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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Well, you know, for a book that's about a teacher/student-relationship, this one is a lot more realistic than Slammed (by Colleen Hoover).
This is the type of naughty blush inducing book that you love to read because I t has a solid story line, good character development, strong writing, and good sex scenes. This author does it right by showing how you can have good sex scenes without sacrificing your characters or a good story.
This is how New Adult should be done. I was barely able to put down this book. Raeder's writing style is poetic, straight-forward, metaphorical and also very graphic. Can't wait to get to her other books!
“I can't hold on to you. You're like a shooting star. Just a trail of fire in my hands.”
Leah Raeder, where have you been all my life?!
This book was flawless from beginning to end. It gripped me from page one. I can't remember the last time I stayed up all night reading one book.
The prose, beautiful. The most perfect first chapter I've ever read.
One of my favorite reads.
Just didn’t feel the romance at all. really didn’t care about the guy (can’t remember his name). This book would have been great if the ending was realistic instead of a HEA
This book is.... I don't really have a specific word to describe this book. I really loved it. this is my first time reading about a student/teacher relationship and it was really good to be honest. i was really impressed, i don't know why but i really thought it would be too cliche and over-rated. the book has amazing quotes the writing style is beautiful. i fell in love from the first chapter reading this quote
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫/𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝-𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠."
i really loved Maise and loved being inside her head. she was really mature but she also has her moments when she was just "𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐝".
i'd be honest sometimes felt like they were just together because she has daddy issues and 'E' wanted her because of her age , but you can really feel their love for each other throughout the book , that was my only true problem with the book , which really is nothing compared to the amazingness of the book .
I really liked how Maise and Evan ( he is still Evan in my heart ) meet at the carnival specially at the rollercoster where they conquered their fears together
"𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 , 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭"
I really fucking hated her mom, she was a shitty mom and she didn't care about her in the slightless bit , she was the main reason she didn't get to have a childhood and increased her level of maturity
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐍𝐨,"𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲."𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞".
"𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫/𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐫. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐞 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐣𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐭. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝-𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐮𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲'𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠."
i really loved Maise and loved being inside her head. she was really mature but she also has her moments when she was just "𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐝".
i'd be honest sometimes felt like they were just together because she has daddy issues and 'E' wanted her because of her age , but you can really feel their love for each other throughout the book , that was my only true problem with the book , which really is nothing compared to the amazingness of the book .
I really liked how Maise and Evan ( he is still Evan in my heart ) meet at the carnival specially at the rollercoster where they conquered their fears together
"𝐈 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 , 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞'𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭"
I really fucking hated her mom, she was a shitty mom and she didn't care about her in the slightless bit , she was the main reason she didn't get to have a childhood and increased her level of maturity
"𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮? 𝐓𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧' 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞?"
"𝐍𝐨,"𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲."𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞".
I picked up this book for two reasons. One, I’m a sucker for the student/teacher relationship books. Two, Becky Albertalli rated this five stars. So you can see why I thought I would really enjoy this book. In the end, Unteachable ended up being a two and half start read for me.
First and foremost, I found the writing in this book very painful to read. Short, choppy sentences. Metaphors and descriptions that didn’t make sense. An abundance of run on sentences. You can tell this book was self-published at first, because the writing definitely wasn’t there.
Here’s some examples:
“Evan gave me a sly smile that felt as a warmth deep in my belly.”
“So intense, too intense to feel directly, just a sensation of being full to my core, of my body wrapping itself with crazy anaconda strength around him, taking him in as deeply as I could until I thought I was going to scream, cry, cease to exist.”
I also found our main character, Maise, to be a bit one dimensional. The “I’m so fucked up compared to my small town classmates and different and pretty and I what to get out of this shithole” type of character. I don’t know, she was boring to me.
This book was also a bit slow at first, and didn’t pick up steam until halfway through the novel. I also thought the ending was a bit rushed and could have been better.
However, there were a few things I liked about this book. It really didn’t shy away from the teacher/student relationship. It wasn’t just longing trapped inside a classroom. Maise and Evan had sex plenty of times. And I think a lot of authors shy away from that, or they hold out the sex scene until the end of the novel. And that’s another thing, the sex scenes were hot and uncensored. A steamy read for sure.
I also liked that Evan, the teacher, wasn’t fresh out of college/22 years old. I liked that there was a significant age gap between the two of them. It made the read a bit more realistic compared to the other student-teacher books where the teacher is only four or five years older than the protagonist.
If you like taboo relationships, maybe you should give “Unteachable” a chance. It’s a fast, thought provoking read that will keep you interested until the end.
First and foremost, I found the writing in this book very painful to read. Short, choppy sentences. Metaphors and descriptions that didn’t make sense. An abundance of run on sentences. You can tell this book was self-published at first, because the writing definitely wasn’t there.
Here’s some examples:
“Evan gave me a sly smile that felt as a warmth deep in my belly.”
“So intense, too intense to feel directly, just a sensation of being full to my core, of my body wrapping itself with crazy anaconda strength around him, taking him in as deeply as I could until I thought I was going to scream, cry, cease to exist.”
I also found our main character, Maise, to be a bit one dimensional. The “I’m so fucked up compared to my small town classmates and different and pretty and I what to get out of this shithole” type of character. I don’t know, she was boring to me.
This book was also a bit slow at first, and didn’t pick up steam until halfway through the novel. I also thought the ending was a bit rushed and could have been better.
However, there were a few things I liked about this book. It really didn’t shy away from the teacher/student relationship. It wasn’t just longing trapped inside a classroom. Maise and Evan had sex plenty of times. And I think a lot of authors shy away from that, or they hold out the sex scene until the end of the novel. And that’s another thing, the sex scenes were hot and uncensored. A steamy read for sure.
I also liked that Evan, the teacher, wasn’t fresh out of college/22 years old. I liked that there was a significant age gap between the two of them. It made the read a bit more realistic compared to the other student-teacher books where the teacher is only four or five years older than the protagonist.
If you like taboo relationships, maybe you should give “Unteachable” a chance. It’s a fast, thought provoking read that will keep you interested until the end.
This is a public announcement. Elliot Wake is my new favourite author.
Unteachable is not as good as Black Iris, which I shall review next, but it is so goddamn good. It managed to make someone (spoiler: me) who does not like teacher/student relationships and excessive sex scenes fall in love with the story to the point I finished it in two days, and only because I had to actually go to class and work in the meantime. Maise was a great protagonist, fresh air after all those submissive, one-dimensional wish-fulfillment MC we are so used to in erotica fiction, and Etan was everything I look for in love interests: sweet but sexy, good but not perfect, and supportive (!!!). Supportive boyfriends always get me. Send some more in my way.
Also, special mention: the prose. Lyrical but not excessive, slightly literary which made my heart go BUM and reminded me why I am studying Literature in college (hint: it's not for Fitzgerald).
I'm only not giving it a full 5-star reviews because, though I understand it's part of the genre, I am so not a fan of sex scenes, even as beautiful written as they are here. I felt that it became a bit too-much-sex not-too-much-plot in the middle of the book, before the twists and big reveals which picked up the pace to ten thousand light years per hour. Nothing that affected the storytelling too much, but it did stand out to me, especially when it came to a point when I just wanted the sex to be over so we could get to things that actually mattered. (Not that sex doesn't. It's just—I'm asexual. The appeal is lost to me).
All in all, a lovely book written in a lovely style that got this lovely author a new auto-buy fan.
Unteachable is not as good as Black Iris, which I shall review next, but it is so goddamn good. It managed to make someone (spoiler: me) who does not like teacher/student relationships and excessive sex scenes fall in love with the story to the point I finished it in two days, and only because I had to actually go to class and work in the meantime. Maise was a great protagonist, fresh air after all those submissive, one-dimensional wish-fulfillment MC we are so used to in erotica fiction, and Etan was everything I look for in love interests: sweet but sexy, good but not perfect, and supportive (!!!). Supportive boyfriends always get me. Send some more in my way.
Also, special mention: the prose. Lyrical but not excessive, slightly literary which made my heart go BUM and reminded me why I am studying Literature in college (hint: it's not for Fitzgerald).
I'm only not giving it a full 5-star reviews because, though I understand it's part of the genre, I am so not a fan of sex scenes, even as beautiful written as they are here. I felt that it became a bit too-much-sex not-too-much-plot in the middle of the book, before the twists and big reveals which picked up the pace to ten thousand light years per hour. Nothing that affected the storytelling too much, but it did stand out to me, especially when it came to a point when I just wanted the sex to be over so we could get to things that actually mattered. (Not that sex doesn't. It's just—I'm asexual. The appeal is lost to me).
All in all, a lovely book written in a lovely style that got this lovely author a new auto-buy fan.