Everything We Ever Wanted

'Wonderfully complex and human and very, very difficult to put down' Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Love in the Present Tense 'A touching story!Shepard's writing brings her sweet, troubled characters alive' Heat 'This beautifully written story is complex, emotional and totally absorbing' Closer

Sara Shepard graduated from NYU and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. She is the author of the bestselling young adult series, Pretty Little Liars series, and the adult novel All The Things We Didn't Say. She currently lives outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with her husband and dogs.

A recently widowed mother of two, Sylvie Bates-McAllister finds her life upended by a late-night phone call from the headmaster of the prestigious private school founded by her grandfather where her adopted son Scott teaches. Allegations of Scott's involvement in a hazing scandal cause a ripple effect, throwing the entire family into chaos. For Charles, Sylvie's biological son, it dredges up a ghost from the past who is suddenly painfully present. For his wife Joanna, it forces her to reevaluate everything she's hoped for in the golden Bates-McAllisters. And for Scott, it illuminates harsh truths about a world he has never truly felt himself a part of.
But for all the Bates-McAllisters, the call exposes a tangled web of secrets that ties the family together: the mystery of the school hazing, the event that tore Charles and Scott apart the night of their high school awards ceremony, and the intended recipient of a certain bracelet. The quest to unravel the truth takes the family on individual journeys across state lines, into hospitals, through the Pennsylvania woods, and face-to-face with the long-dormant question: what if the life you always planned for and dreamed of isn't what you want after all?