Smitten by Books

TEACH ME
Author: Amy Lynn Steele
Publisher: Amy Lynn Steele
Genre: New Adult
Release Date: June 5, 2012
Digital Price: $3.99
Pages: 184

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When she was eight, Allison Starr began spending her summers with her aunt in San Diego. Nearly ten years later she is focused on her last year of high school and which colleges to apply to, not the attractive surfer who keeps showing up at the little corner of beach where she reads. She has no interest in a romantic relationship, especially one that starts in the summer and would be long distance. Ali tries to ignore him, but finds the boy on the beach much more distracting than the words in her books.

Cooper Perez has never surfed the same beach this many days in a row. He just can’t seem to change spots until he has the courage to talk to the girl who is always reading her books in the shade. When he finally approaches her he is overwhelmed with the instant attraction he feels for this beautiful and intelligent girl, even though she is three years younger. Cooper and Allison spend the rest of the summer together discovering their love of many things, including each other.

Summer eventually comes to an end, but their love does not. Allison heads home to start her senior year, but an opportunity brings Cooper closer to Allison than either of them would have expected.

Mr. Perez is the new English teacher at Allison’s high school.

~*~*~

REVIEW

It’s just another summer for Allison Starr, until she sees Cooper Ryan, local surfer, coming out of the water. Mesmerized and equally nervous this momentary connection leads to a whirlwind summer romance; a romance for the ages, or at least the hot months in the middle of the year. When the summer ends Allison expects to spend the months of the school year pining for her man, but instead gets the rude awakening of her life when she finds out Cooper is now her teacher.

This book is definitely not full-length, and ends up in novella territory. Told from the first person POV of Allison and Cooper, Teach Me explores the bonds of love that form between a soon-to-be high school senior and accelerated recent college graduate. Separated by 3 years in age, Cooper and Allison quickly connect with the blessing of Allison’s aunt and Cooper’s family. There’s not a lot of angst in the first book, if you don’t count the nervousness both Allie and Coop constantly feel between meeting and getting through the first date.

From there it’s a like a fantasy… too much fantasy for me, but for those looking for a sweet story that walks through the young love missteps, and eager but silly fumblings of beginning smexy moments then the mid-part of the story will bring small smiles to your face. I found the writing to be simplistic and easy to read. The majority of internal conflicts and thoughts were continuously revolving and I really wanted to see more depth within Allie and Coop beyond the ‘I love him/her’ and ‘I can’t live without them’.

The main conflict sets up about mid-way through the story as the summer winds down and Allie and Coop have the misfortune of finding out Coop’s teaching position isn’t where he originally thought it was. Instead of 500 miles away from Allie, he’s now her English teacher. Some may say this would create a situation you don’t really want to read, honestly there’s more hype than action. I won’t go into too many details, but Coop and Allie keep things pretty clean during this whole debacle.

The first person POV took some getting used to for me. Steele does a good job at providing both Cooper and Allie’s POV’s, which I enjoyed more than if I’d only gotten Allie’s thoughts on everything. All in all, this is a good story for those in the younger set looking to possible start reading romance. I would say Teach Me is fit for that New Adult group rather than those looking for a true romance novel. Also, I’m not sure the price fits the length of the book.

Rating: 3 (Good)
Heat Level: 1 (Inspy)

Reviewed by Landra