Book Review: Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard

Everything We Ever Wanted
Author: Sara Shepard
Reading Level: Adult
Pages: 352 Paperback
Published: October 11th 2011 (paperback)
Review Source: Harper Paperbacks
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) How do you choose between your family and your history?

Emotional and compelling storytelling from Sara Shepard, author of All the Things We Didn't Say.

A late-night phone call on a Sunday evening rarely brings good news. So when Sylvie, a recently-widowed mother of two, receives a call from the head teacher of the school she's on the board of, she knows it won't be something she wants to hear. The school was founded by her grandfather, and she's inherited everything he strived to build up - a reputation, a heritage, the school and the grand old family house. And with this inheritance comes responsibility.So when her son Scott is whispered to be involved in a scandal that led to the death of one of the boys he coaches at the school, it throws the family into chaos: Sylvie has to decide between her loyalty to the school that has been part of her family legacy for years and her son who she feels wants nothing to do with her. She starts spying on the dead boy's father, making an unlikely connection.Sara Shepard's compelling new novel tells how hard it can be to really, truly connect to people, how making quick, easy judgments can come back to haunt you, and how the life you always planned for - and always dreamed of - often doesn't always turn out the way you imagined at all...

A contemporary novel about a high profile dysfunctional family and the harsh consequences when secrets are kept and a big gap in the communications between members becomes impassable with time.

Bates-McAllister, a respected family that because of the society position, gave priority to reputation and keeping appearances above all, even if It meant that the secrets kept would end up hurting and increase resentment between son and adopted son as well as the father himself.

The plot sounded interesting because of the mystery and revelations, but it was slow developing throughout. I had to rely on the desire to know the outcome of the mystery to keep reading but in the end it felled kind of short of my expectations.