Katherine is an amazing author! Her books take you into a place where you do t want to leave! I love her style of writing! It’s like you are at home with a friend and taking about a friend! I have enjoyed her books and love when a new books by her comes out!

I enjoyed this far more than I expected to - especially considering that there is no steam at all. I liked this way more than Things You Save in A Fire. I think I might be pretty stoked about reading her other books now.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

**3.5 stars**

I really did not like this book for the first few chapters. The writing style annoyed me; it was like being on the receiving end of a self-absorbed oblivious person talking to their therapist. Great authors are good at showing rather than telling, to pull us into the world they’ve created on the page. At the beginning, I felt like the author was really invested in her world but really wasn’t doing enough to make us invested, too.

But I figured I’d give the book a a chance, so I kept reading. Eventually, I was enjoying it enough that I wanted to see how it ended.

That being said, I think Sam is an annoying narrator. The way she spoke and thought about her infatuation with Duncan was childish. I also thought she was overly guarded about her epilepsy. Tons of people have epilepsy; even though Sam had been hurt by people who didn’t know how to deal with her epilepsy in childhood, she was sooo extreme in adulthood when it returned. I didn’t really find her extreme guardedness realistic, nor did I feel much sympathy for her. I was very glad her closest friends eventually told her, essentially, to grow up and let love in.

Overall, I enjoyed the book enough. I thought the message about intentionally choosing joy was a good one. Not sure I’d recommend this to other people, though.

Katherine Center is such a solid author! I grabbed this at the start of a new school year and it made me nostalgic for the pre-pandemic school life.

Samantha is a librarian at a unique school and while she loves what she does, she had to really fight her way to get there. A new principal comes to school and it puts her on her heels- it's Duncan Carpenter, someone she had a major crush on while they were teaching at a different school years ago. In fact, he was the reason she left.

She's excited at first but quickly finds Duncan has changed- his new role has made him strict, humorless, and in danger of ruining the things that make their experimental school special. Morale slips but Sam isn't ready to give up- she's worked so hard to get here and thinks she can affect change again by helping Duncan assimilate.

It sounds like a quiet story and it was, but Center is so good at getting readers to connect with characters. It took me a minute to warm up to Sam, but ultimately I found her charming. This was a bit predictable but honestly not in a bad way, like I said earlier, in many ways, it made me appreciate the simplicity of the way things used to be.

Where to even begin? Another amazing hit from Katherine Center. This book has everything and more you’d want. Great characters, plot development and leaves you with a great message “choose joy.” I cannot recommend this book enough!

From the very beginning of this book, I was annoyed. I did not like the main character, Sam, at all. She seemed VERY immature and it was frustrating. She freaked out because she had a crush on a guy for years and then she found out that he was going to be working at her school? Really? When she freaked out because Duncan was coming, I thought there was something that happened - even a one night stand? Nope, just a crush. From a 28 year old woman? Really?

Anyway, Sam gets involved in a family that she's not part of and doesn't understand why she's shut out. She acts like she's a teenager. Then Duncan comes to town and the drama is heightened. It seems a bit contrived. I understand the message behind the book, but it's hidden by characters that make dumb decisions and whine a lot. Sam has epilepsy but instead of taking medication to control it, she refuses to drive and freaks out when she might have a seizure. There's a solution, Sam, especially given your history.

Duncan reveals all while under the influence of pain killers following surgery and then forgets it. There are just so many cheesy plot devices used in this book that it was frustrating to get through.

Sometimes life gives you lemons. What do you do with the lemons? Do you eat them like an orange and cringe, or do you add some sugar and water and enjoy a glass of lemonade?

Author Katherine Center writes great women’s fiction and What You Wish For is another fabulous book on her list! The way she describes characters is top-notch, the emotions she can make you feel are real, and her books are ones that you’ll want to put everything else on hold for so you can read!

Fun-loving, bright-color-wearing school librarian Samantha does everything she can to make people happy. The students at school, her co-workers, and the people around her see her as a bright light. Someone in the world to make it better, more optimistic, happier.

But Samantha (Sam) wasn’t always happy. Her world, like the clothes that were in her wardrobe, was gray. The colors she wore were to help remind her to be happy, joyful, to live. Life had taken a difficult path, but the way led her to this new life.

Sam lives in an apartment on the property of the principal of her school. Everyone loves Max and Babette, and everyone is celebrating them when something tragic happens to Max.

In need of a new principal, the school is reeling. The loss of Max is devastating, and everyone has questions about the new person that has been hired. When Sam hears who the new principal is, she can’t believe it! No one will ever replace wonderful, caring Max.

Can it be the same person? The same Duncan Carpenter? The same Duncan she was secretly in love with at her last school? Sam rallies and tells everyone how great Duncan is, how brilliant, how fun. She is his biggest advocate. But then he arrives. Sam has a hard time believing this is the same Duncan. What happened to that fantastic, bigger-than-life, up-for-fun guy? The guy she secretly loved?

Can Sam help Duncan find who he used to be, and will he reveal to her what made him change?

What You Wish For by Katherine Center really grabbed me right at the very beginning, and I never put it down until I finished it. This much needed heart-warming and everyone ban together mentality for the better good was so needed right now. Samantha Casey, the school librarian at a highly ranked school in Galveston, TX, had found her home and family there. She became the go-between for the faculty and the new principal, who had been hired to make it "better and safer" after he made some extreme suggestions and changes.

This novel really spoke to me as a teacher too. I could relate to all of the different characters and how they reacted during lose, abrupt changes, and the teacher camaraderie that pushed them through tough times. This novel made my heart hurt during upsetting and positive moments, which produced every emotion under the sun. I devoured it, and I know everyone else will love it!

Thank you NetGalley and Katherine Center for allowing to listen to this book for an honest review.

I enjoyed this one the most of Katherine Centers books. She really leaned into the stereotypes but both characters were likeable and the ending was happy.

Samantha is a school librarian. She loves her job, the kids she works with, and the school community. Then her life is shaken up by a man from her past who is the school's new principal. The man who ignored her, but whom she loved reappears in her life. With the sparks become mutual, or will his new job blow everything up?

I adored this book. The quirky lead character was an absolute delight. I can't give this book enough praise.

I kind of enjoyed the book. I love the author's writing, but these characters were really annoying and not very believable.

I’ve been trying to put my feelings down in a review for this for over a week and it’s been difficult because I don’t want to completely trash it. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy it, but the sugar coated, sickly sweet parts made me cringe. It’s hard to love a book as a whole when you’re constantly irritated at decisions the characters make. It was too over the top for my liking, along with the main character being completely immature. Katherine had a really great premise, but in my opinion the execution was lacking in ways that would’ve enhanced the storyline.



Being in Sam’s head was constant whiplash with her moody teenage behavior. Maybe I’m just old and grouchy, but her immaturity was infuriating. GIRLS: TELL THE BOY (OR GIRL) YOU LIKE THEM, BE YOURSELF, SHARE YOUR SECRETS! I wish Sam had taken this advice- she held so much to herself and away from Duncan that had kept her miserable and constantly worrying.



When I picked this up I was not expecting the heavier content that followed, and I’m surprised I don’t see more trigger warnings surrounding it. Overall I wish that the characters were more mature as what they were dealing with was extreme and tough- I didn’t think that their personalities and behavior were suited to the topics presented. Most of them lacked the depth I was seeking from this author, honestly. This was also my first by Katherine Center so maybe it’s just how her books go but it was disappointing.

I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the satisfying scene towards the end, and I jumped for joy (if you’ve read it you know what I mean!)



The message: CHOOSE JOY. Be brave, be strong, be yourself and don’t let anyone or anything dull your shine (and wear the funky socks!).



TW: school shooting, emotional childhood trauma, domestic abuse



Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review

After a long time of having this on my (virtual) shelf, I was able to dive into What You Wish For. Samantha Casey is an elementary school librarian who moved to her town four years earlier to start a new life. She loved her school, until its co-founder and principal, Max, unexpectedly passes away. In strolls his replacement, ready to ruin Sam's world. Except the Duncan she knew, is not the Duncan in front of her and is ready to tear apart the school and everything that the community loves about it.

In general, What You Wish For was an enjoyable book, but I really struggled with how long Duncan was unlikable with zero understanding why and also how quickly the book wrapped up. We didn't get any insight until 50% of the way through the book. It felt drawn out to me, like some Stephen King novels I've read. There were nuggets that would hint to why Duncan was the way he was "now" though so that helped a little.

I wish the book had just a little more to offer, so I'm landing at 3 stars due to the above. I've heard great things about Katherine Center, so I'll be picking up another one of her books at some point to give another try.

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press for the free copy of this book, in exchange for my review. All thoughts are my own.

What a lovely, swift read. I began this book and in one sitting found myself half way through. The story, the characters, the ease of writing made this a really good, compelling read!

Another fun read from Katherine Center! Her fans will really enjoy this one. As always the characters are well drawn and interesting and you want to root for them. I had a few issues with the believability of the romance, but I was willing to go along because HEY it was fun.

Oddly enough, I used to work in the library of a school very similar to the one described in this book, and we had a headmaster so much like Max, it made me do mental doubletakes throughout the book. When our "Max" retired, the new headmaster made some very similar changes to the school for the sake of security--another eerie similarity. Obviously, nothing rose to the same level as it did in this book, and the librarian didn't have a romance with the new headmaster either, lol. But all that made the experience of reading this book a little weird.

My first Katherine Center book was How to Walk Away, which I read and loved a few years ago. I have Things You Save in a Fire downloaded on my Kindle and I will get to it soon. She writes books that balance the sad and the joyful parts of life with wonderful characters and What You Wish For is exactly this. I so enjoyed this book! I think it was a case of the right book at the right time--it's funny but poignant, light but deeper than you think. Mixed into the romance, friendship and family relationships is a message about embracing who you are--the scars both visible and not, and living with joy despite all of the ups and downs and pain that comes with life. This is a message I think we can all use right now. I especially loved Sam, the main character and her friend Alice and friend/mentor/mother-figure, Babette--they made me laugh and made me tear up. The setting, the romance, all the quirky characters that made up the school and community, it all worked for me. Sure, at times it was a bit predictable, but I relished every page. It engaged me and gave me all the feels. One of my favorites of the summer❣️

I always love Katherine Center books. She weaves in drama with every day issues and frustrations of life and a little romance thrown in. The one follows a school librarian in a Texas private school that she loves. The school's beloved principal dies and an aggressive board member forces the hiring of a security focused, anti-fun replacement. Except, our librarian worked with him in California and he was a totally different guy-- a fun loving, silly, engaged teacher that made learning fun. She has to figure out how to navigate the major shift at the school and reconciling the man she knew with the man she's faced with now.

Center draws characters that you can deeply invest with, even the "villain." No one is flat or a caricature. You grow to love the characters and really feel their feelings. The mixture of drama, a little bit of silliness, hope, and romance is deftly written. There's nothing that feels forced or fake, but there's enough real conflict to move the story forward. The ending had a bit of a twist, but you know what you're rooting for as you read. It's not my favorite book of hers, but it's engaging.

Thank you to NetGalley for the electronic copy for review. My opinions are my own.

Ratings: Four stars

Katherine Center books always make my heart happy and What You Wish For is no exception. It's full of lovable and quirky characters, who have real human issues. The book handles tough situations sensitively and carefully and balances the sorrow with the joy. You'll cheer for Duncan and Sam, the two main characters. The book will make you focus on the joy in your own life. It's a perfect read for these times. Now, I have to get a hold of a copy of Happiness for Beginners for more Duncan.

While some of the subject manner in this is very heavy and dark, it's ultimately a good reminder of finding and holding on to the things that bring you joy. Samantha and Duncan both have a lot of trauma they are carrying, and at first it seems like it's going to be too hard for them to see each other's pain and make space for it, but readers will have faith they will make it through.