I had really high hopes for this read, and sadly I think my expectations were just too high. I loved Katherine's past two books and I really wanted to like this one just as much. I did like it, just didn't love it. It was hard to read parts of it because I am a teacher and it felt too close to a lot of fears I have. I liked both main characters, but wish it wouldn't have taken them so long to get together! I did find it to be a very unique plot. I also wouldn't have minded more of a flashback to when they knew each other before. I did enjoy the secondary characters!

I've been eagerly awaiting Katherine Center's latest book. She's a wonderful storyteller, and this book was just the heart-warming story I needed. It's not all rainbows and butterflies though (although there are beautifully described butterflies); these characters are realistic and don't always act how you want them to act. The characters grapple with some heavy issues, but the story is crafted with such a delicate hand that those parts of the plot feel natural and less weighty.

“Life doesn't ever give you what you want just the way you want it. Life doesn't ever make things easy... Love makes you better because it's hard... Joy is fleeting. Nothing lasts.” It's very apropos for the world many of us are facing currently. So many moments in the story made me smile, made me happy, made me believe good people are out there. I would have liked certain parts to be expanded, but loose ends were brought together for a satisfying ending.

As a fellow Texan, I really appreciate that this novel is set in Galveston. It's a special place for many Texans, and Center clearly spent time there making sure she got the spirit and details just right.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Samantha is a librarian at a small school in Galveston Texas. She loves her job and the students. When the director/founder of the school dies suddenly and leaves a hole in the school community.
A new principal arrives. The new principal is Duncan Carter. Samantha worked with him before, but know he is different. Duncan used to be fun, but now he is serious. And Samantha doesn't understand what happened to the man she knew. As the story unfolds the reader and Samantha learns what happened to Duncan.

The question is, can Samantha change Duncan so he can remember how to have fun, and save her beloved school?

Told from Samantha 's point of view this was a fun story with

engaging characters. The plot is timely with a mixture of current events and romance.

This book was fantastic! Katherine Center books make me happy! Thank you netgalley for sharing this wonderful book!

I don't have enough exciting words to express how much I enjoyed Katherine Center's latest book, "What You Wish For". Librarian Sam and Principal Duncan are possibly the best characters Author Center has ever created. Their story, written using beautiful Galveston, Texas as a backdrop, was exactly what I needed right now.

I always enjoy Katherine Center’s books because each time I read one, I not only get a magically captivating story, but I am also reminded of what’s truly important in my world. Author Center has quickly become one of my favorite authors. She shows the weaknesses of her characters with great clarity, and shows how they work and learn their way through them. Each book I read changes me for the better as a human being.. Her books fill my world with gratitude, and remind me to choose joy on purpose.

"What You Wish For" is storytelling at its finest. There's a perfect blend of hardships and happiness, with characters that readers will not only root for, but deeply understand. Author Katherine Center is truly making the this reader's world a better place, one book at a time.

Samantha meets Duncan while they are both teaching at school. She’s so obsessed with his engaging and funny ways that she decides that to break the obsession, she has to move away from him. It’s been 3-4 years since she’s seen him, and after her new schools beloved principal dies, Duncan comes in as the new principal. But he’s not the same funny Duncan who used to juggle and wear funny clothes. No, this new guy wears suits and is ready to change her beloved school for the worse, making it into a prison for children. Can Sam figure out where the old Duncan is hiding and why he’s no longer that fun loving guy she used to know?

I have to admit, it took me a few chapters to really get into this. I didn’t connect with Sam at all, and I wish it was told from both Sam and Duncan’s POVs, I think it would’ve given us a lot more into his back story. Other than that, I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed watching Sam, Babette and Alice work their magic to help Duncan work through a tough patch in his life and find the joy he was missing.

Reading a Katherine Center novel is so much more than enjoying a finely-crafted plot with memorable characters—when you are reading any one of her books you are LIVING it, and FEELING it—becoming completely involved in all that happens. In What You Wish For, I was enraptured, I was charmed, I was sad, and even scared and angry at times. I felt so connected to Sam and Duncan—their pain-filled pasts, their loves, their fears, and their joys. Each page of this book is brimming with heart and hope and wisdom. Reading this book during the pandemic made it even more meaningful, as each character opens themselves up to the possibility of true happiness and joy, working together to achieve something meaningful and worthwhile. “This is what it means to be fully alive. To feel it all—the joy and the sorrow—the hope and the fear. This is what life demands of us. You just have to stay, and try, and let life break your heart.”

I needed this! I was thoroughly entertained by this book. In these trying days, this is the perfect book to spend time with to help lift your spirits and learn to live normally again. The premise of the book lends itself in a different way to this very theme as Samantha (Sam) learns to embrace herself even as she tries to heal others. There are a lot of bright colors in this multi-layered story about discovering ourselves and figuring out how to navigate through our lives even though we are scared sometimes. Meanwhile, these lessons are learned in a very pleasant way due to Katherine Center's entertaining storytelling skills, and most especially, the way she writes the personal interactions between characters. I loved the crazy labradoodle, a failed guard dog, that peppered the story here and there. And I appreciated the various rescues that occured throughout the book in different ways and circumstances, involving adults, kids, and animals. I'm a new fan and will be reading more of her books. I would highly recommend this book at any time, but especially now when we can use all the uplifting stories we can get. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for making this advance readers' copy available to me. And thank you to Katherine Center for making my day so much better.

This novel was a happy respite for this quarantined reader! The lovable characters in Ms. Center’s latest feel good novel all have their scars, both literal and figurative. They each move beyond heartbreak and painful memories by finding new ways to insert joy into their lives; quite a timely reminder!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Publishing for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

What You Wish for by Katherine Center ~ Reviewed on April 10, 2020

This novel is due to be released in July however there are already 767 ARC reviews. It has got to be great ~ Right?
This is my second Katherine Center novel. My first read was “Things you Save in a Fire”.
Story starts off with Elementary school librarian Samantha Casey who lives in the small cottages behind the home of delightful 60 year old couple Max and Babette. Max is the Principal of the school where Sam works and his wife Babette is a teacher. Samantha totally loves her job and happy that she moved to Texas from California after her break-up. But when Max, the beloved principal dies, who could have guessed that former crush Duncan Carpenter would be the new principal?
Sam finds Duncan is nothing like the guy she swooned over six years ago and wonders if she should once again move.

This is basically a “finding joy’ story; I figured it was going to be a “feel good” story ~ and a nice escape from the news during this pandemic.
However, I recently read several other “feel good” stories so probably should have waited a week or two before jumping into another similar story.
I guess I just wasn’t in the right mood and found this only okay. So of the 767 now 768 readers I am one of the few sitting in the outlier table.

I do want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this early release granted in exchange for an honest professional review. Publishing date scheduled for July 14, 2020

Sweet but kind of predictable. Lots of good dialogue - lots of chasing joy even when you’re having a bad day. I like that advice, it’s extremely important and relevant to our world today. Don’t give up.

This is a well written feel good book detailing the life and eventual romance of a school librarian. The characters are both likeable and believable. I really enjoyed this one.

Samantha Casey loves her job as the local elementary school librarian and is devastated when the school loses its principal. The replacement is Duncan Carpenter, a teacher Sam never thought she'd see again in her life. Sam had a major crush on Duncan back in the day, and she's worried the feelings will come back with a vengeance for her new boss. Not only that, but Duncan is nothing like she remembers, and it seems he's out to change their school for the worse.

Katherine Center has become one of my go-to authors. This books was amazing and I couldn't put it down. What You Wish For was a delight to read. Her characters all appealed to me, especially Samantha. She was endearing and awkward, and adorable. I really liked this it was a from a single POV, which doesn't always appeal to me. Well done, Katherine!

It's very difficult to concentrate on a book these days during the quarantine. It takes a very special author and creation to be able to override anxiety and fear, keep us immersed in a story for pure escape. To get us to feel something else. While this is not that book, it does give some nice escapism. Within the story elements is a nice message about finding joy, and so this book has great value within it. I wanted to love it, and I don't fault the author. I'm sure that upon a re-read, its gems will be revealed. So hang onto it. You'll come back and experience it anew. It's light, airy and populated by some enjoyable characters. Thank you to Netgalley for the review copy.

Let me preface this by stating: I loved Center's last book, "Things You Save in a Fire," and had such high hopes based on that experience. Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me. Quite frankly, it just started off in the wrong foot. Our narrator, a 30-ish school librarian, goes off the rails because her former crush, *yes, CRUSH* from her last job is announced as the new principal of her current school-; an idyllic and progressive school formerly led by a visionary educator, Max, and his wife, Babette. I had to re-read that part to make sure I got it because from her account, it seemed like a life-altering event-- that her former work crush didn't reciprocate her feelings 4 years ago and is now showing up as her new boss in her new-ish town in Galveston TX.

Yes. It is that juvenile. Y'all, I'm an early 40s avid reader and I don't often visit the YA section. And this kind of "Babysitter's Club" plot is exactly why. Seriously?! I just can't.

((( SPOILER ALERT)))

I read till about 50% and then just started skimming. At 63% I jumped ahead to the last chapter, and sure enough,they end up together. *Eye roll.*. Jump back to the mid-chapters and, predictably, Duncan (the crush) has PTSD from a nearly-fatal school shooting he survived at his last job (where these two first met) and that's why he's such a douchebag, militaristic arse now.

Needless to say, we can't be surprised that they end up together at the end. (Hell, they started sleeping together midway through). And the entire story wraps up neat and tidy, down to the previously- dreaded, psuedo-sister our narrator becomes besties with at the end. (Another eye roll).

There is little to redeem here. I'm really sorry to say it, but I can't, in good conscience, recommend this to any readers -- whether you previously enjoyed Center's work or haven't read her.

Hoping for better next time!

Thank you to MacMillan and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel!

A beautifully written and clean romance about facing the ugliness in life with joy!

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Katherine Center does not disappoint! I could not put this book down! It will be one that I will be rereading!

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

I LOVED this one so much! It was just wonderful and exactly what I needed. I loved the characters and revisiting Duncan, Helen, and Jake! I loved the appearances from Helen and Jake and seeing where they ended up. I read this in one sitting and adored the characters, story line, and there were so many wonderful quotes. The library itself seems like a dream and I would love to sit and read in there.

This book is classic Katherine Center- a sweet story with depth that is incredible binge-able. I did really enjoy this book and I thank it greatly for sucking me in during week two of self isolation when no other book was holding my attention. However, this won’t make my Katherine Center favorites lists. That could possibly be due in part to my state of mind while reading it, but I think it has more to do with feeling that this book wasn’t as well developed as her others. I read an ARC, so it’s possible that the final copy make be a bit more fleshed out. I would have liked for the character and relationship developments to seem more natural and also more consistent as they jumped around a bit. I still give it 3.5-4 ⭐️s thanks to the binge-ability of it. I plan on doing an audiobook reread of the finished copy to give it another go!

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the free e ARC!