Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture, and author Kate Hewitt for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.
Kate Hewitt is an author I discovered through NetGalley. I found her historical fiction books to be wonderful. The contemporary books, while good, haven’t thrilled me in the same way. In the case of All I Ever Wanted, I don’t think I would have finished it if I didn’t have to write a review. It’s a good thing I did because it ended much better than I was expecting, but I had a lot of problems with it.
Ashley and Mark are two professionals living in Connecticut. Ashley has worked for a major pharmeceutical company for years as a secretary while Mark is a lawyer. They are about a year into their marriage when Ashley learns she’s in early menopause and isn’t able to have children. For Mark, who was adopted as a baby, it’s always been his dream to have a biological connection to the world. He loved his parents who raised him (they are deceased) but longs for that connection.
Mark is so focused on that biological connection that he discounts pursuing any other avenue other than a surrogate. Surrogacy is quite complicated, but since he’s already 41, he’s in a hurry and presses Ashley to agree, not just to a surrogate, but to one who will also be the biological mother of the child.
Dani lives in San Diego with her sister Callie. Since their father died a few years before, she’s also been Callie’s parent in every way that counts as her mother left them to go live in a convent in Arizona. Callie has a condition with her spine that requires surgery or she will be in pain and possibly not walk later in her life. The insurance that covers her is denying the surgery. Dani tosses around different ideas until she comes up with surrogacy. She will get $65,000 to carry someone else’s child for nine months, after which the baby will be theirs.
Being adopted myself, I anticipated problems with this book, and I was right. Neither Mark nor Ashley were particularly likeable to start with. Ashley grew on me later in the book, but Mark was, well, a jerk. He keeps talking about his feelings and his needs but doesn’t seem to take into account that Ashley or anyone else might feel differently. It is he who forces through the idea of traditional surrogacy where the surrogate is also the biological mother because it’s faster and easier, rather than getting a donor egg so the baby would not be related to her.
He’s also not thinking at all about the child he’s bringing into this world. He knows what he want because of how he feels, but he never seems to take into account how the baby he wants to create will feel. He pushes Ashley to do what he wants, and because she was raised by a mother who was taught to never make a fuss, she goes along with it despite her misgivings. She hasn’t even fully dealt with her own feelings in regard to not being able to carry a child herself and Mark is pushing her to agree to his plans. It almost felt like that was the only reason he wanted to marry her to begin with. On their first date, he tells Ashley how much he wants children. He’s obsessed and doesn’t see any problem with that.
This is set in the current day, so all of Mark’s talk about not feeling a connection could be solved simply by sending his DNA to 23 and Me or Ancestry DNA. I know because I’ve done it. I already had names of my parents when I did, so it wasn’t quite the reach for me that it would be for him, but it’s never even mentioned as an alternative. There is also the ability to join registries where birthparents can also register and look for a match. Finally, depending on the state he was born in, many have open records where you can send for your original birth certificate. New York is one of those states (I have mine). If he was actually born in Connecticut, there are also options. A simple google search revealed the information below. As a lawyer, he should be very aware of all these options.
Then there is Dani’s situation. Kate Hewitt’s biography says she has lived in New York, but it doesn’t seem like she understands how health insurance works in the United States. First of all, California has very liberal health insurance for minors. Callie would be covered until she was 19 under their insurance. When someone in the household has insurance, it covers dependents. For the insurance Dani is on to cover her sister whe would have had to legally adopt her. When Dani is complaining about Callie not being approved for the surgery on her insurance and stating she will wait until open enrollment to change it, her boyfriend Ryan proposes to her and says they can put Callie on his insurance, which is better. Again, this wouldn’t be the case because Callie is not a dependent.
The lack of communication all around should be a red flag. Ashley was raised by a single mother who had to take two jobs after Ashley’s father ran out on them. They don’t have a great relationship. Her mother was always so tired from working that she wasn’t present as a mother. When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, they finally open up to each other. Ashley learns her mother was raised to never make a fuss, and passed that on to Ashley. It’s a revelation to Ashley as she realizes there are times she should “make a fuss” and stand up for herself and what she wants. She doesn’t want to disappoint Mark, so she doesn’t make a fuss when she isn’t so sure what he wants to do is a good idea. In this regard, Mark comes off as selfish and petulant, getting his way by showering Ashley with gifts but not listening to her concerns.
The ending of the book did redeem it. I was definitely in the two star range until there finally seemed to be some concern about the life that was created, rather than all of the adults’ feelings and desires. I’m not convinced by the happily-ever-after ending Hewitt gave the characters, but it did show that they were all focused on the best interests of the child, not themselves.
I can’t really recommend the book as it doesn’t portray a number of things accurately. I can suspend disbelief, but some of the issues here are so blatant that I kept thinking “why doesn’t he..?” or “why don’t they…?” It stopped the flow while reading. I burned through it quickly because I just wanted it to be over with, and that’s not a great feeling while reading. I think Hewitt’s historical fiction is much better than this.
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Categories: Book Reviews
I was curious about why this book didn’t land with you, so I went to Amazon and looked at Kate Hewitt’s author’s page to see what genres she writes in and, more relevantly, how prolific she is. Knowing where her strengths lie, as well as her work pace, would give me a clue as to why “All I Ever Wanted” wasn’t as well done as her WWII-set historical fiction.
As a writer, I can say from experience that I can write well in one genre but struggle in others, especially if I attempt to write “hard” historical fiction. I once wanted to write a novel set squarely in WWII, but I had to give up three chapters into the manuscript because even though I’d done my research well, blending believable fictitious characters into well-trod historical events takes far too much effort for a first-time novelist. Ms. Hewitt seems to be at ease in historical fiction, though her extensive bibliography tells me she writes a lot of “contemporary fiction,” too.
I think, though, that Kate Hewitt tackles several manuscripts at a time. I base this on her list of upcoming books…she has several titles due for release soon, within months of each other, at that. That implies that for her, quantity trumps quality…at worst. At best, it means that she’s a decent writer, but sacrifices some TLC in her work to meet deadlines at Bookouture.
That’s my educated guess as to why there is so much dissonance in “All I Ever Wanted.” To many readers in these post-literacy times, the novel may be fine “as is” because they’re not adoptees or don’t know those arcane details about how insurance works (oe doesn’t) in different parts of the country.
I spent slightly over two years on my novel, partly because it’s a “soft” historical story, partly because of the circumstances in which I wrote it, and in no small part because I had to do research on the various setting in both time and place. Getting the details right, even if I was going to bend reality to fit my story, was important…so I took the time to look up British Airways flight times, restaurant menus in NYC and London, and news events in early 2000. If I hadn’t bothered to do that, I might have finished “Reunion: Coda” in Summer 2024, but it would have been a less readable novel.
Also, please excuse the typos in my long comment. I went to bed way later than I planned, so I’m tired and noticed them after I posted. I can’t edit what I wrote, but I wish I could!