Review: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

I love coming across a debut novel, particularly if it's good. Janelle Brown may be new to the book publishing scene, but with a list of magazine articles to her credit, she's no new writer, and her book reflects that. Her characters are interesting, well developed, and complex...you truly care about each of them, as you're witnessing the lowest points in their lives.

At the heart of this novel is a fractured family in crisis and what, if anything, it will take to mend them. Mother Janice Miller is devastated when her husband leaves her minutes after taking his company's stock public and becoming a millionnaire. Oldest daughter Margaret is struggling with her entrepreneurial magazine venture and mounting credit card debt. Youngest daughter Lizzie is in teenage angst, trying to find her place both in the family and at school.

They come together in their darkest days, and it's a gripping ride to get them to the other side.