Comments on: REVIEW: Dear Sir, I’m Yours by Joely Sue Burkhart

By: GutterBall

GutterBall — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:36:38 +0000

The Dean is not just down the hall, willing to take on all our problem cases. Deans interact with department chairs, not with individual professors.

Actually, in my college (admittedly a relatively small one), the dean really was just down the hall. In fact, he was my advisor, and he did interact with individual professors and taught classes and was very involved with the day-to-day functions of the department (including problem cases). I didn’t feel that was a stretch.

The professor/student dynamic scares a lot of people, and there’s no getting around that. But the Dom/sub thing does, too. If it doesn’t work for you, it’s just not going to work no matter how well-written. I hate to see it count off of someone just because it isn’t your cup of tea, though.

By: ardeatine

ardeatine — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:48:09 +0000

That bdsm speech of his sounded like infodump to me.

By: May

May — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:33:14 +0000

Having had to deal with not one, but two, professors this year who refuse to respond to email, I beg to differ on that one.

By: MichelleR

MichelleR — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:06:48 +0000

I pretty much loved this story when I read it. He didn’t date her when she was a student. In the prequel, he told her that they couldn’t date until she dropped the class or after she wasn’t his student any longer. She only took his class, because of the attraction, and the first hint of her sub nature was her obsession with really learning about Romantic poetry in order to please him — and how that carried over into their play years later.

He also, and I admit this was stretching for the reason you mentioned, had the dean grade her work as well, in order to not let his attraction affect her grade. It seems the author worked to make him as ethical as possible while allowing to remain the natural heat of the teacher/student dynamic. I think it’s also why she made a point of showing him rebuff another student. Romance is based on an irresistible attraction compelling people to do out of character things.

The whole story had Conn being very ethical, aside from how they met. He felt he’d screwed up before, and was determined not to rush her or freak her out.

Yeah, could have well done without the paranormal thing.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:10:47 +0000

You know, DA ladies, there are e-books out there other than those published by Samhain. (Sorry. Subtlety was never my strong suit.)

Yes, and two of my recent ebook reviews were for Siren/Bookstrand and Wild at Heart books.

By: K. Z. Snow

K. Z. Snow — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:51:05 +0000

Even when I was a TA (teaching assistant), neither my professors nor my students referred to us as “teachers.”

You know, DA ladies, there are e-books out there other than those published by Samhain. (Sorry. Subtlety was never my strong suit.)

By: Susan/DC

Susan/DC — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:28:39 +0000

Totally agree about the fact that on the university level professors do not call themselves teachers, in large part because they see research in their field as just as important (and for some, even more important) than what they do in the classroom.

Also, I don’t know enough about the BDSM world to know if it would be realistic, but I think it would definitely be more romantic (to me, at least) if when Conn has the conversation about control/submission, he said something on the order of how they were both submissive and controlling. He is controlling himself, but he is submitting his own desires to ensure she is fulfilled. She is submitting to his will, but it is her desires that are dominant. The fact that it works both ways is, in fact, why it works. Just a thought.

By: Cherrie Lynn

Cherrie Lynn — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:23:12 +0000

This book was one of those that stayed with me long after I finished it. I still go back and read parts of it and melt. I don’t come from the experience of the professor, but I do come from the experience of being a student who had a raging inferno of a crush on my biology prof. *g* So I really enjoyed the fantasy and I loved this book.

Just thought I’d point out that Conn was the one making them wait; he and Rae actually did not date or have sex while she was his student. I’m sure the flirtation they carried on for the entire semester was inappopriate, and he didn’t try to deny that it was. But I thought he seemed adequately tortured about the whole thing. No squickage here.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:02:41 +0000

I’m amazed you were able to read past the professor/student set up. There are 5 professors in my family (I’m not one), and we’ve had conversations about how rigid the rules are now. We might debate “Can you date a former student while they are still on campus?” but a current student? Are you kidding? That is beyond the Pale.

Before I devolve into a senseless rant, suffice to say that I’ll wait for her next book.

By: Mezza

Mezza — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:39:07 +0000

Read it a couple of weeks ago and agree with the grade. The staff/student ethics thing really threw me out of the story (any Aussies remember the furore over Helen Garner’s book ‘The First Stone’ about the 1990′s MelbUni sexual harassment scandal?) and I just couldn’t abide the additional lack of professionalism in not reading email/using the internet – core tools of the job. I also didn’t get why she stayed in his mind for 5 years (apart from being a bad mistake) her character didn’t engage me.

By: tsarinakate1

tsarinakate1 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:05:43 +0000

Ger. Actually a college professor of mine refused to do email.

Which sucks when you have to get in contact with them about something important and they only take phone calls – and then they are out of town for a weekend at a conference