I totally loved this #romance about two teachers with scars from their past who find in each other someone who sees their strengths but still appreciates their vulnerabilities. Rose surrounds herself in armor saving all of her softness for her students. Martin is all kindness and sensitivity. They share a passion for teaching and slowly come to come trust each other. I loved everything about this book- its sweetness,humor, feminism, everything.

I received this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I haven’t read Olivia Dade before. I thought she was one of the authors I follow on Twitter, but she was not. She is now, though. Teach Me was a lovely read with +40 characters who behaved like they had lived lives, and actual positive fat representation. It’s out May 30th.

Rose and Martin are teachers at the same high school, both teaching history classes. They are equals in their credentials, but Martin has just moved to the area and is new to the school district. The A bully in the school district’s central administration tries to use Martin to take Rose down a peg. Rose recognizes that it isn’t Martin’s fault, Martin realizes he is being used as a tool by a bully. There is no meet cute here.

Rose maintains a professional face with her coworkers, only warming up when the students are involved. She is cool, composed, a bit icy, and unconcerned with making others comfortable. She is a fat woman over 40 who refuses to disappear. Martin is a cinnamon roll – supportive, kind, recently-ish divorced and insecure. Despite that, he would like to be one of the people she smiles at with warmth, and he is willing to put in the time. Rose and Martin seduce and flirt by being competent professionals, invested in their students, observant, respectful and kind human beings.

There’s no way to get to 40 without emotional baggage. Rose and Martin have baggage and that baggage is an even larger wall between them than the bully in central administration. The baggage they carry causes miscommunications, misunderstandings, and brings them to an impasse. However, they are never disrespectful of the other’s baggage. They understand that each has earned that baggage even while they are unable to lay down their own burdens.

There is so much awfulness in the world right now, that I crave kindness. Olivia Dade has loaded her book with kindness on every page. More importantly, it is a robust kindness with boundaries. Rose goes out of her way to show Martin professional courtesy. She makes sure he has the information, space and tools necessary to succeed. She does not go out of her way to make him feel personally welcome. In another book, other characters may have considered her bitchy, in Teach Me, she has no obligation to make herself uncomfortable to make him feel better. There is never a moment on which Rose’s size is played for humor. There is never even a hint that she or anyone else thinks she shouldn’t eat food or feel guilty about it. I almost cried that she was allowed to enjoy food and that’s all it was – food she enjoyed and wanted to share. I want more books like this, books where people are kind to each other and kind to themselves.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this book.
I liked that it was realistic about the workload that teachers carry; the late nights, meetings, preparation time. It's not an easy job and this book highlighted how hard working teachers are during the school year and how they don't have time for friendships. Not many books show that side.
The characters themselves are quite serious yet are lovely and are suited for each other. The relationship that Rose has with her in-laws is adorable and one that's usually forgotten in an event of a divorce.
It's a pleasant read that helps you realise when you grow and change, so do relationships and what you need from them.
3.5 stars

Loved this book, the story of Rose and Martin.
Martin is the new teacher at the school where Rose works. She doesn't want to like him and let him in, but the longer they spend together the more they open up to each other.

This was a sweet book which showed the ups and downs of a divorced teacher, loved by her students and colleagues but treated terribly by her direct supervisor. When she meets the new history teacher who is taking some of her classes, she wants to hate him but instead is immediately drawn to his charms. He too has a past he needs to overcome. This book follows these two characters through their daily lives in school and also how they bond during their down time.
I enjoyed this book for the most part and was most attracted to it as a teacher! I liked seeing the way their school lives influenced their personal lives although the relationships with the students was perhaps a little unrealistic.

I liked Rose but thought Martin was a little bit dull. He was a nice character but perhaps a little too nice, a little too perfect. He could have been developed further.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influenced my review.

Teach Me follows Rose Owen, a fat white divorced high school social studies teacher, and Martin Krause, white divorced single father and new-to-the-area high school social studies teacher. The chair of the Marysburg social studies department is a raging misogynist and when Martin gets hired, with 20 years of teaching experience, he uses that experience as an excuse to take Rose’s eleventh grade honors history class from her and give it to Martin. Rose is initially extremely hurt, but she’s used to building her icy armor and keeping her feelings close, so decides she’s going to hate Martin. Unfortunately he turns out to be a great father, super considerate, and basically the sweetest guy she’s interacted with.

The attraction between Rose and Martin is immediate, but I like that the actual relationship has a slow burn quality to it. Rose has a lot of armor and is used to keeping distance in order to protect herself, while Martin has a history of emotional/mental abuse that makes it hard for him to see his own worth. As they spend time together, and with Martin’s daughter, Bea, who sees Rose as a role model, they become friends and trust gradually builds between them.

I loved the family that both Rose and Martin have in their life. Martin’s daughter loves him and he’d loved to Marysburg to spend Bea’s senior year with her after his ex wife moved with her new husband. Bea has some revelations around the “nicknames” her mom had used for Martin, and I liked seeing her recognize how that may hurt her father and making changes to show her care and how much worth her father has in her eyes. I also loved Rose’s former in-laws. When her husband and she got divorced, she got to keep her parents-in-law and it’s obvious from the get-go just how much they love her and she loves them. I also really appreciated that neither ex ever makes an appearance on page, though their history and harm they’d caused is seen in who Rose and Martin are and how they respond to their developing romance.

I also loved the fat rep in this book. Rose is a fat woman and she isn’t afraid to take up space. She purposely shops for quality clothes that don’t hide her shape, and the black is because she likes the color, not because she’s trying to hide or be invisible. She isn’t afraid to stand her ground or speak up for herself, to a point, because Rose doesn’t like being noticed and having people talk negatively about her. This stems both from growing up in poverty, and related experiences with her mom’s intelligence being questioned, and from her divorce resulting in losing “friends” as they called her a gold-digger and other cruel judgments.

This book was just such a fun book to read. Overall it is a very light, fluffy read, but it also deals with some heavy content. There’s discussions around childhood abuse, concerns if nonbinary teen has supportive parents, and history lessons on how women and other minorities have been erased throughout time. This was just the book I needed to read to make me smile and I loved the romance between Rose and Martin, as well as their relationships with each others’ family. Definitely a book I’d recommend!

I was wary of choosing this book because, as a teacher, I always get annoyed at the inaccurate portrayal of classroom stuff. However, despite a different structural organization than I’m familiar with, the school stuff mostly checks out! So that’s like 3 stars right there.

I found the story engaging. Both main characters are dreadfully broken by their pasts, but have acknowledged the impact and continue to heal. Their backgrounds affect the way they view their jobs and relationships, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. I thought the way both Rose and Martin neglect their own self-care while being drawn to help their students was spot on.

It did seem in some places that everything was just a bit too perfect—feelings checks and not interrupting and stuff that IS awesome and SHOULD happen but feels a little inauthentic when you compare it to real life, but I guess that’s what fiction is for, right?

Overall, exceeded expectations, good story, I liked it.

I was drawn to this book as a teacher. Lovely and adorable story. Would definitely recommend to friends. The characters are likeable and this is an easy read.