A review by amy_sutt
What You Wish For, by Katherine Center

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Beautiful story about a family of elementary school teachers, led by the librarian Samantha and how they recover from the loss of their beloved principal and founder Max to welcome a new principal Duncan and the less-welcome changes he tries to introduce to the school. Sam knew Duncan from when they worked together at another school in California and while she is initially excited about Duncan's appointment, thinking he is exactly what the school needs, the Duncan who arrives at the school is a much different man from the one that she used to know. When he starts changing the focus of the school from education and creativity to being a safe environment and introducing changes to the environment that the staff and faculty see as fundamentally changing who they are, Sam and her cohorts are left to fight and Sam is left to try and change Sam or at least understand what has happened to the person she used to know. She also has some growth over fear to do of her own as she struggles with her lifelong battle with epilepsy and how that has impacted close relationships in her life. This was a beautiful story with a slow burn relationship between Sam and Duncan with a lovely side relationship between Sam and her best friend Alice (I do love a good punny tshirt, even if it has to be a math pun) and Sam and Clay (one of her students). The love affair with the school library and the descriptions of it in the story made me wish I could go spend time there getting lost in a book! 
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