Teach Me

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 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 didn’t know what to expect from Olivia Dade’s ‘Teach Me’ but a romance set in school (one that begins with a bit of hostility) between 2 older, scarred , divorced people wasn’t it. Yet it surprised me once I got going, past the initial friction between Rose Owens and Martin Krause after the school administrator did a bit of deliberate reshuffling intended to sting hard.

Rose/Martin are exceptional educators—I suspect Dad wouldn’t write them otherwise—but Dade excellently juggles the demands of teaching with the issues teachers themselves face…along with a burgeoning attraction at the workplace that neither of whom quite knows how to navigate.

Dade beautifully captures the inner workings of human behaviour with her characterisation, laying out the complicated bundle of emotions tangled up with even messier histories and self-esteem issues that can’t be miraculously shrugged off even by age. And by doing so, lays out a new standard of sexy that isn’t defined by blindingly-movie-star looks or bulging muscles that many male romantic protagonists exude, but rather, one that’s grounded in quiet integrity, steadiness and fierce intelligence.

The slow burn between Martin and Rose is something to be savoured really; Martin dismantles Rose’s hard shell of emotional armour with patience and so much gallantry that it’s impossible not to love him as a romantic hero, especially when it’s clearly so against the usual romantic-male-type that one gets by the dozen in the genre. He’s a dreamboat, in short, whose age has given him enough hindsight, perspective and maturity in dealing with Rose’s issues as well as his own scars to know what he wants and needs.

But ‘Teach Me’ is particularly enjoyable because of the uber-maturity that resounds everywhere—where restraint is prized over emotional outbursts, where things are talked about and calmly discussed, where behaviour isn’t ruled by petty, hormonal renderings. That it’s so well-written, so brilliantly articulated is a treat. Rare is the occasion—and one I rue here—where I want more smutty interactions and if this is the book’s only shortcoming, then it’s obviously on me.

Published on GoodReads on May 20, 2019 and on Amazon (release date)

A quote:
“How he could sit there, by Rosie’s side, holding her hand, full of so much love and kindness, she had no idea. He’d somehow managed to keep his heart open, even as the people he loved proceeded to damage it, one after the other.” (Loc. 2575, quote from ARC)

“Teach Me”, by Olivia Dade, is an excellent novel, a delightful read, featuring a yummy Beta hero in his forties, who is a bit nerd and shy, but not too much, a bit awkward but not exaggeratedly so. With that lean muscles and not obvious strength, a pair of fantastic blue eyes, and his less-than-ideal life and background, Martin is an awesome modern hero.
I just loved this story about two wholesome people, who are committed teachers, both wounded in so many ways, but resilient and fiercely devoted to teaching and to their students. They’re both broken and strong in many aspects but they’re so good (and get even stronger) together. And their connection and chemistry is sizzling.
Martin is such an attractive male, devoid of that stereotypical alphaness that we’re used to see in our fictional heroes. Being kind, compassionate, tender (the relationship with his daughter is beautifully written) makes him so human and realistic; his self-doubts seem so natural and his fascination with Rosie’s ‘magnificence’ is sweet and endearing. And how come this Beta hero is as strong as an alpha in the end?
I loved the secondary characters, too, and hope to read their stories in the future (and have the chance to meet Martin and Rosie again).

Olivia Dade is a new-to-me author. I will certainly be investigating her backlist with great thoroughness after this.

What an utterly fabulous book, the only way to properly review it is with a list (and I shall try to be as comprehensive as possible):

1. Rose is a 40 something divorced high school history teacher; she had a very tough upbringing, a difficult marriage and divorce, and as a result, she has sheathed herself emotionally in an icy exterior to keep people from being able to truly reach her and therefore, hurt her. I. ADORED. HER. She’s a curvy, confident AF in her own skin, brilliant heroine who knows full well just how fabulous and awesome she is. She owns exactly who she is, unapologetically so, from her impeccably styled, all-black wardrobe to the pointy toed stilettos she wears, almost as an armor. She has an intense love, both for her chosen profession and her students, and a deep, driven desire to improve her pedagogical skills. Her prickly exterior is simply a defense mechanism because, as this book shows time and again, when she loves, it’s wholly and deeply and unconditionally.

2. Martin is a 40 something divorced high school history teacher about to see his beloved daughter, his Sweet Bea, off to college at the end of the school year. He also had a difficult upbringing, a difficult marriage and divorce, but the way he carries himself, his inner strength and fortitude, makes him, to borrow a term from Rose, a marvel. He sees Rose, truly sees who she is and never once expects or wants her to be anything other than exactly who she is. He’s got his own scars to deal with, his own battles to fight but, and this is what I liked about both of these MC’s, they never attempted to excuse who they were or try to change themselves or each other; they simply were who they were and they accepted each other just as they were.

3. This is a grown up love story, in that these are both 40 something adults and as such, they act accordingly. They have responsibilities, to their jobs, their students, Martin to his daughter, etc. There are love scenes, and even then, it’s beautifully rendered, to show their maturity in a way that doesn’t seem heavy-handed. He attempts to hoist her up on the counter during their first sexual encounter and she reminds him laughingly about his back spasms. They have expectations of each other, but more importantly, they also have expectations from themselves, a personal sense of honor and pride that forces them to ask for what they want, what they need, and ultimately, what they deserve.

4. Supporting characters:
Bea, the aforementioned daughter, is written with delightful humor, a teenager who gently ribs her dad but also understands how lucky she is to have him and to worry about what might happen when she goes off to college and he is left all alone.

Annette and Alfred: Rose’s ex-in-laws; it is a very unusual relationship they have with their former daughter in-law but it really works, authentic and genuine and full of love. Their “acting” bits really made me laugh out loud.

Rose and Martin also have some interesting colleagues and students and even when they are only mentioned briefly, they are written with such depth and dimension that I can’t help but hope they show up to star in future books. Bianca, of the goth-minded softball team with her many vendettas and English teacher Candy Albright with her many literary oriented initiatives (Wuthering Heights is NOT a romance was my personal favorite) were particular highlights.

In the end though, the main characters are really what lies at the center of any romance and Rose and Martin make for an exceptional duo, both resilient and tenacious and full of heart despite their many emotional scars. They made me fall in love with them as individuals and root for them as a couple. That, in my book, is a total 5 star read.