Reviewed by Jess

 

TITLE: Teacher’s Pet

AUTHORS: Kashmira Majumdar, S.A. James, Asta Idonea, Hudson Lin, Aila Alvina Boyd, Valentine Wheeler, Damian Serbu, Jack Harbon, and Arden Powell

PUBLISHER: NineStar Press

LENGTH: 249 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 12, 2018

BLURB:

Lessons Outside the Classroom

“By Virtue Fall” by Kashmira Majumdar – The rules have changed…and so have the consequences for breaking them.

“Striking Gold” by S.A. James – Sometimes when we think we have no choice, life brings something brighter.

“Full Marks” by Asta Idonea – When Jacob seeks out his favourite lecturer at a university reunion, will he get full marks?

“Lessons for a Lifetime” by Hudson Lin – A second language, a first chance at love.

“Welcome to Ms Skinner’s Freshman Composition” by Aila Alvina Boyd – After auditioning for a play, professor and student find themselves cast opposite each other as romantic leads.

“Piece of Cake” by Valentine Wheeler – All Richard wanted was a nice, quiet retirement. His kids aren’t going to let that happen.

“Professor Ghost” by Damian Serbu – An otherworldly mentor might be his way out.

“Bare” by Jack Harbon – When a passion for art turns into something more.

“The Botanist’s Apprentice” by Arden Powell – Don’t get too close to the flowers.

 

REVIEW:

Since the teacher/student dynamic can vary in so many ways, these stories simply can’t be read and rated as one entity. The power dynamics and relationships shift wildly depending on the characters’ ages, the setting, and the ways they meet and interact. Some of the stories had better dynamics than others and followed the theme in a more satisfying way. Here’s my breakdown.

 

“By Virtue Fall” by Kashmira Majumdar

I can see this one being a popular choice for a lot of readers. It takes place in a boarding school among the privileged, lazy elite, and there’s a lot of introspection on rooftops and questionable romances among apathetic youths. It’ll feel very familiar to the tone and style of a lot of popular YA/New Adult romances.

I think there’s a little too much stuffed into a pretty basic story. However, I liked how it portrays a complex teacher/student romance that blurs the line of ethics because the boys knew each other before one of them became a teacher, and the ending is pretty satisfying.

Story Rating: 3 Hearts

 

“Striking Gold” by S.A. James

This one involves an overburdened high school student and a substitute teacher who wrestle with attraction even after both of them move on to college.

Their story is a little uneven. I think James glossed over the slow, blossoming romance very quickly to get to some out-of-place erotica that didn’t do much for the story. And Daniel’s complicated relationship with his alcoholic mother was intriguing but deserving of a longer story or book. As far as the teacher/student dynamic goes, I like how the flirtation was always there, but they waited to act on their attraction until after high school ended. It felt like a mature, realistic choice for the characters.

Story Rating: 3 Hearts

 

“Full Marks” by Asta Idonea

While this story brings the heat, I think it’s the least memorable of the anthology. There’s nothing much to it besides a steamy office sex scene between a college professor and his recently-graduated student. The chemistry might be there, but paired with the other stories in the collection, I was left wanting a little more story.

This is also the point in the book where I started getting restless and wanting something a little different. These first three stories all portray a fairly straightforward M/M teacher/student dynamic that takes place in high school or college. I think they should’ve been paced apart between the other stories.

Story Rating: 3 Hearts

 

“Lessons for a Lifetime” by Hudson Lin

Finally, something a little different! This story is about a Taiwanese-Canadian high school teacher who takes on an ESL night class and meets a handsome Ethiopian immigrant as one of his new students. Their romance is very sweet and traditional and develops very naturally. It’s a take on a teacher/student relationship that flips the script, letting them both teach each other new things involving culture and social expectations.

The pacing can be a little weird, and there’s some melodrama involving the “moving in with each other” question, but it’s definitely a stand-out in the collection. It has diverse, believable characters connecting in an organic way.

Story Rating: 4 Hearts

 

“Welcome to Ms Skinner’s Freshman Composition” by Aila Alvina Boyd

This story is the weakest in the collection, which is very disappointing, because it is the only F/F story with the only out trans MC in the anthology. The idea itself—a theatre professor and her former student vying for the same part in an audition—is really intriguing, but the writing is not great.

None of the characters (professor Stacey, student Laurie, theatre director Luther) speak, act, or think like real, believable people. They are all intensely unlikable. Stacey acts unethically and unprofessionally towards Laurie by trying to remove her from her class because of past mistakes. And Laurie is so amateurish and unprofessional towards her theatre aspirations that I can’t believe any director would ever cast her.

This one just didn’t work for me as a believable romance or teacher/student dynamic. The only parts I enjoyed were Stacey’s bits about being a trans teacher/professor/actor who previously worked under her deadname. It is an interesting POV I’d never read before.

Story Rating: 1.5 Hearts

 

“Piece of Cake” by Valentine Wheeler

This is one of my personal favorites in the collection. I’m always looking for LGBT romances with underrepresented characters, and this story features characters over 65, which is incredibly rare for the genre.

The setting is cozy and sweet with believable older characters who are smart, funny, and warm while still being allowed to be old (walking aids, health issues, etc.). I love the discussions of bisexuality and rolling with the times when it comes to second chances at love. This is also a story with a unique teacher/student dynamic (cooking class at a rec center).

Story Rating: 4.5 Hearts

 

“Professor Ghost” by Damian Serbu

Not my favorite in the book, but certainly a nice, sweet palate-cleanser that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The titular ghost is a college student who died in the 1940’s who takes it upon himself to mentor a shy freshman who is struggling with coming into his sexuality on campus.

This is an incredibly short, humorous story that will simply make you smile, but it stands out a little too much in an anthology of stories that differ wildly in tone.

Story Rating: 2.5 Hearts

 

“Bare” by Jack Harbon

A lot of contemporary M/M lovers will enjoy this one. It’s the one story that really blurs the ethical lines by having an actual student and his professor hook up, but the fact that it is acknowledged by them both makes for an interesting read. The story also includes a classic set-up of art professor and nude model, which makes for some scorching sexual tension.

The character in this are well-written and believable. They feel like real college students and professors. It’s definitely the smuttiest story in the anthology, but the heat isn’t without added sweetness. Certainly a stand-out from a new author.

Story Rating: 4.5 Hearts

 

“The Botanist’s Apprentice” by Arden Powell

This is definitely a case of “saving the best for last.” As one of only two sci-fi/fantasy stories in the anthology, this take on an ambitious student who becomes the apprentice of a renowned but reluctant magical botanist is a unique breath of fresh air. It reads as easily as the best K.J. Charles or Jordan L. Hawk stories—stories by authors who know how to seamlessly blend fantastical worlds with excellent romances.

The world-building is so good in this that it is easy to forget it is a short story. It feels like a great jumping-off point for an exciting paranormal series. The dialogue is great, the romance is scorching, and I was left wanting more. I’m very excited to see what Arden Powell writes next.

Story Rating: 5 Hearts

 

All in all, this is another solid anthology from NineStar Press, but not one without flaws. I think it started weak by playing it pretty safe with the first three stories, but there was enough diversity in the rest of the collection to make up for it. I also think the themes of teachers and students and “lessons outside the classroom” were well-represented in many different, creative ways.

I’m disappointed that the only F/F story was the worst part of the anthology. I wish more F/F works were included in a book that was explicitly advertised as having both F/F and M/M works.

However, when the stories in this book were good, they were exceptionally good. So I’ll give the anthology as a whole an above-average rating.

 

OVERALL RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

NineStar Press

Amazon