#getting schooled

UnLife--Smart Questions (••)

Meanwhile, the minnows were still trying to make sense of why they were near the bottom of the food chain. They do say that those who study hardest go farthest...📚🐟 

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read in 2018 — getting schooled, emma chase.

Rating: ❤❤❤

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: 26 June 2018

Synopsis: Head of the class... Garrett Daniels has this whole life thing figured out. The cocky, charismatic former high school star quarterback is an idolized football coach and "cool" teacher in the hometown where he's not just a golden boy—he's platinum. He has good friends, a great house on the lake, and the best damn sidekick a man could ask for: Snoopy, the albino beagle. Then...Callie Carpenter comes home. And knocks him right on his tight end zone. Back to school... Callie has a pretty sweet life herself...on the other side of the country. But circumstances—that she'd prefer to never speak of again—have brought her back home, helping out her parents and substitute teaching at her old high school. Now she's facing bickering, raging hormones, constant gossip, awkward weirdness, and drama galore...and that's just the teachers. Just like old times... When Garrett offers to show his former high school sweetheart the secrets of his winning teacher ways, Callie jumps at the chance—and then has to stop herself from jumping him. Good friends are all they can ever be. Or...these teachers just might end up getting schooled—hard—by love.

Getting Schooled is the first in a new series by Emma Chase but it's also a complete stand alone. I adored the Royally Series when I read, then re-read the series so I had some high expectations for this. Except it kind of didn't live up to them. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, because I did, immensely, but there was just a bit too much I didn't like.

I should probably start with what I did like about this.

The Characters

The Setting

The Dialogue

The characters were insanely interesting though I felt Callie was a little lacking. Garrett was my favourite, he was cheeky and a bit smug but would totally go to bat for any of his students. I get that he is written to be physically attractive but to me that was secondary to his naturally caring demeanor also his relationship with his dog Snoopy was heart melting. Callie was fine if not a little bland and I felt like she sort of took Garrett for granted a little bit. He wanted everything with her but yeah… I dunno there was something off about it. I wanted better for him. Yeah okay so rekindling your relationship with your first love is super cute but I also felt there was no real growth to their relationship either. That being said their scenes were both super steamy and super romantic so there's that.

The story is set in New Jersey and I loved that. It's about ordinary people living ordinary lives with ordinary dramas. Who says you need a billionaire to be a good romance? That was so important to the story. You know these are people who will have the same struggles as you and it makes you cheer for their happiness just a little bit harder.

Emma Chase is the master at writing sharp and funny dialogue. At moments I busted out laughing at other times the tone shifted and had my heart feeling like it was being ripped from my chest. You really understood Garrett and Callie’s relationship, she built it up so well and I admire that skill.

Now onto what I didn't like.

The Cheese Factor

The Break Up Reason

The Forced Drama

As heartwarming as this was, it was also insanely cheesy. It seemed to tick all the boxes for a made for TV, Hallmark movie about troubled teens and second chances. At moments I was like “aw…” at others it felt like I was about to get diabetes from all the sweetness. That's not a bad thing if you're into that sort of inoffensive, lightweight read. But for me I wanted something more to sink my teeth into, something that wasn't so predictable or saccharine.

Okay without any spoilers for those who want to read this I found the break up reason to be really frustrating and I could totally see where Garrett was coming from and I found her inability to even try to speak to him about what happened to be one of the worst aspects of the book on a whole. The whole situation could have been resolved years earlier if she was communicative. I get that it's a super emotional and traumatic thing, but I'm also sick of that situation being used as a plot point to drive couples apart.

For what was a relatively angst free read there was some very on the nose forced drama towards the end that I didn't appreciate. YOU'RE IN YOUR 30’s CALLIE IT'S TIME TO LET GO OF PETTY HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA! Yeah Garrett probably should have told you but I don't think he has an obligation to feel bad about things that happened when they were BROKEN UP. I'm not talking “we were on a break” broken up, but a 15 YEAR LONG break up. It was annoying and unnecessary and for once in these books I side with the hero even if we're being forced to sympathise with her.