I did not love this. I gave it my best shot but ended up ending at 30%. I just did not like the vibes of the main characters, I felt they were too immature for my liking.

3.5⭐ rounding up!

This was such a cute and realistic accidental pregnancy story with two kindergarten teachers who hated each other while teaching at the same school. But you know what they say... there's a thin line between hate and love, and you can totally see it while reading. I personally needed more swoon and giddiness to get into the book since the premise was a bit mundane for my taste, but if you like to see each step of the pregnancy journey from two people, heck, you will adore this! ❤️

I love how realistic this book felt in terms of emotions. It is scary to have an unplanned pregnancy, and it's even scarier when the father is someone you've been "hating" for 4 years. Valerie is a quirky, artsy, and eccentric woman who loves to be independent. She never expected to be a mom, so her entire life does a 180, especially when she finds out that Andrew wants to be involved as much as possible; who knew Andrew had a heart? lol jk he does and is TOO SWEET.

That forced proximity with the pregnancy is what makes the characters get to know each other, be there for one another, and eventually fall in love. It was like a reverse process of a happy couple, but such a good one! 💕

Tropes
🍼Accidental Pregnacy
🍼Forced Proximity
🍼Work Romance
🍼Witty Banter
🍼3rd Dual POV

Thank you Avon Books & Netgalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Sidney Halston for this ARC! This cover is one of the cutest covers I’ve ever seen and it fully convinced me to read this book! Let’s all take a moment of silence for the cover. Thank you. Also, Ali Hazelwood meets Abbott Elementary? This book was marketed beautifully. There was no way I wasn’t going to pick it up.

I would say that I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half. The first half was really great and I could see how the story could pan out. I was not liking Andrew’s attitude but I was hoping that he would get some wonderful character development. Even if he didn’t get character development, maybe just a “he hates everyone but her” situation. It wasn’t really the case. His inner monologue really showed how much he cared and I as the reader, knew what he really wanted, but his words did not reflect that. He would say some things that I just thought were too far. Aside from that, I thought he showed the ways he cared in other ways, like going to appointments, cooking food for her, and researching ways he could help. That was super sweet and we need to give him his props for that.

The chapter names were the cutest thing ever! I loved how it kind of showed us how far along she was and the progress we were making in the story. Some of the details of the pregnancy were not realistic but I do not criticize that too much because it’s fiction. I do understand not everything will be 100% true to reality. I am a mom and I remember being pregnant, having cravings, and emotional moments so it was super relatable to read about.

I also really liked the Hispanic representation and the fact that Valerie is Cuban because I related to her family situation a lot. I understood her dynamic with her mother and the AMAZING food they would mention.

I do wish that they discussed their feelings a bit more and made decisions together since they will be parenting together. I would have loved to see growth in their relationship that way. I think that the physical aspect of the relationship took precedence which is not always my favorite. All in all, I think that there was a lot of really sweet and lovely moments in this story. There are a few things I would have liked to be different, but it still was a fun read. I am convinced to read more accidental pregnancy. Sorry, not sorry.

I did enjoy this book, and the dynamic between Valerie & Andrew. What was unfortunate, was the lack of depth the novel had. I wish I saw more depth within the relationship between Valerie & Andrew. It moved slowly, until something would happen between them suddenly- it felt like things either moved at a snail’s pace, or went from zero to one hundred. It was never in the middle. Further, some concepts weren’t realized until some of the final pages, then we don’t even get to see these things play out too much. The ending did feel rushed, or uncompleted. I wish I could have had a better understanding on the dynamic and the emotional impact they each had on one another. This book did have additional potential, that I would have loved to see develop.

Thank you NetGalley and Sidney Halston for the opportunity to review this book.

Valerie and Andrew are kindergarten teachers at GPA who couldn’t be more different if they tried, causing each to get on the others last nerve. After a crazy surprise and a threat of losing their job the two must make the best of working together and learn that there’s a fine line between love and hate.

The characters are very well developed and there is an evident change in both throughout the book. The banter between them was some grade A stuff!

My only complaint is that the book is marketed as a spicy, and while yes there was some spice it was very limited and only happened maybe twice.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advance reader copy of Love Lessons.

Love Lessons is about two kindergarten teachers who do not get along. They regularly have conflict with one another. When one of the kindergarten classrooms goes out of commission for the foreseeable future, Andrew and Valerie are forced to share a classroom with each other. As the story progresses, a shared classroom is not the only event that further drives the forced proximity between these two enemies.

Love Lessons is a quick read and there are some really lovely moments between Valerie and Andrew. I really love a good use of text messaging and I thought their text exchanges back and forth were a really nice piece of the book. The pacing of the story didn't feel consistent. The beginning has really fast pacing and when we got to the middle I felt the pacing had really slowed. At the same time, the latter half of the story, it didn't feel like the relationship developed at quite the pace necessary for the ending. I think some of the sharp interactions they still have with each other later in the story distracted from the developing relationship between the two. It makes the HEA at the end feel somewhat rushed because it feels uncertain if they've fully developed their love for each other. Love Lessons is a quick read and I would recommend for anyone who likes forced proximity and/or enemies to lovers tropes.

If you’ve watched Abbott Elementary, Love Lessons feels like the perfect next chapter for you because it’s incredibly similar. This story follows Valerie Marquez who is a kindergarten teacher and is all about having fun and teaching in a more unorthodox way. As you might imagine, the other kindergarten teacher alongside her is Andrew Wexler, a strict, stuffy, and buttoned-up guy who is all about rules.

From the start, these two haven’t gotten along and it gets so bad that they end up almost getting fired for their arguing. Thankfully, they’re able to keep it under wraps until the school year ends and they go their separate ways. Of course, things aren’t as wrapped up as they might seem as these two hook up before departing for summer.

As you might imagine, this hook-up results in Valerie getting pregnant. Things get even more complicated as they’re forced to become co-teachers due to a fire in their wing. What I adored was how Sidney Halston gave us their romance slowly but also paired it with how big the baby was growing. It was such a fun touch and had me looking forward to every chapter.

Despite their relationship being a slow burn, it’s clear that Andrew and Valerie were pining for each other and just didn’t realize it. There is something so delicious about that. It was also fun to see how everyone in their lives reacted as their friends and family had such strong reactions. I especially loved the moment with KFC which felt utterly relatable.

While the third-act conflict came a little bit late, it made sense given their situation. It did damper my enjoyment by a bit but other than that, this was a fun one. If you’re craving more Abbott Elementary, then Love Lessons is a must.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager and Sidney Halston for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I struggled with the beginning of this book and the main characters behavior. It was beyond immature and I would hope no administration would put up with it. The beginning was the worst but it was all a little much throughout the book.

I am stubborn so I continued on, around 25% in I was hooked enough to finish the book. I really enjoy enemy to lovers but this execution was not my favorite. It was a quick, easy read.

I thought this book was super cute! Enemies to lovers/workplace romance, with a surprise pregnancy. I loved going through all the nuances or her pregnancy with them. Even though the situations were vastly different from mine, it brought back a lot of good and bad memories from my own pregnancy! It's not overly spicy, and shows that love is not always what you're going to expect it to be!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sidney Halston for the ARC

This was cute but it's nothing I'll remember forever. I definitely like the mmc more than the fmc while I read it but overall it was just cute.

Love Lessons by Sidney Halston

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pub Date: August 6, 2024

This book was so so cute! This is peak enemies to lovers and I love it. Andrew and Valerie are kindergarten teachers who couldn’t be more different. However, everything changes after a night celebrating a mutual friend and they must learn to get along. Why? Because she ends up pregnant! One of the cutest things about this book is that the chapter titles reflect the size of the baby as time progresses. Parenting takes teamwork, communication, and compromise. Both characters are so firm in their beliefs that it is a struggle in the beginning, but they learn and grow together. I think that the pacing could have been better in the beginning, but it didn’t bother me too much. I loved this story so much. Valerie and Andrew show us that sometimes opposites really do attract.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Sidney Halston for this ARC.

This was a cute accidental pregnancy, rivals to lovers romance between two kindergarten teachers who absolutely despise each other, yet have to learn to work together professionally, as well as for the unplanned baby they’re having together.

I liked Andrew and Valerie’s banter and their relationship once it got into motion, but the mechanics and their connection were a bit clunky for me at points. In my opinion, we spent a little too much time in the kindergarten classroom they were forced into sharing, and not enough time building the bridge from rivals to lovers. It felt like the pivot was made in a snap, and I wanted a little more angst and yearning, as well as more bickering, before they started falling for each other.

I will say that even at 300 pages, the story moved quick enough that the book felt short - I really enjoyed the spicy scenes and Andrew unbuttoning to become more open and comfortable, as well as Valerie learning to rely on and trust Andrew.

Overall, this was a fun read, especially if you enjoy the tropes. I recommend this read if you like:
✏️ Accidental pregnancy trope
✏️ Rivals to lovers
✏️ Grumpy x sunshine
✏️ Workplace romance

This was a short and sweet(and spicy) accidental pregnancy romcom! I felt like it lacked a little bit of depth and the characters went from full on enemies to in love in a very short amount of time! But with that being said it was still very cute!

Full disclosure: accidental pregnancy is not one of my favorite tropes. However, some of my most surprising top reads have centered around the trope, and the synopsis for this one sounded promising. Unfortunately, it was mostly a miss for me.

I did like the rival teacher and school aspect of the book. I felt it did a good job of showing how different people can approach the same task in a different way and still have successful results. Everyone, including and may especially a kindergartener, learns in a different way and having two polar opposite teaching styles represented and forced to work together was a great concept.

There was some good chemistry between Andrew and Valerie in the rare instances that they got along, but for almost the entire book it simply felt like they genuinely disliked each other. I didn’t feel the attraction grow between them as the pregnancy progressed. I think part of this was due to a lot of telling over showing the moments that were supposed to help strengthen their connection. I just didn’t buy into the romance at all.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m all for enemies to lovers but it has to be respectful. I just felt like this pair was down right disrespectful and I couldn’t move past that. It just rubbed me the wrong way. My recommendation would be to make the early conflict a little lighter, more of a silly banter and annoyance rather than disrespectful.

I went into this book pretty excited! However, the child-like behavior of the main characters throughout most of the book took away from the overall sweet story they had. My biggest complaint is how unprofessional the characters (both kindergarten teachers) were while their students were present. I understand this is a work of fiction, but both would have been fired in reality. As a former teacher myself, it was hard to look past.

One strength of this book was the growth if the main characters. Yes, the behaved like young children throughout most of the book, but they did grow a lot too. As a bonus, I feel the growth was actually quite realistic!

Without giving away the main plot point of the book, I will say, it wasn't for me. I think the timeline got a bit confusing regarding the plot point as well. It was difficult at times to tell if it had been weeks or months. I understand the chapter titles give hints about the progress, but it only helped a little.

Sigh. I really wanted to like this. The premise is good, I like that they co-taught students together. It's a great setup for enemies to lovers. But unfortunately, I really did not buy that these two characters even liked each other, let alone love each other. Both eyed each other so critically internally and I don't buy that they would stay together. The MMC was just so mean to the FMC and not in a building an emotional wall way, but in a judging her all the time way.

Please don't compare this to Abbott Elementary, Janine and Gregory would never.

I want to start by thanking the author and publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. As a teacher, I wanted to like this story, but it was too much for me.

A night of fun turned into a lifetime of love. This story follows 2 kindergarten teachers that are complete opposites and disagree on almost everything in the classroom. While I did enjoy this book I wish that it was more descriptive when it came to describing the characters. It’s felt as if it was lacking something that would have really moved the dial for me to push it closer to a 4 out of 5 review. With that being said I am willing to give this author another try because I found myself giggling at the conversations between Valarie and Andrew.

I hate to say this but I just wasn’t a fan of this book. It sucks because I had really high hopes for this one.

Love Lessons follows our two main characters Valerie and Andrew who are both rival kindergarten teachers. I would classify Valerie as a free spirit and Andrew as by the book. After a one night stand, Valerie ends up getting pregnant and they have to figure out what they want to do.

I really wanted to love this one but I just couldn’t get past how immature both of the MC’s acted. It felt very childish at times but then there was some parts I was just like okay this isn’t as bad. I wouldn’t classify this as steamy at all. Yes, there’s a couple scenes but nothing like I would classify as steamy. Even though I wasn’t a huge fun of this one, I still recommend you checking it out for yourself! It was still a fun read.

Thank you so much to Avon and NetGalley for the e-arc!