#teachers in love

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Queer Romance Starring Teachers

The 7-10 Split by Karmen Lee (f/f) Teachers in Love by M.A. Wardell (m/m series) Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun (f/f) South Rock High by A.J. Truman (m/m series) Chemistry Lessons by Jae (f/f)

[pridepages]

eARC Review: Napkins and Other Distractions

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

AMAZON SYNOPSIS:  On paper, they’re a disaster. In the sheets, they’re a perfect match.

Kent Lester is proud of the joyful, thriving learning community he’s created as principal of Lear Elementary School. But seven years after his divorce, he’s ready to focus on his personal life and spread his bisexual wings. Things get off to a rocky start when Kent’s first date is an uptight control freak — although that doesn’t stop them tangling some sheets.

Vincent Manda never seems able to move past the friend zone, and besides, he’s not sure anyone can handle his OCD. But that night with the bearded, older Kent revealed a side of Vincent he’d never experienced before. And he’s equal parts scared of and desperate for a repeat.

When Lear’s test scores take a nosedive, Kent finds himself under the microscope. Forced to implement new software to monitor and collect school data, he’s horrified to discover that Vincent is working on the project. With his last install ending less than ideally, Vincent’s job depends on this one succeeding — and butting heads with the principal won’t help.

Vincent and Kent need to view each other in a new light, but that could change their futures forever.

RELEASE DATE: June 4, 2024

See my full review under the cut!

The lead couple of Napkins and Other Distractions are unlikely romance heroes. They're both solidly middle-aged, separated by a fifteen-year age gap. One is divorced. One is perpetually single, isolated by the severe OCD that most people cannot understand.

But Kent and Vincent are about to discover that sometimes even the 'well-seasoned' could use a little spice!

Wardell is frank about his open-door sex scenes. He wants to be known as a 'spicy' writer, and with each new book he turns up the heat.

These guys are kinky! Even if that's not your personal taste...

...you have to love how open they are to self-discovery.

It's so easy to become set in your ways. As you pass those early, tumultuous years and start to settle into adulthood, you start to think that you've discovered everything there is to learn about yourself. But that sort of thinking sets boundaries--it keeps your world small. Being alive should be about experiencing everything you can: trying new things, meeting new people, and embracing change. Living is all about learning.

Learning how to love is the education in this book. Unlike the other books, the secondary storyline about what's happening in the school is...uncompelling. Part of the problem is that there's no heart in a storyline about data-gathering. There's an attempt to get us to care by injecting the stakes of Kent's job being at risk, but... My prevailing feeling was that this story didn't need to be set in a school the way Teacher of the Year and Mistletoe and Mishigas needed to be to serve their narratives. the more thoughtful lessons aren't set in any classroom--they're in the interactions between Kent and Vincent as they learn how to fit into each other's world.

I really appreciated how much nuance went into each of their arcs. The takeaway wasn't "Vincent needs to get better" or "Kent needs to change." Both of them had to learn how to make space for each other and how to fit together. Kent learns how to make Vincent's world feel safer in little ways like remembering his preference for even numbers and in big ways like sitting together through episodes of intense compulsion. In turn, Vincent learns how to ride out the chaos that comes with loving a messy, klutzy man. Watching them figure out how to communicate, adapt, and do the work of loving--the work that makes you feel more instead of less--is the lesson.

Napkins and Other Distractions is a chili pepper dipped in a sugar glaze--the kind of sexy book that feels accessible to real people not because it's tame, but because it invites the reader to see themselves in it. It's the kind of book that makes you feel good because you leave it believing that you too may contain multitudes. You too may still have adventures ahead.

You too may have a person.

Even if it takes you another decade or two to find them.

[aplaceinme]

I started reading “Teacher of the Year (Teachers in Love)” by M. A. Wardell. I'm only at chapter 8 so it's too soon to tell if it's really good or not, but so far I am liking it (each chapter gets more interesting).

I wanted to share some quotes, though (for context, the narrator and main character is called Marvin and his cat is called Gonzo):

“I wouldn’t run unless zombies were chasing me, and even then, after a block, I’d probably relent and offer myself up as a tasty kosher snack.”

---

“I’ve mastered overthinking, and my body finds bolting awake in the middle of the night the perfect time to hone my expertise. A whole night’s sleep? Why rest when my mind can ping-pong about multiple topics and increase my bubbling anxiety simultaneously?”

---

“bananas are the one food I can’t stomach. Something about the smell makes me nauseous; if I get too close to one, my gag reflex kicks in.”

---

“Why are nerds so damn sexy? Their glasses and big vocabulary have me babbling like a fool.”

---

“What I actually want to do is go home, order a large pizza for myself, put on pajamas, and be in bed shoving pizza in my face and watching Netflix with Gonzo by seven.”

I'm Marvin… Marvin is me!!!! So relatable!!!

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Another year, another group of my delightful ninth graders trying to spell the word "tragedy" for their Romeo and Juliet assignment.

Last year's collection

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

- James Baldwin talking about Love

[nalonzooo]

you ever like someone so much

[novaneondream]

the best years are yet to come

[tiiramisu-cake]

Gojo Satoru visiting Kugisaki nobara while she is in coma, sitting next to her, and talking to her. Gojo Satoru swapping souls with Yuta okkotsu, teaching him everything he knows about his cursed technique. Gojo Satoru hiding Sukuna's last finger to indefinitely postpone Yuji's execution. Gojo Satoru who bore the burden of being a monster, killed all the higher ups alone because he refused to let his students watch such gruesome sights. Gojo Satoru who believed he would win right til the end. Gojo Satoru who died knowing his students had got it from there, that they would be able to save Fushiguro Megumi. Gojo Satoru who let his body be used as puppet after his death. Gojo Satoru who died knowing all his students would be saved.

[perfectquote]

I hope that you never, not even for one second, become a secondary character in your own story.

spanish teacher

[diabolicjoy]

you can start learning anything you always wanted at any point in your life. & how nice it is to remember that

[pridepages]

eARC Review: Mistletoe and Mishigas

A HUGE thank you to M.A. Wardell for providing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:  

Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister's been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he's forced to do something he detests. Help. To make matters worse, Theo's overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he's told them he has a boyfriend. Except he doesn't. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo? Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events. But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men's pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade?

RELEASE DATE: 10/10/2023

See my full review under the cut!

With apologies to the spooky gays, we're about to get festive!

(Note: in the interest of fairness to readers who don't yet have access, this will be a spoiler-free review without text quotations. I'll post again more fully in October when the book hits shelves!)

Anybody in education knows all about the sophomore slump.

Anybody who's ever written fiction can tell you that the second book is harder than the first.

Anybody who's ever read can tell you that second books frequently miss the mark.

Pop Quiz: How many apply to M.A. Wardell's Mistletoe and Mishigas?

Answer: None of the above!

I've been a Wardell fan since his debut, Teacher of the Year. Without being a direct sequel, Mishigas lives in the same universe. More notably, it brings the same magic.

Wardell has a particular gift: his fiction takes two seemingly incongruous things and blends them together.

On the one hand, the atmosphere of these stories is unfailingly cozy. It's feel-good. Readers feel safe and loved as they follow these characters. There is a sense of security that, no matter how many growing pains the characters must endure, they will end up happy.

On the other hand, these books tackle serious real-life issues. Characters live with trauma, neurodivergence, and simply with human flaws and blindspots. Wardell is able to weave in some of life's painful realities with grace and compassion that leaves readers hopeful--'if they can make it, then I can too!'

It goes without saying that representation matters, and that anyone who lives at the intersection of queer/Jewish/educator will feel a particularly special connection to this book. There's nothing like a holiday tale that speaks directly to the people who don't celebrate Christmas!

But one of the really special things about Mishigas is that you don't need to be any of those things to love it.

You don't even need it to be the holidays.

You just need a heart ready to grow three sizes that day.

(Sorry, I had to do it!)

[medleyofanangel]

[zillychu]

✨MERRY INVISOBANG✨

this was my first @invisobang and I had so much fun!! I got to be paired up with the SUPER awesome and talented @they-bite and @nanaarchy!

Cody's companion piece can be found here, and Ana's fic is here!

[nalonzooo]

shapes and gestures <3

[joneevarts]

Sky grampa and vertigo edgelord <3

[soahbee]

Older men's hands are the perfect jewelry on girls' necks.