Book Club: The Good Teacher

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Author: R.M. Anderson
ISBN: 9781489239167
RRP: $29.99

The Good Teacher is a small town story of secrets and scandals. It’s a story that I enjoyed and it kept me turning pages but after awhile it also started to seem a little over the top as it slid further and further into soap opera territory.

Stony Creek is a tiny farming town with a primary school that is just hanging in there. A primary school that employs one teacher (the principal) and casuals but has trouble filling the position. The P&C are passionate and want the best education possible for their children and the children of the town; because not all of the P&C still have children at the school.

I’m not sure you can really say there was a main character; there was a cast of leads and they all took their turns to tell the story in their own chapters. The timeline seemed very jumpy because of this, sometimes we got the same events from different perspectives.

The new principal applied for the job as a way to distance himself from his ex, not really looking to further his career because he’s a bit of a coaster. He’s good at his job more because he’s good with kids than any passion for teaching. Brock Kelly, the principal, is a character I quite liked. He was pretty self-aware and recognised his patterns and his shortfalls; and he chose to learn and grow from them. He found that passion for teaching and really wanted to settle in to make a difference in the lives of these kids.

Stony Creek is a tiny town, not a small town. The school is small enough that it’s on the brink of extinction and the department would be more than happy to close it down but the P&C are determined to keep their school open.

Tiny town with a P&C that basically runs the school and you know that they all thrive on gossip. Tiny towns have a great sense of community but they also have an amazing grapevine and a nose for scandal, not to mention long memories.

It’s not really a spoiler for me to tell you that the married P&C president has unexpected hot sex with the principal just before a P&C meeting because it’s in the blurb on the back of the book. The consequences are far reaching and they touch the entire town. One hot encounter sets off a domino effect that triggers many events that may not have otherwise occurred and the entire town is on the brink of explosion.

This is another book compared to Big Little Lies, and also to The Teacher’s Secret. Unlike those novels The Good Teacher gives you the whole story from the outset and it’s just a case of how it’s all going to play out.

The Teacher’s Secret is a book that I quite enjoyed but it did seem to get a little over the top at times. The scandals were all over the place and everyone seemed to have secrets to hide.

Mack was a character that I really loved. He is the patriarch of one of the farming families who has been put out to pasture. He has moved into a little cottage of his own on the property where for the most part he seems to be out of sight, out of mind. He is getting older and his age is certainly affecting him but he is still sharp as a tack and doesn’t miss much. He has his own theories about all that’s going on just by sitting on his porch and observing the movement of people on the stretch of road near his place.

The Good Teacher is a scandalous look at small town shenanigans and the long term affect on the town. It was in turns absurd, amusing and compelling; certainly an author I will look forward to reading again.

The Good Teacher is published by Harlequin and available now through Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.

Thanks to Harlequin 20 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members will be reading The Good Teacher so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.

18 thoughts on “Book Club: The Good Teacher

  1. The setting for this novel is Stony Creek a very quiet, small farming community where everybody knows everyone or do they? Upon reading this very light, amusing novel I found myself comparing it to a place that I have lived. Gossipers thrive on other people and it can really hurt people.

    Our main characters are Jennifer the P&C President, Brock the new Principal and their secrets. Jennifer’s daughter Madison and her father in law Mack are actually characters that come across quite strong and loving.

    There are pages where I found myself giggling. On further reading into the story, we learn of other secrets, scandals, romance and plots of revenge against others.

    There are quite a few other characters that we learn right throughout the book and what I did like was each chapter would be about that character and we would follow and learn their story or connections with others. Sometimes in novels, they talk about characters and then chop and change all over the place and you have no idea where you are. You cannot get lost with this story.

    I found myself literally turning over the pages to actually see where this story was leading. The storyline is easy to follow and you do get to know and love most of the characters. I would have liked to see more of the story of Sarah and her husband though.

    I think I was probably expecting more to come out of the book and it just didn’t quite reach it but overall I enjoyed the read and will certainly read another book by this author.

    Thanks Beauty & Lace and Harlequin for the read of this book. It was enjoyable and I will be passing this on to a friend who knows this small community as well.

  2. The Good Teacher is set in Stony Creek a farming district where all appears to be good manners, and perfect lifestyles.

    Jennifer Booth the P&C President at the primary school, although a bit strange as her only child Madison is all grown up. Jennifer especially likes to lead by example. But when she has an attraction for the new principle, Brock Kelly all things change in her life with an affair. When Jennifer and Brock have sex prior to the P&C meeting at the school, and she has a cigarette and not taking care to butt out properly the school is burnt down. To save her own reputation Jennifer goes into damage control and convinces Brock to take the blame.

    As the story unfolds Sarah Howard works out what has happened and many different scandals now come to fruition. Sarah’s own husband sleeping with Madison, Jennifer’s daughter whilst she is supposed to be babysitting. Mack Madison’s grandfather who can see what is happening from the outside and waits to see how everything unfolds.

    The story is told through the eyes of many characters, Jennifer, Madison, Mack and Brock to name a few and all are involved in the secrets of the small town and the final outcome of the truth.

    The story for me started off a little slow, but a few chapters on it was really starting to heat up and I wanted to keep turning the pages to see what would happen next.

    A great story with a perfect ending for a small town with a bit of drama happening.

  3. The Good Teacher is a good book that gives an insight into small town living. This book is set in the town of Stony Creek and follows the lives of many different town residents. It jumps from perspective to perspective so you see what’s happening from lots of perspectives. The main plot of the story involves the small town school and what happens after the new principal has sex with the P & C president. What follows is lots of lies, scandal and town gossip and it is interesting to see how it plays out.
    This book has a good story that I got into but is a prime example of why my partner wants to avoid small country town living. Thanks for the opportunity to review Beauty and Lace and Harlequin.

  4. The Good Teacher by R. M. Anderson

    Stony Creek Primary School is a one room, one teacher school in the middle of a broad acre farming area – no hobby farms, no tree changers, no tourism, no handmade furniture. Just honest farmers who work the land for their living. It has a strong community who pull together to keep their small school going, and the P&C is the driving force of this.

    So when a new teacher arrives to take on the Position of Principal at the school, he is welcomed with open arms. The community soon learns that he is a great teacher too, so they will do everything to keep him there.

    But when something goes amiss in a small town, the news spreads quickly. And as scandals are revealed, more than one family must accept that things will change forever.
    But can the P&C manage to keep the new teacher?

    I enjoyed this tale from start to finish. The ending wasn’t predictable but rounded off the story well. The characters were believable and the rural aspect was well written. In fact, the author is a farmer and a family man.

    I would recommend The Good Teacher as an easy, satisfying read.
    Thank you Beauty &Lace and Harlequin books for the chance to read this book.

  5. Loved this book and so quick to read it as it is a page turner! I like how straight away you get involved in the small town drama. The president of the P&C and the new principal are having a bit of naughty fun after a P&C meeting!! So funny and cheeky, I loved the tale of lies and lust and revenge thrown in.. I needed this read after the previous heavy reading I had just finished.

    Thank you for allowing me to be part of this trial, I highly recommend The Good Teacher !

  6. This is my first 5 star rating since joining the B&L Bookclub. I adored this book! Such an easy read, yet also a very realistic depiction of small town living. I found the characters believable and thoroughly entertaining. I found this book so engaging, whilst also having a solid dose of humour. I look forward to discovering what other books this author has written and I’d love a sequel to see where the characters in The Good Teacher go next.

    I’d highly recommend this book to anyone wanting some holiday or weekend reading. It was a difficult book to put down at times and I would have happily read into the early hours in my pre-children days. Many thanks to Beauty and Lace and Harlequin Books for the opportunity to read The Good Teacher!

  7. The good teacher throws the reader straight into the underbelly of a small school’s p and c and their president’s dealings with the teaching principal. I found it hard to keep up with all the action at first as the author showed the same events from different characters’ perspectives. For this reason, I sometimes found the story a little disjointed, but all the pieces did come together.

    Highlights for me were seeing the growth of Jennifer and Tony’s daughter, Madison who was a character I disliked but came to admire throughout the story, seeing Sarah finally stand up for herself and regain her dignity, witnessing principal Brock also stand up for himself, and the truth about Jennifer’s character come out.

    I would have liked to get to know the whole town and setting a little better, but this story revolves around sex and power, not small town life as such, although this story wouldn’t work if set in a large city as the close ties between residents of small towns is central to the story working.

    This is not a story of happy endings, but an ending that wraps up enough loose ends to be satisfying while still leaving the reader wondering how the characters’ lives will eventually pan out.

  8. The Good Teacher by R.M.Anserdon is an easy, lighthearted and definitely enjoyable read, The story is set in the town of Stony Creek , a small rural community where scandal, secrets, love and even revenge have become a part of their everyday life. We meet lots of different characters each with their own story to tell, In fact each chapter is presented by an alternating character giving us his/her perspective of events.
    Things seem to begin when the new teacher/principal, Brock, has an affair with the P&C President ,Jennifer, and a ‘fire’ is accidentally started. Literally!
    The story is quite amusing at times and it is interesting to see how each of the characters develop throughout the book, some even stay their unlikeable selves.
    Thank you to Beauty And Lace and Harlequin for giving me the opportunity to read this book,

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