Winning the Schoolmarm - Review

Winning the Schoolmarm

By: Lacy Williams

Publication: February 12th 2021 by Lacy Williams Books LLC

206 pages

Genre: Adult, Historical Fiction

Source: Author (Thank you!!)

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Goodreads description--Swirling rumors forced Cecilia White out of the teaching job she loved. She vowed not to get involved with a man again—no matter what. But when the term begins at a new schoolhouse in a new town, disaster strikes. No matter what she does, she can’t seem to escape the handsome, single chairman of the school board.

John Morgan has a secret. He’s not who he says he is. He’ll do anything to protect and provide for his young sister—including cozying up to the prickly schoolmarm.

Sparks fly and Cecilia must deny her heart if she hopes to keep her job. But what’s more important? Duty or love?

Lacy Williams contacted me about reviewing Winning the Schoolmarm right after Baby Boy was born. I liked the description of the book, but I wasn't sure I would have time to add this into my schedule. She politely told me there was no rush, and so I went ahead and got a copy of it. I'm glad that I did.

The first thing I noticed about Winning the Schoolmarm is the title. I'm not a fan of the term "schoolmarm" even if it is historically accurate. Thankfully the word was only used once in the book. When I actually started reading, I noticed the first couple of pages were packed with information in a good way. Just a few sentences conveyed a wealth of information and I applaud Lacy Williams for that.

The book description is misleading though. John never really implied that he was someone different than he is, he just never spelled his past out to the whole town. The description also makes it seem like he's choosing to cozy up to Cecilia as a means of protecting Ruth. But if anything, Ruth was an afterthought to John when he came to his relationship and feelings for Cecilia.

Ruth is probably the character that jumped off the page the most. She was full of spunk. She was full of pranks for Cecilia. Some of them made me laugh and some of them sparked indignation within me that had me wanting to discipline her myself.

The biggest negative for me in Winning the School is that characters' pasts or motivations were mentioned in passing but not fully fleshed out. At least not for the readers. Lacy Williams might know exactly what happened with Simon before Cecilia comes to the new school and town but the reader doesn't know because she never tells us fully. And she might also know what exactly Ruth has against Cecilia besides her trying to enforce rules that Ruth bucks against, but again, this isn't fully spelled out for the reader to know exactly what the issue is. And thus the reader is left wondering. I feel like this was likely due to the length of the book. Barely 200 pages is not long enough to dive into every detail. And that also leaves me feeling like some of the events were rushed.

Even with the pacing being a bit fast, the characters and story were easy to connect with and picture. They felt authentic. Since this book is the 14th book in a series, I did wonder what I was missing from prior stories. Not because pieces were alluded to but because of the other characters we meet. And Lacy Williams did set up the next book within this one.

I enjoyed Winning the Schoolmarm. The characters and story felt authentic. I can see that Lacy Williams has real talent. A few issues that I had were pacing and character motivations and history. But those things felt like they had more to do with the length of the book rather than a writing flaw. I did also find a few continuity mistakes, but they didn't bother me too much. Winning the Schoolmarm gets 3.5 Stars. Have you read Winning the Schoolmarm? What did you think? Let me know!