I've listened to an hour of this, but must start again. I think it could be as good as the stars indicate.

Three novellas. As in Teach Me, these couples in their forties and plus-size women are portrayed positively; the first two novellas are about teachers.

Sweetest in the Gale: Griff is worried when Candy, a fellow English teacher, returns for the new school year uncharacteristically sombre and subdued. This is a really sweet romance about two people who are navigating loss and grief. Griff and Candy share honestly about difficult topics and discover things in common -- not just to passion for their subject and for their jobs. And I liked how Griff’s applies his understanding of text and subtext to real life interactions. I enjoyed reading this.

Unraveled: Maths teacher Simon is assigned to observe and mentor the new art teacher, Poppy. This is a lot more light-hearted than the other stories. I enjoyed how much of it takes place in the classroom, and I liked the threads of mystery -- the whodunit of the murder scene diorama Poppy has brought into class, why Poppy pursues such a morbid artform and what happened to the previous art teacher.

Cover Me: After a concerning mammogram result, Elizabeth agrees to marry an old friend so she will be covered by his health insurance. Oh look, my favourite romance trope, marriage-of-convenience(/fake-dating)! Predictable as anything, but that made it a safe position from which to explore serious and sobering topics: the process of a breast cancer diagnosis and problems with the US health system. That part was really interesting.

Sweetest in the Gale is a collection of three stories by Olivia Dade. All three stories take place in Marysburg where some of her other full length books are set. My favorite of the three was title story Sweetest in the Gale which is a romance between two teachers. Candy Albright has been introduced in Dade's other books. I loved Candy and Griff. It was such a beautiful story of the two characters overcoming grief and finding their new normal. I also enjoyed the other two stories. Unraveled is also a romance between two teachers, and Cover Me is a marriage of convenience story between two friends. ( )