At a Glance

Title: What You Wish For

Author: Katherine Center

Expected Publication: July 14, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

Page: 349

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Goodreads Rating: 4.15 out of 5

My Rating: ★★★★

Synopsis

“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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My Thoughts

Katherine Center is back with another new rom-com. Alright so her books are more women’s fiction but I like to think of them as contemporary romances. I discovered Katherine Center about a year and a half ago when I picked up How to Walk Away from Book of the Month. When she was prompting her newest book last January, she had a signing at my local bookshop and I knew I had to go. Let me just tell you she is a joy to be around! She’s funny, honest, and all over the place, which I love.

Her writing, and this book is no different, is fun, relatable, and have great character evolution arcs. They’re always filled with romance but also with great life lessons about over coming obstacles and being your own biggest fan.  I also love that her books generally take place in Texas, which is where I live, but I also love that they don’t feature the typical big cities such as New York.

What You Wish For has all the things I have come to love about Katherine Center books but this one was just a four star for me. I liked it for sure, but I just did not love it as much as I loved her last book, Things You Save in a Fire. 

I loved the characters from Things You Save in a Fire but I could not bring myself to really love Sam. She’s extremely dramatic and emotional. Since I’m not really either of those things (maybe a little dramatic) it was hard for me to connect with her. I also found that the situation between her and Duncan was a little weird. Their story didn’t seem quite as natural as other love stories I’ve read of Center’s.

I did really enjoy the setting being in Galveston Island and the fact that Sam is a major book worm.

Overall this is a great book and I highly recommend it. I especially suggest you read it at the beach since it takes place on Galveston Island. It should most defineitly be on everyone’s summer reading list!

This book is comes out in July! Make sure to get your copy pre-ordered HERE!

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on What You Wish For. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books. Huge thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgallery for my ARC. 

About the Author

Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away, and Things You Save in a Fire, and five other bittersweet comic novels. Six Foot Pictures is currently adapting her fourth novel, The Lost Husband, into a feature film starting 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.

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