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What She Wanted
It seems Katy has been waiting for her eighteenth birthday all her life. Raised by a grandfather who never got over losing Katy’s mother to cancer at a young age, she’s dreamed of a life free of the burdens of her family’s tragedies. But just before her birthday, she learns tragedy isn’t finished telling its story . . .
Before she can begin her new life, Katy’s grandfather suffers a heart attack, a box of her mother’s keepsakes, including a journal written to Katy while she was in her mother’s womb, at his side. Believing the only thing her grandpa loves enough to live for is her mother’s memory, Katy reads to him from the journal every night at the hospital. Night after night, line after line, Katy begins to see herself as her mother saw her in her dreams. Buoyed by her mother’s undying love and conviction, Katy vows to make her mother’s sacrifice mean something and promises to fulfill all her mother’s requests. Even the hard ones. Especially those . . .
Before she can begin her new life, Katy’s grandfather suffers a heart attack, a box of her mother’s keepsakes, including a journal written to Katy while she was in her mother’s womb, at his side. Believing the only thing her grandpa loves enough to live for is her mother’s memory, Katy reads to him from the journal every night at the hospital. Night after night, line after line, Katy begins to see herself as her mother saw her in her dreams. Buoyed by her mother’s undying love and conviction, Katy vows to make her mother’s sacrifice mean something and promises to fulfill all her mother’s requests. Even the hard ones. Especially those . . .
222 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 19, 2016
439 people want to read
About the author
Julie Anne Lindsey
171 books1,470 followersJulie Anne Lindsey- Hatcher is an award-winning and bestselling author of cozy mystery and romantic suspense. She’s published more than sixty novels as herself & under the pen names, Bree Baker, Jacqueline Frost & Julie Chase, for various publishers, including Kensington, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Crooked Lane Books. When she's not writing the stories that keep her up at night, Julie stays busy in Kent, Ohio with her three amazing kids and shamelessly enabling friends. Today she hopes to make someone smile. One day she plans to change the world.
Be sure to check out NOT QUITE BY THE BOOK, Julie's latest work of contemporary fiction, written under her birth name, Julie Hatcher.
Be sure to check out NOT QUITE BY THE BOOK, Julie's latest work of contemporary fiction, written under her birth name, Julie Hatcher.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 27, 2017
There was nothing really special about What She Wanted by Julie Ann Lindsay. It was a somewhat predictable, but pleasant read. It is not a book that is ever going to set the world on fire or provoke great debate, but it does remind us that we shouldn't judge other people's actions until we understand what motivates them.
Raised by her grandfather following the deaths of her mother and her grandmother, Katy plans to move out on her 18th birthday and leave her grandfather to enjoy the solitude he seems to crave. But fate has other plans for Katy.
An excellent choice for a holiday read, with just a little romance and a fair bit of family angst, this is a sweet, but fairly forgettable, coming of age story.
Thank you to Kensington Books, Lyrical Press for providing a digital copy of What She Wanted by Julie Ann Lindsay for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Raised by her grandfather following the deaths of her mother and her grandmother, Katy plans to move out on her 18th birthday and leave her grandfather to enjoy the solitude he seems to crave. But fate has other plans for Katy.
An excellent choice for a holiday read, with just a little romance and a fair bit of family angst, this is a sweet, but fairly forgettable, coming of age story.
Thank you to Kensington Books, Lyrical Press for providing a digital copy of What She Wanted by Julie Ann Lindsay for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
July 20, 2016
I laughed, I cried, I sympathized, but in the end, it really was just a Hallmark Special. This is not to say it was not well done, because it was. This is to say that it was what it says on the tin, a YA romance (or if it didn't say that, it should have).
There is a bit of too incredible to believe romance, the handsome boy next door, falling for the protagonist, who is an outsider, hiding behind her camera lens. (Because we have never seen that before).
The backdrop is that the main character's mother died from cancer a year after she was born. Her grandmother, who raised her along with her grandfather, died when she was eight. Her biological father is not even in the picture, and her grandfather is still hurting from losing his daughter, when she was 17 (it was a teenage pregnancy). Her mother left behind a list of things she wanted her daughter to do to make her life happy, so Katy tries to do the things on the list.
The book is more than that, though, which is what I liked about it. There is the interaction with her grandfather, with her boss, with the people in the small town in Ohio, where everyone seems to be white, and straight and rural.
And there are some great lines, as I said.
And as my ex once said, when I caught her watching one those TLC or Lifeline made for cable shows, "sometimes you just want to cry," as her excuse for wasting her time. Yeah, this book pulls at the heartstrings, but when you pull away from it all, you are left hungry for a real story.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
There is a bit of too incredible to believe romance, the handsome boy next door, falling for the protagonist, who is an outsider, hiding behind her camera lens. (Because we have never seen that before).
The backdrop is that the main character's mother died from cancer a year after she was born. Her grandmother, who raised her along with her grandfather, died when she was eight. Her biological father is not even in the picture, and her grandfather is still hurting from losing his daughter, when she was 17 (it was a teenage pregnancy). Her mother left behind a list of things she wanted her daughter to do to make her life happy, so Katy tries to do the things on the list.
The book is more than that, though, which is what I liked about it. There is the interaction with her grandfather, with her boss, with the people in the small town in Ohio, where everyone seems to be white, and straight and rural.
And there are some great lines, as I said.
"This is Dean. I should have started with that. I'm not a lunatic trying to coax you outside. My Mom made you a tuna casserole."
I hate to break it to you, but your mom lied. That's a pizza."
He shrugged. "Do you like tuna casserole?"
"Not really."
"Good, I gave her casserole to a homeless guy by the pizza place."
"What, I thought you loved her. You were going to get married and have photogenic children and become that family that comes in picture frames."
And as my ex once said, when I caught her watching one those TLC or Lifeline made for cable shows, "sometimes you just want to cry," as her excuse for wasting her time. Yeah, this book pulls at the heartstrings, but when you pull away from it all, you are left hungry for a real story.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
June 23, 2016
Thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Books for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
It's true. I found this just average. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it was just...average.
The writing was average. Nothing spectacular or noteworthy, nothing that stood out on the page. The characters were...okay. They weren't deep and everything just seemed a bit surface level. The romance was mediocre. The author tried to put in some heated moments between Katy, the main character, and her love interest, Dean, but it fell flat for me. It was cliché and I ended up rolling my eyes on some parts.
A lot of moments were predictable too. Of course, the love interest would actually be interested in the main character. I will admit that it's in a cute way but it just screams summer romance and the unsureness of lasting long, despite whatever Dean says.
I wanted more of Katy's mother's journal. We only got maybe...2 pages worth of a journal. If it's so important to Mark, Katy's grandfather, I wish we were able to explore that more. The list Katy's mother, Amy, left for Katy is endearing but we don't really get Katy formally checking things off the list.
I can appreciate the apprehension Katy had throughout the novel. Her resentment towards Mark was hard to understand, in a sense, because I just felt there was so much more left to be explored about their relationship outside of some surface level details. I didn't know a lot about Mark outside of his hurt. What was he like before all that? And if he's so hateful, what was he like to Katy when she was younger?
What I do like is the strong friendship between Katy and Heidi. Heidi was definitely the comic relief. Their friendship is something a lot of girls strive for (at least, they should), though I will say there were some times I rolled my eyes at her comments towards Dean. It's just a put off when she comments about his body or her desire for him to take off his shirt. It's okay, we get that Dean looks good but there's more to a person than that. Katy explores it a bit but his dreams for college just felt...sort of thrown in there so the readers realized, yeah, he's not all "hot body" but he has brains, too.
Katy lives in a town with a strong sense of community. They rally around her when she needs them. It's a small town so we get all the small town vibes: downtown parades, football scrimmages, town-wide cookouts as a send-off. It's quite nice.
Katy wrestles with a lot of things over the course of just a few months. She handles it relatively well, facing some things head on, but man, I was so tired of her crying. Maybe that sounds too harsh because there are most likely people who just cry to let out steam or their frustration and this might have been the case with her but man, there could have been less crying.
I think with some more character development, going beyond surface level, and a bit more resolution, this could be a solid book for other readers who enjoy contemporary YA novels. This is a perfect summer read though. It screams high school teenagers.
It's true. I found this just average. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it was just...average.
The writing was average. Nothing spectacular or noteworthy, nothing that stood out on the page. The characters were...okay. They weren't deep and everything just seemed a bit surface level. The romance was mediocre. The author tried to put in some heated moments between Katy, the main character, and her love interest, Dean, but it fell flat for me. It was cliché and I ended up rolling my eyes on some parts.
A lot of moments were predictable too. Of course, the love interest would actually be interested in the main character. I will admit that it's in a cute way but it just screams summer romance and the unsureness of lasting long, despite whatever Dean says.
I wanted more of Katy's mother's journal. We only got maybe...2 pages worth of a journal. If it's so important to Mark, Katy's grandfather, I wish we were able to explore that more. The list Katy's mother, Amy, left for Katy is endearing but we don't really get Katy formally checking things off the list.
I can appreciate the apprehension Katy had throughout the novel. Her resentment towards Mark was hard to understand, in a sense, because I just felt there was so much more left to be explored about their relationship outside of some surface level details. I didn't know a lot about Mark outside of his hurt. What was he like before all that? And if he's so hateful, what was he like to Katy when she was younger?
What I do like is the strong friendship between Katy and Heidi. Heidi was definitely the comic relief. Their friendship is something a lot of girls strive for (at least, they should), though I will say there were some times I rolled my eyes at her comments towards Dean. It's just a put off when she comments about his body or her desire for him to take off his shirt. It's okay, we get that Dean looks good but there's more to a person than that. Katy explores it a bit but his dreams for college just felt...sort of thrown in there so the readers realized, yeah, he's not all "hot body" but he has brains, too.
Katy lives in a town with a strong sense of community. They rally around her when she needs them. It's a small town so we get all the small town vibes: downtown parades, football scrimmages, town-wide cookouts as a send-off. It's quite nice.
Katy wrestles with a lot of things over the course of just a few months. She handles it relatively well, facing some things head on, but man, I was so tired of her crying. Maybe that sounds too harsh because there are most likely people who just cry to let out steam or their frustration and this might have been the case with her but man, there could have been less crying.
I think with some more character development, going beyond surface level, and a bit more resolution, this could be a solid book for other readers who enjoy contemporary YA novels. This is a perfect summer read though. It screams high school teenagers.
July 1, 2016
Katy is a character with a sad story and a lot to overcome. Ultimately, she has to learn to live and believe in herself. She is raised by a grandfather, Mark, who shows little concern for her and zero affection. He seems to spend all his time mourning for the wife and daughter he lost and resenting the granddaughter he is saddled with. He holes up in his shed, which Katy has never been allowed to enter. She and her best friend, Heidi, speculated on what was in that shed for years. When Mark has a heart attack, Katy finds a hidden box in the open shed. Inside are her mother's belongings, namely a journal written to Katy from her dying mother. Mark had never opened it, but he kept all her mother's things from her all her life. When she opens the journal, she finds a list of things her mother wanted for her. She died of leukemia when Katy was one years old. Amy was only seventeen. She refused treatment because she was pregnant and by the time Katy was born, it was too late to save Amy too. Anyway, Katy is determined to see the list through. Her life and outlook on her town and family changes when she embraces the list. She finds friendship and romance with her longtime crush and next door neighbor, Dean. She is able to connect with her absent and recently resurfaced father, Josh. She is able to achieve her longtime dream of photography school. This book has a nice premise, but isn't very deep. Also, everything came way too easy. There wasn't enough conflict and Katy's life was way too easy for someone who grew up the way she grew up. She wasn't a very well-rounded character and too much was handed to her, but I enjoyed the story nonetheless. Again, it isn't very deep, but made for a nice light summer read.
June 23, 2016
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my review.
This wasn't your typical romance story, this was a story about a girl discovering who she is and learning to love a grandfather that was never really there for her.
At times I felt this story was a bit too contrived, with the whole falling for the boy next door trope and country song commentary, but ultimately, it was a good story. I loved seeing how Katy and her grandfather grow closer and learn about each other, and have him apologize for how he treated her. At times though, Katy felt much too Mary Sue. Everything good kept happening to her and she felt that she didn't deserve it. But she was perfectly kind, perfectly smart, and perfectly talented. I found no real faults in her, and that is what made this story a little unrelatable and maddening.
Katy was so perfect it made no sense that her grandfather wouldn't love her, or that she wouldn't realize the impact she had on her small town. The only interesting part was really how her relationship with her grandfather, absent father, and dead mother would develop. Even then Katy forgave so easily and readily that it felt a little hollow. All in all a decent read.
This wasn't your typical romance story, this was a story about a girl discovering who she is and learning to love a grandfather that was never really there for her.
At times I felt this story was a bit too contrived, with the whole falling for the boy next door trope and country song commentary, but ultimately, it was a good story. I loved seeing how Katy and her grandfather grow closer and learn about each other, and have him apologize for how he treated her. At times though, Katy felt much too Mary Sue. Everything good kept happening to her and she felt that she didn't deserve it. But she was perfectly kind, perfectly smart, and perfectly talented. I found no real faults in her, and that is what made this story a little unrelatable and maddening.
Katy was so perfect it made no sense that her grandfather wouldn't love her, or that she wouldn't realize the impact she had on her small town. The only interesting part was really how her relationship with her grandfather, absent father, and dead mother would develop. Even then Katy forgave so easily and readily that it felt a little hollow. All in all a decent read.
July 22, 2016
Kensington Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of What She Wanted, in exchange for an honest review.
Katy has been counting the days until her 18th birthday, when she can legally sign a lease and leave her toxic home life. Years of animosity towards Katy by her grandfather, because of a decision made by her mother, has left her feeling as though she does not have a family. When tragedy strikes, Katy finds a journal that changes everything. With a promising love interest and an unexpected visitor to town, Katy has no shortage of drama in her life. Will Katy be able to fulfill her mother's wishes for her young daughter?
What She Wanted is mostly romance with some realistic elements sprinkled in for good measure. The plot is predictable, but the aspects of realism were enough to keep me interested. The romance portions overshadowed the character development, which left me wishing that the author had chosen to lessen those aspects because I enjoyed the interaction between Katy, her grandfather, her best friend, and others as well. Regardless, I found the book to be a quick read and would recommend it to those who like YA romance.
Katy has been counting the days until her 18th birthday, when she can legally sign a lease and leave her toxic home life. Years of animosity towards Katy by her grandfather, because of a decision made by her mother, has left her feeling as though she does not have a family. When tragedy strikes, Katy finds a journal that changes everything. With a promising love interest and an unexpected visitor to town, Katy has no shortage of drama in her life. Will Katy be able to fulfill her mother's wishes for her young daughter?
What She Wanted is mostly romance with some realistic elements sprinkled in for good measure. The plot is predictable, but the aspects of realism were enough to keep me interested. The romance portions overshadowed the character development, which left me wishing that the author had chosen to lessen those aspects because I enjoyed the interaction between Katy, her grandfather, her best friend, and others as well. Regardless, I found the book to be a quick read and would recommend it to those who like YA romance.
July 25, 2016
Be sure to have a box of tissues handy while reading this beautiful tale by Julie Anne Lindsey! It is a powerful story filled with love, loss, laughter, and finding yourself. The main character, Katy, has struggled since her mom died of cancer shortly before Katy's first birthday. Katy was left to live with her grandfather who is mired in grief at the loss of his daughter and his wife to cancer. Katy has lived in the shadows and done her best to blend in and not cause trouble for her grandfather. Her grandfather has a sudden heart attack that has Katy floundering. Coupled with finding her mother's journal, Katy begins to question her life and what she wants. Readers will be drawn into the story and will eagerly be turning pages to find out what happens next. Definitely recommend!
July 14, 2016
I really enjoyed this book about finding yourself and feeling abandoned. I would identify it as an emotional coming of age story first and romance second. Some parts seemed a little too perfect and unbelievable but for the most part I really enjoyed the character's change and finding their place.
August 20, 2022
Oh my goodness. This is a must read.
How a family tragedy, loss and unexpected illness can turn your life around.
How a family tragedy, loss and unexpected illness can turn your life around.
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May 20, 2016Content Rating
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews