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A Tale of Spiders and Canned Soup
Living on your own can be hard, but even more so when you're dealing with haphephobia; the death of a twin sister; and a crush on your teacher. Mika is still in contact with her foster family who homes the loves of her life, three young children she would do anything for, when she begins attending University of Aberdeen and meets Pauline, an Australian that teaches Viking history. Neither woman is used to breaking the rules, and their way to each other is a hard one, especially when Mika vows to get custody of the children, whether she is ready to be a parent or not. A story about growing up. A story about dealing with grief. A story about Mika and Pauline.
249 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 8, 2019
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5 people want to read
About the author
Kathy L. Salt
7 books12 followersKathy grew up travelling around the world but is now settled with her wife in Sweden. By day she is a primary school teacher, a role she truly loves and with the little spare time she has she enjoys cooking, playing video games and spending time with her family.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 30, 2021
Read on Scribd.
The relationship angle just wasn't comfortable - let alone believable, for me.
You've got a traumatized 20 year old with major issues; touch sensitivity, trust issues, her twin sister had died, her foster siblings aren't being treated well (neglect), and Mika and her sister were also never really raised properly. She's struggling to make ends meet, while studying at university. She's very sympathetic as a character, don't get me wrong - you feel a LOT of empathy for her.
But the relationship that strings out over the book between her and her university teacher and mentor, Pauline, shows little sign of compatibility or staying power.
She's 31, and successful, highly educated, loves her job, ultimately she is drawn to Mika because she feels sorry for her and wants to help her. Even her friend states this, and while she pushes back on this, the fact remains that no real connection is shown to exist beyond that.
They both have friends that try to get involved but both seemingly dismiss their friends and any solid advice or friendship, in lieu of whatever they are going for with each other.
Yes they are both smart and have some family issues, they bond over their booksmarts and family history, and give each other confidence and support - but it really never rang true as anything special, or anything more than awkward and almost 'wrong' because of the age gap and the teacher/mentor--student thing. Mika is just so young, and naïve in many ways. It's hard not to feel like Pauline is taking advantage, when she clearly knows better and has her own reservations, but ultimately says she's been a 'good girl' and done the 'right thing' for too long, so somehow deserves this fling with a student... YIKES!
It just didn't work for me.
The relationship angle just wasn't comfortable - let alone believable, for me.
You've got a traumatized 20 year old with major issues; touch sensitivity, trust issues, her twin sister had died, her foster siblings aren't being treated well (neglect), and Mika and her sister were also never really raised properly. She's struggling to make ends meet, while studying at university. She's very sympathetic as a character, don't get me wrong - you feel a LOT of empathy for her.
But the relationship that strings out over the book between her and her university teacher and mentor, Pauline, shows little sign of compatibility or staying power.
She's 31, and successful, highly educated, loves her job, ultimately she is drawn to Mika because she feels sorry for her and wants to help her. Even her friend states this, and while she pushes back on this, the fact remains that no real connection is shown to exist beyond that.
They both have friends that try to get involved but both seemingly dismiss their friends and any solid advice or friendship, in lieu of whatever they are going for with each other.
Yes they are both smart and have some family issues, they bond over their booksmarts and family history, and give each other confidence and support - but it really never rang true as anything special, or anything more than awkward and almost 'wrong' because of the age gap and the teacher/mentor--student thing. Mika is just so young, and naïve in many ways. It's hard not to feel like Pauline is taking advantage, when she clearly knows better and has her own reservations, but ultimately says she's been a 'good girl' and done the 'right thing' for too long, so somehow deserves this fling with a student... YIKES!
It just didn't work for me.
Displaying 1 of 1 review