I throughly enjoyed this story. It is not my favourite by Katherine Center, I think I enjoyed How to Walk Away more. However, I did overall enjoy the characters and storyline of this one as well.

I am not quite sure if it is the current state of affairs or that I have read several books over the last few weeks, but I just couldn't get into this,
While I love Katherine Center and generally find her books light.
I wanted so much to fall for the characters
Which for me may have made the story fall short
Katherine Center I dp ove your books...

I love anything that Katherine Center writes. Her writing is sprinkled with messages that I want on my coffee mugs or tote bags. While Sam frustrated me at times during the book, I did love her unique, colorful style. I, too, love bright colors and patterns, and they bring me so much joy. I know you aren’t supposed to judge a book by it’s cover but COME ON, who wouldn’t buy this book with that cover!

Thank you to Katherine Center, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love anything written by Katherine Center! After reading Things You Save in a Fire, I knew I had to read more! What you Wish for did not disappoint! Especially during times like these! The characters are wonderful. I would highly recommend this book to anyone!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. Gosh I love this author! Sweet story! Samantha is a librarian for a small community school on a island off of Texas. She lives in the carriage house behind the art teacher and school principal who have been married for 40 years. During the principal's 60th birthday party, he dies of a pulmonary embolism leaving the community crushed and an empty position at the school. In sweeps Douglas. Douglas, whom Sam knew from her last school. Douglas, whom Sam was madly in love with but he had no idea. However, he has completely changed and not for the better. This story was completely predictable but I loved it just the same!! #whatyouwishfor #KatherineCenter #july2020

This was my first Katherine Center book. I know, I know. I have been under a rock apparently according to my book friends.

Many have told me many opinions of which to start with. I chose this one because, well...st Martins press and netgalley gave me an advanced copy. What better way to start a Center book.

The writing style of What You Wish for was so intriguing. I love how Center wrote the book at times as if she were talking to me.

We learn of Sam who lives with a couple who see thinks of as her family, but they arent, as much as she wishes they were.

She is a librarian at an elementary school that suddenly needs a new principal. (I love books about book nerds) The new principal is chosen and it turns out she knows this guy, maybe more than knows them.

We watch as the two navigate a few traumas of their own, while stepping around their own feelings.

While this was a great story I did have some confusing thoughts. I wasnt sure that Sam made wise choices and it turned me off from her character a bit. Also, I would have loved more of her and Duncans love story.

This reminded of a sweet Hallmark movie.

Overall it was a cute story. I will definitely read the other two books I have of this authors that is on my shelf. I give this a solid 3.75 rounded up.

Thank you St Martin's Press and Netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

loved this book! I thought is was well written and hooked me from the very beginning. She is slowly becoming a favorite author of mine

Have you ever read a book and experienced a physical sadness when you closed the book? Katherine Center's What You Wish For was that book for me.

Samantha Casey is the librarian at an elementary school in Galveston, TX known for creative and conscious teaching methods. But when the beloved founder and principal dies unexpectedly, the entire faculty goes into mourning the loss of a man who brought fun to the school.

When Duncan Carpenter is announced as the new school principal, Sam breathes a sigh of relief. No one can replace the old principal, but Duncan is as close as you can get. They taught together years ago and Sam remembers Duncan as the man in the flamingo pants, who would juggle for the kids and excelled at making learning fun.

When Duncan pulls a very real looking gun out and declares his mission is to secure the school, it's evident that the fun Duncan is gone and in his place is a very different man who seems hell-bent on ruining the school.

Can Sam coax the old Duncan out of his drab, grey suit and into his colorful wardrobe and lighthearted ways?

This book will make you laugh and cry and fondly remember all the teachers who made learning fun.

What You Wish For almost felt like a book written for me. There are two good reasons I picked up this book to read. 1. It takes place in Galveston, Texas which is one of my most favourite places to be. My husband I went there for our 20th wedding anniversary. It is a beautiful island. I talk all the time about when I can go back again. If you go - check out the San Luis resort - AMAZING! 2. I'm a school librarian and so is Sam, the main character. Well, a supply now, but still, I can relate. Sam is the librarian I strive to be. She is a super star librarian.

Sam is an 'Islander by Choice' in Galveston. She moved to the island 4 years ago after a love that was not reciprocated. Now she's established a great group of friends and a great job at a school she loves. That is until her beloved principal passes suddenly leaving the whole community shook up.

When it's announced that her old love will be the principal, Sam makes a plan to quit and start over somewhere new. There's no way she can handle that heartache again. But when Duncan Carpenter walks in to the cafeteria it's like he's a totally different man. No longer fun loving, he's become a man in a grey suit that wants to change everything that is loved about their school. Worse he wants to lock it up like a jail. Sam blames the changes on his new wife.

Despite all the changes Duncan has made Sam still finds her heartstrings pulling. Perhaps it's time for her to walk away.

I really enjoyed What You Wish For. I loved the characters and the setting was described just as I remembered it. During this Covid-19 isolation I was happy to head back to Galveston for a few pages. Grab this book and read it pool side at the San Luis with a plate of their yummy food and a cocktail.

I was so excited to be able to read Katherine Center’s new book. I devoured her other two books & thought that this one would be similar. Unfortunately this story & its characters really fell flat with me. I just could not get in to it and I didn’t seem to connect with Sam or Ducan. I really liked some of the supporting characters but it wasn’t enough to make me want to find out more about the storyline. I kept having to push myself to read one more page and when I got to the ending, it really seemed like a stretch. Not a fan of this one but I am a fan of Katherine Center.

Sam is a librarian at an elementary school in Texas and she loves everything about her job - the students, the wonderful principal and his wife, the funky old building. When the school's principal suddenly dies, the replacement happens to be someone from Sam's past, someone she used to be madly in love with. Duncan Carpenter shows up and he is nothing like Sam remembers. Instead of the fun-loving, gregarious teacher she fell for, Principal Carpenter is frigid, obsessed with safety, and apparently doesn't remember Sam at all. Determined to save the one good thing in her life and in the lives of so many of her students, Sam fights Duncan at every turn. She will stop at nothing to keep him from turning her beloved school into a characterless prison.

Katherine Center is an auto-buy author for me. I love the worlds she creates and the characters she invents. I feel like I am immersed in the town she is describing and the people in the story are my real life friends. What could be considered cliche in other stories just feels SO RIGHT in a Katherine Center book. I always laugh, I always cry, and I always finish the book feeling so full of encouragement and hope.

What You Wish For is especially poignant in this regard. The overall message is to seek joy, to actively look for the good and the beautiful in a world that is so full of evil - to find, as Center calls it, a "deliberate kind of joy...joy on purpose."

Highly recommend this beautiful read, especially during such an uncertain time in our world.

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC of this book for an honest review. This was a very predictable story that had a romcom feeling throughout. The main character was likable but also a bit frustrating as she kept (literally) away from the main interest in the story when she questioned her and his feelings. The story itself was on the light side which is probably what many people need at this time.

Thanks to @stmartinspress for a copy of this book! This story is about Sam and Duncan. After the sudden death of the school principal, Duncan is hired to take his place. Sam is surprised to work with him again. They had worked together before but he is totally different now. I am loving @katherinecenter new book!! (All of her books have been amazing.) I love how they all have a sense of healing in them. As a teacher, I enjoy the school setting in this one. I also loved the dog Chuck Norris. This book is full of great characters you can related to.

First many thanks for Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for the copy of What You Wish For.
3.5 stars. I did enjoy reading this book very much; however, that said it was very predictible and at times far fetched and as another reader commented a little over the top. But I still liked the story and plan on reading more by Katherine Center. This was my first book by her . If you want a nice feel good story, this is a lovely read. Recommended!

I received a copy of WHAT YOU WISH FOR on NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

Five stars and here’s why:

I love it. Given that we’re isolated as a society due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I was so excited to receive a copy of this book because I believe people will really connect with this story. The idea to choose joy on purpose resonates with me. It’s been days since I finished reading the book and I’m still thinking about it. Samantha is a main character that tugs on the heartstrings and as she and her friends deal with a monumental loss, I’m reminded that it’s hard to find the joy amongst so much upheaval, but it’s certainly worth a try. I loved the writing and the pace was super fast. Highly recommend.

Since I really liked Katherine Center’s last book, Things You Save in. Fire, I was really looking forward to this and was hoping for another feel-good romance. Well, this fell way short for me. In fact it was so juvenile that I just couldn’t go on after about a quarter of the way through. With so many other books on my TBR calling me I basically skimmed to the end and called it a day. Sorry I can’t say much more for this one, but it just was not for me, which doesn’t mean most will not love this as a light summer read.

After reading Katherine Center's last two books, I was so excited to read this one. And it did not disappoint. The first part of the book was a little frustrating for me because I had such a hard time with Duncan! I think that could probably have been toned down a little. But sticking with it paid off. I so enjoyed spending time with these characters. This was a great reminder that there can be joy, even after trauma. Definitely recommend.

St. Martin's Press - here you go giving me an early copy of Katherine Center's newest book and I don't have enough self control to pace myself while reading it. Now, I have to wait until the next newest book of hers comes out to read. Why do I always do this?!

Guys, I love Katherine Center's books. She is one of my all time favorite authors. Her books seem to take difficult situations, quirky characters and present a story that is uplifting and hopeful. I'm not sure how she does it, but I just love these books and What You Wish For is just as fantastic as the others.

Sam Casey is a school librarian at the Kempner School, a progressive educational institution revered for its unique environment that fosters a warm, creative and familial learning atmosphere. As the librarian, Sam enjoys her role in fostering the reading lives of her students and strives to make her library a colorful room of literature and whimsy - her library is a reflection of herself. But when a sudden death results in the appointment of a new school principal, the culture of Sam's beloved school is threatened.

Duncan Carpenter used to be everyone's favorite, goofy, fun loving, eccentric teacher. When Sam realizes that the new principal is a former co-worker from another school, she has trouble reconciling the Duncan she used to know with the new grey-suited, serious and (frankly) scary version. It seems that everything Duncan used to stand for has been erased and she doesn't recognize the stranger who wants to turn her beloved learning sanctuary into a maximum security prison of education. But as Sam and Duncan reconnect, she begins to realize that Duncan might be hiding things that could shed light on his sudden personality change.

Katherine Center once again has written a book that balances the way her characters handle trauma with a hopeful, uplifting message. Her books always seem to highlight that in the face of sadness, there is always a sliver lining and whenever possible, we should choose joy.

I took a long time to begin reading this book. With all the turmoil in our lives right now I really haven’t wanted to read anything that would make me think too much. Putting it off was a mistake. I loved this life affirming book. The message of purposely deciding to choose joy was just what I needed. I really liked the characters. I would like to be a teacher in that school where the joy of childhood, of life, is celebrated. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC. I will be looking for more by Katherine Center.

I truly enjoyed this story. Full disclosure, I am a school-librarian myself. The main character, Samantha, resonated with me on many levels. Her love for her school library, her students, and her school community was infectious. The characters were relatable and realistic, flawed and beautiful. This story contained a sweet love story, full of hope and transformation. These characters give you hope of healing, love, and second chances. I would highly recommend this story!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51168993-what-you-wish-for