I am a huge fan of Katherine Center. She writes fantastic stories that touch me deeply. What You Wish For is another gem to add to her collection. I love her titles and book covers!

This story is about overcoming fears. It is realistic, emotional, heartbreaking and uplifting. The two main characters are the result of past situations (as we all are). Choosing to find hope and continue to live your best life is not easy, but finding joy each day is a great plan to move forward.

I love the message of this book. At the time I read this book, the world is crazy and finding joy might be the only way to keep sanity, March 2020.

I recommend this What You Wish For very highly! I want to thank NetGalley.com and St. Martin's Press for giving me the pleasure of reading this book. My review is my own opinion not influenced by receiving the ARC.

Fans of Katherine Center will enjoy What You Wish For, it's a fun, easy read that still touches on the effects real-world issues have on people, their lives, and relationships.

In Katherine Center’s novel, “What You Wish For”, Sam Casey loves her life as the librarian in an elementary school on an island in Texas. Her beloved principal and father-like figure, Max Kempner, had always had the motto “never miss a chance to celebrate”, and they created a school full of celebration, joy, and a love of learning. When Max unexpectedly passes away, Sam is reunited with Duncan Carpenter, a man with whom she had an unrequited love at her last job. Duncan will take over as principal, but the once fun-loving teacher has changed into a different person, obsessed with turning their school into a secure, “jail-like” facility. Sam hopes to crack through his rock-hard exterior, and bring out the man she use to know.

I have read Katherine Center’s two previous novels, “Things You Save in a Fire” and “How to Walk Away”, and this newest novel exhibits many of the same themes of hope, love, and inspiration. This book encourages us “to choose joy on purpose”, and this joyful novel with fill your heart with warmth and love.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book. It was an easy read and I connected with the characters.
Duncan was sympathetic and had a good history.

This book lacks surprise--both in the writing and the plot. To take pleasure from reading, I need to wonder at the impact of word of choice and the ways in which an author controls the experience of the reader. There is no control here.

Remember Things You Lose in a Fire last year? Well, Katherine Center is back and has once again knocked it out of the park.

There are many people who can tell a story well. There are not many people who can tell a story so well you feel as if you know the characters personally and are rooting for them all. One thing I love about her stories is they are everyday people living lives full of problems, insecurities, losses, and joy. You will cry, you will laugh and you will come away having learned more than one valuable lesson!

So let's talk about who is who and what is what!

Sam Casey has had a hard road to travel. With help from the kind family who own the school where she is a Librarian, she is learning to embrace joy and kindness where she can.  She loves the school and the children and with Max as her boss and her landlord, she feels she has a sort of family. 

But life has a funny way of reminding us we aren't really in control of anything when Max drops dead at his 60th birthday party. Leaving his wife and friends devastated.

Obviously, they have to have a new principal, but never in any part of Sam's mind did she think she would know him. Her crush from her former school. He was the fun teacher and she was not his type. Assumptions there!

The Duncan who shows up, however, is not her Duncan. This guy is in a three-piece suit instead of the flamingo pants Sam remembers. And he doesn't seem to know who she is. 

His main goal seems to be to turn her beloved school into a drab, gray prison for children. No fun, no joy, no field trips!! But Sam isn't the mousey teacher she was before. Now she is actively seeking to take this guy out. But in doing so, she lets him in. And she finds out she has judged him too quickly and too harshly. 

Will we find out who the bad guy really is? Will Duncan finally notice her? And more importantly, will he run when he finds out her secrets? Or will she run when she discovers his?

Very Well Done! Highly Recommend!

NetGalley/ July 14th, 2020 by St. Martin's Press

I really liked this book. It's kind of perfect. Is it predictable? Sure. Is it cheesy? Mostly. But you don't read Katherine Center's novels for any other reason than they are just bright rays of sunshine-y book goodness. I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't care to be depressed by the books they read. You can't help but pull for the main characters. Seriously. I love to love books, and this one not hard to love!

I have enjoyed the last two (only other two) books by Katherine Center that I have read. What You Wish For was no exception, and it may have been my favorite of the three. As a teacher, I'm a sucker for a good book about a teacher set in a school environment, and this one fit that perfectly. I loved the banter between the main characters, and the dynamic relationships that the author developed throughout the story. I found myself wishing I was a teacher at the private elementary school that Samantha, the main character, worked in! Katherine Center did a good job of writing this book in a way that conveys the message of leaving behind the hurt you may have faced, and choosing joy!

I absolutely loved this quote from the end of the book: “Life doesn’t ever give you what you want just the way you want it. Life doesn’t ever make things easy. How dare you demand that happiness should be yours without any sacrifice—without any courage? What an incredibly spoiled idea—that anything should come easy? Love makes you better because it’s hard. Taking risks makes you better because it’s terrifying. That’s how it works. You’ll never get anything that matters without earning it. And even what you get you won’t get to keep. Joy is fleeting. Nothing lasts. That’s exactly what courage is. Knowing all that going in—and going in anyway.”

Found the book really slow going at the beginning,but read it to the end,the character's seemed weak,and not a good storyline needs a lot of polishing up.

This is the third book that I have read by this author, and I enjoyed it as much as her other books. I'd classify the book as chick-lit and say it definitely had all the elements of a good read (times to smile, times to tear up, and a happily ever after). The only thing I had a problem with was her overuse of "Fair enough." Other than that, great read!

Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this amazing ARC.

I've only recently discovered the greatness that is Katherine Center, and I'm loving every single one of her books. "What You Wish For" will make you cry before the first chapter is over. Sam is a fantastic character, and the dynamic between her and Duncan is great. When Max the beloved principal dies, you feel the emotion and the heartbreak that all the characters feel. I felt like I lost Max too, the writing is THAT good.

I loved this book, as I have loved all the previous Katherine Center books I've read. She is definitely becoming one of my favorite authors.

I'm sorry, I really did not like this book. It was so silly, far fetched and cheesy. It felt like a bad YA. I was bored for the entire book. There are so many positive reviews for this book, I'm wondering how I read the same one as everyone else. It was not for me, but I am in the minority!

I'm always delighted to get a Katherine Center book as they are quirky, funny, and so very insightful! This one was everything I knew it would be! It checks all the boxes for me too: it's a school setting, the protagonist is a librarian, and at its heart it's a book about humanity. Sam is the librarian at an elementary school where an old flame suddenly appears as the new principal. But Duncan is nothing like the man she remembers--a silly, fun-loving goofball who wears penguin pants and obnoxious ties. Instead he runs the school like a prison, painting over all the lovely murals with grey colors and locking all the entrances and exits to keep the kids "safe." Of course there's a reason for all of this but that is to be discovered as Sam works through her own issues. What we are left with is a wondrous story of love, grief, bravery, loss, and above all the lesson to embrace and celebrate all the joy you can find in life--even as you leave this book a teary-eyed mess!

Another amazing book by author Katherine Center. I swear I had a smile on my face for 90% of this book. As soon as I downloaded the book I started reading it and was all consumed until the very last page. Katherine has a gift of creating characters that we can both relate to and somehow fall in love with. I have been a big fan of her last two books, Things You Save in a Fire and How to Walk Away.

Samantha Casey is an elementary school librarian and she loves her job and everyone she works with. Without family around Samantha has been adopted by the principal Max and his wife Barbette, and lives in their garage apartment. When the new principal arrives Sam is both excited and overwhelmed to discover it’s her old coworker Duncan Carpenter. Excited because Duncan is amazing at his job, a real child himself who always made school fun for the kids and the teachers. Overwhelmed because Sam had a secret crush on Duncan so badly that she was forced to leave her old job to get away from him. When she sees’s Duncan for the first time she is taken aback because although he looks the same he sure doesn’t appear the same. For one he doesn’t know who Sam is even though they worked together for several years, and that amazing playful guy has been replaced by a muscle clad man of steel. Duncan starts his first day by explaining all the changes he will be making and essentially getting rid of everything that makes the school special. He may not remember Sam at first, but she will do whatever it takes to remind him of who she is, and more importantly who he used to be!

What You Wish For by Katherine Center is an upbeat novel about a young teacher, Sam, who loves her school in Galveston, landing there after fleeing her old school due to an unrequited love. When her former love interest, Duncan, a fun and funky fellow teacher shows up at her new school a changed man and her supervisor, she is confused by the changes and hurt that he doesn't seem to remember her.

The new Duncan is a serious man, focused on safety and wants to completely change their school, which none of the teachers or students want, so a plan is hatched to introduce a little fun into his life and Sam is in charge. But will she be able to change Duncan or will she find out why he has changed so much and agree that he's right?

A captivating novel by an author who had stolen my heart previously with "Things You Save in a Fire". Thank you to the author, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Katherine Center has done it again!! I would give this more than 5 stars if I could.

Disclaimer - Happiness for Beginners is my favorite book so I was stoked to get to revisit the character of Duncan. Lovable, goofy, Duncan. But surprise, this isn't the Duncan I knew and loved to be annoyed with. Oh, wait, yes it was! This is the perfect story of Samantha, a school librarian living in Galveston Texas. Sam is dedicated to her school, her town, and her students.

As always Katherine Center tells a story with charming characters and places. But I always love the larger feeling of reading her books. I feel joy, sorrow, pain. I shed tears, I laugh out loud, and I'm genuinely disappointed when the book is over. This book captures true human emotion, wit, and so much fun. It reminds us all what it is to be human.

Samantha is a fun, quirky librarian at a school and her life is shocked when a blast from her past is suddenly named as her school's new principal. she prepares for that first meeting, tries to uncover who Duncan really is, and never loses her true personality. I loved the quirky humor in this book - it made it quite fun to read.

I was surprised and genuinely excited when I got an email that this ARC was headed my way. Thanks to #spiveys📚club I discovered her books at the end of 2018 and have been hooked ever since. Her writing style has a way of hooking you in and making you feel like you’re a part of the characters journey. This one gave me a bit of all the same feels from Happiness for Beginners, both Sam and Duncan are struggling with their own issues, but managed to grown and change together. The emotions and way the hardships are woven into the story is very real and believable. The cast of supporting characters is also fantastic. Babette and Alice (with her math shirts) are fantastic but I feel like little Clay really stole the show for me. If you’ve liked any of her other books, you’ll love this one too, comes out July 14th.

I kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

While there was a lot going on in this book, and I wish more of the focus had been on the actual romance and connection between the H and h, I did enjoy it.

The book starts with past hurts & rejections. Long term health issues & a tragedy that could be taken from headlines from the last several years. Through understanding & communication a new look at life's possibilities opens up a new world for several central characters.

I received an advanced copy, but voluntarily left this review.
I will leave a 4 star review on Amazon under name of Connie

Thanks for granting me access to this book.