All You Could Ask For

by Mike Greenberg

A tender and wonderfully insightful story of friendship, love, heartbreak, and renewal, played out in the lives of three unforgettable women, from an extraordinary and unexpected debut novelist—the host of the #1 sports talk show in America, ESPN's Mike Greenberg

All You Could Ask For
Mike Greenberg

Three women are about to find their lives intertwined in ways none of them could ever have imagined...

Brooke has been happily married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years. Even after the C-section, the dog poop, the stomach viruses, and the coffee breath, Scott still always winks at her at just the right moments. That is why, for her beloved, romantic, successful husband's fortieth birthday, she is giving him pictures. Of her. Naked.

Samantha's newlywed bliss is steamrolled when she finds shocking evidence of infidelity on her husband's computer. She has been married for two days. She won't be for much longer.

Katherine works eighteen hours a day for the man who irreparably shattered her heart fifteen years ago. She has a duplex on Park Avenue, a driver, a chef, and a stunning house in Southampton, and she bought it all herself. So what if she has to see Phillip every single workday for the rest of her natural life? Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don't know one another, but all three are about to discover the conquering power of friendship—and that they have all they could ask for, as long as they have one another.

Genres: Fiction, Chick Lit, Book Club, Contemporary, Womens Fiction, Adult Fiction, Friendship

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Melissa Lee-Tammeus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, I always feel guilty when I review a book I didn't finish. But, man, I gave it a good shot. I pulled in over 65% of this book before I just couldn't waste any more of my time. Too many awesome books to read. So, here's the deal. This book starts off with some women with totally separate and disjointed lives. And they are written that way. You read a snippet about one and then it cleverly moves to the next story line by using the same line or thought of the last story (granted, very confusing, but quite clever). These women were typical, one dimensional characters. One blonde bimbo sort with a rich daddy who stays in HI for a month training for a marathon after leaving her older husband of one day when she finds he was cheating on her, another is a Devil wears Prada type. I don't even need to explain that one. And here's the one I just couldn't take: the one who loves her husband SOOOOO much because he is SOOOO awesome that she does everything she can to keep him, because gosh darn it, he's worth it. And this is done seriously. Good grief, here is where I really literally put the book down and confirmed my worst sexist fear. A real life male sportswriter cannot write good female characters that are believable that I even want to care about. Period. Yes, I know his wife helped a friend go through cancer and he's a great husband and now clearly a writer of women's fiction. I hoped it wasn't true - that I would judge an author because of gender. In fact, that's why I kept picking it back up. But, call it what you will. I just could not think of these characters anything more than a figment of a man's imagination that just did not get it right. Oh, yeah, the second half of the book? All the sudden all the women get breast cancer, write on a support board online and become each other's best supporters. We find this out in about a page. What is annoying about this, is they all find out quickly, painlessly and everyone's procedures are handled within days. Apparently in fiction life, you can have a mammogram, find a lump, have it biopsied, have your doctor tell you on the phone all your options, set you up with a surgeon within a day, and have a double mastectomy all within a week. And be strong enough to blog and write all about it. So, you know what? I suppose the reason I slammed this book shut for the last time, unfinished, was I was just completely insulted for all women everywhere. We are not just one woman and we as well as our situations are a bit more complicated than this.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I heard that Mike "Greeny" Greenberg wrote a book, I figured it would be a sports book. Then I heard it was a novel, so I thought, 'oh, a novel about sports.' Then I read the description- a novel about three women dealing with breast cancer. Wait, what?

Greenberg had a friend who had breast cancer, and he was amazed that her three best friends, one of whom was his wife, surrounded this woman with constant love and never left her side. They went to her doctor appointments, her chemo treatments; they were with her at all times.

This so impressed him, because he didn't think that men would be so present for their male friends. His friend succumbed to her cancer, and he wrote a novel about three women who each get a diagnosis of breast cancer. The proceeds from this novel go to the V Foundation in his friend's name to aid in cancer research. (The V Foundation is named after famed North Carolina State University coach Jim Valvano who lost his battle with cancer at age 46.)

I can't believe a man wrote this book. Greenberg captures the voices of these three very different women so incredibly well, he must eavesdrop on women often. And take notes.

Samantha is newly married to an older man and on her honeymoon in Hawaii. She is blissfully happy, ready to start her new life when she finds a photo of a naked woman on her husband's laptop.

Katherine has just turned forty, a hard-charging career woman whose last serious relationship ended badly many years ago. Now the most important man in her life is her faithful driver Maurice. Her administrative assistant has set her up on a blind date with a handsome, eligible man- who happens to be twenty years older than her. How old does she think Katherine is anyway?

Brooke is happily married to Scott, and mom to two children, living in the suburbs, trying to figure out what to get her husband for his birthday. She is a good wife, a good mom and likes her life.

The first half of the book sets up each of these three interesting women's lives, all facing different daily challenges- work, home, family, loneliness. We become invested in them, and compare our lives to theirs.

Then they each get a diagnosis of breast cancer. Each woman reacts differently, and the reader is left to ponder how they deal with her individual diagnosis. The women do not interact with each other in the first half of the book, but they later meet on breast cancer message boards and we are able read their messages to each other, and see their relationships develop.

I had to admit I was skeptical about a novel some would call "chick-lit" about breast cancer written by a male ESPN host, but Greenberg does a terrific job here. I wanted to know more about these women's lives, and I found their reactions to their illnesses fascinating.

They each respond differently, and the way one woman deals with it will probably cause some lively discussions in book clubs, for which this novel would make a good choice. It definitely made me think about how I would react, and upon reflection, it also made me try to be less judgmental of other women and the choices they make in the lives.

[Larry H · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've watched ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, so I'm familiar with Mike Greenberg's on-air persona. I'm a fan of his, but I'll tell you, nothing could have prepared me for his utter mastery in writing a novel which has as its primary characters three women—Brooke, who was raised to be exactly what she is, the perfect suburban housewife, married to her college sweetheart and raising twins; Samantha, the emotionally fragile yet physically tough-as-nails athlete, whose whirlwind marriage ends shortly after it begins; and Katherine, the most powerful female executive on Wall Street, who has been working for years for the man who broke her heart.

The first half of Greenberg's pretty fantastic novel, All You Could Ask For, spins the stories of these three women. While their stories don't quite reach Sex and the City-type adventures, each character has her own strength and quirks, and Greenberg hits all of their voices quite well, without slipping into stereotypical female traits or behaviors. Nothing that happens to any of them is earth-shattering or unique, but each character is tremendously engaging that you want to know what will happen next. Will Brooke find the right place to have the naked pictures of her taken so she can give them to her husband on his 40th birthday? Will Samantha take her philandering husband back, or will she embark on another magical relationship while training for a triathlon in Hawaii? And will Katherine be able to let her guard down enough to find emotional happiness?

SPOILERS AHEAD (although some of this has been mentioned in certain book reviews).

The three women meet in an online support group for breast cancer survivors. Each woman has a different diagnosis and a different way of handling the disease and its effects, and also approaches her relationship with the other women in a different way. The second half of the book deals with the unanswered questions that follow a cancer diagnosis and treatment, the differing emotions each person experiences and the choices they make, and what happens next. It is sometimes emotional, sometimes perplexing, sometimes hopeful, but Greenberg does his best to be matter-of-fact in his storytelling without being maudlin, and for me, none of the notes he hit seemed at all false.

I know I read fast, but I literally read this book in about two and a half hours this evening. That's how much these characters appealed to me even though I'm not a woman, and that's how emotionally invested I found myself. Mike Greenberg's writing doesn't wow you, but it pulls you in. It makes you imagine these three women at the different points in their lives, and I just needed to know what came next. Greenberg's voice seemed so authentic; this isn't a man writing the way he'd want a woman to behave, this is a man observant enough to know how they behave, how they speak, and how they act, and that adds to this book's appeal.

I've said many times I know I've enjoyed a book tremendously when I wonder what happened to the characters after the book ended. That was definitely the case with this book. I was moved, I was entertained, and I was hooked, and I'm thankful to have found this book. I hope others find it equally as enjoyable.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A copy of All You Could Ask For was provided to me by William Morrow for review purposes.


Brooke, Samantha and Katherine all have established and successful lives, each with their own different definition of success. Brooke has been happily married to her college sweetheart for 15 years. Samantha is a competitive athlete who after a whirlwind marriage finds evidence of her husband's infidelity 2 days into their honeymoon but it's the best thing that could have happened to her. Katherine is an extremely successful business-woman who decides to take her first vacation ever after a disastrous blind date on her birthday. All lead separate lives and have never met each other, but they will become forever entwined with one another when they all are forced to suffer through the same diagnosis forever changing their lives.

On my Goodreads shelf I currently have 79 books classified as Chick-Lit and of those 79 only one is written by a male author. This book. Now that's not to say that he's the ONLY male author that has ever written Chick-Lit but it's the only one that I've bothered trying out. The fact of the matter is Chick-Lit is not a commonly written genre by males, my guess is because of the difficulty they have in writing a solid and realistic female character. Well, not only has Mike Greenberg managed to write a solid and realistic female character, he was able to write three of them.

I was so very pleased when I first began this book. I loved the humor and I loved the individuality of each of the characters. I enjoyed learning the details of their lives and who they were as people. It was all very realistic and made these characters very distinguishable. Suffice it to say, I loved these characters and eagerly awaited the moment where their lives coalesced. While the second half of the story was what brought these characters together, it was my least favorite part of the book. It took a much too serious turn and I would have preferred to see the lightness that the first half of the story possessed to continue. While I understand the reason behind this since it aided in strengthening the characters further, I simply expected a much lighter read and would have enjoyed it more.

This is a definite must for fans of Jane Green, Emily Griffin, Jodi Picoult and fans of the like. All You Could Ask For possesses seemingly everyday characters with a powerful inspiring story of strength.

[Jenny Abrahamson Coughlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

While I appreciate the reason Mike Greenberg wrote the book and the cause to which book sale proceeds will go, I have to give the book 1 star. The use of ridiculous similes (her fingers were like tightly rolled dollar bills?!?!?!?!) and unrelatable characters made the book difficult to finish. The fact that all three women were wealthy enough to not worry about medical bills was a little tough to swallow, and when one of the characters (Brooke) even states that if she were reading her story in a book, she'd put it down, I almost did. The book is an ok summer "beach read," but don't expect too much from either the characters or the plot. Predictable. Boring. Unrealistic. No real plot twists to keep the reader interested. Would not recommend to friends.

[Mary Gramlich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every life lived is a story worth telling

Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine are women that are leading successful albeit flawed lives. They move in different circles, which have never offered an opportunity for them to cross paths. They are successful in their own right at what they do and each day has a unique twist or turn that they resolve as it suits their personality. Brooke is a stay at home mother who still has sizzle in her marriage; Katherine is a powerful force in a company that keeps her rich; while Samantha may have made a poor relationship choice right now she is running as fast as she can toward her latest goal. Occasionally the question does arise as to whether the correct path was chosen, but overall life is good or so they have convinced themselves.

When Samantha, Katherine, and Brooke are handed the same diagnostic fate the plan of action may be different but the goal is survival. The only hesitation in their plans is the question resounding in their heads; has my life been worth talking about? The battle they are about to embark on reminds each of them with a huge blow that they share a common enemy that is trying to take everything away and how are they going to stop that from happening. Facing diversity each will respond, react, and choose to survive, as it deems appropriate. Plans are formed, treatment options decided, and futures secured with each one forced to answer where I go from here. When you reflect upon your life, the one constant does come down to the legacy you are leaving and how you will be remembered.

Mike Greenberg has created three wonderful characters, wrapped around a moving story, topped off with a not so subtle reminder that money does not buy happiness.

[Jose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay. So I, too, picked up an advance reader's copy of this book largely because of all the hype on the back cover about how it was written by a "man's man" who clearly understands the inner workings of women. As I read more and more, I started to think "wait, I'm a guy; how do I know what and how women think and act?" (Of course, that leaves aside the bigger question of whether a man actually thinketh at all. But let's put that aside for the moment.) Next, I started to think "so what? Male authors have been writing about and in the voice of female characters (and vice versa) for ages and have been doing so well or poorly irrespective of their own gender." Which led me to realize that I haven't been reading this book on the basis of literary merit; all I've been doing is reading words while trying to process in my mind how this book differs from a book about women written BY a women. Which led me to the conclusion that, unless you (man OR woman) want to read this book in order to pose these and similar questions, there really isn't much reason to read this book. Not that it's horrible; it's okay, but I want to read books that are better than "okay" and for merit, not for the gender of the author. But that's just one guy's opinion.

[Snotchocheez · Rating 3 out of 5]

My emotions are all over the place on this one. And reading my fellow GoodReaders' takes on this novel is providing no help, as I can agree with a little bit of nearly all of them: "Surprising!" "Inspirational!" "One-dimensional Characters!" "Breezy beach read!" "Well-intentioned!" (I stop short, though, at concuring with the "What the hell were you thinking, Greeny?!" lambaste).

This is the second novel I've read in less than two months where i was astonished with the author's ability to completely inhabit characters of the opposite gender. In the 2014 thriller You, Caroline Kepnes' Joe, an obsessive book store manager, is so convincingly believable and perfectly realized, you'd never suspect the puppeteer pulling his freak-strings was a woman. In 2013's All You Could Ask For, the novel is completely driven by the musings of three seemingly unrelated upper middle class women. This in itself would be unremarkable were it not for the fact that (a) it's written by ESPN celeb Mike Greenberg and (b) SPOILER (though it's a sort of necessary spoiler as it's impossible to sell someone on this book without revealing it) the three women's lives are ultimately tied together by the upheaval that breast cancer causes.

I'm astonished at how effortlessly Greenberg portrays these women. If you picked this book at random, and knew nothing about it, you'd never suspect a man wrote this (and not just a man, but a cable TV sports celeb.) The problem though is that these women (who were probably modeled after real breast cancer survivors in Greenberg's (and his wife's) circle of friends) are, while fully realized, just not very compelling (or especially book-worthy) characters. Aside from their condition, it's (for me,anyway) tough to rally behind Brooke (the 40 year old trophy wife), Samantha (the 28 year old MTV Sports director and triathlete), and Katherine (the hyper-driven 40 year old Wall St. exec) when their stories (both pre- and post-diagnosis) are as compelling as the cheesiest of the "Sex and the City" reruns.

I totally commend Greenberg's effort here. You just know his heart is in the right place. My ambivalence toward the final product, though, makes it difficult to recommend. (I have two friends in my immediate circle going through similar plights as Brooke, Samantha and Katherine; I'm completely at a loss at how they'd receive this book. One I'm pretty certain would dismiss it as a load of cheesy, positive-aphorism-filled hooey; the other might tentatively embrace it for its realism.). Though I didn't love this, I always applaud efforts of authors to write outside their comfort zones. Mike Greenberg has the talent to write a great novel, someday. i can't wait to read it.

[Kate Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it on my kindle so I didn't pick up that it was written by a man (didn't look at the cover every time I looked at the book)... maybe it was just the novelty approach that made the book seem like a good idea?

Honestly, to me, it felt like a RIDICULOUSLY overlong extension of a sob story article from a women's magazine. I mean, what was the idea behind this book? To point out that women with cancer have lives and families that get interrupted? I mean... no shit. I think we all knew that.

So the first half of the book felt REALLY drawn out and pointless. This felt like a fairly long novel, so a third of the first half of the book was probably at least 15K words - and all of that was spent on one woman getting sexy pictures taken for her husband. That was it. Stupidly navel-gazing. I didn't particularly connect with any of the women, so if the point of the first half was to make me care about them for the second half... oops. Didn't happen.

And then the second half felt really flat. There's finally something dramatic happening in the book, but I still didn't care.

Not for me.

[Cathy O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until I read the acknowledgements and Mike Greenberg's description I would have given this book a solid 4; after reading his summary of how this came to be and what it meant to him, I am giving it 5 stars. And, with its completion, I am officially crushing more on him than Mike Golic. The writing is very good, and he captured these women's voices well, no small feat from a sportswriter (admitting bias...). The feelings/emotions these characters experience leap from the page into your heart. One small criticism .. I suppose he's writing about what he knows .. and this is from a position of wealth and privilege. Finally, at the VERY END, he acknowledges (very briefly) that women who are not well-off, women who do not have money or husbands/significant others who work on Wall Street must suffer through chemo and the emotional baggage cancer brings to all it touches AND also worry about food on the table, money to pay the mortgage or how to make rent. Still, I am forgiving of all of this b/c of his effort and obvious love for his friend; this work is a credit to him and their friendship. And, it's a good read.

[Mary Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Currently reading this book and having a lot of trouble getting into the unrealistic female characters (written by a man, with male fantasy-type descriptions at times, which I find quite off-putting). Some aspects of the characters' lives strain credibility. I sometimes wonder if reviewers try too hard to be kind and generous when writing book reviews; the reviews for this book steered me to it, and probably took me in the wrong direction. I am only going to give it a certain number of pages before I abandon it due to inelegant storytelling (too much backstory told clumsily, for example) and poorly constructed characters. I guess I was looking for a more realistic portrayal of the story's subject and its friendship through hardship theme.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Clearly a fictional what I would call "beach read" book. Pages turn quickly, but it s very hard to get close to the characters. The author seemed to do little research (you cannot just sign up for Ironman Kona a couple months prior and then get a near pro time). All the women are so wealthy none have to work and one of them begs the other two to be friends as they battle cancer. just not believable and it is hard to muster too much sympathy for the characters with the exception of the cancer. Do not recommend.

[Dee Montoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

*****5 BFF (Breast Friends Forever) Stars*****

Very often in movies, books and in real life women are portrayed as insecure, selfish and petty; talking behind each others backs or criticizing one another, creating a bad rep for all of us, not in this novel though. All You Could Ask For celebrates women and shows how sympathetic and selfless we can be towards each other, how sensitive and empowering we are when someone around us is struggling. This story is about friendship and self discovery and while there's male characters in the plot the focus is all on the women and I loved that! This is a must read!!!

In the first part of the book we meet three very different women; Brooke is a forty year old stay home mom who's been happily married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years, Samantha is twenty eight, she loves playing sports, training, eating healthy and she just got married to an older man that she's been dating for less than a year and finally we have Katherine who is also forty years old, single, she works in Wall Street, very independent and driven but has been bitter for the last nineteen years of her life after a really bad break-up. We learn about their qualities and struggles; how every day they live their lives searching for something, called it happiness, peace or closure they each want something totally different making this characters so genuine that you can't help but to identify with them. These women don't know each other, they all live in New York and in the second part of the book a painful struggle will bring them together and show them how the power of friendship can overcome all troubles or at least have fun trying...

These characters were so real and reading this book felt like I was in my living room hearing their stories over a glass of wine; because we all know them, they are your sister, your best friend, you neighbor, your co-worker they can be you. We are fighters, that is who we are and together whether we know each other for ten days or ten years, we are all willing to be there and support each other.

its hard to believe this book was written by a man because the story is told from the point of view of three different women and he did a magnificent job in making each their voice strong and very unique. The writing style was intimate and easy to understand, makes me want to read this book over and over again and also share this incredible experience with all the women in my life, I will be buying All You Could Ask For as presents for all my girlfriends this Holiday Season...

[Soby · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was startlingly terrible. Unlike like most people who've read this, I picked it up without realizing it was about breast cancer. So for about half the book, I was reading in suspense of what awful fate was going to befall the three main characters. And taking half the book to get to the main conflict is way way way too long! Brooke (the young, happily married mother) basically has no story for 150 pages. The other characters, Samantha (the newlywed who discovers her husband's affair a week after getting married) and Katherine (the high-powered business executive who can't let go of her anger about a failed relationship fifteen years ago) were slightly more interesting. At least their stories had conflict and plotlines that were actually going somewhere. [Here, I will randomly insert another annoying thing about this book that I just remembered: the alternating POVs between the 3 women would switch off just as they were starting to get interesting, e.g. Samantha hears a knock on her door, who will it be? Read a dozen pages of Brooke's inane inner thoughts to find out! Seriously, this technique has worked for better writers and better books, but Greenberg couldn't pull it off because he would build suspense and never give any payoff.]

Unfortunately, the book doesn't really get much better after the characters are diagnosed. All the protagonists are supremely wealthy white ladies from Connecticut. Their cancer stories lack the punch of desperation, hard choices, and impossibilities that are a part of real women's cancer stories. They meet through an internet forum of some sort for women diagnosed with breast cancer. They tell their stories in a wholly unrealistic email format (people don't write about their life stories that way! Another technique that didn't work in this book). Their relationships are one-dimensional (Brooke's darling husband is absent for much of the story, Samantha's father swoops in and makes everything better with fistfuls of money, and Katherine's best friend is her brassy, un-classy assistant - Greenberg's description of whom is straight-up offensive). Ugh, I could go on for ages (writing was terrible, scenarios were implausible), but why bother? This book is like those cutesy pink ribbons that purport to support the cause of breast cancer but don't do anything aside from make the person wearing them feel like a good person - sweetly packaged commercialism with no substance whatsoever.

[Bookfanatic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I expected. I finished it fairly quickly. I thought this would be chick lit, but it tackled a very heavy subject and well. I have experienced the same issue, and I've read many books about it, but this author, surprisingly a male author, managed to get inside the heads of these women far better than any female author I've read on the same topic. I don't want to give away the thing that ties all the women together. Some might find the author's habit of ending nearly each character's section with a hook, but I didn't mind. The writing is clear. You feel like you're having a conversation with a best girlfriend. I didn't find any particular section long or boring. I wish the story could have been longer for I wanted to find out what happens to two of them. The impetus for writing this story is explained at the end. It's quite poignant.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

“You can’t just close your eyes and hope everything turns out all right. That’s a fine strategy for jumping out of an airplane, but it’s no way to conduct your life. In order to get anywhere you must first know where it is you want to go. Then you can figure out how to get there.”

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tired and predictable start, but a thoughtful novel once the real story began. Establishing the main characters did not resonate. The story itself was very good

[J. April · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. This one blind sided me a bit.

I picked this up intrigued by the concept of three women whose lives intercept in unexpected ways. Their initial situations were interesting, and the first few pages had me interested enough to continue. Keep in mind, I picked this up at random while wandering through my local library's shelves. I had no previous knowledge of this book or what it was about.

About a quarter of the way through, I was entertained but not really impressed. The story structure was enjoyable. The three protagonists live completely separate lives, and narration jumps between them in short(ish) snippets using hinge-style lines and events. (I.e. Character A's snippet ends with someone saying a phrase, and Character B's snippet begins with someone saying the exact same phrase.) That said, the characters seemed flat and one dimensional, their stories quite predictable and nothing new. Some of my own biases came out, as it felt very much like this was a man trying to write three generic female stories with not enough insight into a woman's experience to give them any kind of realistic depth. (Again, I note my bias here and that this may not be a fair statement.)

But it was a quick and easy read, not even 300 pages, so I kept at it and told myself to just get it done.

Halfway through the book everything changes.

The characters' common thread is revealed, as all three suddenly experience similar life-changing events (Specifically, all three are diagnosed with breast cancer of varying stages, complexities, and prognoses. ) Here a new story takes shape, one of female friendship and women supporting each other through shared experiences and challenges. Not knowing what was coming (though after reading the back of the book jacket around page 100, I had a sneaking suspicion) made the shift so sudden and poignant, and I give the author credit for giving the reader a literary experience that mirrors the effects of such life events. Everything changes very quickly, very seriously, and all of a sudden the character's lives are entirely centered around their new circumstances.

In the end this was a quick read, mostly feel-good in the end, but with some real life poignancy to make it feel worth reading. I really can't help but think that if an unknown, first time author with no connections tried to submit this book for publication, its flat characterization would have kept it from being pulled from the slush pile. But if you're willing to get past that it's worth the time. After reading several heavier, more literarily complex novels, this was a nice change of pace and I didn't too much mind fairly linear character development.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one surprised me. A lot. The author is a well-known ESPN anchor, a guy's guy. I actually enjoy him. But. But. That he wrote his first piece of fiction from the point of view of three women. And pulled it off, is amazing. He can write and concoct a decent story. He kind of almost made me cry at the end. Well, in the two pages at the end where he described the family friend who inspired him to write the book. You can read the premise in the book description. It explains the story well enough.

[Donna Bridwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I appreciate that the author wrote about an important issue like the effect of breast cancer on the lives of three women who are diagnosed with it. However, he skims the surface of this serious issue with "cardboard-like" main characters, whom he does not develop well, and who seem more like a man's fantasy of women that actual, real women (especially Brooke, the housewife). The novel is an entertaining, light read, but is much more chick-lit than serious literature. I'd have greatly preferred a more in-depth novel to take on the subject of main characters with breast cancer.

[Nancy Sherod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit I was nervous about this book. A sportscaster writing a novel through the eyes of three women?? Seriously?? But all I can say is wow! The emotions throughout this book were intense! I loved it! The story pulls you in immediately. I can't recommend this book highly enough!! The way the stories get interwoven took me by surprise. An amazing book!

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

All You Could Ask For, debut novel by Mike Greenberg, cohost of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning, is a tender and insightful story of friendship and love, heartbreak and renewal, played out in the lives of three unforgettable women.

Brooke has been happily married to her college sweetheart for fifteen years. Even after the C-section, the dog poop, the stomach viruses and the coffee breath, Scott always winks at her in just the right moments. That is why, for her beloved, romantic, successful husband’s fortieth birthday, she is giving him pictures. Of herself. Naked.

Newlywed Samantha learns of her husband’s cheating heart when she finds the goods on his computer.

High-powered career woman Katherine works with heartbreaker Phillip, the man who hurt her early on in her career.

Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine don’t know each other, but their stories are about to intertwine in ways no one could have imagined.

And all three are about to discover the power of friendship to conquer adversity, the satisfaction of unexpected delights, the incredible difference one human being can have on other lives--and that they have all they could ask for, as long as they have each other.

[Mycala · Rating 1 out of 5]

As another reviewer said, I felt blindsided by this book. The blurb looked good on the library website, so I checked it out. My thoughts while reading:

1. Oh! Okay one of those "revolving perspective stories." Been a while since I've read one of these.
2. Okay, so all the protagonists in this story are beautiful, wealthy, privileged women. Just like real life! Got it.
3. Ah. There's the Bitch Stereotype, true to form. But hey, she's a self-aware bitch so it's okay! Just squeeze in a few drops of Buddhist philosophy that she doesn't really put much heart into and she's good to go.
4. Mmkay, there's the trophy wife with a rich daddy looking out for her. I really appreciated the fact that she could take time out of her super important life to think about that poor woman who worked at Dunkin Donuts and feel sad. What a saint.
5. And then suddenly They all have cancer! But it's okay because of course they're all wealthy and they can all get easy access to top notch health care That ran me off the rails.

I just couldn't suspend my disbelief on this one. Perhaps if I had a trust fund I would be able to relate more, because of course it's all about being loaded. If this guy weren't already well-known, I'm not sure he would have gotten this book deal.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this book was your typical can't-pass-the-Bechdel-test chick lit. It was three impressive women talking about boys, and although I had specifically chosen this book as a "light read", I almost quit. Ugh.

However, the second half of the book got real quick, and suddenly the subject changed (although not entirely). These women were now in a life-altering situation, making huge decisions and relying on one another for support. And suddenly, I loved this story. And by the end I was tearing up a bit and just wanted to hug my best friend.

Would I recommend it? Meh.
But did I end up enjoying it in the end? Actually, yes.

[Joanna]

I tend to pick books written by women but this book looked interesting even while written by a man who is host of a sports talk show. My expectations were low so I was surprised that I really enjoyed the book. Good dynamics between the women characters.

[Amy Hobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The importance of friendships.
Hard to believe it was written by a man.

[Natalie Puckett · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ A really, really, really good book. From the perspective of three women, who seemingly could not be more different, but have so much in common. Unexpected, hilarious, heart-warming.

[Cindy]

Ughhhh.....no ooo DNF

[Miriam Michalak · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF'd this awful book. 2 dimensional, stereotypical female protagonists who have no business being in my head....uuugghh!

[Michael Redd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story. Lemonade out of lemons.