Once upon a time it was paradise: WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

What You Wish For by Katherine Center

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Crazy, repetitive plot kept me from focusing on romance

Samantha Casey escaped her previous school to her current one, a wonderful oasis on Galveston Island. She's an elementary school librarian, and she loves her work, her sunny library, and cheerful, happy school. But then one of the school founders dies and is replaced by a literal blast from Sam's past: Duncan Carpenter. Duncan is Sam's old crush from her last school. There he was a lighthearted and funny teacher. Now, he's a hardhearted principal obsessed with school safety, who seems determined to rip apart every sunny and happy piece of Kempner. Sam and the other teachers need to stand up to Duncan--before it's too late.


"There's nothing better than a before-and-after. But he didn't remember the before. So that pretty much killed the after."


I feel bad, but I think I'm somehow immune to Katherine Center's charms, which seem to make everyone swoon over her books. With the exception of How To Walk Away, which I really enjoyed, I like her books, but never really love them. And that's definitely what happened here. In fact, I often found WISH to be utterly frustrating.

Maybe it's because I'm the child of educators, but I just kept shaking my head at the idea of a principal who could come in and unilaterally make decisions without any resistance. It made it impossible for me to focus on the rest of the story. Apparently Duncan is hired by the school founders' son-in-law--essentially a school board of one. What private school has one person on their board? What sort of private school has parents who just quietly allow someone to paint the halls gray and put bars on the windows??! None of this made any sense to me. All the resistance came down to the teachers?? I've seen parents riot over far less.

I couldn't handle it--could you tell? I also couldn't handle Sam for most of the book. I just get frustrated with Center's heroines. Sam was so whiny about nearly everything. She was more than happy to judge everyone else, yet completely resistant to owning her own life, making any changes, and opening up. Ugh. I wanted to shake her sometimes.

The book was very slow to start. Much rehashing of Sam's own problems, Duncan's arrival and the fact that--can you believe it--he is different than he was before. Hey, did you know Duncan used to be cool and funny, but now he's not?! I didn't! Oh wait, let me tell you again 15 times. Also, let's go into the fact that Sam has some issues and can never ever love again. Did I mention ever?

Also, later, without giving too much away, we completely gloss over how serious PTSD is and whitewash over the severity of things like depression, because focusing on happy things will just take away those issues completely, right? Also most plot points are telegraphed a mile away.

Sigh, I'm probably being too harsh here. The book gets a bit better as things go on. And there's a really cute kid whom I enjoyed. But still. Repetitive, predictable, and not the best at presenting mental health issues. 2.5 stars, rounding to 3 here.

I received a copy of this book from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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