No Substitute by Susan Diane Johnson is a title from White Rose Publishing, which is a division of the Pelican Book Group. I think that I've never read anything from White Rose before, so this was a new experience to see what their offerings were like. There are several free e-books offered on one of Pelican Book Group's webpages, so I'll have to check some of those out sometime in the future. What confused me was that the name of this publishing group is very similar to Pelican Publishing, which is a different entity that has the familiar pelican logo on its books. Pelican Book Group, however, publishes solely Christian imprints which mainly focus on fiction, whereas, Pelican Publishing publishes titles belonging to several different genres in fiction and non-fiction.
In No Substitute, Amy Welsh, is a (wait for it...) substitute teacher who is covering for another educator who is on maternity leave. She finds herself teaching a class which Shayna MacMillan is enrolled in. Shayna is not just any girl: she is the daughter of Amy's ex-boyfriend, Quentin, a man who Amy has never been able to let go in her heart.
Quentin, a widower, can't believe that Amy Welsh is back in town. She's the woman who has always owned his heart, and if he can get a second chance with her, he's going to take it. However, Amy is reluctant to pick things up with him again. She left town years before when she found out that Quentin had married another girl three months after he and Amy were supposed to elope when they were teens. Taking on the job in her hometown, Goose Bay, is a necessity since Amy can't find any teaching jobs elsewhere. The short term position is also giving her a chance to take time out to make a decision whether or not to accept a marriage proposal from Jared Parker, a man who is waiting for her answer in Issaquah, Washington, where Amy had built a life for herself since leaving Goose Bay.
Amy and Quentin are thrown together when Quentin requests her help in monitoring Shayna's interactions with a teenage boy, Bradley Baxter, whom Quentin does not approve of. Quentin is feeling inadequate to the task of raising a daughter who is growing up too quickly in his eyes. Spending time together draws our two protagonists together, but Amy still harbors anger and distrust towards Quentin. Why did he refuse to elope with her seventeen years ago even though he claimed to have loved her then, yet turn around and marry another girl so soon after his refusal to marry Amy?
I'd probably categorize this story as one where the protagonists are separated by a misunderstanding, circumstances beyond either's control, and secrets which Quentin does not feel that he can share without hurting his daughter or Amy. After reading the whole story, I wish that I could pick Quentin's brain over a few things. Without giving too much away, I understand why Quentin refused to elope with Amy, and I can confirm that he did love her then. However, I also don't understand why he didn't do a similar type of soul searching with the Lord over the question of whether or not he should have married the other girl as he did over whether or not to elope with Amy. From the novel, it seemed that he agonized with the Lord over doing the right thing with Amy, but we don't really hear whether he struggled in prayer with the Lord over marrying the second girl. Perhaps he did, and we, as readers, could make that assumption, but the vagueness over this point niggles me a bit.
The other thing that I wondered as I read the novel was why Quentin thought that he could actually continue to put off answering Amy's questions about what happened in the past, because we know that he will need to do it sooner or later if he truly wants to be with her. I kept thinking, "The truth will set you free! The truth will set you free!" If Amy loves him, she'll get over it and forgive him, even if she needs time to take it all in. However, Quentin is a man in denial: he knows what he needs to do, but he's afraid to lose her when he tells her. The irony is that he's going to lose her for sure if he doesn't tell her.
It's probably no surprise for you to know that I have a soft spot for stories that involve teachers. I enjoyed reading No Substitute, although at times, I wanted to strangle both protagonists at certain points for their stubbornness. You already know about what I thought about Quentin, but I haven't mentioned much about Amy. I liked her character. As a former teacher, it was a bit amusing to read about her experiences in school, because yes, kids sometimes act like the way they are described in the book. They can be silly, sassy, smart alecky, sly, fun, and fragile, although, probably not all at the same time. I liked Amy's patience with both students and adults (in other words, parents, and namely Quentin), but I wanted to shake her shoulders when her anger and hurt got the better of her when Quentin finally got around to talking to her about the past. Her reactions are not surprising, and it lent to the drama, but I was thinking, "Come on, Amy...he's finally going to tell you everything after putting you off for sooooooo looooonnnnnnggggggg...and you're going to walk out on him before I can find out what he's going to say!"
As I mentioned before, I liked reading No Substitute. I'd consider reading more from Susan Diane Johnson in the future.
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy of "No Substitute" by Susan Diane Johnson from NetGalley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
