Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Greenberg, M. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic Greenberg, M. 2013 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
All You Could Ask For, debut novel by Mike Greenberg, cohost of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, is a tender and insightful story of friendship and love, heartbreak and renewal, played out in the lives of three unforgettable women.
Brooke has been happily married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years. Even after the C-section, the dog poop, the stomach viruses and the coffee breath, Scott always winks at her in just the right moments. That is why, for her beloved, romantic, successful husband's fortieth birthday, she is giving him pictures. Of herself. Naked.
Newlywed Samantha learns of her husband's cheating heart when she finds the goods on his computer.
High-powered career woman Katherine works with heartbreaker Phillip, the man who hurt her early on in her career.
Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know each other, but their stories are about to intertwine in ways no one could have imagined.
And all three are about to discover the power of friendship to conquer adversity, the satisfaction of unexpected delights, the incredible difference one human being can have on other lives--and that they have all they could ask for, as long as they have each other.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
This upbeat, snappy debut novel from ESPN sports talk host Greenberg (Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot) involves three iron-willed, independent-minded ladies who meet and become friends through an online support group for breast cancer patients. Samantha Royce is a 28-year-old marathon runner and TV feature producer from New York City who, while honeymooning in Hawaii, discovers that her district attorney husband Robert is already cheating on her. Brooke Biltmore, age 40 and married to Wall Street executive Scott, with two children, protects her "perfect life" by keeping her diagnosis secret. Katherine Emerson, also age 40, has just decided to resign her high-powered corporate job for the man of her dreams when she gets the bad news. Samantha's sense of humor helps Katherine get through her chemo, while Brooke reconnects Samantha with high school crush Andrew Marks, now a successful pediatrician. Greenberg's promising first effort, told partly in the form of message board postings, develops the lead characters well enough for its predictably feel-good conclusion to feel justified. Agent: Jacques de Spoelberch, Jacques de Spoelberch Associates. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Sports pundit Greenberg tries his hand at chick lit, with somber overtones and mixed results. Part One of this first novel is pretty formulaic: Three former debutantes face the usual prickly situations the wealthy and nave are prone to, involving men, of course. Well, not men per se but their own vulnerabilities with respect to the opposite sex. Katherine, turning 40, doses herself with exercise and affirmations as she faces another day as a Wall Street banker in the employ of a man who jilted her almost 20 years before. Brooke, a Connecticut yummy mummy married to a Wall Street banker, is also turning 40: Her biggest challenge right now is compiling a portfolio of naked photos of herself to present to her husband. Samantha, 28, has her own naked photo dilemma: The politician she has just married has a few (not of her) in his email inbox. She has fled her honeymoon in Kauai for a luxury hotel, where her plutocrat father will bail her out of her difficulties and get her marriage annulled while she trains for a triathlon. Part Two will bring these women together. The unifying element, intended to lend gravitas to the frivolity, involves cancer. Although the cancer section provides opportunities for the women to discover what is truly important in life, it also affords Greenberg too many pretexts for preachy clichs and oversimplification. Any automatic sympathy conferred by illness will be mitigated, for most readers, by how little we've come to care for these superficial and uber-privileged characters.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A seemingly incongruous choice of subject matter for author Greenberg, well-known ESPN anchor, All You Could Ask For examines the lives of three well-to-do women from Greenwich, Connecticut. Part 1 of the novel introduces us to Brooke, the young mother still very much in love with her husband; Samantha, the newlywed shocked to discover evidence of her husband's infidelity while they're on their Hawaiian honeymoon; and Katherine, the powerful banking executive who still works for the man who broke her heart years ago. Part 2 goes on to reveal how the women come to know one another and how their lives change for the better through shared friendships. Although the novel comes off, at times, as manufactured and cloying, Greenberg's heart is in the right place. The shared adversity these women face is portrayed realistically and tenderly, although a storybook ending ties up the individual stories a little too neatly. The three women are well drawn, and Greenberg displays an admirable ear for realistic dialogue. Fans of Deborah Copaken Konan, Sarah Pekkanen, and contemporary ensemble fiction will enjoy this debut novel.--Turza, Stephanie Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Sportscaster Greenberg's (Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot) first novel delves with authenticity and compassion into the lives and minds of three female characters. Brooke knows she has all she could want from life-a husband who loves her, beautiful children, and a marriage that grows stronger daily. She's not willing to let anyone, or anything, destroy any of that. Katherine has all the money and success she could ever wish for, but she willingly suffers every day by working with Phil, the man who broke her heart years ago. She hasn't been able to move forward and search out happiness. After finding out that her new husband was unfaithful on their honeymoon, Samantha summons all her strength to pursue a life that makes her feel complete on her own terms. These women are strangers to one another until they learn something that changes their lives, forever linking them in friendship and courage. VERDICT This well-written page-turner by a surprising author (Greenberg is cohost of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning) features true-to-life characters who are entertaining and compelling. A must read for fans of smart women's fiction. Fans of Greenberg's show might be curious as well. [See Prepub Alert, 10/28/12.]-Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.