School Ties by Tamsen Parker was only ok for me. As soon as I read the summary I knew I wanted to read this one but it fell a bit short for me.

First, Erin Brewster is a teacher at Hawthorn Hill and as her first job out of college, she always knew this was her dream job. Immediately she finds herself drawn to Zach Shepherd who happens to be a senior in one of her classes. She knows she can never do anything about it but she can’t stop looking at him.

We first meet Zach as a senior in high school and he (just like Erin) is intrigued and attracted to Erin but he can never do anything about it. When he comes back to Hawthorn Hill 3 years later as a teacher, he finds he is still drawn to her and wants to protect her.

The thing I didn’t mention yet is I found these two to be somewhat annoying and in some cases, their stories were just a bit ridiculous. I know, I know…fiction and all but come on! She marries a guy because she is pregnant and doesn’t want to lose her job?? What century is this? And the fact that Zach was supposedly working in a sex club but never had sex…even though he “played”. Nope. Don't buy it.

When these two finally do come together they take it slow and they form a relationship…it isn’t just about the sex for them which I appreciated considering Erin’s past. Despite that I don’t know that I would rank this as bdsm…there were blindfolds and erotic books mentioned but it all felt tame.

Overall this one just didn’t follow through on my expectations, which was sad because I really wanted to like this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.