What You Wish For by Katherine Center

What You Wish For by Katherine Center intrigued me because the description said: “Samantha Casey loves everything about her job as an elementary school librarian…” I was a school librarian myself for 14 years, and it was probably the best, most fun, most demanding job I ever had.

Sam worked in a private school on Galveston Island in Texas. The founder and beloved principal died recently. He was replaced by someone Sam taught with in another school who she knew would be absolutely amazing although she had some trepidation about him coming to her school as she had been secretly in love with him.

But the clever, funny guy she remembered Duncan Carpenter to be had disappeared inside a gray suit wearing, militant type who basically wants to turn the school into a prison with gray walls covering everything, including a butterfly mural. He planned on having students and staff wear gray uniforms. He cancelled all field trips. His goal: make this the safest school ever.

The staff soon was rebelling. The teachers wanted their new principal fired. Before giving up on him, Sam and two of her colleagues came up with a plan to try to redeem this once funny, carefree, playful guy who had turned hard-core radical in the name of school safety. Can they turn this stern-faced principal back into the juggling, dancing, goofy guy who Sam remembered?

My first experience with Katherine Center was earlier this year with her book Things You Save in a Fire. Her writing is lighthearted and uplifting. Based on the two books I’ve read by her now, I would describe her as a new voice in women’s fiction or chick-lit.