Every time I start reading a book -- especially one that's been on my Want to Read list, like this one based on the glowing reviews -- I want to like it. I want to root for characters, love, growth and especially joy. I want all the FEELS, but this book just left me flabbergasted.

I get that our heroine is crippled and damaged by the lemons she's been given in life. It was terribly obvious the same was for our hero, though she was too obtuse to catch on to his trauma, so the story plodded on to a pretty predictable end.

However, her attitude and tone throughout the book was so flat out whiny and annoying, I barely got through Chapter 1 when I nearly jumped book. How was Chapter 2? Yup, still felt dislike for her. Before I hit Chapter 3, I downloaded another read from NetGalley in case I needed to put this on my DNF list, but I did manage to complete it and I still did not care much for her by the end. 1.5 stars.

Sam Casey lives a very comfortable life on the surface. After moving to a new town four years prior, she has fallen in love with her new surroundings and those in her community. Sam is a school librarian and lives in a granny flat on the property of her school principle and his lovely wife who have taken her in and treated her as one of their own children.

When tragedy strikes the school is forced to find a new principle and it turns out to be none other then Sams old coworker/ crush Duncan. Sam is expecting the same fun loving, goofy and eccentric guy she once knew but instead Duncan had become quite the opposite.

Duncan has come with one goal in mind, school safety. He wants the happy, colorful and vivacious school to become nothing short of a stone cold prison. While Duncan makes plans to change everything for the worse Sam will stop at nothing to make sure the school keeps the spirit of its past and remain the place everyone loves.

I adore Katherine Center books for so many reasons one of which being the characters. From the very start I found myself cheering for both Sam and Duncan and loved the way each of them developed. Though there were many tough topics brought up in this book they were addressed flawlessly. What You Wish For is another knockout in my book!

Thank you Netgalley and St Martin for my review copy!

4 very, very solid stars!

Sam is an elementary school librarian, passionate about reading, learning, the children, and joy. She lives in an apartment above the garage belonging to the school's founders, Max and Babette, and has become part of their family. When she throws an epic 60th birthday bash for Max on the day he and Babette return from a trip to Italy, it should be the best night of their lives. After hours of celebrating and dancing, Max suddenly collapses, suffering a clot from being too still on the long flight.

Unable to save him, the community is in mourning over the loss of their beloved principal and friend. Babette completely turns in on herself, and a new principal must be brought in. When Sam learns that the new principal will be Duncan Carpenter, she nearly faints. It was Duncan Carpenter that "forced" Sam to leave her prior school when she finally accepted that her crush (obsession) was unhealthy and wouldn't be reciprocated.

Though crushed that her crush will be back in her life, Sam knows this is the absolute best thing for the school. Duncan exudes joy. He wears silly clothing, hosts random dance parties, and is unabashedly a fun time. The children love him, the parents adore him, and the teachers want to be him.

But, when Duncan Carpenter appears for orientation wielding a (water) gun, a posh suit, and anything but a friendly smile, Sam wonders what happened to the Duncan she once knew. Worse, Duncan has absolutely no idea who she is. With new security measures being implemented in the school at every turn, school begins to feel more like prison and Sam yet again feels like she might be run out of town because of Duncan. Will Duncan loosen the reigns? What happened to the old Duncan? Can Sam save her beloved school from becoming a prison?

The opening chapter of this book was absolutely epic. I was totally enthralled, already so connected to the characters, and invested in the story. Then, the book went a little downhill for me. Sam pining over the Duncan she lost began to feel tedious and my interest waned. Fortunately, about 1/3 of the way through, the book picked up again and I was completely hooked. I loved that this wasn't solely focused on the romantic relationship between Sam and Duncan. The character development was exceptional and I loved how Center built their histories and personalities. The final 10% or so was beyond incredible (think a seizure and a whale) and I was on an emotional rollercoaster.

I ended up really loving this book and am so, so happy I didn't give it up.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the free egalley of Katherine Center’s newest novel, What You Wish For. ⁣⁣
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Katherine Center knows how to pack and emotional punch into her novels. This one hit me in the feels a few times. Even during those hard times, the main character finds joy in her everyday life and encourages those around her toto do the same. I hate to be that person that says this was unrealistic when ITS FICTION. But the characters did blackmail the new principal and that felt weird to me🤷🏻‍♀️. In the end I liked it and thought it was enjoyable but wasn’t overly in love. I think fans of her previous novels will find it enjoyable too. ⁣⁣
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*3.5 stars*

School librarian, Samantha Casey, loves her job and her cheerful, nurturing school community. After the loss of their beloved principal, Samantha and the rest of the staff are faced with a new administrator, Duncan Carpenter, who is ready to make some big changes to the school. Samantha and Duncan soon find themselves in a standoff over these changes, but they might also learn a little about each other along the way.

After reading Things You Save in a Fire last year, I had high hopes for this one. For me, it fell a little flat. I thought the first 1/3 of the story was a little slow and hard to get into. And as a teacher, the sweeping changes Duncan wanted to make to the school right away were a bit unbelievable to me. On the other hand, I really loved the characters in this book...especially sweet Clay! And with so many quotable lines throughout the book, Katherine Center proves once again that she is a beautiful writer. And I mean...THE COVER!! 🙌🏻🤩 While this may not have been my favorite of her books, I am still a huge fan and can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I have become a huge Katherine Center fan. Her stories draw me in and the characters are well developed so that they spark strong feelings of love or hate.

While the main character, Samantha (Sam), got on my nerves at the beginning of the book, once she takes on the "Duncan" challenge, she became a different person. Her intense desire for the school where she is the librarian, and its students is touching. Sam is a caring individual and her relationships are full and life affirming.

As you travel through the story, you will discover what has happened in Sam and Duncan's lives that have made them into the person they are today. And those stories will touch you deeply.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own. I can't wait to be entertained by the author's next book!

I devoured this book in a day. And openly pouted whenever I had to put it down to do other human things.

I can never quite put my finger on the type of fiction Katherine Center writes. It’s listed, correctly, as Women’s Fiction but the romance elements are so significant and drive so much of the plot. Maybe I’ll call it Romantic Women’s Fiction? Whatever it is, I just know it makes me happy.

Like a deliciously hot mug of cinnamon tea. Cozy but spicy.

Loved this book. But a few content warnings: Epilepsy, death of a mentor, and a survivor’s description of a school shooting.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

“Life doesn’t ever give you what you want just the way you want it. Life doesn’t ever make things easy. How dare you demand that happiness should be yours without any sacrifice—without any courage? What an incredibly spoiled idea—that anything should come easy? Love makes you better because it’s hard. Taking risks makes you better because it’s terrifying. That’s how it works. You’ll never get anything that matters without earning it. And even what you get”—she lifted her chin in defiance—“you won’t get to keep. Joy is fleeting. Nothing lasts. That’s exactly what courage is. Knowing all that going in—and going in anyway.”

Really, I feel the above quote probably tells you all you need to know about Katherine Center’s new contemporary romance novel, What You Wish For. The words are spoken by Babette, a surrogate mother of sorts, to the story’s main protagonist Samantha Casey when she is tempted to give up on what it is she wishes for.

What Sam wants most is to be loved for who she is, but she’s afraid to trust it’s possible when offered. Center explores the themes of love, grief, friendship, suffering, and personal growth through her characters. The plot may be largely predictable but the author does touch on some serious issues, with several characters dealing with the effects of emotional or physical trauma.

What You Wish For is a feel-good novel, it was a quick and easy read with an inspiring message - to choose joy.

Solid Katherine Center fare. Pretty light with some seriousness and a good flow. Nice quick summer read on the beach for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Samantha Casey escaped her previous school to her current one, a wonderful oasis on Galveston Island. She's an elementary school librarian, and she loves her work, her sunny library, and cheerful, happy school. But then one of the school founders dies and is replaced by a literal blast from Sam's past: Duncan Carpenter. Duncan is Sam's old crush from her last school. There he was a lighthearted and funny teacher. Now, he's a hardhearted principal obsessed with school safety, who seems determined to rip apart every sunny and happy piece of Kempner. Sam and the other teachers need to stand up to Duncan--before it's too late.

"There's nothing better than a before-and-after. But he didn't remember the before. So that pretty much killed the after."

I feel bad, but I think I'm somehow immune to Katherine Center's charms, which seem to make everyone swoon over her books. With the exception of How To Walk Away, which I really enjoyed, I like her books, but never really love them. And that's definitely what happened here. In fact, I often found WISH to be utterly frustrating.

Maybe it's because I'm the child of educators, but I just kept shaking my head at the idea of a principal who could come in and unilaterally make decisions without any resistance. It made it impossible for me to focus on the rest of the story. Apparently Duncan is hired by the school founders' son-in-law--essentially a school board of one. What private school has one person on their board? What sort of private school has parents who just quietly allow someone to paint the halls gray and put bars on the windows??! None of this made any sense to me. All the resistance came down to the teachers?? I've seen parents riot over far less.

I couldn't handle it--could you tell? I also couldn't handle Sam for most of the book. I just get frustrated with Center's heroines. Sam was so whiny about nearly everything. She was more than happy to judge everyone else, yet completely resistant to owning her own life, making any changes, and opening up. Ugh. I wanted to shake her sometimes.

The book was very slow to start. Much rehashing of Sam's own problems, Duncan's arrival and the fact that--can you believe it--he is different than he was before. Hey, did you know Duncan used to be cool and funny, but now he's not?! I didn't! Oh wait, let me tell you again 15 times. Also, let's go into the fact that Sam has some issues and can never ever love again. Did I mention ever?

Also, later, without giving too much away, we completely gloss over how serious PTSD is and whitewash over the severity of things like depression, because focusing on happy things will just take away those issues completely, right? Also most plot points are telegraphed a mile away.

Sigh, I'm probably being too harsh here. The book gets a bit better as things go on. And there's a really cute kid whom I enjoyed. But still. Repetitive, predictable, and not the best at presenting mental health issues. 2.5 stars, rounding to 3 here.

What You Wish For
5 Stars
Let me just start off and say this book will make you cry. ALL of her books will make you cry but they are so worth it! She is an amazing author! When I saw she had a new book coming out I HAD to have it and boy did it NOT disappoint! I devoured this book! I couldn’t put it down! I am so in love with the characters. It made me laugh and cry. Her books just make you feel like you are there! You want to yell and scream and a dance and laugh and of course cry lol. But really this book melted my heart. It gets all the stars and I highly recommend you pick up one of her books!

I enjoyed getting to know the main characters as the story unfolded. Their lives are so complex that what you see is not what is underneath. We all have secrets and bones in our closets and this is what you find as you read through this story. Sam struggles with a medical problem that she wants no one to know about and Duncan is struggling to find joy and happiness after a tragic event. Together they build a relationship and start to break down the walls built around them so each other can find comfort and joy again.

A wonderful story about finding joy in the tragic. When the beloved principal, at the school where Sam is the librarian, dies suddenly the school faculty is in shock and grieving. When it is announced that Sam's former crush Duncan will be the new Principal Sam is ready to quit. But when he shows up and is completely different from the old Duncan, Sam stays to fight for her school.

As a school librarian myself I underlined many passages about the joy of matching great books to children. This book highlighted many of the difficulties and joys of working in our schools today.

It breaks my heart to say this but I didn’t love this book. I absolutely adored Center’s previous novels but this one just fell flat for me. I found it a bit cheesy and unrealistic. The fact they didn’t put it together that Duncan had been involved in a school shooting... uhm DUH. I also felt like Sam was super immature and I couldn’t relate to her at all. I will still read Center’s next book but definitely think her other books are much better.

Good lort. This whole dang book tried to hard. And failed.

Samantha is the librarian at her dream school. She ran away from her last one because her crush didn't know she was alive. I mean the woman packed her shit and left. I can not even. I'm not even going to rant on this. Let's move on.

So miss thang is at her dream job and her beloved principal/substitute parent passes away and they find out his replacement at the school is her crush. *insert surprise face here*
Samantha is all excited because she remembers him as this fun guy.


He is not that guy anymore. He is an ass.

Oh the hell with it. I hated this damn book. It's boring as hell and the level of cheese had me hating on cheese and I love damn cheese.


Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

I discovered Katherine Center last year when I needed something light, easy and sweet. I read two of her books in quick succession and found them both enjoyable and heartwarming. So when I saw this cover I immediately knew I would read it.

What You Wish For is the story of a school librarian named Samantha (Sam) Casey, She works in a very unique, quite extraordinary, school in Galveston, Texas, where the kids are valued and the work atmosphere is filled with creativity and love. As the book opens, Sam is planning a birthday party for the principal who is also her landlord and part of a couple she considers parents. Unfortunately he dies in the opening pages and the teachers are grieving his loss when they learn who the new principal will be. This is, of course, when things get complicated because Sam knows him and loves him, but when he shows up at the school he is completely different than the man she remembers. And he is on a mission to change everything about the school she loves. Sam is not going to take it and decides to fight.

I really enjoyed the way she chose to fight -- trying to remind Duncan of all the things he used to find joyful. She chose to be funny, kind, loving and fun. She chose to convince him to love silliness again. It is a sweet message about surrounding ourselves with the things we love and those that make us laugh. It reminds us that joy "rubs off" on others.

There are no real surprises here. The romance is completely predictable as is the outcome. Despite that I did enjoy the story. I rooted for Sam and Duncan to find love. And even more than that, I rooted for Duncan to find his happiness again. It was a fun read, and I will certainly continue to read Center's books.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, the author and Netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Man, every Katherine Center book I pick up gets better and better for me. I really enjoyed Things You Save in a Fire and I anticipated a great read with What You Wish for and I got it! It's a story about a school that loses its beloved principal (from the Goodreads blurb) and someone from school librarian Samantha's past becomes the replacement. Without going into too much detail, this whole plot really hit me hard as someone whose workplace has also drastically changed in the last year. I was actually quite emotional reading this one! It's a story of new beginnings, finding joy and people's resilience. It's a romance too but also so much more. The cast of characters of the school are lovely and so fun. And who doesn't love a librarian as the protagonist?! I now have to read Happiness for Beginners to find out more about a side character in this book!

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley, thank you!

A light summer read about rediscovering love and rediscovering joy. What You Wish For is a quick read, and while it deals with grief and other serious matters, there’s a sweetness too in the sense of community and the absolutely lovely and supportive way that the school at large forms its own extended family.

I have to wonder if some of the reviewers read the same book that I did. In this time we live now with so much violence and hate in the world. Riots all over our history being changed who wouldn't like a place to hid for just a little bit. I have never read anything by this author before. I received an ARC of the book from netgalley, am so glad they let me read this story. I read it in one setting as I could not put it down. Samantha Casey finally has a life she loves. Her town of Galveston Texas. Kempner School in its stately Victorian building with the beautiful Butterfly garden. She loves her students as she is the school librarian. Founders of school, Max and Babette Kempner are loved by all in town. They are the kind of people who has never meet an enemy. Sam lives in their carriage house apt.
Their daughter is an uptight mess. She is married to Kent Buckley who is all business all the time with his bluetooth. Their son Clay is a very bright nine year old. He is so smart about a lot of things but mostly about the marine life around the school. He reads all the time as he father has no time for him and his mother is too busy trying to be perfect for her husband.
When the school loses its beloved principal due to an accident everything changes.
Sam founds out the new principal is going to be a man she had such a crush on that she left her home, job and moved to start fresh when he started dating other.
Duncan Carpenter was the best loved teacher at her old school, fun loving, anything to get the kids
thinking and learning. Everyone loved him mostly her.
She can see no way how she can stay and work around him again. She plans to quit and start over.
When he meets the teachers for the first time, Sam is shocked as Duncan is nothing like the person she knew. He is straitlaced, stiff in suits, never smiles and is a task master for the whole school.
He is out to ruin the school they all love, Sam knows she can't leave now.
How Sam and her friends set out to get him fired, then to save both the school and him is wonderful.
No there is no big mystery, no sexy love scenes no one dies.
But this is a wonderful story of love. A small town where they lose one of best of them, pick up the pieces and save the life they know and love. In doing that all grow with Sam and Duncan learning their is much they didn't know of the other. She has a Hugh secret she keeps from everyone.
Duncan has been in a terrible indecent and is trying to get over it all by himself.
I usually read Regency Romance most with murder, fighting, suspense and sexy love scenes.
I read a lot as I do ARC's for a number of different authors. I don't usually read cozy mystery, or
small town books. But I have to tell you I loved this book. It just took you in and you feel like you are a part of them. I couldn't put it down. I sure hope you give it a try, am betting you will get hooked too. This is my honest opinion and give it voluntarily.

Katherine Center’s new book What You Wish For is a good book if you are looking for something fairly light and easy to read. I have loved so many of her books yet this one just did not grab me like the others, but it was still entertaining. I loved that it was set in Galveston, Texas where I have spent a fair amount of time and set in a school. The characters are interesting and each kind of broken in their own way. There was a lot that was over the top but to me, a summer read can have a little of that. The overarching theme of finding something joyful to focus on is welcome and needed right now!