Rose Owen makes it a point to never show emotion or form any bonds with her co-workers, in her role as a high school history teacher. But when Martin Krause is hired into her department and one of her favourite classes is given to him, it's hard to say completely detached. But it's also pretty hard to hate Martin as he's so consistently nice. As Rose and Martin work to engage students, they discover that there may be other ways they'd enjoy spending time together as well.

A cute romance and I was particularly delighted that the main characters are in their 40s (always nice to see wider age representation in romance). There's some excellent humour here and Dade does a solid job of developing the characters and their romance. However, I can tell that this novel was self-published as it lacks the polish and sparkle of her other traditionally published works that I assume was created in collaboration with her editor(s). Of course, it's also an earlier work so some of the rough patches might also be attributed to her writing skills not being as well-developed as they are now. A decent read but not where I'd recommend starting if you're trying Dade for the first time. ( )

Right before the school year is set to begin, Rose Owens is told that her Honors History Class is going to be given to a newly hired teacher named Martin Krause. Rose wants to hate him, but finds him to be a sweet man, who goes out of his way to help her as much as she helps him. Rose goes out on a limb and asks Martin on a date, but after he refuses, he quickly realizes his mistake and sets out to make himself irresistible to Rose.

Teach Me does a good job of shedding light on many issues faced by teachers on a daily basis, but unfortunately, the romance is a little lack-luster. This short book doesn't do enough with developing characters and creating more than superficial emotional backstories. However, the characters are likable, especially Rose's former in-laws, Annette and Alfred, who put on a show of being old and frail every time something doesn't go their way. Overall, Teach Me hits the right notes several times in the book, but not enough to make this more than an average romantic comedy. ( )

I'm hesitant to rate this because while I don't think it was bad, the target market is pretty specific and not for me, and I did not enjoy/relate many of the aspects of it personally. I'm glad that it is providing representation and diversity in the romance genre and a lot of people will enjoy this author for it, but the only thing that I enjoyed about it was that the MCs were a bit older in their 40s instead of 20s. Otherwise it felt like something straight out of Tumblr. ( )

Sweet, steamy, full of heart. Teachers loving teachers in an unconstrained passion for their jobs and each other... I mean, that sounds a little silly, but the book has enough love to cover it. Particularly love how they care so much about their students, and everything takes a back-seat to that. There's a lot of somewhat self-conscious modeling -- explicitly supportive conversations on the topics of women's pride, fierceness and praise for unapologetic identity claiming. Pushback about toxic masculinity, elevation of found family and healing after divorce. The real strengths of the book are in hilarious dialogue and compassionate but thorny characters. Good stuff! ( )

It's surprising that this is the first romance that involves two high school teachers. I liked it. Didn't always understand Rose and sometimes Martin, so they provoked my interest. ( )