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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
3.5
was not expecting to like this as much as i did. that title though.
was not expecting to like this as much as i did. that title though.
3 stars. This was the epitome of an okay read. It wasn't bad but I wasn't thrilled or hooked into it either. It is what it is and that kind of makes sad because the story and subject matter is so interesting.
Like I said, the story and subject was so interesting. The whole student/teacher relationship is fascinating in a weird way but I just feel like the author didn't take full advantage of Maise and Evan's situation. I never felt like the stakes were high even though you know that they are. It didn't feel dangerous enough to me considering that Evan had so much to lose if their relationship was found out.
Maise was so annoying and immature for an nineteen year old. The writing was great and I appreciated Maise's voice and everything but I just didn't like her as a character. I completely understood why she was the way she was but still. She seemed like a such a stereotype that it wasn't even funny. She didn't want to be like her mother and hated her so much but basically was doing the exact same thing as her. I didn't get it. Again, I get it. Her life was messed up but still. I did like that she wanted to go to college at least.
Evan was an okay character. He didn't really have a backbone to me. I wanted him to be stronger and a bit more assertive. I didn't understand his reaction when he found out Maise was his student. He wasn't angry that she had lied to him or anything, he was just okay with them sneaking around from the get go. Didn't get it.
I feel like this book would better as a movie, that way Maise and Evan's relationship can really be pushed to its very limits. 3 stars.
Like I said, the story and subject was so interesting. The whole student/teacher relationship is fascinating in a weird way but I just feel like the author didn't take full advantage of Maise and Evan's situation. I never felt like the stakes were high even though you know that they are. It didn't feel dangerous enough to me considering that Evan had so much to lose if their relationship was found out.
Maise was so annoying and immature for an nineteen year old. The writing was great and I appreciated Maise's voice and everything but I just didn't like her as a character. I completely understood why she was the way she was but still. She seemed like a such a stereotype that it wasn't even funny. She didn't want to be like her mother and hated her so much but basically was doing the exact same thing as her. I didn't get it. Again, I get it. Her life was messed up but still. I did like that she wanted to go to college at least.
Evan was an okay character. He didn't really have a backbone to me. I wanted him to be stronger and a bit more assertive. I didn't understand his reaction when he found out Maise was his student. He wasn't angry that she had lied to him or anything, he was just okay with them sneaking around from the get go. Didn't get it.
I feel like this book would better as a movie, that way Maise and Evan's relationship can really be pushed to its very limits. 3 stars.
“You can call it love, or you can call it freefall. They're pretty much the same thing.” ― Leah Raeder, Unteachable
Book Title: Unteachable
Author: Leah Raeder
Narration: Grace Grant
Series: Stand Alone
Source: MP3 Audiobook (Library)
✧✧Why I picked that quote: There were so many to choose from...seriously, the mind of Maise is intriguing and insightful for someone so young.✧✧
Overall Rating: 3.7/5
✧Breakdown of Rating✧
●Plot: 3.7/5 The first half had way to much sex-plicit (sexually explicit) scenes. For me, sex is not a plot. The second half did get better. The whole deal with her Mother's dealer was rather sketchy.
●Characters: 4/5 Maise is a strong female heroine. Evan...I couldn't stop myself from seeing him as a defiler of daughters.
●Theme: 3/5
●Flow: 4.7/5 The writing itself was actually superb
●Originality: 4/5
●Book Cover: 3.5/5 Most scenes within the book say that she goes without make-up. I don't think it matched the book. It's pretty though.
●The Feels: 3/5 ugh, the angst, the confusion...
●Narration: 4.5/5 I'm conflicted...I felt she was perfect for the voice of Maise but I was also put-off by her rawness. Her narrating skills in general were really good, though.
●Ending: 4/5 I might have wanted a different outcome. Cliffhanger: No
My Thoughts:
I wanted to like this more than I did. When it comes right down to it, this hits a little too close to home for me. (My oldest is going to turn 18 in her next year of high school) I was really uncomfortable throughout most of this book. Which is due entirely to the fact that I was unable to like Evan as a character.
I really liked Maise, though, how she's so jaded at the beginning of the book...
...and somewhere along the way she becomes so philosophical...
...and when she falls in love...
...and that's the point where she really becomes mature.
Book Title: Unteachable
Author: Leah Raeder
Narration: Grace Grant
Series: Stand Alone
Source: MP3 Audiobook (Library)
✧✧Why I picked that quote: There were so many to choose from...seriously, the mind of Maise is intriguing and insightful for someone so young.✧✧
Overall Rating: 3.7/5
✧Breakdown of Rating✧
●Plot: 3.7/5 The first half had way to much sex-plicit (sexually explicit) scenes. For me, sex is not a plot. The second half did get better. The whole deal with her Mother's dealer was rather sketchy.
●Characters: 4/5 Maise is a strong female heroine. Evan...I couldn't stop myself from seeing him as a defiler of daughters.
●Theme: 3/5
●Flow: 4.7/5 The writing itself was actually superb
●Originality: 4/5
●Book Cover: 3.5/5 Most scenes within the book say that she goes without make-up. I don't think it matched the book. It's pretty though.
●The Feels: 3/5 ugh, the angst, the confusion...
●Narration: 4.5/5 I'm conflicted...I felt she was perfect for the voice of Maise but I was also put-off by her rawness. Her narrating skills in general were really good, though.
●Ending: 4/5 I might have wanted a different outcome. Cliffhanger: No
My Thoughts:
I wanted to like this more than I did. When it comes right down to it, this hits a little too close to home for me. (My oldest is going to turn 18 in her next year of high school) I was really uncomfortable throughout most of this book. Which is due entirely to the fact that I was unable to like Evan as a character.
I really liked Maise, though, how she's so jaded at the beginning of the book...
"Thanks, Dad, for leaving a huge void in my life that Freud says has to be filled with dick.”
...and somewhere along the way she becomes so philosophical...
“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.”
...and when she falls in love...
“...You should love something while you have it, love it fully and without reservation, even if you know you'll lose it someday. We lose everything. If you're trying to avoid loss, there's no point in taking another breath, or letting your heart beat one more time. It all ends." His fingers curl around mine. "That's all life is. Breathing in, breathing out. The space between two breaths.”
...and that's the point where she really becomes mature.
Have I read another version of this book? Did I read the same version as the other goodreaders? Because I started to read this book due to all the positive reviews! But I didn't like it as much as the others. There were some things I liked: I liked Maise, the protagonist. She is strong, but also fragile, rebellious, broken and confident. She is a good representation of a teenager who discovers adulthood and herself. I kinda was attracted to the aspect of a relationship between a teacher and student. But there was nearly no build-up. Evan (the teacher) and Maise (the student) meet, they immediately feel attracted to each other, have sex and go one with their lives. They meet in the classroom and they instantly fall in love again and start their relationship (read: sex). I'd have liked better if they just teased each other a bit, learned more about each other and didn't immediately jump into bed. Oh, I'm also forgetting the drugs addicted mom of Maise and the ''dark'' past of Evan. My first new adult book wasn't a spectacle, unfortunately.
I debated on 4 or 5 stars, but I loved Leah Raeder's writing so much I had to give the book 5 stars. It has a lyrical, dreamy quality, with a subtle undercurrent of intensity, that both gently beguiled and aggressively pushed. I think I *became* Maise while reading this story.
Some people hate "poetic" prose. They prefer more straightforward writing--fewer words. I get that. I've always enjoyed both, but in recent years I've read some really bad purple prose that kind of turned me off to the style. Leah Raeder relentlessly trampled over all my resistance and reminded me how much I love words and the myriad ways they can be woven together to tell a story.
Is this a perfect book? No, not in my opinion. There were a few things that really bothered me, and I even contemplated a DNF at one point. However, I never truly *left* the story while reading, even when the imperfections chafed.
Perhaps I'm too much of a romantic, but there *is* beauty (to me) in brokenness. I love the idea of these two wounded souls finding one another and taking the leap to love. I'm not sure that I would have Maise's courage to just embrace the "now" in the face of all the challenges loving someone like "E" entails (especially after the revelations about his past), but I'd like to believe there is a connection and love that would be worth that risk.
Some people hate "poetic" prose. They prefer more straightforward writing--fewer words. I get that. I've always enjoyed both, but in recent years I've read some really bad purple prose that kind of turned me off to the style. Leah Raeder relentlessly trampled over all my resistance and reminded me how much I love words and the myriad ways they can be woven together to tell a story.
Is this a perfect book? No, not in my opinion. There were a few things that really bothered me, and I even contemplated a DNF at one point. However, I never truly *left* the story while reading, even when the imperfections chafed.
Perhaps I'm too much of a romantic, but there *is* beauty (to me) in brokenness. I love the idea of these two wounded souls finding one another and taking the leap to love. I'm not sure that I would have Maise's courage to just embrace the "now" in the face of all the challenges loving someone like "E" entails (especially after the revelations about his past), but I'd like to believe there is a connection and love that would be worth that risk.
*eARC kindly provided by Atria via NetGalley*
*Review can be found on The Fox's Hideaway.
My Review!
*Spoilers. Fair warning.
So, a little confession: teacher/student relationships creep me out, no matter the ages, circumstances, or how they end. The only reason I read this was because I loved Black Iris, and Leah Raeder's writing is wonderful. I wanted to see how she handled a situation like this one. But I was NOT happy with it at all.
I am so goddamn disappointed with this book. To me, Unteachable was an unrealistic and romanticized student/teacher relationship that ended with no consequences with either of the parties like it should have. Not that it needed to for the story, per se, but when they're together, they're constantly thinking of all the reasons it's wrong and how they need to be careful. And so, there should have been this element of danger and forbiddenness, but there wasn't. They basically spent like 10% of the book actually in the school fooling around and the other 90% everywhere else. There was always this sense of foreboding, that they'd get caught and the consequences would be grave. But nothing happened to them. NOTHING. There was a bit of blackmail from another student that resulted in a little drama that actually flows into Black Iris. But it wasn't this huge big ginormous deal because it was pointless. There was never any real threat.
Oh, maybe I should talk about the characters. Well, I couldn't connect with Maise at all. At many points, I did feel for her and what she was going through. She was more mature for her age, felt like a thirty year old stuck in a teenager's body. She'd had to take care of herself since she was a little girl because her mother is a prostitute and a drug addict, and her father skipped out on them when she was a kid (hence the issues with boys). She had no parent figures, no guidance, no love or support. She was lonely, razor-edged, and closed off. And of course it would take this ONE guy to heal her. A guy she shouldn't have or even want.
I'm not gonna lie, I had liked Evan in the beginning. But he was cagey. He was very evasive about his past and his life and why he had taken the teaching job at her high school. We don't find out much about his past, and all we see is this good guy who takes care of Maise and only wants what's best for her. But he was honestly creepy, and it wasn't just because of the age difference. And it's all the more apparent when we find out what happened before he came to this high school. It just upped the ick factor tenfold, and I cannot in good conscience not see how the author didn't use that to make Maise open up her eyes about this guy. Why was it just brushed over? Why did it not make her want to run in the opposite direction? Why, why, why? I got no answers, which really pissed me off.
I could have gotten behind this romance, if I had actually felt a connection between the two main characters. If I'd had this sense that they were soulmates who shared a profoundly deep bond. But I just didn't believe it with them. This felt extremely insta-lovey, and all they did was basically have sex. They did talk too, but we never actually got to hear any of those conversations unless they pertained to Maise's life. Not to mention the ick factor of this. Sure, Maise is 18, which technically makes it legal (and that is a really nice excuse, is it not). But Evan is THIRTY-TWO! I'm sorry, but I just can't get behind this relationship. Not just because of the age factor, which is a strong reason, but because I believed that they weren't good for each other. Evan was sort of creepy, and he wouldn't share his past with her. And Maise might have been more mature for her age, but he was still taking advantage of her vulnerability. He was emotionally and mentally more stable than she was, even if he had a fucked up past like her. (But he really didn't because it wasn't a factor in his nonexistent character development, and there was basically no sense in bringing up his "hard" life experiences at all). And she might have been having sex already, but that didn't mean she was ready for a guy this mature and at such a different life stage than her.
The worst part, though, was the ending! All throughout the story, I was convinced it was going to end with them going their separate ways. That they'd say goodbye and look back on this as a lesson they were taught or whatever. Not to mention, like I said above, Evan was portrayed as this guy who put Maise's needs above his own, a selfless man who only wants what's best for her. And every single page leading up the end, he kept pushing her away and saying that she needed to leave and go live her own life and follow her dreams. That he wanted her to do that because she was so young and with so much ahead of her. So that basically meant nothing since he showed up in the plane seat next to her, in this really cheesy ending to a book that didn't seem to have a point to it. Also, the whole Casablanca thing was setting us up for that goodbye-never-to-see-each-other-again ending, but apparently that didn't mean anything.
The secondary relationships were all surface, and everything with them ended too perfectly. That was another unrealistic point of this book. Unteachable was basically about Maise and her addiction to a guy who is forbidden, and the amount of sex that they have and the fact that they get to have their happily ever after without any consequences. I went into this with an open mind and I am sorely disappointed that it didn't handle the teacher/student relationship well at all.
*Review can be found on The Fox's Hideaway.
My Review!
*Spoilers. Fair warning.
So, a little confession: teacher/student relationships creep me out, no matter the ages, circumstances, or how they end. The only reason I read this was because I loved Black Iris, and Leah Raeder's writing is wonderful. I wanted to see how she handled a situation like this one. But I was NOT happy with it at all.
I am so goddamn disappointed with this book. To me, Unteachable was an unrealistic and romanticized student/teacher relationship that ended with no consequences with either of the parties like it should have. Not that it needed to for the story, per se, but when they're together, they're constantly thinking of all the reasons it's wrong and how they need to be careful. And so, there should have been this element of danger and forbiddenness, but there wasn't. They basically spent like 10% of the book actually in the school fooling around and the other 90% everywhere else. There was always this sense of foreboding, that they'd get caught and the consequences would be grave. But nothing happened to them. NOTHING. There was a bit of blackmail from another student that resulted in a little drama that actually flows into Black Iris. But it wasn't this huge big ginormous deal because it was pointless. There was never any real threat.
Oh, maybe I should talk about the characters. Well, I couldn't connect with Maise at all. At many points, I did feel for her and what she was going through. She was more mature for her age, felt like a thirty year old stuck in a teenager's body. She'd had to take care of herself since she was a little girl because her mother is a prostitute and a drug addict, and her father skipped out on them when she was a kid (hence the issues with boys). She had no parent figures, no guidance, no love or support. She was lonely, razor-edged, and closed off. And of course it would take this ONE guy to heal her. A guy she shouldn't have or even want.
I'm not gonna lie, I had liked Evan in the beginning. But he was cagey. He was very evasive about his past and his life and why he had taken the teaching job at her high school. We don't find out much about his past, and all we see is this good guy who takes care of Maise and only wants what's best for her. But he was honestly creepy, and it wasn't just because of the age difference. And it's all the more apparent when we find out what happened before he came to this high school. It just upped the ick factor tenfold, and I cannot in good conscience not see how the author didn't use that to make Maise open up her eyes about this guy. Why was it just brushed over? Why did it not make her want to run in the opposite direction? Why, why, why? I got no answers, which really pissed me off.
I could have gotten behind this romance, if I had actually felt a connection between the two main characters. If I'd had this sense that they were soulmates who shared a profoundly deep bond. But I just didn't believe it with them. This felt extremely insta-lovey, and all they did was basically have sex. They did talk too, but we never actually got to hear any of those conversations unless they pertained to Maise's life. Not to mention the ick factor of this. Sure, Maise is 18, which technically makes it legal (and that is a really nice excuse, is it not). But Evan is THIRTY-TWO! I'm sorry, but I just can't get behind this relationship. Not just because of the age factor, which is a strong reason, but because I believed that they weren't good for each other. Evan was sort of creepy, and he wouldn't share his past with her. And Maise might have been more mature for her age, but he was still taking advantage of her vulnerability. He was emotionally and mentally more stable than she was, even if he had a fucked up past like her. (But he really didn't because it wasn't a factor in his nonexistent character development, and there was basically no sense in bringing up his "hard" life experiences at all). And she might have been having sex already, but that didn't mean she was ready for a guy this mature and at such a different life stage than her.
The worst part, though, was the ending! All throughout the story, I was convinced it was going to end with them going their separate ways. That they'd say goodbye and look back on this as a lesson they were taught or whatever. Not to mention, like I said above, Evan was portrayed as this guy who put Maise's needs above his own, a selfless man who only wants what's best for her. And every single page leading up the end, he kept pushing her away and saying that she needed to leave and go live her own life and follow her dreams. That he wanted her to do that because she was so young and with so much ahead of her. So that basically meant nothing since he showed up in the plane seat next to her, in this really cheesy ending to a book that didn't seem to have a point to it. Also, the whole Casablanca thing was setting us up for that goodbye-never-to-see-each-other-again ending, but apparently that didn't mean anything.
The secondary relationships were all surface, and everything with them ended too perfectly. That was another unrealistic point of this book. Unteachable was basically about Maise and her addiction to a guy who is forbidden, and the amount of sex that they have and the fact that they get to have their happily ever after without any consequences. I went into this with an open mind and I am sorely disappointed that it didn't handle the teacher/student relationship well at all.
Ignoring the age gap, I still struggled with the story. I felt no connection to the characters at all. The writing style bothered me, but I could appreciate the beauty of the words.
I didn't dislike it - the writing was very pretty, even if it did sometimes seem that the author was trying too hard with all of the SAT words - but I just...didn't buy it. Some of the sex scenes were pretty hot, but I never felt that it was really, truly more than that. I can kind of buy that the characters *thought* it was more than that, but all I saw was a relationship based on insincerity and issues upon issues upon issues. My God, the issues between the two of them, and that's not even starting with everyone else's issues.