I have read two Katherine Center novels so far and really enjoyed them. I was so excited when I heard about What You Wish For about a young, quirky school librarian that butts heads with the new school principal. I'm a book nerd that secretly (or not so secretly) harbors fantasies of being a librarian, school or otherwise, so I thought it would be really fun. Samantha (Sam) loves her job at a small private school on Galveston Island in the gulf coast of Texas. Her coworkers are her family and the school is practically her home. When a new principal comes in with plans to change everything Sam loves about it, she is furious and vows to find a way to fight back. When that principal also turns out to be someone on whom she once had a huge crush, it becomes even more complicated.
I was really sad that I didn't like this book as much as I liked the previous two Center novels I had read. There were glaring flaws in the plot that anyone who has dealt with an elementary or middle school would have seen, namely the lack of parental push back to all the changes the new principal wants to make. Given that this is a private school, and not one restrained by state laws or district oversight, it made even less sense that so many of the qualities that presumably attracted people to this school in the first place would be changed without it turning into a full scale war. (No, that's not hyperbole. When was the last PTO meeting you attended?)
Additionally, can I say that I am way over the trope of two extremely different people who don't get along at all suddenly falling in love? I think it goes back to Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy and I really wasn't all that big a fan of them as a couple either. GASP! Did I just commit the cardinal sin of not loving Pride and Prejudice? I'm really sorry and I hope it won't make you disown me, but that dynamic between Lizzy and Darcy is the same thing I don't like in other books meant to be romantic. It annoys me and I just don't get into it.
All that said, I did like this book, I just didn't love it. There were lots of lovely characters and I adored Sam's quirks. And I loved the lesson about finding joy in whatever circumstances you may find yourself. You may not be able to make yourself feel joy, but as one sweet character says: "You can decide to do something joyful."
"Joy cures everything....Joy is an antidote to fear. To anger. To boredom. To sorrow."
"I'm not happy because it comes easily to me. I bite and scratch and claw my way toward happiness every day....I know all about darkness. That's why I am so hellbent, every damn day, on looking for the light."
So, sure, there were problems with this book, but I still liked it. Maybe you will, too.
*This Advanced Reader Copy was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for and honest review.*
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