But She Is My Student

By: Kiki Archer

Narrated by: Jessica Jeffries

Miss Katherine Spicer started her first day at Coldfield Comprehensive School confident, enthusiastic, and very well-qualified. That was until she met the eyes of the student hidden in the corner of her classroom. Kat’s final weekend of freedom was about to turn her life upside-down and threaten everything she had been working for; how was she to know those mesmerizing green eyes would reappear here?

Great lesbian chick-lit.

A cross between Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller and Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill.

But She Is My Student follows the journey of Miss Katherine Spicer in her first year of teaching at Coldfield Comprehensive School. She is a gorgeous, intelligent young woman hailed as a fantastic teacher whose two best friends have to keep her spirit alive when she is faced with an impossible situation. How was she to know the woman she kissed would turn up in her A-Level history class?

The novel deals with the many issues of sexuality in a gripping, yet funny manner, pulling the listener back into a world of teenage nostalgia and schoolday memories.

But She Is My Student will make you laugh out loud and have you crying out for the fairytale ending.

A really fantastic lesbian novel that will also appeal to the avid chick-lit reader.

©2012 Kiki Archer (P)2019 Kiki Archer

Forbidden love

Finally! A lesbian novel that is sexy, well written, and real literature. There is so much trash in the lesbian genre. This book rises above a simple sexual romance and rises above an in-your-face expose of the hardships of being a lesbian. At the same time, it includes both of these. You won't be disappointed! I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wild ride

This book was not what I was expecting and that had me pleasantly surprised. I loved every step of the journey this took me on. This book is full of love, and heartbreak across the many characters we hear. It was refreshing.

A very slow burn

There was a lot of various relationships and issues going on, work politics and ethics of teacher and student romance.

There are legitimate moral quandaries that take time to work out.

8 minute reunion at the end

It was good but the reunion left some things unanswered and I wanted to see Bee put in her place. Also the sex scene was boring and took up most of the 8 minute get back together. If you’re going to end a book with a sex scene at least make it worth my while. There’s a sequel that I’m thinking about getting simply because the ending of this one was unsatisfactory. However, the description of the next book details another Bee like character being involved and I’m not sure if I want to go though all that again. Honestly I kinda wish I hadn’t even bothered with this one but I still kinda liked it. I usually don’t feel this conflicted about a book.

Loved it!

The main characters as well as the storyline were quite believable and fun to imagine. Cat and her friends made me want to join them for a night out. I'll definitely read more of Kiki Archer's books. Starting with the sequel today!

couldn't stop listening

I love this book, I have read it before but could not stop listening to the audiobook. The characters were likable and relatable. The narrator did a great job. This is a book that I will listen to again and again.

Coming of age

Well written coming of age story...
Something I would have enjoyed more when I was in my late teens / early 20s... Worth the listen.

So much more than a teacher/student relationship

This book took me by surprise. I didn’t expect to care so much about the characters, and had to pace myself so I’d be in the right headspace to keep listening. Teacher/student stories often make me uncomfortable because of the power imbalance, mostly. I’ve wanted to read this book for a while but both that worry and the mixed reviews kept me away. Let’s be clear : I was wrong. The relationship between Kat and Freya is handled with intelligence and sensitivity.

Katherine Spicer is enjoying her last evening out as a student before starting her career as a teacher in a couple of days. She meets Freya and soon kisses her. Freya disappears and when she next sees her, the whole game has changed : the younger woman is one of her students.

Freya is trying to come to terms with the idea that she might be a lesbian. Her first kiss with a woman has exceeded all expectations and finding out a few days later that the woman she can’t get out her mind is her new history teacher crushes her. But Kat takes her job and responsibilities very seriously, despite the undeniable feelings growing between them. Then Freya’s friend Bea confesses her love for her.

More than a teacher / student story, But She Is My Student is about doing the right thing and holding on to your principles. The age gap is minimal (Freya turns eighteen at the start of the book and Katherine is twenty-two, I think), both women share the same interests, so the only thing preventing them from being together is the teacher / student relationship. Which makes for great angst, obviously.

I thought Kiki Archer did a great job on Freya’s struggle with her identity, labels, desires and all that. In some of the reviews I read, the reviewers complained about how Freya uses Bea when she’s obviously in love with Kat. Yeah well, Freya’s eighteen, she’s in love with someone whith whom a relationship seems utterly impossible and there’s this beautiful, smart and sweet girl who obviously wants her and to whom she’s kinda attracted too. I’m not expecting teenagers and yound adults to act in mature ways in real life, so why would I expect it from them in fiction? I know 40-year-olds who are way less mature about love and all than Freya. And also, I liked Bea a lot less by the end of the story.

The other thing I liked but others didn’t is how important Kat’s best friends and roommates are to the story. They take a lot of space and I can see how some readers might not be that interested in what’s happening in their lives. I guess I could have done without knowing so much about Lucy’s boyfriend’s manhood, yet it also makes them more real, more substantial. What they go through matters to Kat so it’s part of the story. It also doesn’t hurt that Lucy reminded me so much of Bubble from Absolutely Fabulous.

There’s a sequel to this story, which I hope I’ll find time to read soon, as I’m not totally ready to let go of Kat and Freya.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Too much misdirection

It could have been a great story, but the authors deliberate misdirection made the parts worth cheering for almost unbelievable. Because of this I lost feeling for the ending.

Great Listen!

Kiki Archer does a fantastic job with creating a realistic and appropriate telling of a teacher/student relationship. Jessica Jeffries's narration is fantastic. This is a great listen and worth every moment of the listen.