The Idea of You/Amanda Prowse With her fortieth birthday approaching, Lucy Carpenter dares to hope that she finally has it all: a wonderful new husband, Jonah, a successful career and the chance of a precious baby of her own. Life couldn’t be more perfect.
But the reality of becoming parents proves much harder than Lucy and Jonah imagined. Jonah’s love and support is unquestioning, but as Lucy struggles with work and her own failing dreams, the strain on their marriage increases. Suddenly it feels like Lucy is close to losing everything…
Heart-wrenching and poignant, this latest work by bestselling author Amanda Prowse asks the question: what does it mean to be a mother in today’s hectic world? And what if it’s asking too much to want it all?
 
This book just did not do it for me, unfortunately. I found it melodramatic and never became invested.
 
Let me start off by rewriting the blurb for this book: 40-year-old Lucy, recently married to successful car salesman Jonah, is upset when her new stepdaughter moves in for the summer, interrupting her desire to conceive a healthy baby after several miscarriages.
 
By ten percent in, I was bored and wanted to move onto another book. There's a "twist" near to the end of this one that the book builds up to through little asides. I wasn't impressed. I think I was supposed to be more so, but I hadn't realised that there was a mystery, so I was kind of like "oh okay cool."
 
I honestly just could not with Lucy. She makes me feel like a bad person because I should be sympathetic towards her, but I instead thought that she was melodramatic and selfish, always caring about herself. I can in no way relate to the pain of a miscarriage. But her friend could! And when her friend mentioned that she had had a miscarriage, Lucy's like "I don't care." Ugh.
 
Camille was the saving grace of this book and the one thing that made reading this not a complete drag. She's a teenager and she's very true to character. Her background ties into the way she acts, and I loved seeing her change around different people. She's melodramatic, too, just like Jonah and Lucy are, but she owns it. She works it. She is it. Lucy and Jonah are pretending to act like adults while secretly being super melodramatic which was boring.
 
I swear, the author mentioned at least ten times that Jonah likes soft rock and Lucy likes eighties. It was cute the first time. It was cute when Camille then joked about it. It was aggravating the third through tenth times. There were a lot of factors like this (I get it, chicken Kiev is a family joke...), a lot of tropes that were just endless. Poor Lucy, poor Lucy, poor Lucy. I want to see her stand up and appreciate something for once or do something good for the world other than bemoaning her life.
 
If you've been trying for a child or have considered adoption, this might be for you. Maybe even if you're a mother you'll have more of a heart or this than I did. If not, then I don't recommend this.
 
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Amanda Prowse has done it again. The author writes about real life, uncomfortable, hard as hell to talk about issues but does it in such a way that a) I am blindsided by the "twist" and b) manages to pull me in and keep me riveted until the end of the story.

I usually read books with plots that never happen in real life. Vampires, magic, insta-love, hot studly dudes falling for overweight nerdy girls; you know the stuff my daydreams since I was 16 were made of. But Prowse's byline has become an automatic want to read for me and there's none of that in her books. Her last one dealt with eating disorders while this one deals with family and lost dreams.

The best part of this book was probably the last 1/3. Sometimes we get the life we've been dreaming of but it doesn't exactly happen the way we want. It's a great lesson and I'll be thinking about this one for a while.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley. My review is not influenced by anyone but myself. The Idea of You came out today and is available through Kindle Unlimited on Amazon. ( )

You can't help but be moved by the beautiful writing of Amanda Prowse, I thought I had got away with it this time as I bragged half way through the book that there were 'no tears yet'. I did indeed speak too soon; Amanda Prowse could write a shopping list and I'd cry reading it.

Lucy put her career above her personal life but there was a very good reason why she threw herself into her work and avoided relationships. Relationships only end in hurt, after all, but then she met Jonah and the earth really did move. The two are perfect together, both have successful careers and they even got married in their lunchbreak. That's probably something I would do, if I ever had a lunchbreak of course!

Jonah has a daughter from a previous relationship, but as they broke up before the baby (Camille) was born he didn't experience everything that a baby can bring. Lucy and Jonah are therefore overjoyed when Lucy finds out that she is pregnant and Lucy starts knitting baby clothes, however, the pregnancy was not meant to be and Lucy suffers the devastating effects of a miscarriage. With more positive pregnancy tests, more miscarriages and a visit from an unruly step-daughter in store, can Lucy and Jonah survive the future?

The Idea of You is such a beautiful book by Amanda Prowse, giving a voice to so many women who have suffered in silence. It's only a bunch of cells after all. These women are mothers without a baby and they carry them within their heart if not in their womb. I have read a few books with miscarriage or infertility as a topic, and I find one thing to be a common denominator: childless women being asked the seemingly innocent question - when are you going to have children? Perhaps we should think twice before asking such a question as it may seem innocent to the asker but so very hurtful to the askee. It's almost as if miscarriage is a taboo subject; it was never born so it wasn't a baby. Wrong, so very wrong...it was a baby from the first positive pregnancy test and don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

So very real, poignant and moving The Idea of You is another fabulous book from Amanda Prowse. As a bit of a knitter, I loved the inclusion of the almost lost art of knitting and the reverence with which the garments were placed in the trunk for safekeeping. So many women think a baby will complete them, which results in a blinkered life. Open your eyes and see how blessed you are...Amanda Prowse reminded me of that.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

OK book. Not stellar, not horrible. Characters are pretty vanilla without any real defining characteristics, and the pace is very slow. A very meh book overall. ( )

Lucy Carpenter is approaching her 40th birthday as well as celebrating one year of marriage. Her wonderful husband, John, is a divorcee with a 16 year old daughter who lives in France with his ex-wife and step-dad. Lucy is hoping to soon have it all, a successful career, a wonderful marriage and a baby on the way. Unfortunately for Lucy and John, becoming parents may not be in the cards. Amanda Prowse has written about motherhood, or specifically the struggle families deal with when there is a miscarriage. This is an emotional book especially if you or a family member have lost a child due to miscarriage. The characters in this book are very real. Lucy and John love one another, yet still have issues to deal with. John's daughter, Camille, struggles with a new step-mother and the loss of her father's time and affection. She is not likable when she is introduced, but as the story continues, she changes and becomes a much nicer young lady. The struggles this family goes through are real, and the changes the family dynamics go through could happen to anyone. A great story with great characters that will pull at your heartstrings as well as make you smile. Definitely a recommended read for anyone who enjoys family dramas. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. ( )