All I Ever Wanted

by Vikki Wakefield

Mim knows what she wants, and where she wants to go — anywhere but home, stuck in the suburbs with her mother who won't get off the couch, and two brothers in prison. She's set herself rules to live by, but she's starting to break them.

Now Mim has to retrieve a lost package for her mother.

Does this make her a drug runner?

Why is a monster dog called Gargoyle hidden in the back shed?

And Jordan, the boy she sent Valentines to for years, why is he now suddenly a creep?

How come there's a huge gap between her and her best friend, Tahnee?

And who is the mysterious girl next door who moans at night?

Over the nine days before her seventeenth birthday, Mim's life turns upside down. She has problems, and she's determined to solve them herself. But in the end, she works out who her people are, and the same things look entirely different.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Family

202 pages, Paperback

First published June 27, 2011

Reviews

[Reynje · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The summer holiday is nearly over.

This is not how it’s supposed to be.”

There is nothing saccharine about Mim Dodd’s life. She’s nine days away from seventeen, has two brothers in remand, and lives in a dead suburb with a Mother she is desperate to be nothing like. Mim wants to be anywhere else, and she’s got a set of rules to live by to make it happen.

It only takes one day, one package, and Mim’s life is about to change forever.

All I Ever Wanted’ is a powerful and beautiful book; a stunning work of lyrical prose spiked with grit. Much like it’s protagonist, Mim, the story is tough and touching, a brutally honest slice of life on the other side of the tracks. (Mim is definitely one of my all time favourite MC's, I wish I could put a copy of this book into the hands of everyone who has had their fill of insipid, one-note heroines.)

Vikki Wakefield certainly has a way with imagery in her writing – there is something very visual about the spare, apt phrases used throughout the novel. With simple lines, Wakefield captures images and characters perfectly, and Mim’s world comes to life on the pages. (This is another book I was compulsively page flagging, trying to mark all of the amazing lines.)

Incredibly atmospheric, you can feel the heat rising off the ground, hear Mim’s thongs slapping the concrete, feel the sweat and dust and dirt. It’s vivid and familiar: the dodgy suburb, the lethargy of summer, the clearly drawn characters.

The chapters read like a line of dominos falling over, each flowing into the next, gathering strength as the stakes are raised. As the plot gathers urgency, Mim develops as a character, forced to confront each of her staunch rules. We witness the shifts in her perception of her family, her home, and her life, and her gradual acceptance of the person she really is.

In contrast to Mim’s rules, All I Ever Wanted does not deal in black and white portrayals of life. People and their actions are shown in all their shades of grey, flaws and moral ambiguity. The rougher side to life is not glossed over here, but nor is it used deliberately to shock. And while Mim’s life is no walk in the park, and her neighbourhood is less than picture perfect, the story is also hopeful, and strangely beautiful in its realism and heart.

This is a striking debut, full of lingering, gorgeous, compelling writing.

Reading it feels like a small and vivid piece of the real world has been captured on paper. Highly memorable and moving - I loved it.

[Nomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I Ever Wanted is blurbed by two of my all-time fave Aussie YA authors:

‘One of the most memorable YA books I’ve ever read. Original, real, startling and beautiful.’ Cath Crowley (Graffiti Moon)

‘In a tarnished world, Mim is tough and sweet and true. Utterly charming’ Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things).

Okay, I nearly feel like my work here as a reader/reviewer is done as I fully (crazily) endorse both those statements.

All I Ever Wanted captivated me from the first few pages. I adore Mim, she’s tough and brave and bold despite her fears and failures. She’s smart and funny and fierce and looking at her world through her eyes was just gorgeous. She has strong convictions and secret dreams and is spirited in that Josie Alibrandi way (Melina Marchetta).

The prose in this book (!)

[pauses for a moment]

Absolutely, genius-like, divine.

I am billing it as a mix between Cath Crowley’s Graffiti Moon and Leanne Hall’s This Is Shyness (both amazing-brilliant-wow books to be blended up with).

It is, in some ways, a gritty read but without it feeling gritty. It’s like a diamond in the rough kind of read ~ all tough on the outside but absolutely shining and beautiful at its core.

I love books like this: original, unpredictable, delightfully strange, completely real and shining with hope. It felt utterly Australian. The characters are unabashedly flawed and all the more lovable for it.

I haven’t said much about the plot ~ honestly, I liked reading it having no idea what to expect from it ~ but for those of you who need more a teaser ~ here’s a blurb from author Vicki Wakefield talking about her teen experience that inspired Mim’s story:

As a teenager, I always had one leg dangling over the wrong side of the tracks. When I was seventeen I went to house-sit for a friend who was an unmarried teenage mother. It was a half-house in a lost street in a forgotten suburb – just like the book.

It wasn’t hard to dredge up memories of that month – I lived in a perpetual state of fear and desperation. I dared myself to stay there. During the day the street was deserted; at night it was alive and menacing and I was terrified. Law seemed to exist outside of that street, but by the end of the month I was braver, wiser and I’d changed my mind about some of the residents. The people who lived there didn’t have money or material things – but what they did have was pride, a sense of community and bucketloads of humanity. (taken from her author page @ Text)

I am sold on Wakefield’s debut and she has entered my ranks of hallowed Aussie quthors and auto-buy, must-reads.

And YES ~ I did reference Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley and Fiona Wood all in one review for this stunning debut :)

All I Ever Wanted has been longlisted for the inky's (wooT!)
Fingers crossed it will make the cut into the short list :)

Go forth and read it ;)

[Dree · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★★1/2

A thoroughly impressive debut from Australian author Vikki Wakefield about a week or so in the life of a young girl from the wrong side of the tracks in the summer holidays before her final year at school.

Mim is having a rough time. Her brothers are in jail on drug charges, her obese, unemployed mother slobs around the house, her best friend doesn't seem to like her anymore & the boy she has obsessed over for years doesn't know she exists.

I thoroughly appreciate it when books tackle big issues in life, and do it well. Kudos to Wakefield for her deep understanding that life is complicated, people aren't black & white, love does not conquer all & there is no such thing as happily ever after.

This is wonderfully sweet little book that made me laugh and cry & I highly recommend it to everyone!

[Isamlq · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been two days since I read this and still don't think what I have to say will do it justice. I LOVED THIS. And while I do believe Marchetta to be the queen of complicated, emotional relationships, All I Ever Wanted left me feeling a little of what I feel everytime I pick up The Piper's Son or Saving Francesca or Jellicoe Road. And why? It's the people in it, their screwy relationship; it's how they weren't all lovey dovey for each other but simply present. Add to all that a whimsical element, well it had me smiling a little more. But that there's friendhip, old and new, both as complicated and nuanced as the other, had me wanting more. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Mim has a set of rules about what NOT to become, about how to get out. I suppose the story line of being stuck and wanting to get out, to escape has been done time and again... It has. But, Mim's story stuck to me, is sticking to me. Her version of wanting to get out is so honest... and skewed at the same time. It's angsty and peppered with 'my life is shit' moments, yet I can not find it in me to poke fun at her (as I probably would have otherwise.) Why? What she knows of her 'people' is not a pretty picture and how she grew up was unconventional but like I said, her version of things is skewed. And that ending, had me hoping a little more for her mainly because of her 'people.'

She could be such a brat... and she could  act like one knowingly! I admired her spunk, but at the same time I also wanted her to open her eyes. She kept saying she didn't look down on them, kept saying she didn't hate any of them... but she did, didn't she? So when friendships started to unravel, and her lofty world view started to get shaken up... I needed to know how things would turn out for all of them, Mim, her mother, and Mim's friends.

I can't say that I was surprised by her behavior... because she simply wanted something different. But when it came to other aspects she could be so slow on the uptake. Don't get me wrong, the boy in this one had lovely moments. But moments alone! On the whole he behaved worse than she did. And what's worse is his awareness of her, though much craved earlier, came at the heels of what I felt as 'I want it because I can't have it.' (I hope I'm making sense.)

There are a lot of bitter moments between her and her bestfriend. Their shared history came clear across in how they behaved with each other. And while I didn't like what either of them did or how thoughtless cruel they could be to each other, I bought that there was a them. As to the new friendships formed, I enjoyed the discoveries they made in each other, and how their assumptions of the other turned out otherwise as with Lola and her job, or Kate and her nerddom... and how those two saw Mim, as brave out there and sure of herself. Then there were even more bitter moment between her and her mother. And yet, all was not as she had assumed.

I loved this... the people are far from perfect, so she viewed them as such... and almost missed out on the good in them.

* I went back to copy some good lines out of this. I stopped counting my bookmarks somewhere around
fifteen.

READ THIS!
4/5 

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I'm getting out," I tell her. I still half-believe it. Surely there's a recipe for it. Follow a few steps and you can cook up your own shiny destiny.

This debut novel by Adelaide author Vikki Wakefield is a unique and refreshing addition to the Aussie YA scene. What makes this book memorable is the outstanding prose and the loveable, rough around the edges characters.

Mim wants to escape her life. At 16, she's weighed down by a poor family, 2 brothers in jail and a gritty, run-down suburb. She wants something more for herself and aches to travel the world. So she lives by the rules, the rules she believes will get her out of the life she loathes. No tattoos, no drinking, no sex before 18...

But as soon as soon as she breaks one of her rules - a possible drug deal - the rest start to crumble around her.

This is not your usual YA read. At first glance, you could assume as much. However, Wakefield dashes those assumptions early on and you begin to realise that this is something different. Something special. If you're looking for Anna and the French Kiss you won't find it here. It's more like if On the Jellicoe Road had a love child with Zusak's I Am the Messenger. And it's brilliant.

The characters that live on Tudor Crescent with Mim make this book shine. There's Lola, the maybe prostitute, who is sweet, charming and smart. Mick Tarrant, the pure evil pervert. Kate, the out of place bank geek, quietly rebelling. They are a colourful bunch. By the end of the book I was attached to each and every one of them (well, except Mick but he gets what he deserves, thankfully).

The reason this book is a four and not a perfect five is because the last two chapters seemed a bit rushed to me. It also felt like every plot line was being wrapped up in a neat little package, nothing left to wonder about. It could just be a personal preference, but I would've liked if some things were left uncertain.

The cover is hands down my favourite of 2011. I love how it relates to the story, too! Always a good thing.

If her amazing debut is anything to go by, I look forward to reading more of Vikki Wakefield's books - hopefully soon!

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this debut novel (published by Text—who are publishing some really interesting YA fiction). It's the story of 16 year old Mim Dodd (Jemima, a name she hates), youngest child of a family of small time criminals who is determined to follow her own rules, including not to take drugs, not to get tattoos, to stay at school, to only trust herself, to not to be like everyone else—especially her mother. The novel opens with Mim being relieved of a package she's collected from her mother by the boy she's been in love with for 5 years—and things go downhill (and up dale) from there. Mim has to try and keep the bad news from her mother until she figures out what to do—and not helping is the bastard wife-beating neighbour's monster dog, Gargoyle, who has taken up residence in the Dodd family's shed-cum-stash.

All I Ever Wanted has a wonderful cast of characters—Mim's best friend Tahnee; the maybe-prostitute-nextdoor-neighbour (code name Lola); Kate, the younger sister of Mim's love interest, Jordan, who is as desperate not to be a good girl as Mim is to not be the bad girl everyone assumes she is. Benny, the maybe-mystical, beer-loving Aboriginal man; Mrs Tkautz, whose garden Mim delights in sabotaging with handfuls of birdseed. Mim's street/neighbourhood lives in is full of fabulous characters and shows us a delicious slice of the variety of working class life to be found in certain Australian suburbs.

This is such a marvellous book and Mim is a character I really liked and was on side with—she's not always right, but she's always determined and brave. Wakefield never plays the safe or expected card with her characters and allows for (realistic) nuances of ethics in their behaviour. I really liked how she handled the romance thread of the plot, and while the climax was more dramatic than I expected, it mostly works. And I was thrilled with Mim's happy ending, even though it might stray a touch into the realm of wishful thinking.

(Spoiler alert:

Say anything. Ding.)

Utterly recommended. All I ever wanted, indeed.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had so much potential.

I'm just sad that after letting it simmer for two days I have now convinced myself that it's flaws were too in-your-face to give it a good rating.

I read the sample first and was immediately hooked. Wakefield writes a good teen girl voice, very Sarah Dessen esque. So I got really excited.

Only a few pages into the book we watch Mim, the MC, get robbed of drugs she was trafficking for her family by the guy she's been in love with for years. She left the kid Valentines in his mailbox for YEARS! And I was like, oh this is going to be an AWESOME STORY!

And Mim is just this really funny, dry 17 year old with wisdom beyond her years and this drive to rise above her family's crime riddled past to become something more. And at first that too, is most admirable.

She starts making quirky new friends in an attempt to get the package back from said "bad boy", or otherwise her family's going to go all mafia on somebody's ass. Probably her dream guy. But in the meantime she's just running around, meeting these new people and making me laugh.

‘Watch out, it’s asbestos,’ I warn. ‘You’ll breathe it in and get that disease, asbestosis, or whatever.’
‘Mesothelioma,’ she says.

And all the time her best friend is urging her to go after the boy of her dreams, and confess her feelings, but her bf doesn't know that he stole a package of drugs from her family. So Mim is decidedly uncertain on how to approach him.

That I could handle indifference because it still felt like something could happen between us. Rejection feels so final and so imperfect.

And she's bright, with a really distinct and unique voice.

During the night I wrote messages to Tahnee and Kate, but I deleted them all, unsent. A text message has no soul, no matter how many commas you shift.

And then when things start going particularly wrong with the new friends she's made and her horrible choice in not confessing to her family immediately she says:

"I can see how a perfectly sane, ordinary person might one day shoot strangers in a mall, or hold up a service station, or drive into a reservoir with three kids in the back seat. You hear about them, the quiet people, the ones nobody notices until they snap. They keep to themselves. I reckon it’s not when things are white-hot that they do the stuff you read about it the papers. It’s in the flat feeling, the afterburn, when it can seem almost normal doing the extreme. When part of you gives up and gives in. The numb spot.

And her thoughts on her situation which seem particularly insightful for someone so young:

It’s not that I hate poor people. Or people who are having shitty luck. I hate being poor. In my experience, poverty makes people do things they don’t want to do. The ones that don’t get out stay aimless and teach their kids to do the same thing and the cycle goes on and on. I hate that I have to fight to get out because nobody holds the door open and wishes you a good trip. That would mean there’s a way out. The fact is, the poverty line is just a rung on a ladder that some people can’t be bothered to climb. There’s nobody above with a foot on their head.

But then, after sympathizing with her for half the novel, things changed. I started finding her really judgmental of her peers and her family, and a little narrow-minded for someone who's supposedly poverty stricken. If becoming not poor was so easy, why doesn't everyone just do it? As someone that's poor shouldn't she be understanding of people stooping to criminal activity? I mean, it's do that or starve isn't it? It's not like it's an easy choice. Well maybe for some it is, but for Mim whose every possession and comfort comes from drug money shouldn't she be a little more empathetic?

That all could have been overlooked by me, if the novel had stayed true to it's dark tone from the beginning. Drugs, criminal activity, and sex are all serious issues that the author began to address and then it just seemed to stop.

SPOILERS AHEAD-

The entire end of the novel was something out of the Brady Bunch. Everyone got a happy ending, even the incarcerated brothers. Um...they are gangsters with multiple children that they don't take care of, so sorry if I feel like they deserve to be treated so nicely. All of the sudden Mim loves her Mom, and there were never drugs in the package that was stolen.

Everything was tied up in a nice bow, where her family ends up looking good and innocent and sweet. Mim gets everything she wants from the now not discussed drug money, and it's just not realistic. That's what I hated. How forced and unbelievable the happy ending was. It really let me down so much, for a book that had soooo much potential at the beginning.

[Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

Beautiful. I don't even really know what to say about this book. The only reason why I can't give All I Ever Wanted a higher rating is because it's so short! I want more, truly. Mim is such a relatable protagonist. Having grown up in a lower class upbringing that is heavily in the drug dealing business she longs for more. Thus her well loved collection of Lonely Planet books and the rules. Number 1: I will not end up like my mum. And then she starts breaking them. It all starts with a "deal" and a little brown package....

This really had potential to be as large as To Kill A Mockingbird, or something to that level. Wakefield opens us up to a whole neighborhood full of really interesting and colourful people that I wanted to know more about. There's this nagging feeling, akin to nostalgia or maybe deja vu, sort of like meeting people but you feel like it wasn't for the first time... hard to explain, I know.

The writing style is easily accessible, with a distinguished use of voice. Mim would be a pretty nice person to have as a friend.. I feel like we'd be able to get each other. Also doesn't hurt that we share the same sense of wanderlust.

I can't get over how much I loved the characters. Lola, the mysterious girl next door; Tahnee, the best friend (though more love-hate, in favour of the hate); Kate, the perfect, nice girl but closet rebel... all the neighbours. Benny. Gargoyle, the local menace/dog/beast. There's a lot of love here, and I can tell that Wakefield spent a lot of time developing this "world" she has created (or reimagined).

The ending did seem quite rushed, like everything was being wrapped up in a neat little bow, ready for deadlines. Slightly cheesy, but definitely a heart warming ending. I'm glad for that, but I just wish it hadn't felt so forced. But that's the thing with endings, isn't it? You can't please everyone: there will always be people dissatisfied with something. Highly recommended book overall. I'll be looking for more from this author in the future for sure! <3

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 2 out of 5]

It finally happened: I've come across an Australian YA book that's actually a bit rubbish. It had to happen sometime.

It's just unfortunate because this book comes with glowing recommendations from two of my favourite Australian YA authors, Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley, so I now feel let down. Did we even read the same book? The one I read is super short (only like 40k words), has a weirdly disjointed narrative voice that makes the plotline hard to follow at times, and relies on a twist right at the end that makes the heroine look like a total moron. Also, the ending comes out of nowhere and has no relation to the rest of the entire book.

What a waste of an afternoon.

[Blog] - [Bookstagram]

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is forgot the whole world for a second good. it's kick you in the crotch spit on your neck fantastic. it's writing that makes your palms sweat and your toes curl. it's just so....SO. y'know? wowzers. this book is my people and fuck is it good to be home.

[Gwennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

You know how sometimes when you read a book, one that someone convinced you to try, and you are completely blindsided and blown away when you fall deeply in love with it? Well, that is exactly what happened to me when I read Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield. I have a very very select few of my absolute top shelf favorite books, and in my entire lifetime of reading it’s only got 8 books on it. One of those books is Friday Brown.

Falling in love with a book like that is actually rather rare. Though, when I find an author I love, I do immediately grab another book I may not dive into it right away. I worry that if I really hate a second book then it’ll tarnish the love of the first book. I can be a little bit of an over-thinker. Also, Vikki Wakefield has a very strange voice. It’s darkly poetic almost. When you read her books the cadence of the characters is just very… strange. It worked well in Friday Brown, but every time I would try to pick up All I Ever Wanted I would chicken out. The writing style in the first two chapters is slightly disconcerting at first.

I am so very glad that I pushed through it because this has got to be one of the most heartwarming books I’ve ever read. I told my close friend, who I’ve convinced to read it, that All I Ever Wanted was about beauty where most people would only see filth. That’s, I feel, the perfect description of what Vikki Wakefield does in this book. She tells a story of poverty, and crime, and what society would see as the ugly of the world and she fills your heart with all the love instead.

“When you’re a child, what you see and hear and comprehend can be sorted into little boxes. Then, as you live and learn, all those boxes open up and become rooms. The more you experience, the bigger those rooms get. If you’re lucky enough, there are some people you will love, and who will love you, long enough to see their boxes grow into vast spaces. You’ll understand things that had no meaning. You’ll find dark corners that only light up for the briefest moments. But when you keep getting lost, you just end up with a pile of boxes.”

Although this is classified as a YA novel, I would not at all recommend this to an impressionable teenager. Some of the things that happen in this book are likely too realistic for a young mind. I believe that a book for the young should have a certain amount of black and white. That what is ‘wrong’ is clearly addressed. However, as an adult, I know that things aren’t always that simple. Bad Guys aren’t always held accountable. And you know what, it wasn’t really the point of the story. The point of All I Ever Wanted was about roots. It was about family. It was about knowing where home is. Knowing who has your back.

‘Who, being loved, is poor?’ -Oscar Wilde

In the end I feel like I’m standing on pretty steady ground with this author. She’s written two books; I’ve read both of them. Both books made me cry. Both books get 5 stars.

If you liked this review, and want other great reviews about all kinds of books, come over to Badass Book Reviews for more!

[Paula Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gutsy book about family, identity, and the realisation that love comes in all shapes and sizes. It's unsentimental, but even though Mim's world is rough and tumble, it's not brutal. There's no dressing up the poverty and criminality in her world, and yet there's still dignity in lives of the eccentric and dangerous characters around her (well, most of them. Some are just assholes).
But in her desperation to get away from everything that makes her who she is, she discovers a startling - and liberating - new way to view her life and those in it. All I Ever wanted is tightly constructed and very well written. I loved Mim's journey, and her narrative voice was so compelling I read this in two sittings. It's Australian, it's brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough.

[Zemira Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I picked it up because it was so short, I ended up wishing it was longer just because I was enjoying myself so much.

[ALPHAreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anywhere but here. That’s what Mim thinks – that she’d rather be anywhere but these suburbs that are haunted by a missing girl. Anywhere but down the road from the Tarrant house, where a dog called Gargoyle patrols the perimeter. Anywhere but in this family, with a mother addicted to home shopping and two brothers stuck in prison. Where childcare workers take her brothers’ bastard kids away the second Mim’s mum starts loving them.

So Mim has made rules to live by, rules to get out of this dump. No tattoos. Virginity intact. No drugs. No drugs. No drugs.

But all it takes is her perfect-boy crush, Jordan Mullen, smiling at her to send everything spiralling out of control.

‘All I Ever Wanted’ is the debut Australian Young Adult novel from Vicki Wakefield.

‘All I Ever Wanted’ came out in June this year, and was heralded as a landmark YA Australian novel. I put off reading it, for God knows what reason … and now that I have been inducted into the Vicki Wakefield fan-club, all I can think is that I took too long to get here.

This book is a lesson in duality. On the one hand, Wakefield’s novel is dealing with raw and gritty circumstances, as told from the perspective of a sixteen-going-on-seventeen-year-old girl dreamer. Mim’s family is reminiscent of the Cody clan in David Michôd’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ – and Mim’s circumstances are close to that of Ree in ‘Winter’s Bone’, the Debra Granik film. Her family have a reputation – they are a criminal element with a parole record to prove it. But Mim doesn’t want that for herself; she has a sagging bookshelf of Lonely Planet guides and a stuck globe reminding her that what she really wants is just over the horizon. But when her mother asks her to collect some ‘gear’, Mim doesn’t refuse. She pedals her bike into a world of trouble, bought on by beautiful boy Jordan Mullen.

What follows is Mim’s fallout from a pick-up gone wrong; and how she tries to backtrack on a mistake that could end in a territorial clash.

With this subject matter, Wakefield could have gone over-the-top and written something bordering on ‘Underbelly’ for the teen set. But instead she goes the other way – she writes Mim’s criminal family with heart and depth, gives them personality and camaraderie. The residents of Mim’s neighbourhood are a collection of odd souls and kind hearts – Lola, the phone-sex worker next door. Benny and his call of ‘Bloke!’ in underpants with beer in hand. Mim’s best friend, Tahnee, who has broken one of their golden rules. And Mrs Tkautz’s, who calls Mim a ‘godless child’. These are rough people living in an undesirable neighbourhood – and even though we’re reading about them through Mim’s disdainful eyes, readers can see the hodge-podge family knocked together in this suburban wasteland.

Mim, on the other hand, hates everything about this place. The people, her family, the unwritten law that says you avoid walking past the Tarrant house. All of it is getting on Mim’s nerves, and she’s just about at breaking point;

I can see how a perfectly sane, ordinary person might one day shoot strangers in a mall, or hold up a service station, or drive into a reservoir with three kids in the back seat. You hear about them, the quiet people, the ones nobody notices until they snap. They keep to themselves. I reckon it’s not when things are white-hot that they do stuff you read about in the papers. It’s in the flat feeling, the afterburn, when it can seem almost normal doing the extreme. When part of you gives up and gives in. The numb spot.

Mim thinks Jordan Mullen is her ticket out. He’s the beautiful boy from the posh neighbourhood – the boy all the public school girls drop their knickers for, and who is taking a gap year from his Uni course. Jordan is an idle fantasy that takes Mim out of this hellhole – dreaming about him has been a little slice of salvation for many years. But when Jordan double-crosses Mim, and his sister Kate crosses her path, Mim’s view of her ‘people’ and her daydreams go on a collision course.

Mim is a new favourite YA character. She’s a skinny wanderer full of bad blood and big dreams. I loved her. She’s a little bit blind to her own reality, and sometimes too harsh on those who love her. But her faults are her armour – and when she has come from so much muck, you can’t help but admire her.

‘All I Ever Wanted’ is a wonderful novel from new Aussie YA author, Vicki Wakefield. It’s a novel of dualities – our protagonist is a dreamer from a family of brutes. The setting is suburban wasteland, occupied by kind-hearted residents. The story is criminal, with a hidden agenda. And the boy crush is beauty, with a bad streak. Fantastic.

[Tahlia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still obsessed with this author. I love the way she writes the Australian setting.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wakefield’s debut establishes her as a skilled writer with a new take on the teen experience. All I Ever Wanted is filled to the brim with the seedier aspects of this small community of misfits and criminals but there is a pervasive sense of hope throughout. Mim sorely wants to escape her family and her general lot in life but finds herself in the middle of a situation that goes against everything she’s been trying to achieve.

Wakefield’s beautiful phrasing and sparky narrative is at odds with her setting which makes Mim’s journey all the more powerful and affecting.

[Adele Broadbent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vikki Wakefield is an amazing new Australian author for teens. All I ever Wanted is about a girl who is determined not to end up like her overweight, overspending mother, her tattooed and boy crazy best friend or her two brothers - both in prison for drug offences.

This would make a fantastic school character study as the reader gets to know the main character so well. And as the story progresses, the main character learns about herself and her family too. Maybe all is not what it seems?

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lucky to not be getting a 1. I’m mad I spent $12 on this.

[SanaBanana · Rating 4 out of 5]

rating: 4.5
I was surprised by this book, very much so. It was so real and I absolutely loved the narrator and the story line and it was really very well written. The only thing that i wish it had was just more. It was really very short and I would've absolutely loved it if it delved into everything that little but more, it would have elevated the story so much. It was lovely and quaint with the size of the story, but my weakness is thick books.

[Brooke R]

I chose the book, All I Ever Wanted because the front cover caught my attention. I found the front cover Fascinating because it looked like a girl so I think I could connect to the character. I also found first glances fascinating because of the simplicity happening on the front cover which helped me to focus on just a few images that interest me. From this book I am expecting some twists and real life events that would happen because of the images displayed and blurb. After reading the blurb I am also expecting to be able to connect to the character because in the blurb it states ''In nine days she'll turn seventeen.'' This quote shows that she is a teenager which is why I expect to be able to connect to her. I am expecting to be excited by what the character goes through and what happens in her life because in the blurb it seems as though she lives a bit of a different life to me which might open my eyes to something new. As well I am hoping to be interested after every chapter, wanting to know what will happen next. I hope that I will learn something new from this book such as new words and maybe a different genre of books that I may enjoy.

In the Book, All I ever wanted by Vikki Wakefield I started off thinking that I would enjoy having an understanding of someone similar to my age and what they go through but getting to the middle of the novel I have not enjoyed the novel as much as I thought I would because I believe it is aimed at an older age group because I have not been unleashed to somethings she gets up to in her life. The main character Jemima but her nickname is Mim, is different to her family, she is not interested in the same way of life and does not have the same ambitions. My impression of Mim is that she is a good person but gets caught up with the wrong crowd, that she knows that she wants to be something more. Her Mother is involved in bad situations and is not home a lot. Mim’s mother seems different to Mim because of her personality and what she does. I wonder if what her mother does now is what she wanted to do at the age Mim is now. Mim has a good friend named Tahnee and they have known each other for a while. From reading the book so far, I think they a very different girls but sometimes that can make the best friends. Through the novel new characters are introduced such as a new friend, Kate. Although I have not particularly adored the novel in a whole I have loved reading about Kate and Mim’s friendship grow because it is something I can relate to having friendships that grow too. So far the story line has been introduced but I do not feel that it is being touched on as much as I would like. For me the story line is Mim wanting to be different from her family, escape the lifestyle from the town she lives in now but if this is what they are trying to focus upon I believe it is being lost through little day to day events happening in Mim’s life. The writing is simplistic and not very challenging but this does help to focus on what is happening, although I would have liked more enriching vocabulary used throughout the novel to get me gripped. The writing style used in this novel is descriptive and narrative writing because Vikki Wakefield describes the scenes, characters and events to help the reader to imagine these different elements of the book. There is still more of the novel to go so I hope that the novel starts to get to the main point of the story line so I get gripped.

I have just finished the novel, All I Ever Wanted. At the beginning I was eager to read this book because my thoughts from reading the blurb were all positive. They were thoughts such as, I will be able to connect to the character as she is my age, and it will open my eyes to another way of life and many more optimistic thoughts. Once I reached the middle of the book I was a bit disappointed by what I had read so far because it seemed as if it was aimed for an older audience. I felt this way because the main character Mim, is involved with some pretty crazy stuff due to her family. Some of the events which made me think this were finding out her Mum is a drug dealer and meeting her neighbours as some had bizarre jobs. Once getting to the end my thoughts have once again changed. I think that the book had a very positive message especially for teenagers because at the end Mim’s family are there for her and they help her to be her. She shows that you can follow your dreams and don’t have to get caught up in what the people around you are doing. This book has definitely met my expectation from the begging because it has done exactly what I thought it would do for me. I may not have been able to connect to the character as much as I thought but in the end that did not matter to me because the real message came out. This message of following your dreams and teaching the reader that even though it may not seem like it but your family is always there for you and loves you was the main reason for my love of the book. This book had an impact on me that I will continue to remember. A quote that I really loved from the end of the novel is ‘’ if you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it is yours.’’ This quote stuck with me because it summarises the impact and reason I enjoyed this book.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stumbled across this while killing time at the Adelaide writers week book tent. Such a gem. Hooked from page 1. Rode every bump with Mim, laughed and squirmed with her friends, soaked up the joys and pitfalls of teenage life. Loved it.

[Chachic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted here.

I've said it before and I will probably say it again in the future: I love Aussie YA. I can't help it, there are just so many great authors in the land down under. So it's no surprise that I've been curious about All I Eve Wanted by Vikki Wakefield since I first heard about it, when glowing reviews from Aussie bloggers started popping up all over the blogosphere. I knew I was in for a treat when I finally got the chance to read this one.

I kept being surprised by how beautiful the writing is in Vikki Wakefield’s debut novel. It’s the kind of writing that jumps out of the page, grabs you and makes you pause because you just want to savor the words. All Mim ever wanted was a way out of her life. She’s done her best to be a good girl by staying away from illegal activities that her mom and brothers engage in, mostly because that’s what they know how to do and that’s what brings food to the table. Mim has her own set of rules that she hopes will lead her in a different direction from that kind of life. She dreams of traveling and visiting places that she's only read about in books. For someone like me, who grew up in the Philippines, reading about what poverty is like in a first world country like Australia is enlightening. I know that so many people back home dream about a better life in another country. Some of my own friends even aspire to live in Australia, specifically (and I have to admit that I wouldn't mind doing that either if it means I'd have access to so many wonderful novels). In this sense, All I Ever Wanted reminded me of one of my favorite reads last year, Such a Rush by Jennifer Echols. The same kind of yearning to move beyond the current reality is present in both books. I loved so many passages and I want to highlight a sample:

"God, who lives like this? There must be families who eat together and speak to each other with respect. There must be couples who love each other but don't have sex. There must be friends who can have a disagreement without screaming at each other and breaking up. Friends who don't change overnight and turn into complete opposites of each other.

It's almost funny. My rules are clacking over like dominoes but I've never felt so alive. I want to cry and scream in the middle of the street, just like Mum when she loses it. I want to smash things with a golf club. I want to spin my life like a bottle and see where I end up because any place would be better than here."

Isn't that just lovely? Certain passages in this book just made me sign in happiness. As much as I love romance in the stories that I read, I was able to appreciate that All I Ever Wanted was light in that aspect. It focused more on friendship, family and what happens when you let your guard down and let people in. Mim may feel like her life is bleak but I never felt burdened by her story. I felt like the book had the right balance of hope and despair. Highly recommended for fans of contemporary YA, I’ve marked this title as one of best ones that I’ve read this year. Vikki Wakefield is an author worth watching out for. I cannot wait to read her second novel, Friday Brown. All I Ever Wanted and Friday Brown can be purchased through Text Publishing or Fishpond, both of which have free international delivery.

[Jimmy Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

IT'S SO BORING!
Such a boring book that has maybe 2 good chapters that showed potential, but fell flat really quickly. I've never wanted to avoid reading a book this badly before I started reading this.

[Vi · Rating 4 out of 5]

such a sweet lil read. Love Mim and her desire to be different by wanting to leave the chaos (as opposed to being enveloped by the chaos) in her life. They live in a dangerous neighbourhood, her brothers are in jail and her mother is basically morbidly obese. She wants to be NOTHING like her mother (in more ways than one) let alone anyone else in her family/neighbourhood. She is courageous and willing and is my favourite character in the book. The ending of the book got me very teary and emotional. I LOVED the ending for Mim. She deserved it! I would definitely read again.

[Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is also posted on my blog, In The Good Books.

Mim's story is sweet and raw, her character likeable in its flaws, and her development and change of heart realistic and gradual. Her story is in equal parts heart-wrenching and heart-warming, and wholly touching.

Mim (short for Jemima) doesn't want to associate herself with the deplorable town she lives in, or the people in it. She just wants to get out. She has volumes and volumes of Lonely Planet travel guides read and reread. She's set herself rules to live by to help her get out, but now she's making new friends and delivering suspicious packages for her mother and her rules are slowly being broken.

Mim was a lovely character to read about, even if lovely isn't the word I'd use to describe her. Seeing her begin to contradict herself and realise her truths aren't truths at all and develop was inspiring, and the way she handled the story's gritty romance at the end at odds to how she introduced it perfectly showed how she'd changed.

On gritty romance, I absolutely loved that part of this book -- the way (spoilers ahead!) she was empowered by rejecting the boy who jerked her around even after she pined for him for so long. I always lament about how the girls so many YA relationships swoon over guys who don't deserve it, and I adore how Mim stood up for herself in this one.

Vikki Wakefield's debut was written in beautifully spare prose that easily evoked emotion from the reader. All of Mim's emotions were so clearly and accurately written that they seemed to pool on the page and sticky our hands. Her narration was so honest and her feelings so raw that I began to feel personally acquainted with her.

Mim's story was a short, sweet, and completely gorgeous one. An Aussie debut from a promising writer.

I give All I Ever Wanted a 5 out of 5.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just one of those books where you take away more than just a story.

It was like, to an 18 year old teen stumbling through life, all the answers to unasked questions.

But in the end, even though I loved the story, that's all it is...
...A story.

I'm 18, and I found the book very close to my heart, since I live a state away from where it's set, so it was...strangely refreshing from the other YA fiction out there. And it was...mesmerizing, but at the same time disturbing.

But a star must be removed because there were loose ends which should not have been left by Wakefield. I thought she would have tackled the consequences of the attempted date-rape or the assault. The close to sweet ending was harsh, because it was just too damn near perfect...

Just think about it. Her brothers get out of jail, somehow in time to say goodbye to her before she left for Paris, (which is another too perfect ending), and she makes up with her mother, friends, family...

And what happened to Jordan? I was expecting a cleaner conclusion. Not clean as the happy-ending-pristine-white way, but the so called "gritty" sometimes-things-aren't-always-perfect way.

Because that's what this book is being called - gritty contemporary YA fiction.

So where's this so called gritty ending?
It just feels too much like your typical main character is all woe-is-me, but then somehow turns out I love everyone now and I can forgive everyone because maybe it was my fault sort of story.

Am I being harsh or am I?

[Steve lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine debut novel from a writer with a knack for portraying engaging characters, most rough on the outside but with the ‘right stuff’ caged internally. The journey in this book, from start to cusp of climax, was excellent as, like a more sombre version of ‘Weeds’, our hero copes with growing up in a drug dealing dysfunctional family with little hope, so it seems, of crossing over those symbolic tracks. Mim is, as Fiona Woods notes in her blurb caption, ‘tough and sweet and true’, as, to varying degrees, are her mates Kate, Lola and Tahnee. The story rips along as Mim stays one step ahead of her enemies, avoids (just) the possibly terminal intentions of an odious would-be love interest and keeps a patently unsuitable mother at arm’s length. But all is not quite as it seems.
The climax is a tad confusing and a little over-baked with the denouement rather cheesy and too pat, but Wakefield’s tome will undoubtedly appeal to many a young lady with its brevity and subject matter.
It is encouraging that publishing houses, despite the gloomists, are prepared to give our youthful writers a chance. Here we have a new find who has much potential, and from my limited reading of other newbies, the future of writing for the ya market is in capable, competent and, in some cases, exciting hands.

[Pam Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vicki writes of Mim, a quite different character, not an anguishing private school girl of many teen books, but Mim from the hard suburbs, struggle town itself. Mim wants out and faraway, is it possible? Probably not with brothers in jail, a blob of a mother and a best friend who doesn’t understand. Why has the neighbours vicious dog moved in with them, who is the mysterious, moaning girl next door and now Mim is involved in the family drug business. Maybe getting a tat is not a big deal after all.
I just loved this book, totally engaging, more please Vicki. (Great cover too Text)

[Jess - The Tales Compendium · Rating 3 out of 5]

In A Nutshell: All I Ever Wanted was a unique novel, distinctly Australian with likeable characters fighting to figure out who they are, and who they don't want to be.

For my full review, please visit my blog: http://www.thetalescompendium.com/201...

[Christine Bongers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not put down this warm and gritty YA novel about a girl from a rough neighbourhood who is desperate to escape her small-time crim roots. The engaging storyline and characters, fluid narrative and evocative writing would have made it five stars for me, but for the sentimental, too-neat ending. Still, a fantastic debut novel. Four-and-a-half stars.