“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 … 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.
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An amazing story about friendship and family, About facing your fears and be brave to face life and enjoy everything to it fullest. Sam runs all across the country to start a new life as a librarian in a school where she feels at home. She was in love with Duncan, but she was invisible. Now she is full of life and colours but when Duncan starts working in her school she doesn’t know him anymore. He was cheerful, funny and now he is grey, serious and dull. But there reasons for his change. Will Sam and Duncan find their way to love and happiness fighting their demons together? The audiobook is great, Therese Plummer does a wonderful work with the words and the feelings pouring from the story.
I had just finished reading this one when I was able to get my hands on the audio version and WOW! I recommend both versions. Samantha Casey is the librarian for an elementary school who suffers the devastating loss of their principal. This left the staff floundering until they are notified their new principal will be someone from her past. Duncan Carpenter is nothing like he was before, now he all buttoned up and only worried about security. All his plans for the school will basically take away all the joy and make it like a prison. Sam cannot believe it but will she stand for it? What is behind all of this transformation? This was a very well written story that was not only emotional but also redeeming.
I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through a Goodreads Giveaway for an honest review. I have read one other Katherine Center book, Things You Save in A Fire, which I enjoyed very much so was eager to start this one. This story is about librarian Samantha Casey who works in a small Texas elementary school on the Island of Galveston. Life is finally starting to feel perfect for Sam. She has good friends and loves her job and students. Then one day it all starts crumbling when her beloved mentor, principal Max Kempner dies suddenly leaving the whole community devastated.
A new principal, Duncan Carpenter starts at the beginning of the new school year and Sam is stunned as he is the man she left behind in her former life, a fun-loving man she had a crush on, a man who didn’t know she existed. This new Duncan is not the man she remembered; he is cold, reserved, unlikable. Much hijinks ensue trying to bring Duncan to heel with Sam in the lead. The entire town is behind her except for a couple of despicable characters who are needed to make the story work.
I enjoyed the book but could easily see what was coming. The slow burn romance felt strange to me at times, but I was rooting for them to get together. This coming together seemed very rushed in the end and was full of misunderstanding that could have been easily avoided. All in all, I did enjoy the book and the absolute best part was toward the end with a little boy, a whale, and the ensuing scene between his parents! I am giving this book 3 stars and look forward to more books by this author.
What a wonderfully inspiring, fun, and timely romance about finding joy after you experienced a tragedy.
We all need to choose joy in life more than ever.
I love Katherine Center! This story was rich with colorful characters even as Duncan paints things grey! And I absolutely love Clay!!! He will charm you into wanting to Google and learn more about whales! This is a fun summer reading adventure!
If you need some cheerful, heartfelt, entertaining reading fare, look no further than this beauty from Katherine Center. It’s part romance, part women’s fiction, with some scenes that make you laugh out loud and others that make you cry.
Sam is our storyteller, and she’s someone you want as your friend. One of the messages is the power and importance of family, yet Sam is a semi-orphan (her mother is dead, and her father is completely out of the picture). When she flees California, believing that the man she has a tremendous crush on (her fellow teacher Duncan) is getting engaged to someone else, she winds up in Galveston, where she meets Max and Babette, who become surrogate parents to her. The picture is made further complete with Nina, Max and Babette’s daughter. Only in this case, Nina is the older sister Sam hoped she would never have. In Max and Babette, Sam finds love and acceptance. When Sam’s recurring illness makes an embarrassing appearance, Max helps her manage her response. It helps that he’s the principal and co-founder of the school where she works as a librarian.
When Duncan reappears as a coworker at Sam’s new school, she is dismayed to discover that he is nothing like the Duncan she left behind. The clues and hints as to what caused Duncan’s change are not subtle, yet Sam never picks up on them (nor does anyone else). He does not want to reveal himself to Sam, but she proves to be an irresistible force.
There is a backstory to Duncan that involves Sam as well, and I was disappointed that Katherine Center didn’t pursue it more. When Duncan touches on this, Sam asks a cursory question or two. If it were me, I would have JUMPED on that tidbit like a dog with a bone.
You will love the supporting cast, particularly Nina’s son Clay. Like Sam, he searches for a connection, and in Sam, he finds it. Clay grabbed my heart and did not let go, as did Babette and Duncan’s sister and her family. I want more of them.
I wish Duncan had been better developed, but he’s dreamy, and you certainly understand Sam’s obsession with him. You will not stop cheering for them to be together.
Samantha Casey is happy with the life she has made for herself, she loves her job as an elementary school librarian and the kids who are a part of it, the house she was lucky to come by and was able to make her own and all the friends she has been able to make since choosing to move to Galveston Texas. When the school loses its cherished and much loved principal her world is turned upside down especially when she learns that the board is bringing in someone from the outside to become its new leader and pricipal. Her life goes from bad to worse when she learns that it is none other than Duncan Carpenter a man she not only knows but is the reason she left her previous job. You see back then she had a huge crush on the man and he didn’t even seem to realize she existed. Samantha couldn’t handle the feelings especially when he started dating another person from the school so she felt it was time for her to move on, which she did. She was happy, her new life going well but with this new bump in the road she feels like it might be time for her to pick up and move again. Her friends want her to stay, telling her she needs to confront her feelings. She soon learns that the man that she knew isn’t the man that stands before her today, he has changed and not for the better. It soon becomes evident that he wants to change the school that she loves into something that resembles a prison. Sam knows that she has to stay and stand up for not only her friends and the students but what she herself believes in. Will she be able to stand up and be honest about her feelings? Can Duncan let go and let the man he use.to be back in? Pull up a chair and you’ll immediately be sucked into this wonderfully emotional read. I laughed and cried the whole way through and in the end smiled wishing good things for all the characters I got to know throughout the pages.
“…you can decide to do something joyful. …You can hug somebody. Or crank up the radio. Or watch a funny movie. Or tickle somebody. Or lip-synch your favorite song. Or buy the person behind you at Starbuck’s a coffee. Or wear a flower hat to work.”
I loved Center’s two previous books, “How to Walk Away” and “Things You Save in a Fire,” and was not disappointed with this one. (And I adore the covers of her books – so colorful!)
“What You Wish For” has awesome characters that drew me in and made me care about them as though they were my friends. Chuck Norris was the absolute best! I loved the positivity, so sorely needed right now. I loved the celebration of family, community, and friendship. After personal struggles, librarian Samantha Casey has learned to find the joy in life. But now the guy she had a major crush on will be the new principal at her school. But Duncan Carpenter isn’t the goofy, lovable, “never miss a chance to celebrate” man she used to know. He is now a heartless three-piece-suit bureaucrat. What happened to him? Can Samantha and Duncan overcome the fears that hold them both back?
The story was somewhat predictable. I suspected almost from the beginning what had happened to Duncan to turn him into such a different man. But I still found the story delightful. There were several laugh-out-loud moments. And I really needed a happily-ever-after story.
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.
What You Wish For is a sweet romantic comedy with a second chance at love story. Samantha Casey is a pink banged, flamboyant dressing librarian who loves her school. Living in the principal and his teacher wife’s apartment above the garage, her school family feels like her family. The unexpected death of her mentor and friend the principal sends a blast from the past into her neat little school. But the crush from her former job is not the fun loving and wonderful teacher she always wanted to be like and who she fell in love with. Duncan is an authoritarian principal bent on protecting the school to the point of turning it into a prison. Unresolved trauma stands in the way of Sam and Duncan’s HEA until Sam’s school family steps up to help heal what is broken. Sweet and funny, Sam and Duncan’s story left me in a mix of smiles and sighs before a very satisfying ending that I absolutely adored. Katherine Center has won over a new fan for life here. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from Netgalley.
3 1/2 stars
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
What You Wish For by Katherine Center is a fun read. In the novel Sam is a private school librarian in Galveston, TX. She loves everything about her quirky, free thinking campus. Enter Sam’s old crush from a previous teaching position, Duncan. Duncan used to be a fun, loving teacher that everyone loved. Now he’s a very formal, rigid personality who is all about rules and school safety.
What I liked about the book:
– Engaging story line that makes you want to know more
– Dynamic characters that you can’t help but love
– Quirky and interesting setting that really sets the stage for the book
– Great supporting characters
What I didn’t like:
– Some of the events that occur at the school are a little over the top. If you have any familiarity with a progressive elementary school environment, this book will requirea fair amount of suspension of belief.
While this book wasn’t a complete home run for me I do think it is a very well written story that many people will absolutely adore.
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.
What You Wish For by Katherine Center is not what I expected from reading the blurb. I was looking forward to reading something light and entertaining (I wanted a change of pace). I thought it had a rough beginning where I felt I was plopped into the middle the book instead of the beginning. Samantha “Sam” Casey is the librarian at the Kempner School on Galveston Island, Texas. Sam loves her apartment, her friends, the staff, students, and her job. Max and Babette Kempner founded the school and have become surrogate parents to Sam. She lives in the apartment in their carriage house. I did not like Sam. She is an insecure woman who rattles on endlessly. She has an eclectic wardrobe. What You Wish For is told in the first-person so we get to know Sam’s every thought. The reason Sam left her last job was utterly ridiculous. There was a great deal of repetition of information (I lost track of how many times we are told Duncan is goofy, she had a crush, Tina did not like her) and there is foul language as well. I believe the book is supposed to be humorous, but it missed the mark. Samantha’s full name is not mentioned until the fourth chapter and I thought all the characters lacked development (they are not fleshed out especially Sam’s friend, Alice). There were two scenes that went on way too long. One is the dance party which could have been cute if it had not felt like it lasted five hours instead of five minutes. The other is a touching scene with Clay Buckley (the sweetest young man) near the end. I did appreciate the epilogue that wrapped up What You Wish For. There were some areas that could have been humorous with a little tweaking. The main themes of the book are to find joy in your life and find reasons to celebrate. We all need happiness and hope in our lives. The author did touch on serious subjects which were PTSD, bullying, and school safety. I struggled to finish What You Wish For because I wanted to dump the book after reading the first chapter. I found the story to be cheesy which resulted in eye rolling and me yelling at the book. I did, though, enjoy the descriptions of the Kempner School which is in a beautiful building and of Galveston Island. I suggest you read a sample to see if this book is what you are looking for. What You Wish For was not a wish come true for me.
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.
Samantha Casey is the librarian at the Kempner School where the founder and principal Max Kempner believes in making school joyful. It’s an incredible, warm, colorful school that’s really focused on the students’ needs. Until Max dies and the board installs a new principal, someone from Sam’s past. She remembers Duncan Carpenter as being fun, silly, and colorful, but the man she comes face to face with is anything but. War between him and the teachers ensue, but Max’s widow has a card up her sleeve and, maybe, Duncan isn’t quite the stick in the mud he seems to be.
The Characters: Colorful and Joyful
For the most part, I really enjoyed the characters. They were given fun and interesting personalities and I liked that the main characters each had a history that drove them. They were a delightful mix and I loved the antics Sam, Max’s widow Babette, and math teacher Alice whipped up.
At the beginning of the book, I didn’t like Sam much, but she started to grow on me. I felt like she seemed to think she was better than and more capable than everyone else just because she was the Kempners’ tenant and spent a lot of time with them. She seemed to constantly be “innocently” provoking their daughter Tina, and I just really couldn’t understand it. She felt like an interloper and I couldn’t help but cringe. But then more of her life was revealed and the reader got to know her, just her on her own, and she suddenly became someone who tried hard every single day to be brave. She’s had a tough life, one full of pain and hurt, but has taken Max’s message to heart: to live with joy. I liked that I could see pieces of myself in her. She’s a good sport, but overthinks too much. At the same time, she really cares and loves with her whole heart, until it gets too personal.
My favorite characters were Sam’s friends, Babette and Alice. Babette, as Max’s wife, felt something like a maternal figure to her. She was calm and thoughtful, but full of life and color even with being widowed. She felt real with her love for her school and her grief and I loved seeing how she balanced it all. Alice was so much fun. I wouldn’t mind having a best friend like her. She was straightforward and always got through things with a smile. I loved that she always wore a shirt with a math joke, but I wish more of the jokes had been mentioned in the book.
I hate to say I’m on the fence about Duncan. As the love interest, he both felt perfect for Sam and kind of cookie cutter. He’s the guy who need to be reworked so he’s more human, but, at the same time, there’s a whole history to him that wasn’t mentioned until the end, but was so easy to spot as a reader. It often made me incredibly frustrated with the other characters and made me wonder time after time if they were just too absorbed in their own problems to see what was really going on. I liked that Duncan was clearly warring with the two sides of himself, but it also felt too easy. Still, I couldn’t help but think he was adorable and some of his scenes with Sam were just too sweet.
The Setting: Seaside in Texas
This book takes place on a small island in Texas. I didn’t really get a Texas vibe from the book and, honestly, kept forgetting it was set in Texas. I did like that it was on an island. It felt cozy and fun with the ocean literally right there.
What I really loved, though, was the school. The author really took her time to explore the whole school and what made it so unique and joyful. If I were a student there, I wouldn’t ever want to leave. The library alone made me wish this place could be real! It was so easy and clear to see how much everyone loved it. It was beautiful and joyful. Honestly, the school really made this book for me. I can’t say I loved it enough.
The Plot: Perfect Women’s Fiction
This really fits the women’s fiction genre. There’s the young woman finding herself even though she seems to have found herself already and there’s the romance and the friendship. I did feel the friendship suffered a little as the romance really took over, though.
The romance was sweet, and cute. It did feel like most of the book was focused on it. But, still, it was sweet and cute. Definitely very clean. And super cute. I did enjoy those romance scenes, but, they also seemed to go on and on for chapters. It was sometimes jarring to return to the greater story since they really were drawn out scenes.
The one thing that really bothered me was Tina. I felt like she should have had a bigger role, that maybe more of the book could have been devoted to her relationship with Sam instead of Sam’s romance with Duncan. Too often I just completely forgot she existed, and then she would be slipped in and it would be a while again until she’s seen once more. There was so much that could have been done with her. I liked the end, but it also felt too much like an about face.
Overall, the story flowed well. It was easy to read, nice and breezy. It’s a sweet story, and very cute. There was some depth to it, but it mostly felt like a fluffy read. I did like that the characters’ histories felt like they were effortlessly woven throughout and they came out at the right times. At the same time, this isn’t anything groundbreaking; just a fun book to read.
Overall: Super Cute
Overall, I liked it. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t fantastic. It was cute. There were some things I wish had been more explored, pieces I wished had been expanded on, but, overall, this was just such an easy book to breeze through. I think I just kept reading because I adored the relationship between Sam and Duncan and really loved Alice, but everything else wasn’t quite as interesting. I was most disappointed with the big scenes at the end as they felt a little disjointed and thrown in for some drama, but this really isn’t a bad story. It’s sweet and cute.
Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
The first 30% of the book sets a solid foundation for a great story. Samantha was lovable, relatable, and had a humorous internal monologue keeping readers entertained and engaged. One of the aspects of Center’s books that I find so appealing is the hopeful tone. Choosing to be joyful, or at least pursuing even the small things that bring you joy and comfort. Max, the late principal, had a number of quotes that I highlighted and intend to refer back to. We had some fantastic mental health representation along with disability rep in Samantha. The first 30% had me captivated, and then Duncan came on the scene.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed all the characters in this story. Even the snippy ones, they all felt like rounded, authentic individuals. I’m not sure where to classify this book. It seems like it is trying to straddle the line of contemporary fiction and romance and sort of loses its way. I was absolutely here for this romance between Duncan and Samantha. I wanted to watch Duncan’s character growth from the ground floor. The story zips through an entire school year in around 320 pages and that worked against their romance and growth. I want to be shown Duncan’s changes and the challenges, not told that he does them and it brings them closer together and now they are friends.
Ultimately, this definitely wasn’t my favorite but it was a solid start so I can’t rate it lower than a three. I will still absolutely read Center’s work in the future, but I needed Sam and Duncan’s interactions to be fleshed out a bit more.
CW: School Shootings, PTSD, Anxiety, Depression
*I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
What You Wish For by Katherine Center was a fun read I devoured. Samantha looked for a fresh start from her previous life. She started over in Galveston and is now happy and loves her job. But when she discovers her old unrequited love is becoming the new principal, will she need to leave and start over again? But when she learns he is going to be making huge chances to the place she loves; can she just leave? Samantha is shocked to learn how much Duncan has changed from the man she once knew. What follows is a fun. Light and charming read.
Happy reading!
This is my second book that I’ve read by Katherine Center and I really enjoyed this book. I feel that the message for this story is to choose joy, even during difficult times. I’m going to attempt to write my review without giving away too much. I don’t enjoy reading reviews that give the twists away so hopefully that won’t happen here!
Samantha (Sam) works as a school librarian and has chosen to live with color and fun in her life. She has a medical issue that she deals with and it definitely causes her to be apprehensive at times. Sam’s ‘crush’, Duncan, from a previous school ends up coming to her current school as the new principal. The Duncan that comes to the school is not what Sam remembers and as you read the story you will find out why. I’m a teacher and reading this book was definitely difficult at times because some of the events that happened are an unfortunate possibility for me to experience, however, I am so glad I read this story and the events didn’t overshadow the joy that was clearly in this book.
I originally received this book as an ARC and ended up not being able to read it immediately (again… teacher here and I was adjusting to teaching my elementary students online due to Covid so life was a little crazy!). The day that this book was published (July 14, 2020) I decided to purchase the Audible version, and I must tell you, I am SO GLAD that I did!! The narrator pulled me into the story & I listened to it within a day and half. I couldn’t put it down!! At the end of the audible story, Katherine Center had a portion that she shared with the listeners, Reading for Joy. The words she said were not written in the Kindle version that I have, however, I am beyond glad I listened to the book!! I have no idea if what she said is available written somewhere, however, I want to share some of the points she made. The following things she said struck me in such a way that I wrote them down on the closest thing I had… a napkin… and I’m keeping them with my reading materials. Statements from her that I’d like to share: “Reading for Joy is Reading from your Heart”, A good story makes you feel what is happening to the character & makes you feel empathy. As a reader you feel the characters feelings as if you’re the character and experiencing it yourself. When reading/watching t.v. or a movie you know it’s not real or true but you believe it anyways as if it is really happening & a true story. I loved when Katherine Center said “… twinkling unfathomable milky way of possibilities…” Readers should Read for Joy & that stories can save you.
All of the things I just said in the previous paragraphs are directly from Katherine Center. I tried to write it exactly like she said, however, some of it may not be quite exact. All of the things she stated are exactly how I felt when reading this story. She had me feeling empathy for the characters, laughing, crying, afraid, worried, and I felt like I was reading (actually listening to since I was listening to the Audible version) the right story at the right moment in my life. Kudos to Katherine Center for writing an amazing book filled with LOTS of feels. I’ve only read 2 books of hers now, however, time permitting I plan to look into more books of hers so I can ‘Read for Joy’ and experience things I never thought possible. Thank you so very much to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press & Katherine Center for ARC. Although I ended up listening to the Audible, I think this book is amazing!!
The author brings to life many things in this book. I could smell the sea air of Galveston,TX, with all the old buildings that are so full of character. The Kempner School that sound like so much fun, which allows the kids to be so creative. The quirky teachers who would do anything for the school and the founders Max and Babette Kempner. Samantha Casey is the school librarian. She is in charge of creating a space where the kids love to come and read. She also went through a change personally when she came there. Gone are the days of drab colors. She wears colors, hats, scarves and has even dyed her hair. Duncan Carpenter has been brought in to be the new principal. Gone is the fun, crazy teacher that Sam knew. This man wears suits and takes everything so serious. The two of them clash every day about all the changes. Be careful for What You Wish For, it might come true. Never miss a chance to celebrate!
I enjoy this author’s books. I will admit that any book was going to be hard to live up to Things you save in a fire. This story dealt with how an individual in education changed after dealing with a school shooting. Sam remembers Duncan as a fun-loving teacher and is surprised by the “by the rules” principal who comes to her school after the sudden passing of the previous admin. Loved when Duncan admitted his feelings when he was coming off the anesthesia after surgery. Good read!
This book was a wonderful read. It is beautifully written and keeps you turning the pages. I read this book in one sitting, yes it’s that good! The author made the story come to life with her words and you hate to see the book end. Than you St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.