All About: All You Could Ask For, Mike Greenberg’s debut novel (Volume 2)

Two weeks ago Front Row began this series to bring you between the covers of Mike & Mike in the Morning co-host Mike Greenberg’s debut novel, All You Could Ask For.

In this second All About installment, Mike and Stacy Greenberg introduce the main characters in the book, which will be released by William Morrow on April 2. (More information, including an excerpt and purchase information, is available here.) In recognition of last Sunday’s Oscars, we also asked the “Greenys” to play casting directors for if (and when) AYCAF is adapted for the silver screen.

Just for fun: Casting All You Could Ask For

Samantha – Natalie Portman
Katherine – Sandra Bullock
Brooke – Amy Adams
Maurice – Tony Shalhoub
Marie – Mila Kunis
Phillip – Alec Baldwin
Eduardo – Javier Bardem
Stephen – Josh Duhamel
Dr. Marks – Matthew Goode
Pamela – Susan Sarandon

Director – Jodie Foster or Sofia Coppola

Cameo as band’s lead singer crooning “Isn’t It Romantic” — Mike Golic

All You Could Ask For exists in three different worlds, in the way that everyone sees the world in their own unique way. It is three stories in one, told in the words of three women who each view life, as we all do, through their own eyes.

The story was inspired by three women I came to call “Heidi’s Angels,” one of whom is my wife, Stacy. The three of them came together in support of their dear friend Heidi Armitage when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I know each of them would tell you today that what they learned about the value of friendship and sacrifice and compassion has forever changed them and made them better people.

In the end, Heidi gave them every bit as much as they gave her. And such is the case with the three lead women in All You Could Ask For; what each of them receives from their mutual friendship is exponentially greater than what any of them expects.

Meet the Characters:

First off, there is BROOKE, who is still the girl who might have been prom queen, even though now she is now 40 years old. Her life with her family is exactly as she always envisioned it and she will not let anything threaten what she has built.

Stacy Says: Brooke is my least favorite of the three women. I have a hard time relating to the way she lives her life and the choice she makes at the end of the book.

Greeny Says: Stacy has disliked Brooke from the moment I began writing, but she is my favorite of the three, she has a purity of purpose that I admire.

Next is SAMANTHA, young and idealistic but prone to bad decisions, because she has no idea what she wants from her life. In our introduction to her she discovers the biggest mistake she has ever made, which in the long run proves to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

Stacy Says: She’s my favorite, and the star of the book as far as I’m concerned. I find her the most real, and the one I would most be interested in knowing.

Greeny Says: There’s no doubt, Samantha is the moral center of the book, she is much younger than the other two main characters and still has a more idealistic view of life.

Finally, KATHERINE, a powerhouse Wall Street executive who has spent the majority of her life putting up walls, mostly because the two men who mattered most to her both let her down so badly.

Stacy Says: I love her. I know a ton of women like her, everybody does.

Greeny Says: I think Katherine is the most relatable of the women, we all know highly successful people who are tragically flawed.

The women are brought together in challenging circumstances but what they learn is how much alike they are, because the truth is we all are in the ways that really matter.

For more on “All You Could Ask for,” visit www.AllYouCouldAskFor.com and follow Mike Greenberg on Twitter (@ESPNGreeny); Stacy Greenberg (@StacyGSG) and William Morrow Books (@WmMorrowBks). All of the author’s proceeds from AYCAF will go to The V Foundation for Cancer Research.