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!

I loved this book. The world is a dark place right now and this book was a reminder to choose joy. It also captures the struggles of educators trying to do what they feel is best for their students, vs administrators who think they know better. This book gives a happy ending with compromise I wish we could see in more schools.

It’s a community that comes together when the beloved Principal and Founder of their school, Max, passes away-
And, those who replace him, including Duncan Carpenter, try to “fix what isn’t broken”.

One where friends ARE YOUR family, and they are there for Max’s widow, Babette. And, others along the way...

Sadly, I could not make it past the halfway point of this book. I usually love Katherine Center's stories, but the "quirky" characters were not grabbing me and felt overdone. Honestly I keep forgetting the main character's name and that seems like a huge issue. When she and Alice and Babette decide to invent this list of tasks for Duncan to do to snap him out of his "funk," I just couldn't read any further. It all seems so contrived and so far from reality, I just lost interest.

I loved so many things in this book. It made me want to fill my life and wardrobe with color everywhere. I adored the scene where Duncan was on painkillers and started spilling everything like he was on truth serum. However, I found a lot of the book a little unrealistic. It was so obvious that Duncan has been through something traumatic but it never seemed to dawn on the main character. It also seemed strange that she went from being so mousy to mouthing off quite a bit, especially to her boss who really should have fired her the first day. Did this keep me from enjoying the book? Not at all.

This is exactly the kind of book most of us need right now. It features kind, relatable characters who are trying - despite circumstances - to find happiness and joy. I have loved Katherine Center’s previous books - there is always a PG romantic situation and a gentler covering of tougher subjects (in this book epilepsy, reference to a school shooting, and unexpected death of a beloved principal). The sideline characters are often the most endearing (in this book, Alice with her math joke t-shirts and sweet, book-loving Clay) and there is always a feel-good ending. I read this book in a day and loved it. My only critique is that in order to believe in the story you need to suspend doubts that a principal could be hired by a single board member of this independent school and then authorized to make such drastic changes without buy-in from teachers and parents. I was ok to let that go. The story was good enough not to get caught up too much in the details. The messages were spot on. The school was idyllic - I would love to have sent my kids there. It is the kind of book that is good for the soul. You can’t help but root for Sam and Duncan and Kempner School.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my ARC! What You Wish For comes out on July 14, 2020. Highly recommend! And if you haven’t yet read her earlier book Happiness for Beginners, Duncan Carpenter first appears in that one. (Both are stand alone books.)