Girl Meets Class

Written by Karin Gillespie

Narrated by Cris Dukehart

The unspooling of Toni Lee Wells's Tiffany and wild turkey lifestyle begins with a trip to the Luckett County Jail drunk tank. An earlier wrist injury sidelined her pro tennis career, and now she's trading her tennis whites for wild nights roaming the streets of Rose Hill, Georgia.

Her wealthy family finally gets fed up with Toni Lee's shenanigans. They cut off her monthly allowance but also make her a sweetheart deal: Get a job, keep it for a year, and you'll receive an early inheritance. Act the fool or get fired, and you'll lose it for good.

Toni Lee signs up for a fast-track Teacher Corps program. She hopes for an easy teaching gig, but what she gets is an assignment to Harriet Hall, a high school that churns out more thugs than scholars. What's a spoiled Southern belle to do when confronted with a bunch of street-smart students who are determined to make her life as difficult as possible?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781515972020

Reviews for Girl Meets Class

[A and N · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really really enjoyed this book. The end was a little too happy but then that's the point of a romance. This one was more about how Toni Lee grows up and assumes responsibility for her life. She's a typical brat and when she takes up a job in a school in the worst run down area of town, you know it's going to be a challenge. The story is typical, the lead presented with a problem much bigger than her and then finally fighting against all challenges and coming out the winner.

What I didn't expect was the interracial story and how sensitively the author made a commentary on how white people viewed black people. Even in these times. Racial bias is real and the author very sensitively spoke about that as well as moving around with someone who has lesser money than you. Toni Lee is all but an heiress and Carl is a typical middle class man.

I really appreciated the book and the challenges it presented Toni Lee and how she changes when she actually does something for someone other than her.

SPOILER ALERT:

Well, I don't like authors using pregnancy as a way to tie things up in the end, and that's what happened in this book. I guess I'm just not comfortable with how easily people accept the massive change in their life because of a pregnancy. Rarely do we have books that talk sensitively about pregnancy and involve an abortion. I can understand, that's not something the target audience will go for. I mean abortion is frowned upon in Catholicism so I can understand. I just don't like the fact that it's assumed the woman is ready for a pregnancy because both were stupid enough to not use a condom. Pro choice over a few life cells any day.

I suppose it's utopic to expect someone to talk about it sensitively, but this is the second book I'm reading from this author and she makes excellent social observations and commentary, so I kind of thought she would do that here as well.

SPOILER ENDS

I love reading a change story like this, where someone thinks about anyone other than herself or himself. I think if as a planet, we all spent some time thinking about a third person and that person's problems and tried to help them, the world would be a better place. I honestly wish all the rich people had to do mandatory community service so that they would be more humbled and grounded.

This was definitely a good read.

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to listen to a light, humorous, romantic story after some of the heavier ones I had listened to and Girl Meets Class fit the bill nicely. It was a cute story about a pampered young woman, Toni-Lee Wells, whose rich Aunt Cordelia decides that she needs a wake up call. She is told she needs to get and hold a job for one year, pay her own way and follow her aunt's stringent rules about public drunkenness etc. or she will be disinherited. Sounds simple enough but this is one spoiled young lady. After a serious injury takes her off the pro tennis circuit, she wallows in self-pity making a spectacle of herself for the past six months. With nothing but a general degree, where will she find a job that will pay her enough to live? Toni-Lee ends up teaching a Special Education class in a very poor school, where caring for the kids is probably more important than what you teach them.

This was a wonderful story. There was some humour, although not as much as I had anticipated. I enjoyed listening to the story as this young lady learned about how others lived, what it was like to be poor, what is important in life and falling in love with the wrong man, who turns out to be the right one. With a corrupt principal, nasty secretary and backstabbing staff, will Toni-Lee survive the year she needs to put in? Will Toni-Lee sell her integrity for five million dollars or wake up and realize what is really important? This is one story about a poor little rich girl getting a whole lot of lessons on life from the other side and the other side getting a whole new Toni-Lee as a result. This is an entertaining and engaging page turner that I really enjoyed.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of cliches in this still entertaining read. Toni is a spoiled young woman who ends up teaching in tough school with pretty much no experience. She gets involved in school politics, falls in love with the inspiring and dedicated black teacher, discovers the value of teaching, and has to decide between doing what is best for herself or what is better for the school she has become part of.