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    What You Wish For: A Novel
    What You Wish For: A Novel
    What You Wish For: A Novel
    Audiobook11 hours

    What You Wish For: A Novel

    Written by Katherine Center

    Narrated by Katherine Center and Thérèse Plummer

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    "Joyfully and warmly narrated by [Therese] Plummer, this is a beautiful story about grasping happiness and joy alongside immense sorrow and pain...This warm-hearted listen with an energetic narrator is sure to please." -- Booklist

    This program includes an author's note, read by the author

    From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel full of heart and hope.

    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.

    A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

    "The story’s message, that people should choose joy even (and especially) in difficult and painful times, seems tailor-made for this moment. A timely, uplifting read about finding joy in the midst of tragedy, filled with quirky characters and comforting warmth."—Kirkus (starred review)

    “This charming, often lighthearted novel touches on serious issues and celebrates the power of joy to trump fear and despair.” -- People Magazine, Book of the Week

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 14, 2020
    ISBN9781250752475
    What You Wish For: A Novel
    Author

    Katherine Center

    Katherine Center is the author of five bittersweet novels about love and family, including How to Walk Away. She lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two sweet children, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

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    Reviews for What You Wish For

    4/5

    148 ratings7 reviews

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    • 2/5
      It kept going on and on about Duncan. It feels like I’ve been listening to the same thing over and over. So boring.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I’m on a Katherine Center binge. I’m glad this wasn’t the first one I listened to because I’m not sure I would have kept going. There are definitely some great things about this book but it is too repetitive for me.
    • 4/5
      Sweet and emotional story. Loved the section where the author explains how she writes her stories and what is the essence of a story.
    • 5/5
      Book was ok, but Thérèse Plummer.. Oh, I love her!!
    • 5/5
      This is it, Katherine center is on my top 5 list, easily, I have fallen in love with all her books. And this one is no different, I would give it 10 stars if I can.
      And the narrator is just magnificent, I haven’t felt in a book or with the character like that before, she brought everything to life in a way that is just over the top and perfect for the story,timeline, and the heroine. The romance:check, the humor and laugh out loud moments: check, normal human beings with flaws like us: a big definite check, and finally a story where there are a lot of important issues being discussed and processed: another check that made me LOVE IT.
    • 5/5
      Another fantastic listen! Thank you! On to another one :)
    • 3/5
      What You Wish For beautifully deals with some heavy topics, but the overall tone is a joyful celebration of life.

      I loved what Katherine Center was going for here, as far as the story’s premise and message. The content, though, is a little too saccharine sweet, at least for me. This small community and the people working together at the school are a perfect Hallmark movie. They’re all one big supportive family, standing strong against the new bully in town.

      I guessed the issue with Duncan’s history early on, making this new guy and his overblown stiff personality more tolerable.

      The narrator puts on her own Broadway play here. Some people might think she infuses too much drama, but I thought her narration fit the book’s tone well. I was entertained, and she had me laughing out loud a few times.