2.5
All You Never Wanted
By Adele GriffinPublisher Description
With my eyes closed and Alex's core friends all around me, it was like I'd become my big sister, or something just as good. And so who cared if they were calling it Alex's party? One thing I knew: it would be remembered as mine.
Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all, and she's stepped up her game to get it. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.
Told in the alternating voices of Alex and Thea, Adele Griffin's mesmerizing new novel is the story of a sibling rivalry on speed.
Alex has it all—brains, beauty, popularity, and a dangerously hot boyfriend. Her little sister Thea wants it all, and she's stepped up her game to get it. Even if it means spinning the truth to win the attention she deserves. Even if it means uncovering a shocking secret her older sister never wanted to share. Even if it means crying wolf.
Told in the alternating voices of Alex and Thea, Adele Griffin's mesmerizing new novel is the story of a sibling rivalry on speed.
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2.5
Kayla
Created 11 months agoShare
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“This one was just okay for me. I found it a little bit slow in the beginning however it did pick up a little toward the halfway point. The story was interesting but I just didn't really enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I could have done with some more depth of the characters and their relationships.”
Easy to readFast-pacedRealistic settingComing of age
tinajo
Created over 2 years agoShare
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Jill Sherman
Created over 11 years agoShare
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“The Gist:
Poor little rich girls.
First Lines:
"She gets into the car and then she can't drive it. Can't even start the engine for th egift of the air conditioner. She is a living corpse roasting in sun-warmed leather. She can hear the quick death march of her heart. Her cell phone is slick in her hand; at any moment it might squeak from her grasp like a bar of soap. She needs to make one phone call, and she wishes she could make it into the past. Into last year. Or two years ago."
Our Hero:
Alexandra and Theodora Parrott went from dirt poor to super rich when their mother married a millionaire. They live in the biggest, gaudiest house imaginable and the burden of their sudden rise to wealth affects them both differently.
Alex feels embarrassed by the money. She also has some major emotional problems. She doesn't eat, and although everyone seems worried about her they have no idea how to help her and seem to think she'll shake off whatever's eating at her. Alex's younger sister, Thea, is dazzled by the cash, but deeply misses the closeness of her family from before.
Love/Hate:
Love Thea. With all her flaws she is the best character by far. She tries too hard and she's desperate for attention and she's wants love so badly.
Did not care for Alex's issue. Granted, pissing yourself in front of some fashion big wigs has got to be majorly embarrassing, I couldn't really wrap my mind around her response to stop eating. It just seemed far to extreme.
When I Cried:
I ached for Thea every time she let her true feelings slip. She needed her sister and her mother more than anything. Even though I'll admit Alex probably wasn't in any shape to help her, I really felt for Thea at the end.”
Cassidy
Created almost 12 years agoShare
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“It's very hard to express my thoughts on this book without giving much away.
I will start off by saying that from the synopsis, I thought this book was going to be about the younger sister, Thea, trying to steal Alex's, her big sister's, boyfriend named Joshua.
Well it did involve that but there was alot more to the story than that and to be honest, I don't think the story was that great.
At the beginning, I really enjoyed the story. Alex having problems and Thea trying to deal with everyone talking about her and her sister. Real life problems you know?
Then I found our why Alex has been having issues and why she never told anyone about what happened to her at her magazine internship...
Her issue was ridiculous in my opinion...I won't say what the issue was but I will say that yes it had to be very embarrassing but did she really have to have a major melt down about it!?
Now on to Thea. Thea used to be very smart and a huge bookworm until she wanted everything her sister had. I found her to be such a brat and very annoying. Plus she was in love with Alex's boyfriend Joshua...
How could either of them love Joshua?
He is a drug dealer for god's sake! Plus he has abusive tendencies!
Even if he didn't have those faults it seemed like Alex didn't care at all that her sister was trying to steal her boyfriend!
Anyway...I am ranting...
My thoughts. The book-ended pretty abruptly. Thea was annoying. Joshua was...well Joshua. Alex had issues but then fell for another guy so she cheated on Joshua who actually cheated on her with Thea...hmm what?
Overall- 2.5-5 stars
These are just my opinions. Read it and let me know yours.
Thank you and Happy Reading!”
kellys.reads
Created almost 12 years agoShare
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“A dark and disturbing story of sibling rivalry, All You Never Wanted is unlike any contemporary I've ever read. Both protagonists have their own issues - one is a pathological liar while the other is literally wasting away to nothing because of her anxiety - yet those issues pale in comparison to the underlying jealousy motivating every action. With an overnight romance and a vaguely abrupt ending though, All You Never Wanted left me wanting more.
Thea is Alex's younger sister, tired of living in her shadow. Having decided to re-imagine herself in her inner popular self's image, someone she calls Gia, she's desperate to fit in. And that means becoming best friends with Alex's friends, a group she calls the Blondes, and secretly coveting Alex's boyfriend, Jason. Thea's storyline in All You Never Wanted was enough to capture my attention, as her imagination was constantly in overdrive, working on a new story that might help her to become a part of the popular crowd.
This story is nasty and everyone is spelbound and that's power. They're all hooked and I'm in focus, I'm mixing up this thing like I'm the smoothest bartender in the newest club for people who've all decided at this moment I'm one of them. And if there's guilt down my spine, it's nothing like the heat on my skin as I raise my voice to land it. Likes take nerve, which I'm working on. But nobody needs to know that.
She wasn't above making up a lie in order to become the center of attention, and she had no concern for the consequences; she fully believed she'd be able to talk herself out of any situation with another lie.
While watching Thea descend into desperation, we also had to endure Alex's anxiety-ridden neurosis, which at times, was completely debilitating. Having experienced something traumatizing during a summer internship, Alex has become a shell of the person she once was. Fearful of losing control over her body, she limits what she eats/drinks to the point of developing what seems to be an eating disorder. She has distanced herself from both her friends and family (leaving room for Thea to weasel her way into their lives) and has days where she's unable to pull her car out of the driveway.
With such compelling backstories, All You Never Wanted had me completely hooked. But as Thea's lies became more outrageous and she became more desperate to replace Alex, my concern for her mental health increased to the point where I had to wonder if she would have been clinically diagnosed with some sort of psychosis - and why none of her friends/family thought the same and thought to seek out professional help. And because of the extreme reaction Alex showed to her traumatizing event, I was convinced something extremely damaging had to have happened to her. When the details surrounding the event unfolded, I was left feeling...underwhelmed? What happened would definitely have been mortifying, but I can't imagine it affecting my life as drastically as it affected Alex's.
Towards the end, I loved watching Alex begin to recapture control and live her life again, but I was annoyed that she needed a guy to help her find herself. My annoyance was only strengthened by Alex and Xander's instant romance. Their relationship was so sudden and out-of-the-blue, that I was left wondering if I had missed a chapter. Alex's entire outlook on her life was completely changed by one interaction, and with Xander at her side, it was like her traumatizing event had never happened. And after only one day together, Alex was talking about possibly being in love with Xander! I just wasn't buying it. Add in the completely vague ending, where Thea tells Alex a secret that we're never privy to, and I was left quite disappointed after All You Never Wanted's potential-filled beginning.
With absolutely no resolution for Thea, and something that might be seen as running away from her problems for Alex, All You Never Wanted really came up short in the end. I love that Griffin didn't try to tie everything up in a nice bow, but some resolution is necessary so I don't feel like I've wasted my time. But a really well-done, though complicated, relationship between sisters and a writing style that I enjoyed did make All You Never Wanted a mostly entertaining read.”
About Adele Griffin
ADELE GRIFFIN is the acclaimed author of many books for young readers, including Sons of Liberty and Where I Want to Be, both National Book Award finalists. She is also the author of Tighter, Picture the Dead, The Julian Game, and the Witch Twins and Vampire Island middle-grade series. Adele lives with her husband and daughter in Brooklyn, New York.
Other books by Adele Griffin
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