What You Wish For Review

Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Purchase Link: Amazon

My Rating: 4 Joyful Hearts

*A special thank you to St. Martins Press for an arc of this book via Netgalley.

Synopsis & Author Bio follow my review.


Review:
What You Wish For is a heart warming story with a beautiful message of hope and joy.  Samantha Casey (Sam) is an elementary school librarian in Galveston, Texas having landed there after being forced out of a previous school by unreciprocated love.  Sam couldn't live with seeing her major crush - a happy, colorful, jokester of a man - every day with another woman.  So she relocated.  As time passed, Sam let go of her girlish fantasies and is now happy in her present job and life.  She's made good friends, becoming an intricate member of the community and school.  Life's good . . . although she's hiding a personal secret.  Soon after the sudden death of her beloved school principal, a new principal arrives.  Imagine Sam's shock when it turns out to be "the one".  The funny, colorful, beautiful man from her past who's now her new boss.  But wait a minute . . . this cold, stone faced, drab man sucking the life out of their amazing school could not be the man she knew and secretly loved!  Could he?  What happened to him over the past six years?  Where is the man she once knew and loved from afar?

What You Wish For is a fantastic story about finding joy in the small stuff - in any way you can on any given day.  It's about spreading joy to others by having the courage to laugh at yourself, be silly, be goofy, be "present".  It's a message of facing and overcoming your own personal challenges and helping others overcome theirs.  It's about facing those things you fear most, daring to take the next step, and opening yourself in defiance of your own vulnerability.  It's a story of trust, hope, love, and living life in the moment.  Center's characters are "real" - their tears, fears, laughter, and joy easily felt.  Her lyrical prose delivers a message of hope for a brighter future if you open your heart to love.  Beautifully written and delivered, What You Wish For is poignant, romantic, heart-rendering and full of possibilities.  Let's all help spread the Joy!  Highly Recommended!

My Rating:  4 Joyful Hearts

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

♥Sandra♥

_^Synopsis:
Samantha Casey loves everything about her job as an elementary school librarian on the sunny, historic island of Galveston, Texas—the goofy kids, the stately Victorian building, the butterfly garden. But when the school suddenly loses its beloved principal, it turns out his replacement will be none other than Duncan Carpenter—a former, unrequited crush of Sam’s from many years before.

When Duncan shows up as her new boss, though, he’s nothing like the sweet teacher she once swooned over. He’s become stiff, and humorless, and obsessed with school safety. Now, with Duncan determined to destroy everything Sam loves about her school in the name of security—and turn it into nothing short of a prison—Sam has to stand up for everyone she cares about before the school that’s become her home is gone for good.

Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away, the upcoming Things You Save in a Fire (August 2019), and five other bittersweet comic novels. Six Foot Pictures is currently adapting her fourth novel, The Lost Husband, into a feature film starring Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, and Nora Dunn. Katherine has been compared to both Nora Ephron and Jane Austen, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Katherine recently gave a TEDx talk on how stories teach us empathy, and her work has appeared in USA Today, InStyle, Redbook, People, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Real Simple, Southern Living, and InTouch, among others. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her fun husband, two sweet kids, and fluffy-but-fierce dog.