Beautifully written, strong, heartfelt, and deeply moving - READ IT!

Lauren was writing Some Girls at the time that the events of Everything You Ever Wanted were taking place, and while normally I'm not a huge fan of memoir-meta—that is, memoirists writing about writing their memoirs—it makes a lot of sense here because, well, it's part of the story. How do you become a parent when your uterus says no? How do you not, when it's the one thing you've been desperate to do? How do you reconcile a colourful past with a new, more 'traditional' role as 'mother'? How do

I didn’t know anything about Jillian Lauren before, I just love adoption memoirs. This novel should probably be required reading before adoption so you are prepared to handle the challenges. Jillian struggles with infertility and then she and her husband decide to adopt from Ethiopia. This is the story of adopting Tariku. She gets to meet his birth mother while overseas before she takes him home. This holds special meaning for her, as she herself was adopted. When she brings T home, she faces un...

Jillian Lauren gives a vulnerable, raw look at her adoption of an Ethiopian child. The parts that resonated the most with me were the beginning and end - the difficulties she had conceiving, the emotionality of that, and later on, when she finally "got what she wanted," which on some level was the ability to provide what her child needed. There were some chapters in the middle about all the various challenges and stigmas she faced after she and her husband brought their kid home that felt redund...

This is some really ballsy writing. Loved it.

Jillian is a writer with guts. This book is more than a memoir of adopting her son Tariku, it's about the human condition. Jillian dug deep for her third book and it shows. I can't recommend it highly enough. If you read her first book about her experience in a harem, you know that her life experience is deep. This memoir strips the layers back even more. I'm not a guy who runs out and searches for memoirs on adoption....yet this book is a punch in the gut and a warm embrace all at once.

I am surprised by how much I loved Jillian Lauren's Everything You Ever Wanted, a book about the hurdles of parenting. As a childless, not-interested in mothering, single woman, a book about exactly the opposite held little appeal. I read it anyway because I was swept-off-my-feet in love with Lauren's first memoir, Some Girls. Lauren proves for the third time that she has a beautiful and uniquely poetic writing style. I was immediately caught by her story, and continually awed by her brutal hone...

Not sure everyone will appreciate this book as much as I did. This memoir focuses on the adoption of her son and the following parenting struggles. I have a lot of respect for her brutal honesty when she writes about some of her toughest parenting moments.

Wow.

Wow, but Jillian Lauren has had a crazy life. And man, does she know how to write about it. This, her second memoir, focuses on her marriage and struggle with infertility and her ultimate decision to adopt a boy from Ethiopia. When he has attachment issues, her ability to throw herself into trying to figure out how best to help him is remarkable. I already knew that parenting was hard, but I can't even imagine dealing with a toddler who has had emotional trauma.Lauren keeps this book incredibly

Oh my. This is my life (minus the harem, drugs and rock star husband). This is my child and my life with my child. She says my truth... In a way I could never explain to people who don't have SPD kids

This book...this book...THIS BOOK! Fuck... it hits me so, so hard in the heart. I don’t remember anything making me feel this much emotion. She is such a brilliant writer but also, the story is just...heartbreaking and life-affirming at the same time. A week ago, I was thinking about the idea of becoming a foster parent or adopting at some point in the future and then SOMEHOW started reading this (not knowing even what it was about) and it just kinda confirmed all the thoughts I had. It sounds s...

I received an early copy of this book through the Penguin First to Read program.This story of a family adopting an Ethiopian child starts off slow, but builds to a wonderful ending, not quite "happily ever after", but more "merrily we go along" that brought me great joy.Jillian and Scott tried to have children on their own, but decided to go the adoption route and had to travel half way across the world to pick their child up in Africa. Neither of them are the "ideal couple" for adoption, she wa...

Let me explain my rating. I actually wanted to give it two stars based on the story. But then I realized that I'm not the target market and it's unfair for me to give a bad rating because the book wasn't written for me. If I were a mother of toddlers maybe I'd give it a four star rating. But I'm not. The book is decently written but not great, hence the three stars. That said, I'm the father of a very passionate four year old and I have to say, the stories in this book don't sound any different

Cataloged as memoir, but also an adoption book. Jillian is married to the bass player of the band Weezer, but also has a colorful personal back-story. (The couple live in the L.A. area of California.) After fertility issues, they decide to adopt from Ethiopia. A valuable resource for those waiting to adopt or who've adopted. Bibliography includes resources for attachment and sensory issues. Author also has a blog. This book provided perspective for me personally at an opportune time and reminded...

Pretty much a page turner. Will she and adopted child survive their individual demons or not. I became somewhat distrustful of her judgement eventually. Why in the world, when she is trying to raise a badly damaged child and needs so much help does she find it necessary at that moment in time to publish a tell all book about her experiences with sex and drugs prior to the adoption, a book which alienates her parents and understandably so. Does this represent lots of buried angst coming out and i...

I have read Jillian's first memoir and feel like the reading of this second memoir was enriched because I "knew" her back story. This memoir is, however, a stand-alone tribute to the power of love, and the reward of tenacity. It is a vibrantly written story of a special little boy and all of Jillian's struggles to give him the best possible chance in life. She succeeds brilliantly, and I feel so much respect for someone who never once tried to make her amazing kid fit into the constraints of con...

I was pretty ambivalent about this book from the start, although quite sure why. The story of her adoption coupled with how it provides meaning to her life up to that point was interesting, and mostly well written if a little navel-gazey. As the book went on the author became more comfortable with the audience, the book, and the writing process- and little details began to slip out- which were markers of what had made me so ambivalent from the beginning: her husband is in a chart-topping band, s...

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, especially because as a child-free woman I sometimes don't like to swim in the monotony of lengthy descriptions about child rearing (and there were a few paragraphs of describing cake and etc that were more of interest to the writer than the reader) but the writing is so strong and poetic and compelling and contemplative. I found myself wanting to use many of the writing techniques here. I like how the relationships are shown in such a round wa...

I loved every moment of this book. On a par with everything Anne Lamont wrote about being a single parent but framed around her experience as an adoptive parent, Jillian Lauren ultimately writes about the redemptive power of love.