jmc_bks

Lesson learned?

High school history teacher Joe Wisniewski may be in a rut, but he dug it himself and he's not planning on getting out any time soon. The last thing he wants is to mentor a starry-eyed newcomer, so when he gets an unexpected asignment -- Emily Sullivan, a student tearcher with a steamroller smile and dynamite legs -- he digs in deeper and ducks for cover.

Emily has looked up to the legendary "Wiz" for a long time. In her opinion, the man is coasting these days, and she's sure a little change in his routine is exactly what he needs. Besides this assignment is her chance to prove to her family -- and herself -- that she can stick to one project.

The question is: Will Emily get Joe fired up or just plain fired?

Joe Wisniewski is a 40ish social studies teacher in a small town outside Seattle. He's liberal, leftwing and crunchy; he travels during the summer on his motorcycle, wears Birks to school, drinks too much, and is kind of coasting. He likes his job, but he isn't as passionately into it as he was when he was a young teacher. Mostly, he just wants to do his job and be left alone.

Emily is a 29 year old student teacher. She has bounced from job to job and is finally settling on what she thinks she wants to do. She chose Joe's high school specifically -- she and her family lived in town when she was younger and he inspired her brother to think for himself and rebel a little bit against their conservative family. Emily herself repeats to Joe on a couple of occasions that she is a conservative Republican, but there is no evidence. Told not shown.

Joe is more or less coerced to have Emily in his class as a student teacher. They struggle with their attraction toward one another, which is inappropriate given the supervisor-mentor relationship, not to mention the fact that his recommendation will influence her future.

What I liked: the teaching was not a throw-away career for the characters. It plays a significant role in the relationship of Emily and Joe, and in the plot. It matters to them and to the story. The secondary characters are relevant and play particular roles, as well. No throw aways, for the most part.

What I didn't like: a lot of possibilities were raised and then disgarded. Why did Emily bounce around so much before settling on teaching? What did she have to prove to anyone? Her parents didn't look down on her or frown about her checkered career. The bad-guy principal. He's really only there to create a scapegoat or out on the way to the HEA, but he wasn't really necessary. Emily and Joe's relationship crossed the line on its own; no third wheel was necessary to bring the matter to a head. The reason that Joe keeps a distance between himself and others received a good bit of build up; when all was revealed, it turned out to be juvenile and over-melodramatic. Okay for 22 year old angst, not for a 40 year old.

Joe reminded me of a couple of teachers I know, which was both good and bad. I could see how he inspired his students but also how tired of the grind he must be after 15+ years. I found it hard to warm to Emily as a heroine. It bothered me how focused she was on what she wanted (to jolt Joe out of his complacency) without any respect for what he wanted (to be left alone). I know, the fact that this is a romance novel means he's gotta give sooner or later, but it felt like she was doing a subtler version of the same roughshod ride over his opinions and life that alpha heroes typically do in romance novels. The change of sex didn't make that behavior any less irritating to me.

There is also a little bit of an ick factor for me. Emily had a crush on Joe as an adolescent and fantasized about him, and it sounds like she isn't totally over the crush when she starts working with him. Reminds me of Zoe and Jake in Brockmann's The Admirals's Bride. The age difference isn't an issue, but the lingering teenaged hero-worship crush did. Can an adult relationship thrive in a situation like that?

I don't often pick up Harlequin Superromances, mostly because they seem like Women's Fiction Lite to me, and I'm not really interested in babies or second marriages or angst in my romance. Learning Curves wasn't too bad for an HS -- at least there weren't any precocious children acting as matchmakers. I'd give it a C+.