Missing school? Whether you are a teacher or a student, this book will bring you right back between its four walls.
Goodreads Blurb
Mentoring Mr Singleman by Kim Sancreed
A witty, off-beat romance set in Cornwall. New member of faculty Kate finds herself living below one of her colleagues in a converted engine house on the cliffs. Everyone can see they are made for each other, but he’s a little too in love with his surfing, and she’s a little too focused on her career. Under the merciless gaze of their students, Dave and Kate dance around each other through the highs and lows of a school term. Will they manage to get out of the way of their own happy ending?
Review
“A Cornish Romance” seems a bit, well, corny. But don’t be deceived! This book deserves more credit than its tagline gives.
There is no avoiding the romance element of Mentoring Mr Singleman as it is the main premise of the book. However, although some areas were predictable, it was a nice love story that naturally unfolded; not cheesy at all.
But, in this review, I want to focus on what went on outside of the love story. For me, the best parts of Mentoring Mr Singleman were the goings on around the school. Kim Sancreed was a teacher you can tell. She was able to successfully able to bring to life the characters we all remember from our school days, either as a teacher or a student: the cool teacher we all liked, the suck up, the strict teacher, the teacher who really cared. Likewise with the students: the troublemaker, the. achiever, the student just getting by. Speaking of characters, Donovan “Donkey” Doggert was my favourite. He is the troublemaker, the class clown who has a tough family life. His journey throughout the book is the best.
Then, of course, there is Mr Singleman himself. Dave is a likeable character that you root for all the way through. But what I liked the most is that he brought a “coming-of-age story for a 30-year-old” to the book. It’s not just teenagers that go through this journey and, yes, it is different to a mid-life crisis.
Overall, this was a light-hearted, amusing book that helped me spend a pleasant few hours in lockdown.
Grab your copy of Mentoring Mr Singleman here.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Joyful Antidotes 