Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - What You Wish for

CW: School shooting, death, grief
Potential spoiler in review

Samantha Casey felt like she had the best job in the world. She was the librarian at a small private school on Galveston Island. She lived in the garage apartment of the couple who started and ran the school. Max and Babette Kempner felt like second parents to her. Sam and many of the teachers met at the Kempner's on Friday evenings to make plans for both in and out of school. When Max suddenly died during the summer break, no one had any idea of what to do next. Max was the principal and handled the day to day running of the school. Babette was in mourning and unable to step into his place. The school's board quickly hired an outside person as the new principal as the summer was nearing its end. When Sam heard who the replacement would be, she was surprised but excited about the news. She had worked with Duncan Carpenter at her previous school. He was playful, charismatic, and the children adored him. He would be a good fit for the Kempner School. Sam's only concern was Duncan was the reason she left her last job and moved to Galveston. She had developed a crush on him and left to make a new start when he didn't seem to feel the same about her.

The Duncan Sam knew and the Duncan who was the new principal of the Kempner School were not the same. It was the same person, but he was not the fun, carefree teacher from the past. She didn't think Duncan remembered her from their previous school. Duncan started his first meeting with the faculty and staff pointing out how lax the school was relative to security measures. Security would be the number one focus for the year. New rules for school and classroom management were to be enforced immediately. Gone were the days of colorful classrooms and hallways. Gone were field trips and special enrichment projects around the school grounds. The staff were shocked by his dictates and extremely unhappy. Duncan wanted to take away much of what made their school special. Sam was baffled by his personality change. This was a man to used to wear ties covered in cartoon bananas, funny costumes, and juggle items from the student's lunch trays during lunch duty. Who was this new man? When she tried to talk to Duncan, he refused to discuss any changes to his new regulations. Sam and the rest of the staff tried to figure out a way to change Duncan's mind.

I enjoyed this book, although parts were difficult. I loved Sam's character. She loved being a librarian and spent all of her energy making sure her students were exposed to different mediums and points of view surrounded by a fun and comfortable place to read and learn. Duncan was a man forever changed by a horrible event. He wanted to continue what he loved to do, but he struggled to find a way that was not ruled by his fears. One of the strategies the staff tried in the book with Duncan was to remind him of joy and the feeling of being happy as he seemed to have lost that part of himself. Sam, Babette, and the rest of the staff worked to create joyful activities for the students and the staff. It went a long way in helping to heal the grief the students and staff felt over the loss of their beloved principal. It helped to remind Duncan that joy and happiness might help to keep fear at bay. Sam eventually talked Duncan into seeking professional help in addition to the other strategies. I felt Katherine Center did a good job with her character portrayals. The character's actions and reactions made sense within the story. Duncan was a character who was introduced in a previous book, Happiness for Beginners, which I have not read, but plan to soon.

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missjeann's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

readwithria's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

What You Wish For is a book about growth, grief, and bravery. It takes itself as seriously as it needs to, but leaves room for levity and joy throughout.

I have yet to be disappointed by a Katherine Center book! This is my third book by her, and they’ve been consistently excellent. I think now that I have a grasp on how her balance of romance to non-romance, I have a decent idea of what to expect from her books. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! It was funny, but sincere. It dealt with real-world issues in a way that felt approachable and authentic to the characters. Did I guess all of Duncan’s secrets? Yes. But this isn’t a mystery novel, so I have no problem with that.

I will say that I started with the audiobook, but enjoyed it a lot more once I switched to the physical book. I’m not sure if it was just me getting used to the voice of Sam, or that I didn’t vibe with the narrator, but I preferred the physical book.

The characters were great, the story was interesting, and the pacing kept me reading. 4 stars.

Content Warnings