Miss Clarkson's Classmate

by Sharon Sobel

An Unlikely Lesson

Emily Clarkson has a new teaching position far from the civilized London life she knows. Quick-witted and confident, Emily is up for the challenge, but she never expects the real test will be her employer, prosperous mill owner Daniel Lennox. She's expecting a country gentleman, not the brawny, outspoken creature who greets her in a blood-stained shirt. He's expecting a somber old maid, not an impertinent, snobbish girl. At each other's throats from day one, they are bound to end up in each other's arms....

But the more Emily learns about her new surroundings, the more she realizes the rural town of Glenfell has more than enough of the danger and intrigue she thought existed only in the big city. A mysterious feud has set Daniel and a withered old duke against each other, and the duke's new wife--Daniel's first love--isn't the only cause. Now the teacher must become the student if she is to save the man she has so recently grown to need....

Genres: Romance

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 6, 2005

Reviews

[HR-ML · Rating 2 out of 5]

England 1819. IMO this author set up the suspense &
romance, but then delivered a let-down. This story
felt lacking.

Emily had unconventional parents. Her late sire was
a physician & her mother, a reformer, moved to the US
for a pet project. Mom ignored Emily and had Emily's
Aunt Constance raise her. Connie put her love life on
hold in order to guide Em through life's challenges.

Emily reluctantly agreed to be a schoolteacher @
a residential school, (instead of her mom) of mostly
orphans, whose parents died in a suspicious cotton
mill warehouse fire. Daniel Lennox owned the mill.
Her 1st impression of the H: a difficult man w/ rough
manners & he considered her elitist & fickle.

I hoped Daniel involved the magistrate on the ware-
house fire. No such luck. Ditto for later when someone
was attacked/ injured. Why didn't Dan seek justice for
those killed in the warehouse fire? His plan highlighted
his indecisiveness (no matter the excuse he gave). The
best aspect of the book: h gradually matured. Some side
plots seemed filler.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5. It was good for the first half but then it dragged out too long and the love interests got together too fast. I kept wanting to read but I was annoyed by that.

[Spazfungus · Rating 2 out of 5]

sigh another instance of, if people would only finish their sentences, it would work out so much better (though a far shorter book) also the heroine is really really dense


emily's mother runs off to america, but leaves a teaching position open. emily's aunt won't marry if emily is home with her, so emily takes the teaching position, but quickly bashes heads with Daniel, the mill owner and her employer. She thinks birth and title, he thinks hard work makes a man, eventually she agrees. he is hurt, she saves him, she doesn't understand why he is hurt (when it is practically spelled out for her!) eventually reveals he was the duke's heir, his cousin was trying to murder him, the old duke kills the cousin and then commits suicide. emily is upset that she didn't know Daniel was the heir

[LemontreeLime · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would have given this three stars if only there had been more detail and care taken with the end of the story. There was all this buildup, a chaotic adventure/climax that I had to reread to understand what had happened, and then a drawn out final chapter.

[Donna Hatch]

Cute - the hero was very likeable and the heroine did a lot of growing.