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morganhall21's review
5.0
I really enjoyed these 4 short stories. They are all about teacher's that have to overcome some kind of problem that their faced with the man that they take a liking to, sometimes they have to realize they even liked him. But the problem that these teacher's have to overcome are anything from family secrets to giving up their careers for love. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who loves to read christian fiction.
#ATeachersHeart #NetGalley
#ATeachersHeart #NetGalley
cakt1991's review
4.0
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Like all novella collections, this one tends to lack cohesiveness in terms of story quality. However, the real standouts are the two contributions by African American Christian authors, Lessons from the Heart by Terri J. Haynes and Courting the Doctor by Ceceilia Dowdy. The former masterfully explores the complex race relations of a family where a slave and a slave owner are half brothers, and both hero and heroine are examples of blacks fighting for their freedom (or risking it) in different ways. Dowdy's contribution makes excellent use of the word count, portraying the soul searching of a man who has done wrong by the woman he loves with her sister, and him coming back to her.
The other two were a real study of contrasts in its use of the "teacher" theme, and both much weaker. The better of the two, Lynette Sowell's Schooling Mr. Mason, is suffers only for not being super memorable. But I liked that she does succeed in the end, and it's proof that competition and love sometimes do go hand-in-hand.
However, Lessons in Love by Lynn A. Coleman is a massive disappointment. Helen clearly has suffragette views at the beginning of the book, opposing the policy that a female teacher can't be married. She has some moments of connecting on an intellectual level, and an emotional one, with fellow teacher, Daniel Moore, who, while he isn't opposed to female teachers on principle, personally desires his own wife to be at home with the family, and the conflict over what she should do as he prepares to move on after attaining his PhD is the central conflict. And of course, she ends up giving up teaching, because "how different is teaching from marriage/motherhood?" (paraphrasing an actual line from the book).
I did enjoy this anthology for the most part, especially the visibility it provided for the two black authors, who I want to read more of.
Like all novella collections, this one tends to lack cohesiveness in terms of story quality. However, the real standouts are the two contributions by African American Christian authors, Lessons from the Heart by Terri J. Haynes and Courting the Doctor by Ceceilia Dowdy. The former masterfully explores the complex race relations of a family where a slave and a slave owner are half brothers, and both hero and heroine are examples of blacks fighting for their freedom (or risking it) in different ways. Dowdy's contribution makes excellent use of the word count, portraying the soul searching of a man who has done wrong by the woman he loves with her sister, and him coming back to her.
The other two were a real study of contrasts in its use of the "teacher" theme, and both much weaker. The better of the two, Lynette Sowell's Schooling Mr. Mason, is suffers only for not being super memorable. But I liked that she does succeed in the end, and it's proof that competition and love sometimes do go hand-in-hand.
However, Lessons in Love by Lynn A. Coleman is a massive disappointment. Helen clearly has suffragette views at the beginning of the book, opposing the policy that a female teacher can't be married. She has some moments of connecting on an intellectual level, and an emotional one, with fellow teacher, Daniel Moore, who, while he isn't opposed to female teachers on principle, personally desires his own wife to be at home with the family, and the conflict over what she should do as he prepares to move on after attaining his PhD is the central conflict. And of course, she ends up giving up teaching, because "how different is teaching from marriage/motherhood?" (paraphrasing an actual line from the book).
I did enjoy this anthology for the most part, especially the visibility it provided for the two black authors, who I want to read more of.
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