A romance where no actual romance-ing happens.

Garrett and Callie dated back in high school, broke up when Callie went to college and when she returns to her home town, they start dating again almost immediately — no development, no conflict, nothing whatsoever.

There were loads of times when there just took many misogynistic, right-wing comments for my taste, like making fun of the "mega-feminist" teacher for trying to ban MAGA apparel from school, just so unnecessary. Or Garrett's students calling Callie "Mrs. Coach Dean" when they get together. 

Garrett himself is also just a bit of a dick. He talks about how much coaching has developed since he played but still lets his co-trainer (whose the guidance counselor, which just makes it even worse) continuously scream and verbally abuse his students.

Callie just gives up her whole life for him and to have his babies and I have absolutely no issue with that but the way it was written was just plain uncomfortable.

I have a little observation about Garrett's dog Snoopy. It's got nothing to do with the Romance so take from it what you will. I'm not lowering my opinion of the book based on this, but I thought it was interesting enough to take note of.

At the start of the book Snoopy is said to have diabetes. As someone who personally has a dog with diabetes I was excited to see how they would show this in the story. It's not mentioned again. No rushing home to give insulin and food on time, Garrett is able to sleep in and not worry about insulin, He's able to go out for dinner without worrying about the dog, Snoopy is given chicken from the table, he runs around un-checked etc.

Diabetic dogs need to have consistent amounts of exercise and NO snacking, Insulin is given at a set time every 12 hours and fed an hour after that. Their bodies are so small you really need to make sure everything is consistent and managed. It's a weird detail to give to a dog and not mention it again. It could have been a really interesting little detail that showed how much he loved and took care of the dog before events at the end of the book take place. (See Content Warning) it's just a bit of a missed opportunity - a layer of interest that could have taken the book up a notch for me. 

(2022/01/12 - 2022/01/15)

Rough read for me.

Callie Carpenter has to go back to her hometown because her parents got into a car accident. She takes a job as a theatre teacher in the local high school, and that's when she meets the football coach, Garrett Daniels. Garrett was her first boyfriend and they soon fall in love with each other again. It's also about the true meaning of being a teacher, how teenagers can be complete assholes, and horny, horny 30-year-olds.

So, the good things.
Callie and Garrett are amazing teachers. They're understanding to the teenagers, and the reader can really tell that they genuinely care for the teens. They give great advice, and they help the teenagers in the book to grow into better people. They also are strict when they need to be, which is a trait I appreciate in teachers. I wish they were my teachers. 😭 Connor! I love Connor, even if he is only in 3 scenes! Conner is the oldest brother of the Daniels family. He's divorced and is left with three kids. As I said, he was only in 3 scenes, but his character somehow captivates me so much. His kids (*Aaron in particular*) are little shits though. 😅

ok.
- I don't care about the main characters, Garrett and Callie. I like them as teachers, but as individuals... eh. They are boring to me, mainly because I'm not into second chance novels. I like meet-cutes, or prefer that they didn't have any prior romantic feelings for each other before the start of the novel.
- Garrett and Callie get together in the book so early on. They get together in the first half of the book, which made it tedious to read through. I am a huge fan of pining, and there was minimal to no pining in the book. I don't know if this is common between readers, but I prefer the chase rather than the actual relationship. If the chase was long enough, then I don't mind the happy relationship. In this book, the chase only lasted for 2 chapters, and the rest of the book was them together.
- I don't enjoy long r-rated scenes. A page or two is fine, but more than that I start to get bored. This book was 50-60% raging horny 30-year-olds. Every 5 pages or so, we read them banging, touching, or thinking about each other's bodies. Not gonna lie, when they were too long, I skimmed them.
- I've said this before, but it was so boring to me! When the real action started, it was already too late in the book for me to care enough about the characters. (Around when I was 70% done.)
- This one is just a personal pet peeve for me. The cover..... why... Why do people put half-naked men in their covers?!?!? I don't want to be seen in public with a cover like that. In general, people on book covers turn me off when searching for a book. I know the phrase, "don't judge a book by its cover," but I will continue to do so. Because I don't give a shit.

All-in-all, I am completely indifferent to this book. I didn't laugh, smile, cry, or even do that breathe-out-of-your-nose-thingy.

Dogs dying in any sort of platform makes me bawl like a baby, (not a crybaby!1!!11!) but I'm once again astounded by how little I cared about the dog. Sorry, Snoopy.

I'm not saying this is a bad book, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. If you like second-chance, long and a lot of 18+ scenes, early couple-forming or things like that, then I recommend this to you.

"I really like my boobs." - Callie

- noel