What You Wish For

By: Katherine Center

5/5 Polka Dots

Samantha left her comfortable school in California because of The Guy. The Guy she hopelessly fell in love with, but barely knew about her existence. After a mortifying moment revolving around the guy, Sam decides to start a new life on a Texas island. She becomes the school librarian and finds a sense of community with all the townspeople. Life is perfect... until tragedy rocks the community.

After a tragic event, Duncan comes into the picture to be the new principal. Duncan is the guy, and Sam is not so sure how she is supposed to react. She does know one thing: this is NOT the guy she fell in love with. Duncan is cold and bland, the exact opposite of who he was years ago. Can Sam chip away his ice layer before he ruins the school?

I read What You Wish For a week ago and am just getting around to the review (I know, I know... I need to be better), but I'm almost glad it took so long because then I can tell you that it's been a week and I haven't stopped thinking about this story! My goal is to be a school librarian, so I think that made me a little biased towards the book as a whole; however, I still think I would have loved this book regardless. I will say, it's very cheesy, but that's exactly what I need right now! If you don't like cheese, then definitely skip this book.

The characters, Sam and Duncan especially, were likable and deep (for lack of a better word). Their problems were real and relatable, especially for those of us in education. I loved the overall message, also: to live life and take risks. As someone with anxiety, it's so easy to think of all the worst possible things and do everything to prevent those from happening. But that's not living. There's no way to prevent everything, and we just need to accept that. Center's writing has a way of making me see beyond the bad and focus on the good. For this past week, every time I've thought about giving up my goal of becoming a school librarian, I've thought back to this book. It just hit the right spot for me, and I hope it does the same for you.