Kathleen Center is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She handles a serious topic but weaves it into a beautiful story with a great ending . This book was graciously provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Samantha Casey is a librarian at a small school on an island where she is known for her colorful outfits and her big heart towards her family. When she was a new member of the community, Samantha is '"adopted" by the school principal and his wife which further engrains her in the community. Samantha's life is rocked when her former crush Duncan becomes the new principal at her school. However, gone is her semi-crazy, humorous past love and in his place is a new principal who is obsessed with school safety. It is up to Samantha to try and bring Duncan back to his old self.

I was a huge fan of Katherine Center's novels and her newest work did not disappoint! Although I was nervous that I did not read Happiness for Beginners first, I was completely engrossed in this novel and I do not believe that it needs to be read in order to keep up with this plot.
Thank you to St, Martin's & Net Galley for the ARC of this novel!!

What You Wish For doesn’t hit shelves until July but when an invite to read it popped into my inbox last week, I dropped everything and dove in! I absolutely LOVED this book and sat with a cheesy grin on my face the entire time. I adore Katherine Center’s writing. It’s so down to earth, joyful, witty, and relatable! She has an uncanny ability to tap into human emotions and translate them into amazing stories. What You Wish For features lovely characters that will capture your heart. The witty banter will have you giggling and the conclusion will warm your heart. As someone who works in a school, this book resonated with me on a deep level. It invigorated my love for my students and inspired me to add more color to their world. I absolutely LOVED this book and think it may be her best yet. I give What You Wish For the full 5⭐️. My extreme gratitude to @stmartinspress for sending me this advance copy.

So excited to read an advance copy of Katherine Centers latest book.Ive been a fan since I discovered her. This was another lovely read warm characters I loved Sally the quirky librarian and all the characters who come alive.Another wonderful book by one of my favorite authors.

As soon as I saw that Katherine Center had another book available, I began reading right away. Just like always, Center has authored another fantastic book! The main characters, Duncan and Samantha, pull at your heartstrings and bring you into their journey as they learn to let go of their fear and reach for joy. I read this in one sitting and greatly enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

4.5 Stars

Sam is a librarian at a private elementary school in Galveston, and she has crafted a life for herself that is the very definition of stable: no drama, no heartbreak, and plenty of predictability. She's protecting her heart, yes, but also her health. She has epilepsy and stress of any kind is a major trigger for her seizures. She thinks she has things pretty well in hand, until life throws her a whole slew of curveballs in a row. A dear friend passes away, her new boss wants to change just about everything she loves about her school, and oh, by the way, she used to be in love with him and now he doesn't even seem to recognize her. Four years ago, Duncan was the FUN teacher, the one who wore silly ties and juggled in the hallway and made school a place kids actually want to be. But now he wears a severe 3-piece suit every day, never smiles, and seems to want to turn their warm, colorful school into a grey prison. What happened to the guy Sam used to know? And how on earth is she going to handle this new version of Duncan turning her life upside down?

Katherine Center, man. I love her books so much. Her characters are vibrant and real and, as cheesy as this sounds, she writes them in such a way that they seem to jump off the page and be ALIVE...people you want to get to know and grow to care about. I couldn't tell you exactly what it is, but her stories just draw you in and surround you. It's impossible not to be immersed and invested.

This one isn't quite as strong to me as "How to Walk Away" and "Things we Save in a Fire" because it felt a little bit like the characters and story were built to fit around the themes and the traumas rather than the other way around. It just didn't feel quite as natural somehow. "Things we Save in a Fire" came from a place of deep understanding because Center's husband in a firefighter so she had insight that made the story feel true. This one struck me as being a little more removed from her experience, maybe (and I hope so, considering some of the dark subject matter), so it didn't resonate quite as strongly. It felt more like fiction than something a friend experienced and is telling you about over dinner. Everything tied up a little bit too perfectly. And none of that is BAD. I loved this book. I just couldn't buy into it as entirely as I did her previous three.

Aside from that vague critique which might just be a "me" thing and not be relevant to anyone else, this is another wonderful book from this author. I want to hang out with the characters, I want to see them on-screen (HOW have her books not been optioned for movies yet?), and I already need the next Katherine Center book ASAP. Please???

**Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this lovely ARC in exchange for my honest review!**

I absolutely love Kathrine Center, but I didn't love this one. I found myself skimming parts and waiting for the story to pickup. It also seemed to have several plot lines that were never developed fully. It was frustrating because I adore this author.

While personally I found this book to be slightly cheesy and cliche, I do think many readers will enjoy this! I specifically enjoyed the school setting, but found the plot to be very predictable unlike Center's other novels.

Finushed What You Wish For last night and it was everything I expected in a Katherine Center book. It made me sigh and tear up and smile so hard that my cheeks were hurting. And of course, it made me fall in love again. A gorgeous book about second chances not only in love but in life as well.

Katherine's books just always have a nice little emotional core that makes life look a little brighter. Nice romance in the middle though nothing too adrenaline pumping. School setting is fantastic with a great library which I'm sure every book lover will adore.

5 Stars!!
Happiness for Beginners was one of my favorite reads from 2019. In my review, I mentioned how much I loved the heroine's evolving relationship with her brother by the end of the book. Imagine my surprise and excitement over learning that Helen's brother Duncan would be a main character in this upcoming release. I was crazy with excitement.

As told in the heroine Sam's single POV, this story was about her fight for life's joys through unexpected upheaval, Duncan's re-arrival in her life, and a school (town) grieving over the loss of their beloved founder. I really liked Samantha and her shared self-transformation after arriving in Gavelston four years prior, but similar to this author's previous novels, it's the secondary characters that really helped shape Samantha's characterization and made me love her.

I know I was biased going in, but no one could outshine my love for all things Duncan. Well, maybe Alice, but that's for another book (fingers crossed!) This author was astute in her depiction of Duncan's evolution from the goofy and affable slacker brother in HFB to the intrinsically altered version he became in this book. It was believable and also heartbreaking. This was where the author showed her writing mettle and alternately drove the story with wit and sound character development to deep and heartrending poignancy.

As for the romance, it was swoon-worthy perfection. Even without the romantic tension and happily ever after, this story had one of KC’s most inspirational endings. I adored it and the picture this author depicted of Gavelston Island, Texas and the waters surrounding it. Without a doubt, What You Wish For will be another Katherine Center story added to my keeper shelf.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the early reading opportunity. More importantly, thank you to KC for writing the books that I love to read.

Great book. I was very excited to receive my advanced copy. I have r ad all of Katherine Center’s books. This one did not disappoint. Great story about a realistic group of people, living a happy life until their not. Great ending. I will look looking forward to more books by this great author thank you so much for my advance copy .

The school librarian and the principal? Shocking! Samantha Casey, aforementioned librarian, gets a new school principal that turns out to be the charming teacher she once had a crush on. But now he’s a dour, humorless, by the book boss. His new safety initiatives threaten to ruin the school Sam loves so much, can she help him find his way back to the man he used to be? As an elementary school librarian myself, I admit I had to get over the idea of the librarian getting cozy with the principal😳. But the story is sweet and enjoyable

When I heard that the author wrote another book I was so excited. I dropped everything and started the book. I read things to save in a fire and it was amazing. I was expecting the same amazement with this one. Unfortunately there was a very long beginning, short middle and quick ending. Not as emotionally packed as her previous book.

It was still worth reading but not my favourate.

Thanks netgalley and St. Martin's press for this ARC.

What You Wish for is everything you would expect in a story from Katherine Center. Center has unique a way of telling a story that is authentic through examining all facets of human emotion including grief and tragedy as well with the beauty found in the human experience. Life is complicated and in What You Wish For captures the complexities in a reverent manner.
Sam is the beloved librarian at an exclusive private school on Galveston Island, Texas. Her school is a whimsical nurturing environment full of dedicated and creative educators. When a new principal is appointed, he seems to wish to change everything that makes Kempner Elementary exceptional and this change is abhorrent to Sam and the faculty. Adding insult to injury, Sam knew the principal from a previous school and knows Principal Carpenter used to have a fun side. As the two take opposing sides, a camaraderie grows between them and they share secrets from their respective pasts and each is forced to confront their fear. This story takes the reader through a full gamut of emotions and reminds us that everything in life is a choice, and when given the chance, one should always choose joy.

RATING: 5/5 STARS

Katherine Center's books are auto-reads for me at this point. Her latest did not let me down! WHAT YOU WISH FOR was hopeful and uplifting, in a similar but also completely unique way from her previous books. Samantha and Duncan face a lot of hardships, but their story is full of hope and positivity. The characters are so vibrant and distinct - from Sam's cute and colorful outfits to Duncan's antics to Babette's wisdom to Clay's precocious wit to Alice's math puns... I could go on forever about all of the wonderful characters in this novel! Another aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed was the description of the school where Sam works as a librarian. It sounds like such a nurturing, lovely place for young kids to study and grow up in! As a reader I really empathized with Sam's fire to keep the school's magic alive. And of course, the romance in this one was incredibly thoughtful and sweet, but also very entertaining. This novel is all around awesomeness, and I highly recommend it for women's fiction and romance fans. Plus, the cover is so gorgeous! I love that it matches her other books.

Some heavy topics are present in WHAT YOU WISH FOR, but they are handled really well and with sensitivity! (TW): PTSD, epilepsy, gun violence, grief

A sincere thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Katherine Center's book "Things You Save In a Fire" was one of my top reads of 2019 so I was eagerly anticipating "What You Wish For." (Thank you to the publisher for the early review copy!) Sam Casey is the librarian at a progressive and creative elementary school in Galveston, TX. When the principal, who was like a father to Sam (whose own father is long out of the picture), dies unexpectedly, he is replaced by a guy Sam used to work with when she lived in California. Duncan Carpenter was a zany and imaginative teacher, and Sam was madly in love with him--when he began dating someone else, she quit her job and moved on in an attempt to deal with her heartbreak. So she imagines it'll be difficult to have to see him again on a daily basis.

However, the fun and wacky Duncan is gone, replaced by a suit-and-tie-wearing stickler for the rules who wants to paint the colorful walls of the school gray. Sam can't understand what happened, and this is where I REALLY started getting annoyed with this book. Does anyone at the school have Google? Literally two minutes of searching, and they would have known EVERYTHING about why Duncan changed. My husband's company just got a new CEO and everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and Googled him. That's what people do in the 21st century! And this book is definitely set in the present!

Despite that rather large caveat, once Duncan's past comes to light, the book really grew on me and the ending is just amazingly good. I particularly loved this quote, from the widow of the school's former principal: "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."

Read this story! "Do something joyful."
You will adore this little school, the butterflies, the teachers, and the children.
This is the setting of this book from Galveston,Texas.
The only ones that you may not be sure about are Duncan and Kent Buckley.
Well... I still despise Kent Buckley but I fell in love with Duncan!
Duncan is the new principal and he needs this school, the love and friendship of his staff.
Will he remember the librarian who once worked with him at another school? Sam sure never forgot Duncan. She had a huge crush on him. His personality and his spontaneity.
But, something has changed for Duncan. He is NOT the same person! What has happened? What has changed?
Sam is determined to figure out this mystery!
This is a wonderful, uplifting novel, that I read in a day.
It is a happy story that we all need!
Catherine Center has done it again! Excellent!

I’m not sure I fully have the words to express how much I loved this book! What You Wish For just became my favorite Katherine Center book of all time. I love Sam and Duncan, and their story was exactly what I needed to read right now.

One of the reasons I love Katherine Center’s books so very much is because each time you read one, you are not only getting a wonderfully captivating story, you are being reminded of what’s important in the world. Katherine has quickly become not only a favorite author, but a mentor of sorts, because each time I read one of her books, I am changed for the better. Each of her books fill this world with beauty and reminds us all to choose joy on purpose. And this latest book was absolutely no exception to this.

What You Wish For is storytelling at its finest: a perfect blend of hardships and joy, full of characters that you can not only root for, but deeply relate to. Katherine Center is the embodiment of choosing to pursue joy, even in the midst of the hard, and each of her books are a necessary reminder of this. Katherine is truly making the world a better place, one book at a time, and I am here for it!🙌🏻

Do you know how when you especially love a book you want to read really fast to find out what happens next, or even skip ahead a few pages, but at the same time you want to put the book down so you can savor and slowly reread the author’s words? This is such a book.
This story is unique, and so well written, full of wonderful three dimensional, fully realized characters I’d actually like to know, and after finishing the book I’m still invested in their lives and what comes next for them.
Sam is a librarian in Galveston at a special elementary school that promotes joy of learning that her mentors, Babette and Max created long ago. After the principal dies, Sam learns his replacement is non other than goofy, full of life, Duncan Carpenter, whom she secretly adored at her last teaching job in CA. Equally thrilled, and scared, Sam’s nervous how to handle their first interaction, and will he even remember her? But she receives a shock as this Duncan is humorless and stiff and nothing like the man she once knew.
Filled with life, this book gives sage advice on how to create joy in everything we do, and embrace it, because even joy can be fleeting. A beautiful and wise story, and a book I already know I will read again. Katherine Center has now become one of my favorite authors. Read them all!