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kdurham2's review against another edition
3.0
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Carolyn Jenkins is a young woman who has decided to take a risk and become a teacher at a high risk high school and with it comes fifth and sixth graders who are well behind in the learning curve. At the same time she is going through a few relationship changes both with friends and men where she will have to make some definite decisions.
Carolyn Jenkins is a young woman who has decided to take a risk and become a teacher at a high risk high school and with it comes fifth and sixth graders who are well behind in the learning curve. At the same time she is going through a few relationship changes both with friends and men where she will have to make some definite decisions.
drey72's review against another edition
4.0
Carolyn Jenkins is a newly-minted teacher who’s somehow ticked off the Principal of her inner-city school, so he now uses her as his whipping post. As if that isn’t bad enough, she manages to survive a gun in her classroom, then breaks it off with her boyfriend and meets a handsome stranger – all in the same day, and not necessarily in that order…
It doesn’t take Carolyn long to figure out what she’s willing to do to help her students succeed, but she’s darned if she knows what to do about the stranger. Especially when she loses his number. Then life throws him in her path again, and she learns that he comes with a brood of crazy sisters. Is she willing to put up with them, for him?
Carolyn does a lot of growing up in Love and Other Subjects, and not all of the lessons she learns are of the easy variety. Her roommates — and friends — are also teachers at the same school, but neither Laura nor Nina have been on the receiving end of the Principal’s high-handed ass-holery, so they can’t really empathize with Carolyn. Nor do they quite get why she’s so interested on the “old” guy. (Yes, the handsome stranger is a bit older than Carolyn, and we all know how relative “old” is to the young…)
Figuring out how to take on the world (or, making your mark on the world) once you’ve left the relative cocoon of college is never an easy thing, as Carolyn finds out, but I loved following along on her adventures. You’re full of hope and optimism, and not quite sure how to handle the events that come hurtling your way, especially when they’re not as hunky-dory as you are… And while Kathleen Shoop makes it all seem so easily conquered, I do know that it always seems easier than it actually is. As Carolyn finds her feet and sets her path, you can’t help but cheer her on and wish her all the best.
I really enjoyed reading Love and Other Subjects, and “watching” it play out in my head. This is one of those stories I wouldn’t mind seeing transferred to the big screen.
drey’s rating: Excellent!
It doesn’t take Carolyn long to figure out what she’s willing to do to help her students succeed, but she’s darned if she knows what to do about the stranger. Especially when she loses his number. Then life throws him in her path again, and she learns that he comes with a brood of crazy sisters. Is she willing to put up with them, for him?
Carolyn does a lot of growing up in Love and Other Subjects, and not all of the lessons she learns are of the easy variety. Her roommates — and friends — are also teachers at the same school, but neither Laura nor Nina have been on the receiving end of the Principal’s high-handed ass-holery, so they can’t really empathize with Carolyn. Nor do they quite get why she’s so interested on the “old” guy. (Yes, the handsome stranger is a bit older than Carolyn, and we all know how relative “old” is to the young…)
Figuring out how to take on the world (or, making your mark on the world) once you’ve left the relative cocoon of college is never an easy thing, as Carolyn finds out, but I loved following along on her adventures. You’re full of hope and optimism, and not quite sure how to handle the events that come hurtling your way, especially when they’re not as hunky-dory as you are… And while Kathleen Shoop makes it all seem so easily conquered, I do know that it always seems easier than it actually is. As Carolyn finds her feet and sets her path, you can’t help but cheer her on and wish her all the best.
I really enjoyed reading Love and Other Subjects, and “watching” it play out in my head. This is one of those stories I wouldn’t mind seeing transferred to the big screen.
drey’s rating: Excellent!
aprice12's review
4.0
This book starts off with a bang (for those that have read it already, you know get it, right?) and just keeps getting better. I love that the character, Carolyn, feels so believable. I know that I would feel the same way if I were just starting out as a teacher dealing with some troubled students, a nasty piece of work for a principal. And, oh!, that secretary or receptionist, whatever she is. Now she is a real winner. She made me hate her right from the moment she walked into the room.
Kathleen Shoop is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her characters are all multi-layered and believable, her books always have such heart in them, and her writing just flows along so easily, effortlessly carrying the reader along to the end.
I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading about the struggle to find your own place in the world. The struggle of trying to define yourself and discover who you want to be. To anyone that loves engaging stories, lovable characters, hilarious happenings, and terrific writing, then this book is for you.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the ebook free for review purposes. Regardless, all opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
Kathleen Shoop is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Her characters are all multi-layered and believable, her books always have such heart in them, and her writing just flows along so easily, effortlessly carrying the reader along to the end.
I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading about the struggle to find your own place in the world. The struggle of trying to define yourself and discover who you want to be. To anyone that loves engaging stories, lovable characters, hilarious happenings, and terrific writing, then this book is for you.
Disclosure: I received a copy of the ebook free for review purposes. Regardless, all opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
katenylander's review against another edition
2.0
Just schlok. Fine for an easy summer read, but on the more embarrassingly bad end of books I've read.
goingforgoldilocks's review against another edition
I feel like this book doesn't know what it wants to be and at 40% done I'm still bored.
booksonhermind's review
2.0
She's Got Books on Her Mind
Carolyn has been teaching for two months and her dream of changing lives is crumpling beneath her. Her boss Mr. Klein breathes down her neck while her students constantly fight with one another. She starts wondering if becoming a teacher was a mistake. Compared to her best friends she is failing royally. Not only is her work life in shambles but her personal life too. She realizes that what her longtime boyfriend Alex wants she doesn't. She's known this for a while now but it's confirmed when she meets a mysterious man that she falls for instantly. As she tries to take control of her work and love life Carolyn has to face challenges and obstacles all around her. She must find a way to have things work for her so her life and the lives of the students that depend on her are saved.
I was really excited to read another teacher book. I was readily looking for another The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume. I quickly realized this book was going to be very different. It started off pretty shaky for me with an incident in the classroom that I think wasn't done right and later in what felt like her falling in the instalove trap. I groaned internally and was hoping that this didn't foreshadow the rest of the story. Luckily it did pick up when you saw Carolyn in her element - the classroom. I felt her pain when she didn't know how to react to some of these kids words and actions. I would have frozen and possibly given up if I were her. I would have burst out crying if I had a boss like hers who is the definition of evil. He just doesn't care and nothing has convinced me otherwise. His and this other woman's relationship just really made me angry. It was so inappropriate and wrong. There were moments with Carolyn that I thought were inappropriate and unnecessary too but I digress. It seems to always happen with me and adult books.
I really didn't like the relationship between her and the mysterious man who everyone said was like sixty. He apparently is fifteen years older but I don't know why it was mentioned so much. It seemed so weird. I just didn't connect with them as a couple. I did like the drama that ensued when she met his well to do family. It left me feeling sorry for Carolyn but also it provided me with some excitement seeing it all unfold around her which sounds mean but I just like drama. I felt bad for Carolyn most of the way through the book. She had to deal with so much and I wanted to see more people on her corner. I wanted her to stand up to her horrid boss. I love that she got some backbone at the end of the book. She was also sneakily being awesome with actually teaching her students without the principle knowing. I didn't like how she assumed some things about the people around her but I did see that she acknowledged she was doing something wrong. She worked hard for people to see her for who she was and to see that she was trying to be better. I really appreciated that side of her. I wish it was only her in the classroom all the time though. That's where the book kept my attention.
All of her students have a hard time reading or can't read at all. One of her students has huge issues that no one seems to notice but her until he gets Mr. Klein's attention. Ooh! That Mr. Klein. He just burns me inside. He would have someone listen to her teach over the intercom. He would criticize her teaching for hours after school. He would make her have a manual of things to ask the students or something silly like that. The kids were bored by it so they never learned anything doing things the Klein way. You don't know how happy it made me for Carolyn to actually teach these kids something and to take initiative. She got to know the students personally and I kept on thinking that this, this is what I wanted to see. It's because I didn't like the romance that when I saw her in the classroom I saw her in a new and better light. She had her faults but she was a great, caring teacher that just needed a chance.
I'm glad that there was a large portion of the book that just focused on the teaching side of her life. It's what I wanted when I decided I wanted to read this book. It was the best part of the book and I really just feel like it should have been focused on even more. After two books about teachers I've realized that I need to find and read more books like them. I don't know what it is about reading books where the teacher is the main character. Maybe all those years in a classroom it's kind of cool to get into a teacher's head. I think mostly it's because I like seeing teachers taking students on this journey and arriving at the end successful. I like hopeful books that make you want to see the good that happens in the world instead of constantly seeing the bad.
Carolyn has been teaching for two months and her dream of changing lives is crumpling beneath her. Her boss Mr. Klein breathes down her neck while her students constantly fight with one another. She starts wondering if becoming a teacher was a mistake. Compared to her best friends she is failing royally. Not only is her work life in shambles but her personal life too. She realizes that what her longtime boyfriend Alex wants she doesn't. She's known this for a while now but it's confirmed when she meets a mysterious man that she falls for instantly. As she tries to take control of her work and love life Carolyn has to face challenges and obstacles all around her. She must find a way to have things work for her so her life and the lives of the students that depend on her are saved.
I was really excited to read another teacher book. I was readily looking for another The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume. I quickly realized this book was going to be very different. It started off pretty shaky for me with an incident in the classroom that I think wasn't done right and later in what felt like her falling in the instalove trap. I groaned internally and was hoping that this didn't foreshadow the rest of the story. Luckily it did pick up when you saw Carolyn in her element - the classroom. I felt her pain when she didn't know how to react to some of these kids words and actions. I would have frozen and possibly given up if I were her. I would have burst out crying if I had a boss like hers who is the definition of evil. He just doesn't care and nothing has convinced me otherwise. His and this other woman's relationship just really made me angry. It was so inappropriate and wrong. There were moments with Carolyn that I thought were inappropriate and unnecessary too but I digress. It seems to always happen with me and adult books.
I really didn't like the relationship between her and the mysterious man who everyone said was like sixty. He apparently is fifteen years older but I don't know why it was mentioned so much. It seemed so weird. I just didn't connect with them as a couple. I did like the drama that ensued when she met his well to do family. It left me feeling sorry for Carolyn but also it provided me with some excitement seeing it all unfold around her which sounds mean but I just like drama. I felt bad for Carolyn most of the way through the book. She had to deal with so much and I wanted to see more people on her corner. I wanted her to stand up to her horrid boss. I love that she got some backbone at the end of the book. She was also sneakily being awesome with actually teaching her students without the principle knowing. I didn't like how she assumed some things about the people around her but I did see that she acknowledged she was doing something wrong. She worked hard for people to see her for who she was and to see that she was trying to be better. I really appreciated that side of her. I wish it was only her in the classroom all the time though. That's where the book kept my attention.
All of her students have a hard time reading or can't read at all. One of her students has huge issues that no one seems to notice but her until he gets Mr. Klein's attention. Ooh! That Mr. Klein. He just burns me inside. He would have someone listen to her teach over the intercom. He would criticize her teaching for hours after school. He would make her have a manual of things to ask the students or something silly like that. The kids were bored by it so they never learned anything doing things the Klein way. You don't know how happy it made me for Carolyn to actually teach these kids something and to take initiative. She got to know the students personally and I kept on thinking that this, this is what I wanted to see. It's because I didn't like the romance that when I saw her in the classroom I saw her in a new and better light. She had her faults but she was a great, caring teacher that just needed a chance.
I'm glad that there was a large portion of the book that just focused on the teaching side of her life. It's what I wanted when I decided I wanted to read this book. It was the best part of the book and I really just feel like it should have been focused on even more. After two books about teachers I've realized that I need to find and read more books like them. I don't know what it is about reading books where the teacher is the main character. Maybe all those years in a classroom it's kind of cool to get into a teacher's head. I think mostly it's because I like seeing teachers taking students on this journey and arriving at the end successful. I like hopeful books that make you want to see the good that happens in the world instead of constantly seeing the bad.
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