🌺🌸 "What You Wish For" (2020) 🌸🌺 - Book Review

MY REVIEW

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (July 14, 2020)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1250219361

ISBN-13: 978-1250219367

Click Picture for Purchase Information

“Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living.

But she wasn’t always that way.

Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen.
But he wasn’t always that way.

And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before―at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him―but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school―and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it.

As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love―which is the riskiest move of all.”

Thank you in advance to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for providing an advanced review copy. A positive review was not required and all words are my own.

Despite seeing Katherine Center’s books on Bookish First, as well as other places, this is the first one I’ve read. I’m not too familiar with her work to rate her style to see if this is how she really writes or because this is an ARE.

The ARC (advanced readers’ copy), “galley”, or ARE (advanced readers’ edition) is often an uncorrected “proof” of the soon-to-be-released novel. Often grammar is edited. As I’ve never purchased a published version of an ARC/ARE I’ve received, I don’t know how much is changed.

The cover is close to the previous books – “How to Walk Away” and “Things You Save in a Fire”. These are not “connected” series books, each is a standalone read.

Most of my blog readers will note that I primarily read and review Christian fiction and clean reads; though I have read and reviewed other books that interest me. This has NO Christian or faith themes, there is some foul language but the book isn’t “saturated” with it. There are no graphic sex scenes though.

The lack or inclusion of something outside a genre doesn’t always equal a bad rating/review. When it comes to a genre – I honestly don’t know what this book was trying to do or where it was going. I kept praying, hoping it would get better. And, while it wasn’t a HUGE waste of time – I do feel that I could’ve spent the time reading a different book.

I enter a LOT of giveaways – but, the premise of this book sounded so interesting I had to request it. In addition I wanted to figure out what happened to Duncan to cause this change, as well as the “relationship” he and Sam had (did they have one??). Would they work out a second time? This part was a let-down as it seemed there was SO much build-up only to find out – it was an unnoticed, un-requited love. I wasn’t sure how to view this “relationship”.

The characters were for the most part, sadly, unimpressive. The story is told from Sam’s point of view using first person. That doesn’t really ruin the story, but it does provide perspective.

I felt sorry for Samantha (“Sam”, who was like a dumpster fire. She desperately wanted and needed love. I was trying to figure Sam out to see what it was she wanted, and it was heart-breaking that she didn’t have anyone. The “what you wish for”, I’m thinking, had to do with her wanting someone to love her and someone she could love. Her story did break my heart with her father having left the family because of her condition – particularly when she had a seizure (epilepsy) that caused a “mess” at a country club dinner. Center does a great job explaining the character’s “quirks” and why Sam feels she has to try so hard around people. This was one character that I really had mixed feelings on.

Duncan was understandable, even though I did not see that reveal coming. And, while it was an interesting reveal, it just seemed to be a Debbie-Downer despite the fact the author seemingly tries to get the reader to feel sympathetic towards Duncan.

Everyone else in this book seemed like reluctant players drafted to fill in certain key parts.

Clay, one of the kids, was about the only interesting character despite his parents who I found to be rather annoying. Half the time I wondered if the kid wasn’t adopted – there would’ve been a great reveal. Tina was a witch and Kent was just as detestable. One issue I had with Tina, well one of many – her issue with Clay reading kid books such as Garfield. She even goes so far to volunteer to see he makes better choices.

Max was likeable despite his early demise as it seems all the teachers loved him. I understood Babette’s grief, but when her son-in-law was doing this, I couldn’t help but want to scream “STEP UP! This guy is ruining your school!!!”.

I understood some of the characters but they didn’t seem very believable which seems to be a consensus here. Duncan should’ve been more honest with his past, and also asked for more input from the staff as they had been there longer. Also, not knowing the school’s history – some of the changes didn’t make sense. Duncan seemed unrealistically militant – painting over the murals was beyond me. The idea of “bringing it back when the world is safer” seems to suggest a definite unrealistic expectation. As much as we want to believe it – sometimes evil is here to stay.

One redeeming thing that I enjoyed about this book – the unity of the teachers and Clay’s smarts. However, Duncan’s past was just far too dark for what seemed like a light-hearted tale. The child’s death in the school shooting could’ve been left out. While realistic, it was depressing given the events of the past few years, and was hard to get through, made even worse when Sam was trying to get the “real” Duncan to come out. After what he went through? Had no one gotten killed, perhaps it would’ve worked out better.

The plot was pretty decent, but sadly the school shooting issue seemed to kill what could’ve been a happier story. Honestly, I really tried to like this, and only finished it because I CANNOT just DNF (did not finish) a book I’m supposed to review – one I borrow? Sure. But, not a review.

Some of the action I couldn’t see most of it, some of it I could. I just couldn’t believe how some of these people were acting. There was a serious confrontation in chapter 10, yet no reveal. That wouldn’t be until between chapters 13 and 14. The first “f” bomb drops at chapter 11.

During a “surgery”, Duncan ends up stating how he feels about Sam, and a nurse assures her that the opiates never lie. The next day, Duncan doesn’t remember and Sam doesn’t press it.

But, Sam and her cohorts eventually realize you can’t fix a person, only understand the why. So, they decide to work on helping him instead. This is where I was starting to say “hey, this is what we should be focusing on, this is good”.

Some of the advice is good and spot-on: connect with humans, physically nurture, build a better mental framework on resilience, and seek therapy for PTSD, along with keeping a journal. This is one of the best strengths this book has.

The wrong stuff they list) – helping the person try to remember their old self, remind them what it was like to be happy, expose them to risks, even trick them into doing something fun, “joy-bomb” them. The suggestions would’ve been okay – but to force them or to even do them? I almost cringed. This fails in SO many ways. After a trauma no one can go back to their old selves. Maybe they can develop a sense of normalcy for themselves, but they cannot go back. Maybe they can deal with the trauma to still enjoy life, but hardly “go back” to the pre-trauma person.

While Duncan needed therapy, forcing it was NOT the way to go. I had mixed feelings; and wondered if this was done out of a genuine concern for him, or a selfish sense of preservation for the others. The “work at happiness” part seems a bit contrived. While Duncan missed who he was, he couldn’t be that person again. He had empathy for him, and this was perhaps a great takeaway.

It was nice to see Babette finally step up and take charge though.

Sam finally comes around to the fact that Duncan couldn’t be fixed, but maybe more relaxed. Also, it showed what should’ve happened in the beginning – an open and honest dialogue for school safety: reasonable changes. One issue that some readers might have is the “gun-sense” talk/group in this as part of a change since gun rights are a hotly debated item no matter what side the reader is on.

There is a cliché “climatic” ending to the story when Clay goes missing. I did enjoy the rescue part of a wild animal.

The messages of this book are clear, if not somewhat muddled and clunky: life doesn’t ever give you what you want just the way you want it; choose joy because of the sorrows -> choose it on purpose. While this is appropriate in some cases, sometimes it isn’t feasible.

As far as who would enjoy this or who it was geared to – after reading some reviews, even some of the author’s fans were disappointed by this offering. I’m sure die-hard fans of the author might enjoy this; although some fans have been critical.

If you’re interested, I would check it out from a library as soon as it is available.

RATING:

3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads

3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub

3 ⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Katherine Center is the USA Today and New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire as well as five other bittersweet comic novels, including Happiness for Beginners. She just sold the film rights to her fourth novel, The Lost Husband. She’s been compared to both Nora Ephron and Jane Austen, and The Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her work has appeared in InStyle, Redbook, People, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Real Simple, and Southern Living, among others. Katherine holds degrees from Vassar College and the University of Houston’s Creative Writing Program, and she lives in her hometown of Houston with her husband – a middle-school teacher – and her two sweet kids.

*This post contains affiliate links