For the Love of School (+giveaway)
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For the Love of School (+giveaway)

Jaycee Weaver

August normally marks the start of the back to school season with joy, nostalgia, maybe a little stress. Parents, students, teachers, and other school employees are busy making preparations and looking forward to seeing smiling faces both old and new. And then 2020 happened.

Nothing looks the same this year, even for those in places where in-person schooling is happening. And for those faced with virtual learning, the world looks upside down. Even the homeschooling families I know are having to do things a little differently because their co-ops, sports, and other activities have been impacted as much as public, charter, virtual, and private school families have.

From the time I was ten, I knew I wanted to become a teacher. Of course, that changed in college when I decided I wanted to be a writer and a stay-home mom instead, but my love for the school environment never went away. I was blessed to marry a man who supports my dreams, and after staying home with our three daughters for many years, volunteering in their classrooms and serving on the PTA board, leading our local MOMS Club chapter, and more, I moved into substitute teaching. This is the first year I won’t be in a school in over a decade and I’ve got to admit, I’m a little heartbroken. Not just for myself, but for our kids, our teachers, and school staff who are having to learn to do their jobs in a completely new way.

Since reading is my escape of choice (and if you’re here, I’m guessing it’s yours, too), I’ve made a list of contemporary Christian/Inspy romance titles featuring teachers and school employees as the heroes and/or heroines. If we can’t have a normal school year in 2020, the least we can do is dive into a good book and remember the good times, right? Looking with hope toward the future that someday, life will return to something resembling normal.

Operation Back-to-School by Elizabeth Maddrey – a widow and a kindergarten teacher have unexpected sparks

Taking a Chance on Mr. Wrong by Liwen. Y. Ho – a math teacher in a culture clash with a Chinese physician

Roadtrip to Redemption by Laurie Larsen – a teacher’s summer break roadtrip to rediscover her identity

Smile for Me by Jan Thompson – an art teacher & assistant principal at an art camp

A Dash of Daring by Elizabeth Maddrey – two inner city teachers work together on a holiday program

Finding Faith by Melanie Snitker – a single mom and her special needs child’s music therapy teacher

Memories of Mist by Valerie Comer – a conflict-avoiding teacher clashes with a take-no-prisoners PTA mom

Summer to Remember by Tara Grace Ericson – small town secrets and scandal with a mid-school teacher and his heroine

A Sidelined Christmas by Toni Shiloh – high school sweethearts, a wide-receiver and a teacher, reunite

Second Chance Love by Merrillee Whren – a high school teacher and part-time youth minister rediscover old feelings

Before I Called You Mine by Nicole Deese – a teacher facing a big decision falls for a substitute

Cupcake Dilemma by Jennifer Rodewald – a first-grade teacher who can’t bake faces disaster with a baker

Molly by Sarah Monzon – an unabashedly honest pre-school teacher becomes nanny to a physician single dad

Love and Harmony by Sally Bayless – a novella featuring a music teacher and a high school principal

Restoring Christmas by Julie Arduini – a special ed teacher, a hurting woman, and a tourist trap in need of restoration

Solo Tu (A Tuscan Legacy) by Narelle Atkins – two high school teachers from different countries become friends (and maybe more)

And last but not least, I have a few as well! Randomly choosing from the comments, I’ll be giving away an eBook of my first novel, What Could Be, in which a college student struggles to decide whether to continue pursuing a nursing degree or to chase her dream of becoming a teacher while working for an after school program and forging a friendship with one of her students’ parents.

Also featuring two teachers, my freebie novelette Just Say Yes is available to all subscribers to my email newsletter. Click the link or the image to subscribe!

By the way, have you entered our annual BACK TO SCHOOL giveaway?! Huge prize bundles, and this year we have a ton of paperbacks! Only a week left to enter!

Published by Jaycee Weaver

When New Mexico resident and USA Today bestselling author Jaycee Weaver isn't reading or writing, she enjoys dates with her brainiac hubby, drinking coffee, crafting, pretending she's a nature photographer, and making her teenagers cringe. Jaycee considers herself a recovering perfectionist and frequent hot mess. She does her best to live her faith in action authentically, trusting God to be Lord over the good, the bad, and the ugly even when it’s hard.

63 thoughts on “For the Love of School (+giveaway)”

  1. So many great reads <3 so little time 🙁
    Our distance learning started August 13….hanging in there

    1. Same! Our public school system announced virtual learning through the 1st semester. I’m so sad for my sophomore. 😕 3 weeks in and they’re already tired. Keep hanging on!!

  2. Thank you for sharing this awesome list of great sounding books. Yes, this school year is definitely different. We can just Hope and Pray that all this gets better soon. For now we can just indulge in good reads. Have a Great weekend and stay safe. God Bless you and your family.

  4. I am grateful my son graduated this year where our schools are all still remote . He has had to put college back a term with circumstances from all of our businesses still being open by appointment only & limited times. It’s all in God’s plan though so it will work out. I do really appreciate both teachers and all of the parents who are having to step into the job. That is not my strength in the slightest!

    I believe my TBR list will grow considerably with some of your suggestions, they all look so good! Thank you for the ideas. I haven’t been reading from my list lately where I’ve started working for a few authors on their end of books but will get back to them once I get used to what I’m doing and develop a schedule. I am still reading (& love it!) but will never stop reading for pleasure!

    1. Me either! I’ve got a few from Net Galley I finally had to decline because it felt more like a chore than pleasure reading, even though the books themselves are great. Life’s too short to stress over something that should be an escape!

      1. I do agree with that! I need to enjoy it to do a good job. I’ve started doing proofreading & beta work for a few of my favorite authors and absolutely love it! I had been talking to one of my author friends about an online job where I need to supplement my income and she suggested this type of work. It is cool the way God just dropped almost more than I could handle in my lap before I could even take a course! I must have done okay as I had each come back to me with another book as soon as I finished the first. It has been awesome & I am learning a lot. I am so blessed!!!

  5. What a great list! I have a challenge in one of my Goodreads groups (Christian Fiction Devourers) for a book this month about a teacher. These are great ideas!

  6. Thanks for the chance to win! Around us schools have opened with lots of safety measures. I think the local schools went in with the attitude of knowing they will inevitable end up having COVID positive cases but trying their best to work out ways to handle it and hopefully keep things running.

  7. One of the things I am grateful for is that my new normal have been revised several times in the last 7 years so what our lives will be like would not be too hard for me. I do understand this characters struggle because you can feel called to do so many things if your nature is to help people.

  8. Hi, Jaycee! I grew up with a family full of teachers. Both my parents, my sister, an aunt and several cousins (my aunt had a big family and a big influence!). My brother, the former semi-pro defensive lineman, became Conan the Librarian. I really enjoyed What Could Be when I read it a while ago. All through your post, I was thinking “What was that story about the aftercare teacher and that guy with the crazy ex?” OH! Right, got it. LOL!

    I have a few teaching gigs under my belt, too. My slot is the college and up group. I’m with you in not wanting to deal with the mandates and parents. Even full time college level was a bad place to deal with as a faculty member. Give me someone who wants to learn and I am one happy camper…uh, teacher.

    No need to put me in the drawing, my Jaycee Collection is complete!

    And all the Inspy class members, with their smiling faces, say with happy voices, “Thank you, Ms. Weaver!”

    1. 😆 As always, thank you for your comment. You always get me laughing. What are your thoughts on redeeming Skye (the crazy ex) at some point? I’m thinking way, way down the road as a matured adult nearing middle age… but I can’t decide for sure.

      1. Redeeming Skye? Absolutely! That life of crazy, selfish hedonism is, in the end, very lonely. Such a circumstance is ripe for a good love story with struggles from the past. I say go for it! You wouldn’t need to wait for too very long in the character’s life, either. All it would take would be the loss of a current friend, a few rejections or friends maturing and the stage would be set. The hero could be a fellow participant in a 12-step program, for example. Or the cop who gave her the DUI ticket, LOL!

        1. Love it! I was thinking I’d let her go a little longer so Brendan would be closer to adulthood. Lots of story ideas that won’t disrupt Brynn and Josh’s HEA haha!

  11. Thank you for this list of books! I love reading (and writing) about school and all what there happened. I’ve always loved to go to school. When you are at home, only then do you realize that school is very important in your life.

  12. I remember that I loved school. I loved learning and still do. Fortunately because both my husband and I love to learn and loved school, we were able to impart this to our two children. And both of them, now 35 and 33 still love to learn and do research. They have found their separate fields of “love” and that is good. Thank you for coming today.

    1. Thank you for stopping by! A lifelong love of learning is a wonderful gift to impart to our children. 😍

  14. Oh, wow! I can already tell my TBR stack is going to grow again!! I have to say, I NEVER wanted to be a teacher growing up! A nurse, yes, and the closest I got to that was working in the insurance and billing aspects, which worked out great, since I’ve always liked typing and computers.

    1. Nice! We’re each called to where we need to be, right? All niches need filling to keep our world running. 😊

  15. Thank you for the opportunity to win one of these awesome prizes. Winning would be great, it would help me get through the winter. Not real lucky but I keep trying.
    Thanks again for the opportunity.
    God Bless all the authors and their families.
    Hope everyone is staying safe.

    1. Aw, thanks for stopping by, Glenda! We use random pickers online to help us, so odds are good if you keep commenting your name will come up eventually! The big back to school giveaway has a whole bunch of great prize packs. (Woohoo for more chances!)

  17. Hi there! I always grew up believing that I wanted to be a teacher too….then at some.point I realized I would have to deal with students like me, lol, who question everything and never take ‘just because’ as an answer…..and the thought of teaching seemed to lose its appeal🙃

    1. Lol! My concern was (believe it or not) dealing with state mandates I don’t agree with and parents who need discipline more than their children. Kids I can handle like a pro, which is why subbing was a perfect fit! Lol!

      1. Jaycee! So very true! State mandates while important, stress teachers. Students were a joy. Had some helicopter parents that I had high school students apologize for. My heart went out for those students. Still in contact with so many – fun to see them get married, have children, travel the world. To be part of their accomplishments. Best part of teaching. Even today to see the initiative of my grandkids – making the best of this unusual time.

  19. Hi Jaycee! Thanks for the list of books featuring teachers. This retired teacher has been called back into service to be the instructional coach to our three grandchildren grades 10, 7, and 1. Our son works from home and his wife dental office reopened in June. My day changed from being Oma to being bus driver (I go pick up the kids from their house), then teacher, then lunch lady, PE teacher, then back to coach and bus driver. My husband is our IT guy, extra curricular instructor, clean up person (lunch), motivational coach, counselor, para pro, and substitute bus driver. Today is Day 4 and the grandsons have their classes in place and working diligently on their assignments. First grade granddaughter is having her second zoom meeting with her teacher and learning pod (14 kids). For the first two weeks teacher meets with each learning pod twice a week. Because of Labor Day and to accommodate cleaning of schools for the in person instruction, school only had a four day week this week and next. Definitely a different start of the school year for all – students, teachers and parents. Praying for safety and health for all. Best wishes.

    1. Wow! What a privilege, and it sounds like you’re happy to answer the call. 😆 We all need Omas like you!

  20. Here in Australia the school year starts the end of January. In South Australia we are face to face learning while some states are online. (our state is covid free). I know many are making the decision on face to face or online. My friend in Georgia is having this issue and has opted for online partly due to many other schools being online and partly because if she contracts Covid-19 it will probably kill her due to having very limited lung capacity and her family don’t want to take chances.
    I can understand its a hard time for so many.
    The list of books looks good. I can see a few I would like to read.

    1. Thanks so much! It’s interesting to learn how people all over the globe are handling school and such this year.

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