WHAT YOU WISH FOR got me out of my Coronavirus reading melancholy. So, thank you, Katherine Center, for writing this wonderful book. These characters and the story made it easy to forget about the world for a while and as a writer, and a reader, isn’t that all we really want?

Katherine Center writes the best flawed characters ever. Which is why I find it so easy to root for them and why I want to keep reading their marvelous journeys. This is only my second KC book, but I’m definitely going to be reading more.

I received an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

If I had to describe this book in one word, it would definitely be JOY.⁣⁣
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In What You Wish For Katherine Center expertly weaves sadness and pain, with all the fuzzy feels, some laugh out loud personalities, and a heartfelt story I devoured in one day!⁣
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Sam is a school librarian who is living her best colorful, joyous life despite things the that could easily hold her back. She loves her job, her friends, and her school - but then tragedy strikes - and someone from her past threatens to upend everything she’s worked so hard to overcome.⁣⁣
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I loved how color is almost a character as well - in art throughout the school, and the main characters fashion! Because if you’ve ever seen Katherine Center’s art and style - as well as her stunning covers - you know color is BIG part of her life! I adored all the quirky characters, her fun Math teacher friend, Alice and her silly T-shirts, and of course, the animals - including a whale (!) and a funny dog named Chuck Norris!⁣⁣
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It’s an adorable story, that I was happy to read - about being brave, taking chances, and finding joy within yourself and all around you.⁣⁣
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What brings you joy?⁣⁣

That Katherine Center sure can write a great book. I just fall right into her stories and enjoy the ups and downs, knowing that the story will have both, but that overall, they are feel good books. They are usually quick reads because I just love reading them and look for moments in the day to read more.

In this book, Sam is the librarian at a great school and loves her job and her school and the kids. They are all shocked when their leader Max dies unexpectedly and is replaced with a man that Sam knew from a previous job. But she assures them he is a great teacher and will fit in well at their school. But when he arrives, he is not the man Sam once knew. He has changed and not for the better in her opinion.

This is a do not miss book of 2020. The perfect antidote to quarantine. I loved the rich characters, the theme of preserving and the well crafted writing. A wonderful read by a favorite author.
Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley.

Sam is a librarian of an elementary school full of fun loving kids and colorful faculty. When the school loses their beloved principal, his replacement turns out to be Duncan, an old unrequited crush of Sam’s from her past. She fell for him for his goofy antics with the kids at their last school. But when Duncan shows up as the new principal, he’s nothing like she remembers; cold, uptight and fixated on school security. When the school starts resembling a prison instead of an elementary school, Sam stands up to Duncan in the hopes of salvaging the happy home she has built.

Sam was such a fun character. She’s cringe level awkward, funny, and relatable. I really liked the romance that unfurled, and that the story was peppered with heavier themes and current issues. The character interaction seemed unrealistic in spots but otherwise a really fun rom-com on par with Center’s other novels.

Thank you St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance e-copy

I’m a huge fan of Katherine Center and her books, she’s one of my favorite “women’s fiction” authors! How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire were both Five star reads for me.

That being said I wasn’t as in love with What You Wish For as I hoped! Center’s writing in this one is just as delightful as her previous works, I gobbled up the book in two sittings. But I really struggled with the pacing of the story and parts of the plot.

Some of Sam’s behaviors were kind of bothersome considering what happens in the book, a lot of scenes she just came off as very selfish. I did like that she was living with epilepsy, I always love seeing characters living with chronic conditions but I would be curious to hear if the epilepsy representation was accurate or not. I love love loved the scene where she had to take care of Duncan following his surgery. Such a great forced proximity moment and so delightful! There were a lot more little moments I really enjoyed too, but the pacing was so strange. It would jump from months at a time and then the last 25% of the book was all in one night??

I really enjoyed the first 75% of the book, minus a few moments, but I honestly hated how the ending was set up. The pier scene really made me kind of hate Sam, she came off totally inconsiderate and her reaction to Duncan telling her more of his backstory was infuriating. And sooo much happened back to back, it was unbelievable and not fun to read. The whale coming in was just kind of bizarre.

Since I read this without reading Happiness for Beginners first (I know, I know) it did make me want to go back and read that story immediately! Maybe I would have liked this one more if I read them in order?

What You Wish For was a three star read for me. I still highly recommend Center’s books, but I would suggest starting with one of her other works.

Every book I've read by Katherine Center has been like a warm hug - they're all just delightful & bring me so much joy to read. I really loved this book! Samantha is a ray of sunshine, the perfect contrast to Duncan, who is surly & stiff (nothing like the teacher that she used to know & have a crush on). The Duncan she knew formerly was joyful & wild, creating fun memories for the children at every turn. The new Duncan is obsessed with school safety & turning the beautiful school Samantha has worked so hard to create into a prison. I really enjoyed the characters' journey throughout the book. They all experienced sorrow, but they also had so many joyful breakthroughs. I loved how all of the teachers & school staff interacted, and the pictures that Katherine Center painted of the school were so beautiful - I could imagine it perfectly (and I want to live in Samantha's library!). This was just such a sweet, lovely book.

I enjoyed this contemporary romantic novel. What do you do when someone you knew a long time ago resurfaces in your life but is so very different? And what do you do when that person is bent on destroying everything you hold dear about the school in which you are the librarian?

Center did a fine job developing realistic characters. Samantha has issues but she has learned to live with them in a very good way. How touching that the founders of this private elementary school took her under their wing. And then there is Duncan. We know from Samantha's previous experience with him that his current hard line personality is not who he has always been. We wonder what happened to him and we hope Samantha can somehow help him find his way back to his real self. Other characters added so much to the story, like Alice and her crazy math jokes and t shirts, Clay, the student who knew so much about the ocean, and Chuck Norris, the dog who defied all the training Duncan tried to force on him.

Center has good insight into human character and situations and how to overcome obstacles to living life with joy, especially in the face of uncertainty or tragedy. There are some serious issues in the novel and how they affect people but the bottom line is living to find the joy in the midst of it all.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

“I’m telling you. I know all about darkness. That’s why I am so hellbent, every damn day, on looking for the light.”

“I bite and scratch and claw my way toward happiness every day. It’s a choice.”

Just like all of the Katherine Center books I’ve read so far, What You Wish For is full of heart, love and characters you care about.

One of the many elements I enjoyed about this book is just how much profound character development occurs in the book. Sadly that’s is rare to see in books lately.

The author has a unique ability to handle tough topics in a way that is digestible for the audience.

This book felt receiving a hug around your soul- and I think we can all use that right now.

This book is a solid 4 stars for me! There were a few parts that felt very slow to me and the part where she jumps off the pier just felt totally out of the blue and didn’t fit.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

After having read and enjoyed both How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire earlier this year, I was definitely looking forward to Katherine Center's latest release, and who could resist the beautiful cover art?!

Samantha, a school librarian, loves her job, the school, the kids, her colleagues, and those in the community around her. But that hasn't always been the case. Sam has spent her life running from her past, and hiding a critical aspect of herself from pretty much everyone. Her comfortable life is about to be shaken, when the school's principal dies suddenly. As the start of the new school year approaches, a new principal is brought in. Duncan Carpenter is a by the book administrator, who is bound and determined safety should be the school's number one priority above all else. However, Sam knows he hasn't always been this way.

I definitely have mixed feelings about this one. While the premise was there, I found the plot to be somewhat underdeveloped and repetitive. My first thoughts were it was trying to pack too much into one story. However, in typical Katherine Center fashion, it's more than just a romance. It certainly delves deeper into much heavier issues facing society, showcases how tragedies can shape us is different ways, while focusing on the central topic of choosing joy. I absolutely love that Center is willing to take on tough topics, and yet manages to craft a witty, heartwarming story. While I typically love and connect with the main characters in her books, in this one it is the secondary characters that really shine. I couldn't help but love young Clay Buckley, a sponge of knowledge who would rather spend time in the library to playing sports (much to the dismay of his father); Babette, a grieving widow who provids a strong maternal presence in the novel; and Alice, a certified math nerd who is brutally honest, but has Sam's back no matter what.

It was definitely still an enjoyable read, but I'll honestly say it was a bit of a let down for me. likely because I absolutely loved and connected with the main characters so much more in Things You Save in A Fire and How to Walk Away. If you're not aware, the author uses secondary characters from her previous works as central characters in her new books, which is something I really like. However, she makes it so you don't have to have read the previous book in order to enjoy the stories. If you're a fan of Katherine Center or female characters crafted in resilience than it's definitely worth checking this one out.

Content Warnings: spousal loss, parental loss, parental abandonment, gun violence, school shooting, chronic illness, missing child, past trauma

I really enjoyed both How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire, so I was super excited to read What You Wish For! I loved Sam as a character--she was so interesting and real and easy to relate to. I connected with her and Babette immediately at the beginning of the book, and was hooked from there. I loved the description of the school library!It sounded so fun and Sam was a perfect school librarian. It got me all nostalgic for library days and read ins when I was in elementary school.

I did NOT like Duncan for the first half of the book--to the point where I was wondering why everyone loved this book so much. But THEN I kept reading....and fell in love with their story. I could not put this book down and absolutely loved the last third of the book. There are so many important themes in this book--family, love, grief, forgiveness. It's beautifully written, and I will continue to count Katherine Center as an auto-buy author.

So many great passages:

"“I wasn’t a stranger to grieving, to the way it drowned you but didn’t kill you—only
kept you submerged for so long you forgot what air and sunshine felt like. I knew that grief set its own timeline, and that the only way out was through.”"


"And she also knew, as I was starting to understand in a whole new way, that it was always better to dance than to refuse."

When Sam moves to Galveston Island, Texas and gets her new job as a librarian at a dream school, she completely reinvents herself. She went from the mousy, shy librarian to the colorful, vibrant librarian and she is well loved at her school. She feels like she finally has the family she has been missing since a very young age. With the tragic death of the school’s beloved principal, and surrogate father for Sam, at the end of summer, the school board hires Duncan to fill Max’s gigantic shoes and holes in everyone’s heart. The only problem is that Duncan is Sam’s unrequited love, and she has no clue what to do.

This was just the most wholesome romance ever. No raunchy sex scenes in sight; just plain (but not so plain) old wholesome content that makes you feel all of the things. As a teacher, it’s rare when books with teacher main characters are done well, and this one did it well. I’m off to hurriedly add all of Katherine Center’s other books to my TBR!

Thank you St.Martin’s Press for a copy of What You Wish For by Kathrine Center for review.

What You Wish For is a really cute story. I thought it was a little predictable plot wise but there were a few things I really loved. One was chronic illness representation. Sam has epilepsy and while I have no personal experience with that, a lot of her fears and anxiety are similar to those that I have with IBD. Duncan also has PTSD and I liked that it wasn’t an easy fix for that character to deal with those issues either. On top of that I liked the discussion between safety and fun in schools and different ways the characters chose happiness and joy despite everything else.

I really love a book that can discuss big and complex issues in a realistic and even at times joyful way. I think that is what this book did well.
Content warnings for PTSD, discussion of past violence, chronic illness and past trauma and death of a close family member.

This story, at the beginning, seemed as though it was rather predictable. While the ending was what I originally thought it to be, the entire story has some twists and turns that made it an interesting read. The characters were relatable and lovable. A fun read!

If you need some cheerful, heartfelt, entertaining reading fare, look no further than this beauty from Katherine Center. It's part romance, part women's fiction, with some scenes that make you laugh out loud and others that make you cry.

Sam is our storyteller, and she's someone you want as your friend. One of the messages is the power and importance of family, yet Sam is a semi-orphan (her mother is dead, and her father is completely out of the picture). When she flees California, believing that the man she has a tremendous crush on (her fellow teacher Duncan) is getting engaged to someone else, she winds up in Galveston, where she meets Max and Babette, who become surrogate parents to her. The picture is made further complete with Nina, Max and Babette's daughter. Only in this case, Nina is the older sister Sam hoped she would never have. In Max and Babette, Sam finds love and acceptance. When Sam's recurring illness makes an embarrassing appearance, Max helps her manage her response. It helps that he's the principal and co-founder of the school where she works as a librarian.

When Duncan reappears as a coworker at Sam's new school, she is dismayed to discover that he is nothing like the Duncan she left behind. The clues and hints as to what caused Duncan's change are not subtle, yet Sam never picks up on them (nor does anyone else). He does not want to reveal himself to Sam, but she proves to be an irresistible force.

There is a backstory to Duncan that involves Sam as well, and I was disappointed that Katherine Center didn't pursue it more. When Duncan touches on this, Sam asks a cursory question or two. If it were me, I would have JUMPED on that tidbit like a dog with a bone.

You will love the supporting cast, particularly Nina's son Clay. Like Sam, he searches for a connection, and in Sam, he finds it. Clay grabbed my heart and did not let go, as did Babette and Duncan's sister and her family. I want more of them.

I wish Duncan had been better developed, but he's dreamy, and you certainly understand Sam's obsession with him. You will not stop cheering for them to be together.

This is the second book I've read by Katherine Center after "Things You Save in a Fire" which I loved.

"What You Wish For" is another winner. Samantha (Sam) is a librarian at a middle school in Galveston, Texas. When tragedy strikes, a new Principal, Duncan is hired, one whom Sam has worked with in the past. Sam is thrilled as she knew him to be fun-loving, kind, and intelligent and she had a secret crush on him.

She's surprised to find he's a totally different person - cold, unfriendly, distant and setting all kinds of rules for teachers and students alike. What could have caused the change?

Both Sam and Duncan have traumatic events in their pasts, which play a huge part in the story. The story line is beautiful and the message of looking for joy even when things are not going well resonated with me.

I was very excited to read Katherine Center's newest book since I loved her last two books and while I did enjoy it, it wasn't quite what I expected and I didn't love it as much as I did her previous books. It was still a great read that I would recommend, but I didn't really connect with the MC as I did in her other novels. However, I did love the storyline about looking for joy and making your own joy in life after bad things have happened, which is something that I've seemed to have forgotten lately. It's definitely an important takeaway from the book!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

Once again, Katherine Center has a winner on her hands!
How many of us have ever reminisced about that certain someone who just might have been, "The One?" Would he or she still live up to our ideal?

What You Wish For brings us that very scenario when Samantha is reunited with her perfect crush, Duncan. Unfortunately, time and tragedy has taken its toll on the man Sam had known and loved. Will she be able to break through the emotional barricade he has constructed to rediscover the man she knows him to be? Sam carries her own baggage of hurt and self-doubt. In healing Duncan can she find an end to her self-imposed isolation?

For a plethora of quirky characters including a sperm whale and a worthless guard dog named Chuck Norris, tragedy and triumph hang in the balance. Set in the historical community of Galveston, What You Wish For is a must for your summer reading list!

Samantha is a librarian at an elementary school. She loves her job, her co-workers, and the people that surround her. She wears flowery clothes and loves to make things colorful. This was not always the case. Samantha was at another school which she ran away. Why? Because she loved a fun-loving, charismatic co-worker but Samantha was a wallflower. After the untimely death of the school principal, a new one is hired. When Samantha see the picture on the screen, she could not believe her eyes. It was the fun-loving Duncan, the guy from which she ran away. Unfortunately, life has changed Duncan and he is set to change the fun-loving school. As Samantha deals, the town sets on healing Duncan and making him see things differently. A great book that deals with love, family, heartache, and overcoming challenges. Just a great read! Cannot wait to read more of Ms. Center's books.

Last year I read Katherine’s book ‘The Things You Save in a Fire’ and absolutely loved it, so I had high expectations for ‘What You Wish For.’ While it was an enjoyable read, for me the main characters just didn’t measure up to her prior novel. Sam is the librarian at Kempner School in Galveston, where she has created a family for herself with the school’s principal Max and his wife Babette along with the other staff members and students. Sam is extremely happy until the night that Max collapses and dies at his 60th birthday party.

Along with grieving him as a father figure, Sam has also lost a great boss. Because Max and Babette were the founders of the school, the staff fully expects Babette to take the reins until the chairman of the board (aka the douchebag husband of Tina, Max and Babette’s daughter) makes a shocking announcement. He has decided to hire an outsider, an independent administrator named Duncan Carpenter…and Sam just happens to know someone by that name. In fact the fun-loving goofy teacher she worked with in California who was the reason why she left and moved to Galveston after rumors of him getting engaged had gone around the school. She had nursed a crush on him for over 2 years and had decided enough was enough and that it was time to move on.

The Duncan that appears at Kempner however is not the man she remembers; instead he is serious, formal and determined to turn the colorful and fun Kempner into a locked-down drab fortress with a guard dog. Sam is aghast at the changes in his personality and demeanor, wondering what could have happened to him in the years since she had last seen him. At first she thinks about running again, but she decides to stand her ground and run him out before he can destroy Max and Babette’s legacy.

While the storyline itself was actually really good, where I felt it fell a little flat for me was the characterizations. I just didn’t love the Sam and Duncan as the HEA as much as I expected to, even though they were both sympathetic in their own ways. Other characters like Tina and her husband (douchebag) were the stereotypical jerks though Tina does redeem herself at the end somewhat. I think my favorite character in the book was Sam’s best friend Alice, the hilarious math teacher. If there is an upcoming book featuring her, I would definitely read that one! Overall, I would recommend the book because as it did have a great storyline and I enjoyed the journey even if I wasn’t sold on the main characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to read and review!