a lighthearted celebration of finding your people. perfect for anyone who's felt the joys of community and the warm sense of belonging that accompanies.

equally humorous yet real, this book also made me appreciate all of my years of public school and all of the educators and teachers that made an impact on my life.

The Faculty Lounge gets the reader into the heads of a Texas school's teachers and administrators. As someone outside of this world, I appreciated the insight. While I liked that the characters were flawed, I was also a bit bummed by some of their actions and the lack of exploring the poor decisions. Still, the writing was good.

The Faculty Lounge by Jennifer Mathieu presents an intriguing exploration of the lives of teachers and the often hidden struggles they face behind the classroom doors. The novel follows a group of educators who navigate their personal and professional challenges, touching on themes like ambition, burnout, and the complicated nature of work relationships. Mathieu’s writing is sharp, and she does a good job of portraying the pressures that come with the teaching profession, along with the emotional weight of balancing personal desires and responsibilities.

However, while the book has strong potential, I found some aspects of the narrative a bit lacking. The pacing is uneven, and certain plotlines feel underdeveloped. While the characters are interesting, they often feel more like caricatures than fully fleshed-out people, and I struggled to connect with them on a deeper level. Some of the conflicts felt a little forced or predictable, which detracted from the impact of the story.

That said, The Faculty Lounge does offer an insightful look into the world of educators, and there are moments of genuine emotional resonance. It’s a thought-provoking read, but with more depth in the character development and plot, it could have been even more compelling.

The Faculty Lounge is a smart, satirical take on life in a high school setting. Mathieu’s sharp humor and keen observations on the world of education make this a fun, thought-provoking read.

The Faculty Lounge is an enjoyable novel. I would consider it a character study of sorts that gives the audience a glimpse into the outside lives of high school teachers in one Texas school. Filled with humor, the book is a workplace novel set over one academic year. The cast of characters, love their jobs for the most part, educating young minds and trying to make a difference in the world; but with any occupation there are aspects they would rather gloss over as well.

This is the first novel I have read by Jennifer Mathieu and I would be interested to see what her backlist was. Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for the chance to read this novel.

I went into this book blindly so I was surprised to hear about a death in the first chapter. I'm a big thriller reader so I kept waiting for some kind of twist. However, it was a sweet ode to teachers daily life and the challenges they face at school. I enjoyed hearing the different perspectives throughout each chapter. Overall, I was entertained by this book and thought it had a sweet closure.

The Faculty Lounge is a unique take on school life, featuring a cast of warm and memorable characters. It all starts when an elderly substitute teacher is found dead in the faculty lounge. Life quickly returns to normal, but things take a wild turn when the teacher’s ashes are scattered on the school grounds. This sets off a year that’s a mix of wild, bizarre, tragic, mundane, beautiful, and humorous. Amidst the chaos and threats of punishment, the novel explores the lives of the adults involved. There’s a former punk band frontman turned middle-aged principal who’s fighting to keep his job against the school board; a no-nonsense school nurse who breaks the rules to help a student; and an English instructor who gets into trouble for a snarky email. Oh, and there’s even a teacher make-out session in a supply closet during a lockdown. As these characters navigate the ups and downs of this crazy school year, there’s the looming threat of what will happen to Baldwin High. At its core, this unconventional workplace novel is about the power of human connection and the joy of finding purpose in our daily routines.

If you’re looking for a captivating read, Jennifer Mathieu’s The Faculty Lounge is the perfect choice. It’s a heartwarming and humorous collection of stories set in a school community. You’ll find yourself rooting for the characters, even though each one only has a single chapter to tell their story.
Mathieu explores important themes like race, women’s rights, immigration, infidelity, sobriety, and power dynamics. She handles these topics with subtlety and powerful messages, but nothing is preachy or overt. Instead, the message is conveyed through the characters’ experiences and emotions.

I absolutely loved this book. It’s a wonderful reminder of the importance of kindness and how even small acts of kindness can have a profound impact on others.

Thank you Netgalley and Dutton for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 11%.
I’m supposed to feel bad for a dead guy who At 50 something kissed a 20 year old colleague in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant without her consent? Bc he sent her a note that said “sowwy?” & Bc he was simply good at his job? That’s supposed to excuse that behavior? Yeah, no. Keep your tongue to yourself you freak.

The Faculty Lounge was obviously a book I was interested in (I requested an eARC, after all), but the level of love I had for this book genuinely took me by surprise! Teaching is a career that I was interested in when I was growing up, but never in a million years did I ever consider teaching high school. High School was an enjoyable experience for me, but you could not pay me enough to stand in front of a classroom full of high schoolers and try to instill a passion for a subject in them. All that to say: the only experience I have with teachers is when I was in school. I can’t speak to how true-to-life this is for real-life school staff, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many teachers were a lot like the teachers featured in this work. (How many times will I be saying ‘teacher’ in this review?)

The characters in The Faculty Lounge were all intriguing, quirky, and often endearing. I adored certain chapters more than others, but there wasn’t a single chapter that I found myself starting to skim or wanting to skip. Even the longer chapters held my attention well, which is sometimes hard. All the teachers and staff had unique stories and struggles, and I truly adored watching them get to know each other better or overcome struggles.

I cannot speak highly enough about this. It was warm, silly, messy, and even tear-inducing on an occasion or two. I loved pretty much every minute I spent reading it, and I wouldn’t hesitate to read another book by Jennifer Mathieu. I will most definitely be recommending this one to my teacher friends!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Group, and Jennifer Mathieu for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A series of humorous stories about Baldwin High School faculty. Cute, easy read. It was so much fun.

This was a quick, engaging read. It felt nostalgic, bringing up hidden memories from high school. I liked the different POVS.

I absolutely loved The Faculty Lounge! I am a retired educator, and the story about the workings of a high school rang so true. I appreciated the comments staff made about upper administration and high stakes testing! The book is filled with likeable and relatable characters. Great read!

“What happened to institutions when they were no longer needed? What happened to legends when they retired? With each passing day, these questions haunted her more and more frequently.”

“The Faculty Lounge” begins when an elderly substitute teacher dies in the lounge at Baldwin High School. The death of Mr. Lehrer briefly shakes the school but, after the PTO president discovers the teachers and principal carrying out his final wishes to scatter his ashes on campus, the school finds itself under a microscope the size of the book’s Texas setting.

Each chapter of the book is told through the perspective of a different teacher. We learn in flashbacks and through their eyes what brought them into the profession, how they experience the school and what they think about teaching in an increasingly volatile environment where learning vital things like critical race theory and kindness are coming under fire.

I don’t understand why this biting yet tender book isn’t getting more hype. Jennifer Mathieu has an incredible knack for creating relatable, big-hearted characters who are at once flawed and realistic. She makes smart, clear points without resorting to beat-you-over-the-head satire. This was a fun, first 5-star read of 2025.

*Thank you to Dutton Books for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.*

An entertaining book featuring a quirky group of characters who are teachers at a Houston high school. Full of problems, pressure, issues and memories.

REVIEW☕️🍎

The Faculty Lounge ~ Jennifer Matthieu
Pages: 304
Genre: Literary Fiction

An Ode to Educators…
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Oh boy, if you’re a teacher this is a must! An inside look at the life of educators - if you’ve been in a classroom, you will just get it! The impact of a close colleague, the luck in a janitor that does it all, the poorly timed PD, the holiday party white elephant, even the text chain that ensues over a parent’s wild email - The Faculty Lounge dives into all of it and couldn’t be more spot on.

I laughed, my heart swelled, I loved the accuracy, and I didn’t want to stop reading. And I haven’t really wanted to read for months. Even if you aren’t a teacher you will most certainly be taken back to a favorite of yours and enjoy getting an inside scoop. Highly recommend. I wish more people were talking about this one as it deserves all the praise!

Teachers do so, so much more than they are ever given credit for. I imagined this being a pretty light read. It was marketed as funny. There is a sarcastic humor throughout the book, but the various stories are more serious in nature. I was invested in the characters and touched by several of the stories. And it's a great reminder that a day in the life of a teacher is never just about teaching the subject matter and grading papers.

The Faculty Lounge takes place across the span of one school year, with the events of the book being kicked off by what is referred to as the courtyard incident. Mr. Lehrer, an English teacher turned substitute in his retirement, is found dead in the faculty lounge. According to his son, his wishes were for his ashes to be scattered in the courtyard of Baldwin High School. The principle, doing his best to follow Mr. Lehrer's wishes, conducts a small ceremony for staff that is discovered by the president of the PTA as the ashes of Mr. Lehrer are mistakenly scattered on the visiting parents. Each chapter of the book follows a different member of staff at Baldwin and explores their relationships to their work and to each other in the aftermath of the incident.

I found this book to be really sweet and funny. All of the characters had a lot of depth to them and it was fun to see their interactions with the other members of staff at the school. Mathieu is able to talk about more serious topics with humor as well as heart, making this book a very heartwarming read. This book will be a great one for readers who enjoy really getting to know characters, fans of realistic fiction, and I think it will also appeal to fans of Fredrik Backman.

Chaos, joy, and tragedy combine in this story of teachers and staff at a high school.

Told using multiple points of view. Teachers and staff are faced with a variety of issues in their work and personal lives.

The Faculty Lounge is a humorous contemporary novel. Heartwarming and entertaining.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Faculty Lounge follows a group of teachers at the largest high school in Houston, TX. Working in education, I found this book equal parts entertaining and depressing. It is definitely true to life and provides a glimpse into several faculty member's lives including the principal, custodian, counselor, substitute teacher, nurse, and more. It really showed the struggles of education and the hardships educators face. The author is a teacher and wss able to capture the realities of education, both good and bad.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange be for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I am grateful that the publishers allowed me to read and review a copy of this book.

A a teacher, I could relate to many of the characters in this book. While it sometimes got slightly too political for my personal liking, so many of the sentiments about teaching in public schools today were relevant, relatable, and funny. I really liked the approach that the author took in writing from a different perspective throughout the year. I especially loved hearing from a custodian’s point of view (the unsung heroes of our schools!) and loved the way the book ended in such a touching way. I will definitely recommend this book to my friends who work in education!