A review by sdecoste
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

4.0

Nina Browning grew up in a middle class family in Bristol, Tennessee. When she was in college, she was brutally raped, but she never told anyone. Too ashamed to face her boyfriend, she broke things off with him, buried her feelings and went on to later meet and marry Kirk. He was from a wealthy Nashville family, and Nina enjoyed the life she had living in a $4 million mansion, playing tennis, raising their only son Finch and meeting friends for lunch. Soon after the family celebrates Finch's acceptance to Princeton in the fall, Nina discovers her perfect life is full of cracks. Seems Finch made a very bad error in judgment during a teen party. He took some pictures of a half-naked fellow student, Lyla, and sent them to a friend. As Nina soon discovers, her son and her husband do not take seriously the damage Finch has inflicted on Lyla. Nina starts to become Lyla's champion, to the detriment of her marriage and relationship with her son. She can't pinpoint the time Finch started treating people (girls) with so little respect. It's not how she raised him. What can she do to fix this and get back the son who once was so kind to others? A very good read.