All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

Meet the Millers: Paul, Janice, Margaret, and Lizzie. Happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise, the family seems postcard perfect. Paul's Silicon Valley pharmaceuticals company just went public. The Miller's stock, figuratively and literally, is going up.

But in this case, it's up, up, and away when Paul FedExes Janice divorce papers and reveals a shocking mistress at the start of a long and hot summer. What unravels is a surprising tale of reinvention told from the perspectives of the three Miller women. Their stories aren't what I was expecting -- there are some drugs, a fair amount of debt, and a lot of denial. But through the trials, the Miller women are strong. Comical and ultimately uplifting, it's a story about rebuilding and restarting. Brown's novel is better written than your average pink-bound summer read, and her characters are hiding more than most celebrities on the cusp of scandal. Read it from a beach chair or an executive's chair, outside or in -- either way, you'll smell the chlorine and feel your shoulders burning.

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Janelle Brown (Random House, Paperback May 2009)