Kindle Edition Amazon Amazon Category:  Women Publisher: Just4kix Books ISBN-10:  1494924986 Type: Fiction Pages: 313 Copyright: December 2013 ISBN-13: 9781494924980 Price: $2.99 (eBook) When a handsome former US naval officer becomes head teacher to the undisciplined teen girls in a prestigious British school, he thinks he’s up for the task. But what he doesn’t realise is that his greatest challenge will be in managing the all-female staff. When dashing American, Adam Wild, takes up the position of head teacher at St Mary’s Academy for Girls in England, he knows he’ll have his work cut out for him. The governing board thinks his background as an officer in the US Navy makes him well suited to restore much needed discipline to the school. But some of the all-female teaching staff disagree.   Jenna feels the position should have been hers and undermines his attempts to reform the troubled school. Barbara (Babs) sees him as a romantic challenge, but Lisa, his confidant, believes she knows where his heart truly lies.  Adam’s strict new rules and sometimes cavalier approach set him on a collision course with a contingent of sullen and rebellious students who set out to manipulate and embarrass him in ways that only teenage girls can.  Still recovering from the tragic loss of his wife and two young children in a car crash, Adam is not in the market for new romance. But that does not prevent him from becoming the target of several predatory, repressed, or love-hungry libidos. His virile presence acts as a catalyst that upsets the entrenched order and stability of the school world, and proceeds to pull more than one dark, scandalous secret into the light …  And then Nicole, his late wife’s tearaway kid sister returns from Africa - and she is hiding secrets of her own. Lust shouts. Love whispers. Only the heart knows the difference. Intrigue, scandal and suspense simmer beneath the surface of this light-hearted and humour-peppered romance, where one man’s influence on a school full of wayward girls and their teachers changes their lives in ways none of them could imagine – and eventually his own.  Winner of the best Chick Lit/Women’s Lit category in the 2015 eFestival of Words      Excerpt As Adam scanned the morning’s agenda Lisa could hear the chatter of the girls as they filed into assembly. The closed office door muted the sound, but she knew when they entered the hall it would be like the bird house in a zoo. She stood next to his neatly organised desk ready to fill in any details he was unsure of. “So, Mrs Stannard is going to introduce me and give a brief explanation, and then I’ll take over,” he asked, looking up at her. “Yes. We thought that would be best. It will give some sort of continuity.” “And you’ll be ready to prompt me on the agenda,” he said, grinning. “Yes, but I’m confident you won’t need me,” she replied with a reassuring smile. He glanced at his watch, a slim classic that matched his gold cuff links, and picked up the file and rose briskly from his chair, his six foot-four frame towering over her. He fastened the middle button of his suit jacket, a dark blue that together with his pale blue shirt enhanced his fading tan. His broad shoulders filled the jacket to perfection and he could have stepped out of a clothing catalogue if it weren’t for the few stray locks of hair that fell over his brow despite him constantly finger-combing them back. “Let’s go. Wish me luck,” he said. “Good luck,” she said, wondering if he knew just how much he would need it.

The author has an excellent voice
WITH THE HEADMASTER’S APPROVAL is a story about a widowed former US Naval Officer selected as the new headmaster of a private British school for girls. It is told through the voices of women who have their own agendas affecting their viewpoint of this man. The novel is an easy read, has an interesting plot and… even for this senior citizen male reader… was an enjoyable read for what I would classify as British Chic Lit. This is an excellent work that was a quarterfinalist in an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards and was the winner of the best Chick Lit/Women’s Lit category in the 2015 eFestival of Words.

Charming
A most enjoyable, skilfully written story with thoroughly likeable characters about whom I cared.

There are many interwoven story lines that complement each other well. When it was suggested to me that this book is perhaps a romance, I was surprised. It has a romantic element yes, but there are so many themes, I'd find it hard to categorise.

As a child I was addicted to Enid Blyton's tales of girls' schools, Malory Towers and St. Clares. Part of the charm of this story for me was nostalgia mixed with a feeling that I was now reading a GROWN-UP version of my beloved old books.

A Man in Charge of an All Girls School
This one is hard for me to categorize so I'll go with Contemporary Romance.

The governing body of an all girls school in England decides to place a former US naval officer as Head Teacher. When the girls return from school break they discover not only is the Head Teacher a male but one who has strict rules.

I loved how Ms. Hurst-Nicholson shared the relationship of the staff with the new man in charge but also how things changed for the school as a whole. I also enjoyed how the story seemed to diverge into little side stories and then would come back around again.

Warning: This book is for Mature Audiences due to Adult Situations including sexual relationships