What You Wish For (Center)

What You Wish For 
Katherine Center, 2020
St. Martin's Press
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250219367 


Summary
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.

With Katherine Center’s sparkling dialogue, unforgettable characters, heart, hope, and humanity, What You Wish For is the author at her most compelling best.

Author Bio
• Birth—March 4, 1972
• Raised—Houston, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Vassar College; M.F.A., University of Houston
• Currently—lives in Houston, Texas


Katherine Center is the author of several contemporary novels about love and family. She graduated from St. John's School in Houston, Texas, and later earned her B.A. from Vassar College, where she won the Vassar College Fiction Prize.

She went on to receive her M.A. in fiction from the University of Houston. While in graduate school, she distinguised herself as a writer and editor: she co-edited Gulf Coast, a literary fiction magazine, and her graduate thesis earned her a spot as a finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.

Center is the author of 7 novels, starting in 2006 with: The Bright Side of Disaster. More recently she has published How to Walk Away (2018), which became a Book of the Month Club pick; Things to Save in a Fire (2019), and What You Wish For (2020). Center's work is often categorized as women's fiction, chick lit and mommy lit. She describes her books as "bittersweet comic novels."

Center currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two children.

Extras

• Along with Jeffrey Toobin and Douglas Brinkley, Center was one of the speakers at the 2007 Houston Chronicle Book and Author Dinner.
• Her first novel was optioned by Varsity Pictures.
• Center has published essays in Real Simple and the anthologies Because I Love Her, CRUSH: 26 Real-Life Tales of First Love, and My Parents Were Awesome.
• Center also makes video essays, one of which, a letter to her daughter about motherhood, became the very popular "Defining a Movement" video for the Mom 2.0 conference.
• As a speaker at the 2018 TEDx Bend, Center's talk was entitled, "We Need to Teach Boys to Read Stories About Girls."

  (Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/15/2018.)

Book Reviews
This charming, often lighthearted novel touches on serious issues and celebrates the power of joy to trump fear and despair.
People


[Q]uirky…. The cast of eccentric supporting characters adds to a fast-paced tale steeped with whimsical, yet sometimes outlandish, plot points. This is one for the beach bag.
Publishers Weekly


[L]ibrarian Samantha Casey is distraught when her school's new principal turns out to be secret crush Duncan Carpenter from way back—and even more distraught to find that Duncan is a cold fish obsessed with rules and school safety.
Library Journal


(Starred review) Center uses familiar rom-com tropes but never in a way that feels forced or cliched. Instead, she fills even the lightest moments with a real, human sadness…. A timely, uplifting read about finding joy in the midst of tragedy, filled with quirky characters and comforting warmth.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1, On page 59, Sam recalls Max telling her to, "Pay attention to the things that connect you with joy." Did reading this also remind you to pay attention to what makes you happy? What are some things in your life that make you feel connected with joy?

2. What did you make of how affected Sam was by the news of Duncan coming to her school? Why do you think the idea of Duncan and Sam’s feelings for him have so much control over her and her thoughts?

3. What was your initial reaction when Duncan doesn’t recognize Sam? Did you suspect that he did and was keeping it a secret? Why do you think he did?

4. Sam knew that Duncan coming back into her life would be hard and stressful for her, but it turned out to be in a way entirely different from what she expected.Have you had any situations in your life where you similarly thought something would be challenging but it turned out to be so in a completely different way? How did you handle it?

5. On page 144, Duncan talks about painting over the butterfly mural and says,"When the world is a safer place, we’ll bring it back." What did you make of that comment? Did you believe Duncan and his motives? Did you begin to wonder why he was so concerned about safety?

6. At one point in the novel Sam says that she doesn’t have anyone in her life with whom she feels like she truly belongs. Did you see this come across as you were reading? How does this change over the course of the novel?

7. Sam makes it clear that her epilepsy has held her back from doing things like driving and dating. Do you think some of Sam’s past trauma with her epilepsy and her father walking out on her and her mother has affected her in other ways?

8. Duncan confesses his true feelings to Sam after his surgery, but he doesn’t remember doing so. Why do you think Sam doesn’t tell him what he told her? Why do you think she never has the nerve to when she has such strong feelings for him?

9. The library is a safe place for Sam that brings her joy. She also works very hard to make sure her students feel the same. Is there a place like this for you in your life? Was there one when you were a child?

10. As cruel as Tina Buckley is to Sam, we know that she has faced a lot of challenges in her life. What do you make of her evolution over the course of the novel, and the evolution of her relationship with Sam?

11. This story has a lot of lessons about how to live a more joyful life, even in the face of hardship. What insights from the book stood out for you? Are there ways you might approach your own life differently after reading this novel?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)

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