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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
There's nothing literally wrong with this book it just wasn't for me. I found it really boring and struggled to get through it. The ending was good though I quite liked it.
3.5 ⭐
I actually enjoyed this! Usually books with this trope are terrible, to be completely honest, and I don't remember when was the last time I read a really good one. I think the last one was while I was still reading on wattpad two years ago :/ Anyways, the story was good and I liked the writing so I would recommend it to others who don't have anything against reading books with this trope.
I actually enjoyed this! Usually books with this trope are terrible, to be completely honest, and I don't remember when was the last time I read a really good one. I think the last one was while I was still reading on wattpad two years ago :/ Anyways, the story was good and I liked the writing so I would recommend it to others who don't have anything against reading books with this trope.
There are moments, when you’re getting to know someone, when you realize something deep and buried in you is deep and buried in them, too. It feels like meeting a stranger you’ve known your whole life.
edit literally seconds after posting the op but um: Maise O’Malley has immediately become one of verrrrryyy the few NA female protags i’ve actually liked! yes there were times where i wanted to climb into the book and shake her and yell “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND???” right into her face, but unlike other female leads I actually understand her thoughts behind her actions! so many authors fail to consider that maybe their female leads would be more understandable and likable if their perspectives were like... actually coherent? Maise’s mindset is definitely well explored, its not just some half-baked “I had daddy issues ughhhhh” that’s mentioned maybe once or twice then never again. anyways GOD i love Maise O’Malley and all her flaws.
3.5 stars for me!
hmmm.... many thoughts, many thoughts.... surprisingly good and surprisingly not the trashy teacher-student romance novel i was expecting so yayyy for that!! love good news!! i have way too many thought about this book to really fully talk about but after reading some other reviews I feel like there are lots of other people who have wayyyyy better thought-out opinions on this book than i do lol. it’s pretty much the only NA book that i read that i hadn’t wanted to quit halfway through reading.
3.5 stars for me!
hmmm.... many thoughts, many thoughts.... surprisingly good and surprisingly not the trashy teacher-student romance novel i was expecting so yayyy for that!! love good news!! i have way too many thought about this book to really fully talk about but after reading some other reviews I feel like there are lots of other people who have wayyyyy better thought-out opinions on this book than i do lol. it’s pretty much the only NA book that i read that i hadn’t wanted to quit halfway through reading.
I cannot stand teacher/student love stories. I hate them. It's a personal thing, but with books, films, tv shows, I have never come across a teacher/student story that hasn't made me cringe from unoriginality, unbearable tension and possibly the most stupid, idiotic characters ever written. I find it unrelatable and when I saw the blurb for this book I immediately put it the fuck back down. However after coming across stunning review after stunning review for months now, I thought I would try it and see if I had found the exception to my rule.
Short answer: Yes.
I found this book really difficult to rate, mostly because I'm not sure what I'm comparing it to.
Smut: exceptional. If we are looking in terms of a smutty read with a decent story, then five stars easy. This book contains some of the best written sex scenes I have ever read. No cliches, no sugar coating, and yet utterly drug-like, powerful and the definition of life changing/ perspective altering sex should be like.
More than that, the language, the protagonist and the whole style of the book was what I have been looking for in YA and NA lit. It's brutally sarcastic, bitter, knowing, but at the same time humble- aware that it doesn't know everything.
Protagonist: Fuck yes. Why are these girls so fucking hard to find in this genre. Maise was real, bitter, very flawed, very cynical, completely self possessed and confident and overall just a likable character I was happy to root for. I have to say as well that when Maise hit bottom in this story, she really fucking hit bottom. It wasn't your general rom/com structural low point where the female lead loses the guy and mope around in her beautiful life alone for a couple of weeks. Like I did not know how life was going to get worse for her, other than maybe she gets hit by a bus and loses her good looks on top of everything else. The best part that she was just so fucking angry in response to all this shit that was happening to her, she didn't really wallow or break down, she threw things and swore. Maise was awesome. She was angry and resentful, but she was also thoughtful and insightful. She was not the most reliable narrator- what did happen with Wesley anyway?- but she was an interesting one.
Story: Satisfying and interesting. Although after the first half I found, while I didn't find it a chore, I wasn't as addicted and enthralled as I have been with other YA/NA books. It was a nice thing to pick up again before I went to bed, but I didn't stay up until 5am to see what would happen next. The whole book is full of alter-cliches, which I'm not sure if I like or not. Let's go with like, because it's better than having the actual cliches in there. The rollercoaster metaphor opening, the shitter than shit home-life, the forbidden love, the manic pixie girl protagonist, the best friend who's secretly in love with her, the plane at the end- all cliches. Except they weren't. They are all self diagnosed, written with a different perspective and made fun of by our narrator, who is almost embarrassed that these over done things are actually happening to her. It's so cynical and so self aware that it has to be intentional. Whether I like it or not, it's intelligent and a break from the mould. Maybe it's a bit smutty for teens, but I think they should read this anyway just for the whole general outlook, the way Maise observes the smallest things about people and places and her intelligent streams of consciousness in general. The story reminds us that cliches happen in reality all the time, that's why they're cliches.
The one and only thing that I just did not buy was the romance. It wasn't the student/teacher story- if anything that was well done and well analysed, I liked how they both admitted that the fact that they were a bit twisted and the whole dynamic made it hotter for them, and I like how Maise stood back from those few months and saw how miserable and obsessed she had been. There are two things that particularly anger me about these stories, the first being that the two parties completely misjudged each others' age one time before school started and when they realise their situation, they decided that they are just so in love that they can't control the way the feel. There is usually a thing about the girl thinking shes so mature and the guy wanting to teach her about the world and how he's only just finished college so he;s not even that much older than her and the whole time I am thinking THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE TO FUCK YOU MORONS. This story did not do that. Evan was 33 and Maise had a history of sleeping with older men and for whatever reason, this made their whole set up go down much easier for me. It didn't feel convenient in any way, it felt wrong and delicious and generally had an aura of 'fuck it'. The other thing is, they admit that the fact that he is her teacher, turns them on, that they fantasise about each other during class with this heated longing. The teacher thing is about lust and fun and danger, not about love or meaning or learning. And Maise literally has nothing to lose, she has no friends or family who would judge her (other than Wesley, but who fucking cares what he thinks) and Evan says again and again he can teach anywhere, that he will change his job if she wants him to. They are also constantly aware of the pitfalls of these kind of relationships. Evan makes and effort not to be the older man, the teacher when he is with her and Maise always reminds herself that she is only 18 and in some ways very inexperienced and immature. Basically, they talk a lot and proved to me that they are not morons and so I didn't mind their risk taking so much.
Actually, after a while the focus isn't really on the student/teacher thing, but on the scariness of relationships and his secret past and the collision of their substantial baggage.
The best bit about their relationship was, for me, right at the beginning (isn't that always the way) I loved their first encounter, her impressing him and him intriguing her and even when they met again at the school and the first thing he said to her was that he would resign.
My problem, mostly, was that I was not in love with Evan. While their meaningful conversations and gradual descent into love wasn't skipped over, I just didn't feel it. I didn't get the magic click and excitement (similar to the one you get when you like someone in real life) that forces you to keep reading until their story is concluded. Maybe I just loved Maise too much and thought that nobody was good enough for her. I grew bored with Evan, I kept reading to see what would happen to Maise because, suitably, she has other stuff going on other than a guy. I did not care if she ended up with him or not, I knew she would survive either way.
I will definitely read this again, and I'd probably recommend, although only to those few friends I have who wont blush over smut.
Short answer: Yes.
I found this book really difficult to rate, mostly because I'm not sure what I'm comparing it to.
Smut: exceptional. If we are looking in terms of a smutty read with a decent story, then five stars easy. This book contains some of the best written sex scenes I have ever read. No cliches, no sugar coating, and yet utterly drug-like, powerful and the definition of life changing/ perspective altering sex should be like.
More than that, the language, the protagonist and the whole style of the book was what I have been looking for in YA and NA lit. It's brutally sarcastic, bitter, knowing, but at the same time humble- aware that it doesn't know everything.
Protagonist: Fuck yes. Why are these girls so fucking hard to find in this genre. Maise was real, bitter, very flawed, very cynical, completely self possessed and confident and overall just a likable character I was happy to root for. I have to say as well that when Maise hit bottom in this story, she really fucking hit bottom. It wasn't your general rom/com structural low point where the female lead loses the guy and mope around in her beautiful life alone for a couple of weeks. Like I did not know how life was going to get worse for her, other than maybe she gets hit by a bus and loses her good looks on top of everything else. The best part that she was just so fucking angry in response to all this shit that was happening to her, she didn't really wallow or break down, she threw things and swore. Maise was awesome. She was angry and resentful, but she was also thoughtful and insightful. She was not the most reliable narrator- what did happen with Wesley anyway?- but she was an interesting one.
Story: Satisfying and interesting. Although after the first half I found, while I didn't find it a chore, I wasn't as addicted and enthralled as I have been with other YA/NA books. It was a nice thing to pick up again before I went to bed, but I didn't stay up until 5am to see what would happen next. The whole book is full of alter-cliches, which I'm not sure if I like or not. Let's go with like, because it's better than having the actual cliches in there. The rollercoaster metaphor opening, the shitter than shit home-life, the forbidden love, the manic pixie girl protagonist, the best friend who's secretly in love with her, the plane at the end- all cliches. Except they weren't. They are all self diagnosed, written with a different perspective and made fun of by our narrator, who is almost embarrassed that these over done things are actually happening to her. It's so cynical and so self aware that it has to be intentional. Whether I like it or not, it's intelligent and a break from the mould. Maybe it's a bit smutty for teens, but I think they should read this anyway just for the whole general outlook, the way Maise observes the smallest things about people and places and her intelligent streams of consciousness in general. The story reminds us that cliches happen in reality all the time, that's why they're cliches.
The one and only thing that I just did not buy was the romance. It wasn't the student/teacher story- if anything that was well done and well analysed, I liked how they both admitted that the fact that they were a bit twisted and the whole dynamic made it hotter for them, and I like how Maise stood back from those few months and saw how miserable and obsessed she had been. There are two things that particularly anger me about these stories, the first being that the two parties completely misjudged each others' age one time before school started and when they realise their situation, they decided that they are just so in love that they can't control the way the feel. There is usually a thing about the girl thinking shes so mature and the guy wanting to teach her about the world and how he's only just finished college so he;s not even that much older than her and the whole time I am thinking THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE TO FUCK YOU MORONS. This story did not do that. Evan was 33 and Maise had a history of sleeping with older men and for whatever reason, this made their whole set up go down much easier for me. It didn't feel convenient in any way, it felt wrong and delicious and generally had an aura of 'fuck it'. The other thing is, they admit that the fact that he is her teacher, turns them on, that they fantasise about each other during class with this heated longing. The teacher thing is about lust and fun and danger, not about love or meaning or learning. And Maise literally has nothing to lose, she has no friends or family who would judge her (other than Wesley, but who fucking cares what he thinks) and Evan says again and again he can teach anywhere, that he will change his job if she wants him to. They are also constantly aware of the pitfalls of these kind of relationships. Evan makes and effort not to be the older man, the teacher when he is with her and Maise always reminds herself that she is only 18 and in some ways very inexperienced and immature. Basically, they talk a lot and proved to me that they are not morons and so I didn't mind their risk taking so much.
Actually, after a while the focus isn't really on the student/teacher thing, but on the scariness of relationships and his secret past and the collision of their substantial baggage.
The best bit about their relationship was, for me, right at the beginning (isn't that always the way) I loved their first encounter, her impressing him and him intriguing her and even when they met again at the school and the first thing he said to her was that he would resign.
My problem, mostly, was that I was not in love with Evan. While their meaningful conversations and gradual descent into love wasn't skipped over, I just didn't feel it. I didn't get the magic click and excitement (similar to the one you get when you like someone in real life) that forces you to keep reading until their story is concluded. Maybe I just loved Maise too much and thought that nobody was good enough for her. I grew bored with Evan, I kept reading to see what would happen to Maise because, suitably, she has other stuff going on other than a guy. I did not care if she ended up with him or not, I knew she would survive either way.
I will definitely read this again, and I'd probably recommend, although only to those few friends I have who wont blush over smut.
"Unteachable" started so well. The lyrical writing is lovely enough to make me want to pick up another Leah Raeder book. The protagonist is wonderfully complex, believably brave, resourceful, cynical and vulnerable in a way that makes your heart break for her while also making you want to shake some sense into her. The first carnival scenes were steamy, romantic perfection. The rest of the love story, however, took a sharp turn into ick that got worst at the book's end.
1. Evan's a skeeze. Based on Maise and Evan's crazy chemistry at the carnival, I bought into their connection despite their circumstance. The revelation that Maise is the second high school girl Evan slept with killed that for me. Connecting with a young woman who told you she was 21? Okay. Finding out she's 18 and your student and still going for it, despite the fact that you impregnated a 17-year-old student previously? This guy should never teach again.
2. They mostly have sex. This starts out great, but no build up, tension, or proof of a real connection occurs because that's all they do. Much of their time spent doing something else is mentioned but not shown. This is the first romance I've read where I found explicit scenes tedious.
3. Maise's terrible home life enables their affair. One scene that grossed me out was when Maise brings Evan to her home, which she has previously described as threadbare, smelly and dirty, and instead of being horrified, he makes out with her on her bed.
4. Obsession isn't healthy love. Maise and Evan explicitly state that part of their attraction to each other is their age difference, and the forbidden teacher-student dynamic. What happens when that goes away, and they settle in to the day-to-day of a relationship? When Maise is no longer young? I'm not sure if the Siobhan/Jack relationship, the only other example of a similar age dynamic in the book, was meant to be foreshadowing - separation, her alone and "what-if"-ing, him with new, 20-something arm candy - but it sure felt like it. Yay, romance.
Spoiler
This rating would've gone up a star if Maise had flown off into her new life on her own, free of the problematic relationships of her past. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hated the Happily Ever After for the following reasons:1. Evan's a skeeze. Based on Maise and Evan's crazy chemistry at the carnival, I bought into their connection despite their circumstance. The revelation that Maise is the second high school girl Evan slept with killed that for me. Connecting with a young woman who told you she was 21? Okay. Finding out she's 18 and your student and still going for it, despite the fact that you impregnated a 17-year-old student previously? This guy should never teach again.
2. They mostly have sex. This starts out great, but no build up, tension, or proof of a real connection occurs because that's all they do. Much of their time spent doing something else is mentioned but not shown. This is the first romance I've read where I found explicit scenes tedious.
3. Maise's terrible home life enables their affair. One scene that grossed me out was when Maise brings Evan to her home, which she has previously described as threadbare, smelly and dirty, and instead of being horrified, he makes out with her on her bed.
4. Obsession isn't healthy love. Maise and Evan explicitly state that part of their attraction to each other is their age difference, and the forbidden teacher-student dynamic. What happens when that goes away, and they settle in to the day-to-day of a relationship? When Maise is no longer young? I'm not sure if the Siobhan/Jack relationship, the only other example of a similar age dynamic in the book, was meant to be foreshadowing - separation, her alone and "what-if"-ing, him with new, 20-something arm candy - but it sure felt like it. Yay, romance.
Oh Maise and Mr. Wilke. Y’all took me on a rollercoaster of a ride.
I admire Maise in so many ways. She has been dealt a crappy life, and does what she can to take care of herself. I don’t agree with everything she does, but she’s pretty strong. Maise has a habit of keeping people away, and I don’t really blame her for that. If you let people in, you get hurt. I really liked Evan. He isn’t all about the physical, although, don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of hanky panky going on. He wants to get to know Maise.
I love the connection between Maise and Evan. You can feel it jumping out of the pages. They have a complicated relationship what with all the student/teacher thing. But they also have their own insecurities to deal with. Maise and Evan also have to try to keep their interest a secret, but that’s nearly impossible.
Leah Raeder did an amazing job writing about such a tabboo topic. Unteachable had me hooked from the beginning.
I admire Maise in so many ways. She has been dealt a crappy life, and does what she can to take care of herself. I don’t agree with everything she does, but she’s pretty strong. Maise has a habit of keeping people away, and I don’t really blame her for that. If you let people in, you get hurt. I really liked Evan. He isn’t all about the physical, although, don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of hanky panky going on. He wants to get to know Maise.
I love the connection between Maise and Evan. You can feel it jumping out of the pages. They have a complicated relationship what with all the student/teacher thing. But they also have their own insecurities to deal with. Maise and Evan also have to try to keep their interest a secret, but that’s nearly impossible.
Leah Raeder did an amazing job writing about such a tabboo topic. Unteachable had me hooked from the beginning.
**5 Oh My Freakin' Gosh Stars!!!**
I FLOVED, floved, floved this book--absolutely inhaled it. I love a good forbidden romance and combined with Ms. Raeder's very talented writing, this will be a favorite for 2013 for me! Once I started I couldn't put it down--loved the hero, loved the heroine, loved the friends, loved everything! It made me want to laugh, cry, punch something, punch someone...it made me FEEL!
The writing was engaging, beautiful, tragic--everything I want in a really great book. And on top of that, it was super sexy and HOT. I can't wait to read more by Leah Raeder--please release something else SOON!!
I FLOVED, floved, floved this book--absolutely inhaled it. I love a good forbidden romance and combined with Ms. Raeder's very talented writing, this will be a favorite for 2013 for me! Once I started I couldn't put it down--loved the hero, loved the heroine, loved the friends, loved everything! It made me want to laugh, cry, punch something, punch someone...it made me FEEL!
The writing was engaging, beautiful, tragic--everything I want in a really great book. And on top of that, it was super sexy and HOT. I can't wait to read more by Leah Raeder--please release something else SOON!!
“Grow up. This is real. The world is ugly and nasty and fucked up, and so are we.”
You see my one star up there, you know how I felt about this, so I'll try to keep this brief. It's not you -- it's me. I thought this would totally be one of those fucked-up romances that I'd love. But it wasn't.
You also probably know the premise. Our eighteen year-old MC hooks up with an older guy at a carnival the week before starting her senior year. This guy makes her feel things. She walks into class the following week only to find that he is her film studies teacher. Both Evan and Maise are consumed with their need for one another, and staying away from each other does not seem to be an option. It isn't long before they are sneaking around and doing whatever it takes to be together. How could it be wrong when it feels this good? Etc.
Here was my problem with this book: I expected a severely flawed romance and maybe some character revolutions. Some reality and a lot of pain. Some better secrets.
For instance, we have Maise. She suffers from the typical teen syndrome of thinking that she is so much more mature than her age reflects, so worldly, so much smarter than everyone else. She knows everything. Unteachable says: She's right. Is that ever the case? Where's reality to slap you in the face when you need it?
And then there's Evan. I mean, let's be honest. You have to be a little bit of a sick fuck if you're 32 and you're trying to get it on with teens. I mean, what could you have in common? What would you talk about with someone that lacks more than a decade of your life experience? Or wait. No adult life experience. Well, in Maise's case...everything because she is so intelligent and worldly. But...let's go back to this sick fuck. So what's he going to do? Is he going to become some kind of a deranged stalker? Violently obsessed? Ditch her? Well, he's got a couple of secrets, but they were pretty underwhelming.
So, they have a couple of close calls. Maise contemplates the relationship a couple of times, ultimately deciding that they are truly meant to be and will be together forever. So I'm all like, "Okay, this is it. The fucked up reality is on its way. He says something fucked up like, 'you're too old for me now'..." Wrong.Unteachable says: You're right! It is true love! You guys will be together forever.
I'm not a lovey love story kind of girl. If you are that person, and the twist on the whole thing interests you, then this might be the book for you. I like the darkness and the grit that I thought I would get from this. The whorey-drug addict mom didn't give it to me. I wanted this to go differently, and I wanted Maise to overcome it and hook up with her friend that is in love with her: the one she should have been with all along. And she should have known that.
I wanted realism. I didn't get it.
You see my one star up there, you know how I felt about this, so I'll try to keep this brief. It's not you -- it's me. I thought this would totally be one of those fucked-up romances that I'd love. But it wasn't.
You also probably know the premise. Our eighteen year-old MC hooks up with an older guy at a carnival the week before starting her senior year. This guy makes her feel things. She walks into class the following week only to find that he is her film studies teacher. Both Evan and Maise are consumed with their need for one another, and staying away from each other does not seem to be an option. It isn't long before they are sneaking around and doing whatever it takes to be together. How could it be wrong when it feels this good? Etc.
Here was my problem with this book: I expected a severely flawed romance and maybe some character revolutions. Some reality and a lot of pain. Some better secrets.
For instance, we have Maise. She suffers from the typical teen syndrome of thinking that she is so much more mature than her age reflects, so worldly, so much smarter than everyone else. She knows everything. Unteachable says: She's right. Is that ever the case? Where's reality to slap you in the face when you need it?
And then there's Evan. I mean, let's be honest. You have to be a little bit of a sick fuck if you're 32 and you're trying to get it on with teens. I mean, what could you have in common? What would you talk about with someone that lacks more than a decade of your life experience? Or wait. No adult life experience. Well, in Maise's case...everything because she is so intelligent and worldly. But...let's go back to this sick fuck. So what's he going to do? Is he going to become some kind of a deranged stalker? Violently obsessed? Ditch her? Well, he's got a couple of secrets, but they were pretty underwhelming.
So, they have a couple of close calls. Maise contemplates the relationship a couple of times, ultimately deciding that they are truly meant to be and will be together forever. So I'm all like, "Okay, this is it. The fucked up reality is on its way. He says something fucked up like, 'you're too old for me now'..." Wrong.Unteachable says: You're right! It is true love! You guys will be together forever.
I'm not a lovey love story kind of girl. If you are that person, and the twist on the whole thing interests you, then this might be the book for you. I like the darkness and the grit that I thought I would get from this. The whorey-drug addict mom didn't give it to me. I wanted this to go differently, and I wanted Maise to overcome it and hook up with her friend that is in love with her: the one she should have been with all along. And she should have known that.
I wanted realism. I didn't get it.