What You Wish For

This is a wonderful book that pulls you in and makes you want to stay! I can’t wait to read the next book, Happiness for Beginners!

5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 1 July 2020 . Sam is a librarian at a creative and fabulous school on Galveston Island. She lives in the carriage house of the school founders’ home. Sam is happy and bright and full of life. Though she does have a bit of a secret. Babette and Max started the school. They created a safe space where everyone can learn and be themselves. The hallways are full of beautiful murals, and the teachers are a tight knit group of friends. Until tragedy strikes and a new principal is hired. Sam knows him. They taught together at a school in California. But the picture she sees isn’t of the man she knew. This man appears straight laced and uptight. That’s not the Duncan of old. Still, she has hopes that he will still be the goofy, lovable man that he was four years ago in California. The man that she fell in love with and fled the state to avoid. Only problem, Duncan never knew how she felt. Katherine Center has nailed it again. A story that pulls at the heartstrings just enough without being too sappy. A story that makes you laugh and makes you cry. Each character has a unique and realistic life perspective. Center has built a school that any child would love to attend. With the kind of teachers that every parent wishes her own kids had. The beauty of Katherine Center’s stories is that they do feature realistic tales with the right balance of romance, drama and laughter. She has the ability to pull you in and keep your attention from page one until the end. There isn’t a book she writes that doesn’t give you all the bits and pieces you want, and leaves you wanting more. What You Wish For delivers 100% of what you want. If you can savor it, do. Don’t try to finish it all in one night and then wish you had more!

If you’ve read anything by Katherine Center you know that she writes characters who overcome and rise up and this book is no different. This books is all about joy…and tragedy…but mostly joy…and also… yeah, tragedy. Hah This book will make you think about joy in a whole new way. In the best way. “𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘵𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵.” “𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘰𝘺. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘫𝘰𝘺. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘰𝘯 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦.” I loved reading about the sheer emotional agony Sam endures over her crush and her decision to choose joy every day. She loves Duncan but can’t have him. It’s torture and delight and she has to literally distance herself from him just to be able to move on. Later in the story we learn more about Sam’s backstory and why she is the way she is and that helped me sympathize with her position. I felt awful for her and hopeful at the same time. Duncan lost himself and even though I was able to guess what circumstances he must have been trying to overcome, it was so sad to hear about his complete transformation in personality. Tragedy will do that to a person I suppose. I loved hearing Duncan’s retellings of the first time they met and his dopey confessions. I was so embarrassed for him! The pace of the story really picked up in the second half and I was glad they finally got their act together in the end!