about All I Ever Wanted was the two storylines were swapped for each other every chapter or so. I didn't get bored reading one story because of this. There were a couple of laugh out loud moments too, which made the book feel lighter at times with the depressing moments as well. The author did a good job telling the story of the children. One child was very over the top and loud, while the other was very quiet. It was nice to see this contrast, and the reason for it, which gets revealed at the end of the book.
While I really enjoyed All I Ever Wanted, there were a couple of things missing for me. It wrapped up far too quickly and easily I thought. There was lots of drama in the beginning with the family, which got resolved within a chapter at the end. We got an finale to one half of the story but not really the other. I want to know what happens in the part that I feel is missing. This has therefore brought my rating down. I was going to give this book four stars, but because of this incomplete ending, I feel three stars is right. We may hear about Eva in future books though as the author writes in the same setting.
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