Katharine Forsyth

There’s a good story in here. Unfortunately it was marred by an unbelievable number of basic spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors. It’s such a shame, because story and character-wise, it’s a really good example of the genre. I just wish the author had bothered to get a proofreader (or knew how to do it themselves). If it had been exactly as is but without any of the mistakes, it would have been 3.5 stars.

This is a middle grade book that's for everybody. Non-binary kids, queer kids, kids who don't feel like they fit in. And all other young people too, so they can learn, understand, and empathise.

And it's for adults, too. The struggle Jamie has to be understood and taken seriously as who they are by the adults in their life is a real-life struggle faced by many young queer people (and adults). “You can't just make up a gender” and other similar comments Jamie gets given are exactly the sort of hurtful things people say when they don't understand gender identity. Reading a book written from the POV of a non-binary character is a fantastic way to learn through empathy.

This book reads a little younger than Lapinski's “Strangeworld Travel Agency” trilogy, but it's just as compelling, and so incredibly important.

I only DNFed this because it was a bit too young for me. Ian Eagleton is a fantastic author and I loved his previous book "Glitter Boy". This is very much a "It's me, not the book" issue, and I'm sure it's a great read for the right age and person.

Sweet but too short. It kind of felt like nothing really happened. But it was cute with some fun dialogue.

I read the translated English version (which was called “Ring Around the Moon”) in Std 6 as a setwork. I absolutely loved it, even though I cried my eyes out at one or two points; possibly more! Ever since then I've been looking for a copy (in English) to own.

Setworks are usually boring as anything, but this book is just LOVELY. So glad they made us read it!

THE GOOD:

I honestly thought this story would be dull and I'd DNF it, because what could possibly be interesting now that Luci is no longer Josh's student? But the force of the story kept me going, and I read the whole thing in one sitting to see what happened.

THE BAD:
It gets really repetitive with the sex scenes. There are just too many of them, compared to actual plot.

I'm really disappointed that the author didn't bother to get a proofreader for this book, either. There are SO MANY mistakes, and that always jolts me out of the story. There were some especially terrible ones in this book, where Paige Laurens makes it clear that she doesn't even know what certain words mean. Like “ensconced”, and “eludes”. That shit really irritates me.

I don't really know how to rate this book. On the one hand, the writing is average at best, and because it's self-published (I assume?) it's got quite a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. It basically reads like the kind of fanfic I've read hundreds of times on fanfic.net or wattpad.

And yet it was exactly what I wanted. I was LOOKING for student-teacher smut, and it totally delivered. Sure, some of the things that happened were totally ridiculous (they didn't ever seem to be worried about getting caught, despite having sex at school constantly, like every day), but this sort of book isn't there to be realistic. Although I could have done without Luci constantly rolling her eyes. Do people even roll their eyes at each other, REALLY? If they do, they definitely don't do it in every single scene.

So if I'm rating this on its page-turning goodness, it'd be 4 stars. I flew through this.
If I'm rating it on how good a book it actually is, then it's 2 stars.

So I've compromised on 3, but it's a weak 3. I certainly wouldn't read it again, because there's nothing to it except seeing what happens next.

Super cute.

This was a lot better than most student-teacher romance/smut stories, which usually read like bad to average fanfic. This one actually had a great set-up, and character development, and a cast of interesting supporting characters. I loved finding out the back story of Aspen's twin sister and Morgan's brother. And nothing was rushed about their relationship: there isn't even any actual sex until more than halfway through the book. Really well-paced.

I love a good forbidden student-teacher romance, but this one just repelled me. The teacher was so creepy and it all felt a bit rapey, even though the main character said she wanted it. The sex was awkward instead of hot. I stopped about 40% of the way through.

GAH. Yet another YA novel with a good story, ruined by terrible writing. I wish publishers would realise that teens (and adult fans of YA) actually want to read well-written books, and won't just accept any old crap.

Three stars for story, down to two stars for the dodgy grammar and spelling that showed up occasionally. Lola needs a proofreader.

Pretty badly-written. I wish romance authors would bother to get a proof-reader, at the very least. Just because we like smutty romance doesn't mean we're fine with it being full of mistakes. Ugh.

I can't finish this. I HATE not finishing a book, and usually it's because I seriously dislike the book, but this...was just BORING BEYOND BELIEF. I actually feel cheated, because it had all the ingredients to be something really funny and interesting, and it's about one of my favourite things in all the world (West End Theatre), and yet the author chose to tell really random anecdotes that had no bearing on anything, or stories that started out like they could be interesting, but which she just then abandoned. Like there's one bit about how it was really windy one day on her way into the office, and she had to crawl along the bridge so she wouldn't get blown over. And then...nothing. It has no bearing on anything that happens next, it's not a catalyst for a funny story about how she had to go meet an important actor looking like she'd been in a tornado...just...nothing. This book seriously needed an editor to cut this sort of extraneous filler - except that the entire book reads like extraneous filler.

I know these books are just a little fun smutty fantasy, but this one was soooo ridiculous!

Super cute, very readable wish-fulfilment story. It almost feels like a book of two halves, though, and the ending isn't as good as the beginning. There are also a few issues with spelling and grammar - you're/your, bear/bare, etc, which always spoil my enjoyment of a book. But overall I really enjoyed it, it was fluffy and romantic and I didn't want to stop reading, so it still gets 4 stars.

So bad it wasn't even worth reading for the sexy bits. Zero chemistry between the leads, really dumb dialogue, and nothing anyone did made any sense. DNF at about 40%.

I know this type of book isn't meant to be great literature, but damn, this one is awful. Terrible writing, zero chemistry or sexual tension between the characters, no shock reveals when the father finds out about the “secret baby”... just a huge waste of time.

Total rubbish, no storyline at all. I know these are just supposed to be sexy fluff, but this is one of the dumbest ones I've read.

Poor writing, as is sadly common with this sort of romance novel, but I've given it one star instead of two for the rushed ending which then introduces an issue on the 2nd last page which is never resolved. Just...what?

Lacking in sexual tension and any “almost got caught” fun, which to me should be a staple of a student-professor relationship story. But fine otherwise. Decently written, unlike many of these sorts of books!

I loved this! One of the best Chalet School fill-ins I've read. I'm not ashamed to admit I shed a few tears when they found out the war was finally over.

DNF at 59%.

I was going to plough through and finish this, since I'm so far into it, but it's so DULL and depressing. The main character is just so unhappy with her life all the time. The romance between her and the movie star felt very rushed and there was zero chemistry between them, and since they get together really early on, the rest of the book just seems to be about how overwhelming and difficult and unhappy she is in her new life.

Also the writing is...not great.

2 stars = It was ok (I rate according to the Goodreads rating system)

I LOVE Bianca, but this wasn't as funny as she usually is. I listened to the audiobook, which I'd say is definitely the way to go, since you can hear her read it in all her hateful sarcastic glory. But overall something about it didn't fully work for me.

I just came across this and discovered I hadn't rated it. I remember absolutely loving it and being unable to put it down when I was 13/14, so this rating reflects that. It may not be as good a read now!