Teacher of the Year

De: M. A Wardell

Narrado por: Kirt Graves

In this steamy, open-door gay romance that is “like sweetness and spice wrapped into a big, warm hug,” a kindergarten teacher falls for the divorced father of one of his students—perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Anita Kelly (Alice Oseman, bestselling author of Heartstopper).

Those who can, teach. Marvin Block is one of the best kindergarten teachers out there. And despite his anxiety, Marvin’s life is sweet. He knows what he wants. And what he wants is the Teacher of the Year Award. Not just for himself—his school needs him to win.

The New Year brings a new pupil to Marvin’s class. But when Illona walks in with her cute-as-hell single dad beside her, Marvin’s focus starts to slide.

Sure, his students always come first, but he deserves to have a life outside the classroom, too, right?

As their friendship deepens, Marvin realizes Olan has the potential to teach him things about love he never thought possible. But with the Teacher of the Year award and his school’s future on the line, now’s not the time for anything complicated.

With Olan’s past and Marvin’s present colliding, their experiment in love hangs in the balance. Marvin knows what he wants out of life. But now he’s forced to consider what he wants out of love.

Will Marvin chalk the relationship up to experience? Or can they revise their story into a textbook romance?

Now with bonuses including a new epilogue!

©2023 M. A. Wardell (P)2025 Forever

So sweet!

This was such a sweet story and fantastic narration! I listened to it in one go.

So cute

This book was adorable and steamy and just everything I wanted. There were definitely moments that had me tearing up as Marvin dealt with fears that I can very much relate to and that just made me root for them so much more. I loved it.

Such a cute, funny book!

I love MM books but have only ever read darker themed romance/erotica styles. This is my first MM rom-com and it’s definitely one of my favorites! The story line was sweet and funny and I was giggling the whole way through. Such a great story and the characters just felt so relatable! Also had the perfect amount of spice 🔥 10/10 recommend!

The sweetest Love story

I honestly didn't know what to expect out of this book. This is my first book from this author. I can 100% say it will not be the last.
This is the sweetest story. I fell in love with Mr. Block. He is the kindergarten teacher ever child deserves. He is so kind. His kids are everything to him and obviously they all adore him. I love his friendship with one of the other teachers, Jill. They are a hoot together.
Then walks in Mr. Stone with his daughter Illona. Illona will be in Mr. Block's class. All the teachers and parents can see how gorgeous Mr. Stone is but he quickly starts flirting with Mr. Block.
Marvin (Mr. Block) and Olan (Mr. Stone) start down a path of a relationship, hooray, but past lives of addiction get in the way. The author obviously knows a lot about the addiction (or did amazing research) and I can say being 16 years sober he did an phenomenal job with the subject.
I just get all the good feels about this story. There is spice, but not over the top. All the characters are well written. I love the found family, forgiveness of oneself and others.

My first listen by MA Wardell

Loved it! Didn't realize how much I needed a romance book with yiddish in it. It made me so happy. Loved Marvin & Olan's story. Can't wait to listen to the rest of the series. Excellent narration by Kirt Graves.

More than just steamy

The spicy portions of this story were really well done, but I found myself in love with the characters, their stories, and the writing in general. I got lost in this book so many times. Beautifully done.

So Good!

It had so much fluff with just the perfect amount of spice! I loved it!

Cute

This is such a cute single dad & teacher romance .
Marvin is such a dork and u love to root for him . I do think this is worth a read.

Unfortunately , towards the end he comes off as judgmental & insufferable. He really irritated me.
Luckily Olan is very patient.

The last third of the book dragged and Because of this i knocked off a star.
Also, do u ever feel like a couple probably broke up after the book ends? Yea…


The smut is pretty high for such a cutesy cover

Good audio 🎧

Friends to lovers, teacher x single dad, MM romance!

This author has been on my TBR for quite some time and this was real cute! Very sweet, teacher x single dad, MM, friends to lovers romance.

Marvin is a kindergarten teacher who really wants the Teacher of the Year award. He returns to school after winter break, it’s a new year and he has a new student in his class for the last half of the year. He meets her dad Olan and they immediately feel a connection! This was equal parts sweet and steamy, the possibility of their relationship is a bit complicated because he’s the teacher of his child. I liked how this book delves into emotional trauma and growth for the characters, anxiety rep, and complicated familial relationships. I’d definitely check out more from this author in the future!

CW: recovering alcoholic parent

Perfectly PC Gay Romance…

I really liked the book and the author (and narrator) did a great job of making the characters a bit more REAL with great backstory interwoven throughout the entire story! My biggest issues was that everything was SO overtly “politically correct” - asking for consent for seemingly every interaction. The “let’s make sure we get tested before we don’t need ******* (prophylactics)” even tho is both characters wouldn’t have needed that based off the authors backstories for each of them. The best friend character Jill was hysterical and I loved their representation of her. Funny, modern and sexy - I very much enjoyed this book!!