SYNOPSIS
Gilly Carter has kept her lofty inheritance a secret from her coworkers, knowing first-hand how money changes people. But when she's forced to rely on more than her bank account, will she rise to the task?
After winning teacher of the year last spring, she's pumped to begin the new school year. Her fantasies of rainbow coloured bookshelves and students giggling at her maths puns are dampened when she discovers Christopher Callahan, a one-night stand who ghosted her, is not only her co-worker, but they're paired together to teach first grade.
While he's kind to everyone else, Christopher doesn't even try to hide his distaste for Gilly. He turns his nose up at her extravagant classroom decorations and accuses her of not teaching from her heart. When Christopher challenges her to a spirit week competition where neither of them can spend a cent, Gilly doubles down: she freezes her funds for the entire month, vowing to live off her teacher's salary alone.
As they grow from enemies to lovers, Gilly knows she must come clean with Christopher about being an heiress, but a bigger threat looms - a blast from the past well-versed in blackmail.
With the freeze on her funds, Gilly is forced to do things the hard way. But if she loses Christopher in the process, no amount of cash will heal her broken heart.
REVIEW
Throughout my time as a reader, I have always been a little bit sceptic about romance books. I do enjoy the light-hearted, positive element that it is able to bring up your spirits. However, sometimes I have felt like the cheerful plot is sometimes overtakes the writing and the complexity of the characters. For Teaching with the Enemy, it seems as though a basic plot, with a lot of foreshadowing is what takes centre stage.
For instance, I have found that with characters such as Gilly and Christopher are more stereotypical in this particular genre, that unfortunately I found it a little boring. But mainly, what annoyed me the most was how Gilly had little gumption to protect as well as stand up for herself. It seemed just a little frustrating after a while that it kind of felt like it was more padding rather than actual plot.
What was the whole thing about money as well? There was a never-ending problem with not having money and having too much. It became overwhelmingly a major part of the novel. So it could have had the potential to do a lot more, to spread an interesting and entertaining message. Because I don't think that it did much of either of these.
The writing style was not my most favourite either. There is more than one occasion where both Gilly and Christopher were together and the way that they were described almost made me want to vomit. They could have been painted differently at these moments, as I do feel like they could have been presented in a better light. Let's just say it was alright novel, but at the end of the day, it could have been way better.
RATING: ** (TWO STARS)
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