Katherine Center

"The story’s message, that people should choose joy even (and especially) in difficult and painful times, seems tailor-made for this moment. A timely, uplifting read about finding joy in the midst of tragedy, filled with quirky characters and comforting warmth."—Kirkus (starred review) From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel full of heart and hope. Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living. But she wasn’t always that way. Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way. And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it. As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love—which is the riskiest move of all. With Katherine Center’s sparkling dialogue, unforgettable characters, heart, hope, and humanity, What You Wish For is the author at her most compelling best.

A Novel

What You Wish For

honestly it felt the ending was rushed, wished it was longer thats my only complain 🥹

min.

fran

4.5 stars. i only wish this was longer!!!! i adored every character (except you, kent buckley) and even shed a few tears at the 🐳 scene which was so, so heartwarming. so much to love about this book. got me out of my slump

Julie Burszan 

Kenzi Linton

This book took me a second to get into. I found it a bit weird why Sam decided to leave her first school as it didn’t really make sense for an adult. However, other than that, I really did enjoy it. I really liked how this book touched on epilepsy, as someone I deeply care about and love has the diagnosis. I don’t think I’ve read a book before that has included it and it is a great way to spread awareness. As the book continued, more powerful words are expressed and it spoke truths about our current world. I loved how the author described things in the book - from the butterfly mural to the way the library was created. It was a beautiful story.

Patricia Nelson

Thank you #netgalley #stmartinspress for my free advanced copy! This will be published in July. I was so excited to get an advanced copy of this because last year I loved Things You Save in a Fire. I loved this story. The themes of resilience and dealing with trauma in different forms were so timely right now. The characters have (many) flaws, but the author does a good job of showing the reader the depth of the main characters and the reasons for their attitudes and decisions. Throw in a little romance and it was a great read perfect for the weekend and reading on my porch. There was laughter, a story that held my interest and lots of feels.

Elaina 

It's official. I will read anything Katherine Center writes. 

I love her writing style! I've loved her other books, and this one was no different. 

She creates characters that are both deep and playful. I adored the two MCs and loved the setting of this book. 

This is a sweet novel that gets unexpectedly deep. It had more substance than a typical romance, which was a nice change.

Hannah Kruckenberg

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I don’t know why I let this book sit on my shelf for so long before reading it. It is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a very long time. 

“Joy is fleeting. Nothing lasts. That’s exactly what courage is. Knowing all that going in— and going in anyway.” 

“[happiness is] a choice... a choice to value the good things that matter. A choice to rise above everything that could pull you down. A chouce to look misery right in the eyes… and then give it the finger… it’s a deliberate kind of joy. A conscious kind of joy. It’s joy on purpose.” 

This book makes me want to choose joy on purpose. I couldn’t put this book down, and I know these characters will stay with me in my heart for a very long time. Like I said, what a beautiful book. ❤️

Amanda K

Lauren Sullivan

Content warnings: (view spoiler)[Death of a father figure (on-page), death of a parent (in the past, off page), grief, description of grand mal seizures, graphic description of a school shooting and injuries from it, PTSD, car accident caused by seizure, panic attacks, missing child (found safely), animal in danger, ableism, careless actions by main character that nearly result in her own serious injury (hide spoiler)]

I am absolute trash for the grumpy/sunshine trope so of course I was very excited to read about the clash between a joyful librarian and a stuffed shirt principal. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. There are things that I find acceptable in a completely made-up context (fantasy, scifi, paranormal) that I’m more likely to bounce off of in a contemporary or historical, and this has them in spades. There are so many boundary issues that I spent a good part of the book cringing. I finally realized that between the utopia of an elementary school with a gorgeous library and fun child-centered curriculum and the idyllically perfect Galveston Island community, this was essentially occurring in some sort of alternate reality, and after that I began to enjoy the book more.

“He had a big, friendly smile filled with big, friendly teeth. He was handsome without trying. He had a magnetic quality that was almost physical. If he was in a room with other humans in it for any amount of time, there’d be a group of them gathered around him by the end. He emitted some kind of sunshine that we all wanted to soak up.”
Me included.
Me especially.”

I really wanted to like Sam, and I respected her zeal for seizing joy and her courage in standing up for the school she loved. But she also had a tendency towards boundary crashing and just utterly random TSTL actions (she jumps off a pier at one point. Yes, really). She reminds me of one of those wacky Hallmark movie heroines, especially when it comes to meeting the new principal, Duncan. Sam had a humongous crush on him when they worked together at a school in California, and it was so bad she actually moved to another school to get away from him (?!?!) when she thought he was getting married. He was charming, charismatic, and generally excelled at being goofy and getting the kids and everyone else around him to participate in his wacky antics. Even moving away, she half-wished she could run into him again to show him that she was no longer the mousey drab person she used to be. Unfortunately, Duncan is now some three-piece suit stiff who seems determined to run the school into the ground.

Sam has had epilepsy since she was a kid, and her frequent attacks led her to being ostracized at school and her father abandoning her family. Even after she went into remission, she preferred to stay in the background. But after a reoccurrence as an adult that left her questioning her worth, Max, the founder and principal of the school, advised her to find joy in the little things, whether it’s wearing a silly hat or dying her bangs pink. She finds a lot of that joy in her job as a librarian at the school, so Duncan’s attempts to secure the school – like painting over the meticulously hand-painted murals for safety reasons – is not just an attack on the school but also an attack on her.

“What is this called? Is this extortion?” He thought about it. “Bribery? Blackmail?”
“I think they call this ‘the kindness of strangers.’”
“Doesn’t feel all that kind.”

It’s patently obvious to the reader why Duncan is so security focused, but Sam and the rest of the characters don’t find out until halfway through the book, and that’s due to some particularly egregious boundary crashing. For reasons that only make sense in a romcom, Sam ends up picking Duncan up after surgery and while he’s high as a kite on an amnesiac drug, not only does a nurse reveal that Duncan likes her, she also discovers that he was a victim of a school shooting. She even ends up kissing him, which, to her credit, she immediately regrets. That doesn’t stop her from deciding to save the school by “fixing” him. Through another convoluted chain of events, Sam and her friends end up blackmailing Duncan into doing a joyful thing every day, from juggling at lunchtime to eating an ice cream sundae to getting therapy for his obvious PTSD. I actually found the descriptions of these acts – most of which ended up being “dates” for Sam and Duncan – sweetly endearing, but unfortunately it was just a small part of the latter half of the book.

In one of the big head-scratchers for me, Sam’s militant that Duncan needs therapy but doesn’t seem to think she needs anything other than Max’s “seek joy” wisdom. The way she feels about her epilepsy – and her father’s abandonment – felt particularly toxic to me, and I didn’t feel like there was any pushback in the book about how unhealthy it was. It’s mentioned more than once that since her epilepsy reoccured, she refused to date because she thought she was now unloveable. This briefly comes up as part of the dark moment but then is seemingly hand-waved away. I also didn’t care much for the rivalry between Sam and Tina, Max and Babette’s actual daughter, who’s the wife of the bad guy board director and the mother of the precious oceanographer plot moppet. Sam sees herself as practically an adopted daughter of those two – she even lives in an apartment on their property – but it’s just another symptom of her family issues around her illness. And despite the fact that a good deal of the plot revolved around the aftermath of a school shooting, I never really felt like the severity of the topic was truly addressed. Sure, they agree some changes need to be made at the school but…. that’s it? It’s a complicated topic, and not one that some juggling or dance lessons is going to solve.

“It’s a choice,” I went on, feeling like I needed to make him see. “A choice to value the good things that matter. A choice to rise above everything that could pull you down. A choice to look misery right in the eyes . . . and then give it the finger.”
“So it’s a hostile kind of joy.”
He was mocking me. “Sometimes,” I said defiantly.
“Is that a real thing though?”
“It’s a deliberate kind of joy. It’s a conscious kind of joy. It’s joy on purpose.”

A lot of this review has been about what I didn’t like in the book, but I did generally enjoy the book. My criticisms basically all stem from it being a little too over-the-top and Hallmark-y, but I can easily see why someone would love this book. I loved the message about choosing joy – that joy isn’t necessarily one big thing but a collection of tiny things. It resonated with me and I thought Sam did an amazing job expressing it.

Overall, the book didn’t work for me, but I think if you’re someone looking for a sweet romcom who doesn’t mind ridiculous hijinx, this might just be for you!

I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Becky

This book was a great listen. I wasn’t certain at first, couldn’t see how the story would progress but gradually came to love these characters and wanted them to find their happiness.

Shay

Overall I did enjoy this book, but it was pretty rough. It took me a few tries to finish this book, and ultimately, I needed the audiobook. I was hoping to love it as much as I loved Things to Save in a Fire. However, it didn't even come close to it. It did give me some Shelter in Place vibes, but it didn't play out as well as Shelter in Place did. The audiobook was fantastic, and it definitely helped reading the book through since I DNF'ed it a couple of times. A lot of the story was predictable, and although some of it worked itself out, a lot of it was just hard to overlook. So I ended up giving this one 3-stars because the book wasn't terrible and had some excellent moments, but overall I didn't love it, and I don't see myself ever rereading it. 

Heather Heaton

review on booktube
https://youtu.be/f1rje8fd0Uk

Center had me pulled into this story and rooting for the teachers, our librarian, Sam and even the prison warden, principal, Duncan. This book had me feeling so many emotions from joy and fun to frustration and anger. The message of choosing joy because sometimes it doesn't happen on it's own is beautiful. Center did a great job of using Max's character to embed little snippets of wisdom and teach the reader life lessons in a sweet and loving way. I, also, loved the imagery of the school in this book. I wanted to visit this place and send my daughter to school there. The library had me dying it sounded so amazing and beautiful with a tunnel of books and reading nooks and a view of the ocean. And the butterflies sounded unreal, but were written in such a way that I felt as though I could see them and I was devastated when they were gone. The school was just so bright and colorful and then Duncan happens and he's very grey and wants to paint the world grey. Sam is also bright and colorful from her pink bangs to her clown socks whereas Duncan is just grey. There is quite the clash between these 2 opposites who definitely attract building into a hate to love relationship where they learn about each other's struggles and weaknesses and help each other to grow. Each of them had their own story and background making them feel real and adding to the story to bring it more depth. The story is so sweet and touching and I was so immersed in it; I was even reading it sneakily while at work. 

I received this book as an eARC from netgalley for the purposes of reviewing, but all opinions are my own.

Linda Quintanilla

Writing about librarians must be so interesting. Like it’s about a bookworm. 

Samantha has definitely changed when she moved into a new town. But it’s a good thing, sometimes you need change in your life. And it’s something that Samantha needed. It may have changed her in a good way but it will also challenge her when she discovers she has a new boss, and they have some buried history together. Duncan may not want to talk about their history but the past never stays unbury. 

I really try to like What You Wish For but it really dragged throughout the book. I wish they had placed the storyline much better. It would have improved the storyline much better.

Amanda J 

Cheesy. Predictable. Unrealistic. And utterly perfect. A pick e up read tht had me smiling. Center handles difficult subject matter deftly.

Megan Leprich

*Thanks so much to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the complimentary copy for my honest review*

This was my third book I’ve read by Katherine Center and it was, okay. It was a super fast read to say the least, I was able to read the whole thing in less than 12 hours. I did enjoy the enemies to lovers trope that went on throughout the book and the romance at the end was pretty cute. Other than that I really can’t think of anything else I liked about the book, nothing too spectacular happened besides at the end.

Kelsey Holtaway

This book honestly has two different ratings. The first half of the book is a 2 star. Truly fully skimmable for the first 150 pages- lots of backstory, lots of exposition, and it felt like a slog, the main two love interests honestly seem like lunatics. I was ready to give up so many times. 

And then something magical happens when you get to around 150 and the entire story opens up into something tender and fun and exciting. I wish the premise of the last 150 pages was the premise for the entire book. 

If you’re in it- stick with it.

Alicia Haws

5 STARS
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another phenomenal read from Katherine Center!

This was such a quirky, fun, tug-at-your-heartstrings romance that is so sweet and fun! I absolutely loved Sam and Duncan—our MC’s. In true KC fashion, both have some emotional baggage or past trauma and have to try and wade through their troubles to find their way to each other.

Center always knows how to make me smile, laugh out loud and cry all in one book, and that is always the markings of a fabulous book for me.

I also listened to this on audiobook as I read along with the book, and Terese Plummer was a fantastic narrator! She really brought such a lightness and fun energy to the book that I don’t think I could have achieved in my own mind. I highly suggest this one as an audiobook!

If you love to feel all the feels in a book, Katherine Center’s books always do that, and You won’t be disappointed. I always look forward to her next book! 

*Special thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Katherine Center and NetGalley for the early copy in exchange only for my honest thoughts and review*




 Follow Me!

 Instagram | Alicia Reads It - Blog | Twitter

Jan Talkington

This is my 3rd Katherine Center book. I enjoy her books, but this one was not my favorite. I've seen others use the phrase "over the top" when describing this book, and I have to agree. If I didn't know better I would think this was one of Ms Center's first books compared to the others. I felt the "maturity level" for lack of a better term had really digressed.

Krystal Campbell 

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review. 

This book I think did a great job of being a romance with some backbone. It was light and fluffy when it needed to be and there was great banter between the two love interests. However when it needed to it was more serious without taking away from the enjoyment of the read. 

I love the face that it touches on sensitive topics such as school shootings, PTSD, Epilepsy and fear of being unloveable due to your past. 

It was my first Catherine Centre book and I’m glad I picked it up. I’m keen to read more from this author.

Megan Rose

** spoiler alert **
           I really wanted want to love this book more. I devoured How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire and was hoping for a similar experience.

While I still flew through this book, I didn’t feel quite as connected with the characters or the storyline. There were a couple parts I didn’t find necessary to progress the plot - specifically, Sam and Duncan already knowing each other from working at a school in California. I think the purpose was to add some more depth to their relationship but because they hardly spoke while working in CA, that backstory missed the mark for me.

The other part of the book that missed the mark for me was revealing character arcs/backstories at moments that really only furthered the plot. For example, it would have been helpful to understand earlier in the story that Sam’s vulnerability and fear of being abandoned originated from her father leaving her and her mom when she was 8. All the important pieces were there in What You Wish For, but timing and relevance felt slightly delayed to me so it didn’t build into the story as much as it could have. 

I also didn’t enjoy Sam as much as some of the narrators from Katherine’s other books. I thought she was spunky and fiery, but I had a difficult time connecting with her, particularity when some of her decisions and actions were so off the cuff (i.e, running and jumping off the pier). I also can respect standing your ground on your opinions, but it’s hard for me to imagine a boss being ok with you frequently yelling at him.

Needless to say, I still enjoyed this book and it was a good summer read, but I think my expectations were thinking along the lines of the previous books I’ve read by Katherine and this was a much different offering (especially with the focus on the romance). 

One final thought- I am very excited for the re-release of Happiness for Beginners so I can read the origin of Helen and Jake’s story. In the few pages they were featured in, I thoroughly enjoyed them.

What You Wish For A Novel

Reviews