All She Ever Wished For By Claudia Carroll

[amazon_link id=”0008140731″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’All She Ever Wished For’ is the latest book by Irish author, Claudia Carroll.

One wet winter night, two women meet on a bridge. One is Tess Taylor, a personal trainer on the way to meet her boyfriend for date night. The other is Kate King, a celebrity married to a handsome billionaire who just happens to make her cry. In the cold dark evening, there is nothing to link them together but the bridge they shiver on. Little do they know they’ll both hold the key to each other’s future marriage.

‘All She Ever Wished For’ is another whimsical and heartwarming tale from one of Ireland’s best loved authors. The story is seen from the perspective of Tess Taylor and Kate King, two women from complete opposite backgrounds in life, but both their lives have come to a standstill as they are faced with life changing decisions when they meet one day, unaware of what life has in store for them.

Tess is in the middle of organising her wedding, settling for Bernard, a man fifteen years her senior, a quiet, art historian who enjoys nothing more than a quiet night with a glass of sherry, her outspoken parents are totally against the idea and think it’s a rebound wedding, since her last relationship fell apart. Determined to prove herself and them wrong, Tess wants to organise the wedding of the year, but fate has other plans for she has to be a juror in one of Ireland’s most prolific court cases of the year. After being taken for a mug for years, Kate King is after what is rightfully hers and takes her billionaire husband Damien to court. The court case has the nation divided in opinions as the divorced couple’s dramas take centre stage.

With its pretty and sparkly cover, this story was a joy to read from the very first page. Both leading ladies are engaging and relatable characters and both of them gave an insight into the polar sides of life. Tess is at a crossroads, everyone seems against her marriage to Bernard, even she is unsure, but with the court case, it gives her something else to concentrate on, other than table planning, Bernard’s parents and how little they have in common. As she settles into the life of juror, she meets interesting and fun characters, all with strong opinions on not only the court case and also with life, that makes for fun and enjoyable reading. One character in particular is a lovely addition to the story, a man by the name of Will, who Tess becomes friends with and is a welcome distraction from the pressure of wedding planning. On the other side of the story is Kate, a glamorous model worth millions, who has confused people as to why is after an incredibly expensive painting, people consider her a gold digger, but are unaware of the heartbreak and tragedy she has suffered over the years.

The story is mainly a romantic tale but there is a darker side to the tale, as Claudia reveals the backstory of Kate’s life and this makes for complex and compelling reading as the life that she is leading is far from what the press is reporting.

Packed with her trademark humour and wit and Claudia’s sweet storytelling style this book was a deliciously entertaining story that was incredibly well researched, filled with court jargin and historical facts that I found quite interesting. ‘All She Ever Wished For’ is another wonderful story from one of my favourite authors, a tender and emotional fairytale that made for entertaining reading with amusing and compassionate moments throughout, that made the book impossible to put down.

You can buy [amazon_link id=”0008140731″ target=”_blank” ]All She Ever Wished For from Amazon [/amazon_link] and is available to buy from good bookshops.