Scan barcode
shiradfrankel's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
ashleigh02's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cavityfila's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Stars
Amazing writing, great story, steamy and passionate. I highly recommend it .
Amazing writing, great story, steamy and passionate. I highly recommend it .
dontgrumble's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really unsure about this book. I can tell it was a good book, a decent plot and well written, I'm just not sure it is for me.
Maise wants to be in film school and as such some of this is almost written as if the scene is being directed. Whilst being apt and unique and totally appropriate for the story, I'm just not sure it was for me.
I felt like alot of the time i spent waiting for something that was constantly being hinted at to happen, about 75% - 80% through it really started ramping up and i was getting in to it, but then just as quickly that bit was over with and i was left feeling a little disappointed.
So whilst a good book, and i can see why lots of other people love it, this one was not for me.
Maise wants to be in film school and as such some of this is almost written as if the scene is being directed. Whilst being apt and unique and totally appropriate for the story, I'm just not sure it was for me.
I felt like alot of the time i spent waiting for something that was constantly being hinted at to happen, about 75% - 80% through it really started ramping up and i was getting in to it, but then just as quickly that bit was over with and i was left feeling a little disappointed.
So whilst a good book, and i can see why lots of other people love it, this one was not for me.
javalenciaph's review against another edition
4.0
"Unteachable" by author:Leah Raeder|7105371] is one of those books that falls under the category of teacher-student love affairs but Raeder has created an original story so it doesn't merely become a copycat. This book is definitely one of the better ones in its class, backed by a strong lead character in the person of Maise O'Malley and wonderfully intense writing. ^.^
Maise seems mature for her age, which is 18, so it doesn't really come as much of a surprise when Evan meets her at the town carnival and the two find themselves at the beginning of sizzling chemistry. The two have sex in Evan's car and Maise, overcome by the intensity of what just happened, runs off. Cut to a few days later when high school senior Maise enters her Film class and comes face-to-face with Evan, only he isn't just Evan; today, he is Mr. Wilke, her 32-year-old Film teacher. Hey, every love story's supposed to have one obstacle or another, right? ^.^
The lead character has, indeed, gone through quite a troubled childhood and has been forced to mature and become more independent and guarded because of it. Still, she IS only 18 and that shows when it comes to the risks she takes in order to continue her relationship with Evan. All of that combined makes her a believable character and one that you can't help but empathize with. We've all had a crush on a teacher in high school or college so being attracted to someone older and in authority isn't a foreign concept. ^.^
"Unteachable" gets four out of five stars and my hesitation in giving it a higher rating is my lack of any emotion towards Evan Wilke (a.k.a. Eric Evan Wilke). Yes, he's repeatedly described as gorgeous but I didn't feel anything for the guy. Maybe it was because his relationship with Maise wasn't new territory for him or maybe it was because he seemed less mature and level-headed than Maise... I can't really put my finger on it but the guy definitely isn't on my "best book boyfriends" list.
However, don't let my lack of affection for Evan stop you from reading the book. It IS good and will definitely be worth the time you put into it. ^.^ And while this is supposedly NOT Leah Raeder's first book, this is the one that has put her on the map and I shall definitely be putting her on my "authors to watch" list. ^.^[
Maise seems mature for her age, which is 18, so it doesn't really come as much of a surprise when Evan meets her at the town carnival and the two find themselves at the beginning of sizzling chemistry. The two have sex in Evan's car and Maise, overcome by the intensity of what just happened, runs off. Cut to a few days later when high school senior Maise enters her Film class and comes face-to-face with Evan, only he isn't just Evan; today, he is Mr. Wilke, her 32-year-old Film teacher. Hey, every love story's supposed to have one obstacle or another, right? ^.^
The lead character has, indeed, gone through quite a troubled childhood and has been forced to mature and become more independent and guarded because of it. Still, she IS only 18 and that shows when it comes to the risks she takes in order to continue her relationship with Evan. All of that combined makes her a believable character and one that you can't help but empathize with. We've all had a crush on a teacher in high school or college so being attracted to someone older and in authority isn't a foreign concept. ^.^
"Unteachable" gets four out of five stars and my hesitation in giving it a higher rating is my lack of any emotion towards Evan Wilke (a.k.a. Eric Evan Wilke). Yes, he's repeatedly described as gorgeous but I didn't feel anything for the guy. Maybe it was because his relationship with Maise wasn't new territory for him or maybe it was because he seemed less mature and level-headed than Maise... I can't really put my finger on it but the guy definitely isn't on my "best book boyfriends" list.
However, don't let my lack of affection for Evan stop you from reading the book. It IS good and will definitely be worth the time you put into it. ^.^ And while this is supposedly NOT Leah Raeder's first book, this is the one that has put her on the map and I shall definitely be putting her on my "authors to watch" list. ^.^[
amyhungerford's review against another edition
3.0
Star Rating: 3.5 Stars
This seems to fall somewhere between young adult and new adult. I don't think it was as salacious as some I've read, but its definitely not suitable for say a 14 year old.
I was a little disappointed. I was really hoping for a bit more drama.
This seems to fall somewhere between young adult and new adult. I don't think it was as salacious as some I've read, but its definitely not suitable for say a 14 year old.
I was a little disappointed. I was really hoping for a bit more drama.
emleemay's review against another edition
5.0
03/2014: Looky at the beautiful new cover! I love that they kept all the vibrant colours of the original because they really captured the intoxicating feel of the novel. Also, every time I think of this book I can't believe I didn't give it 5 stars... so I'm upping my rating :)
I am conducting what I'm shelving as a "New Adult (NA) Experiment". I'm going to work my way through some of the popular New Adult books and see if I can weed out the crap and hopefully find some surprising gems. Here's hoping!
I've had several comments on my reviews of the NA experiment books asking why I insist on putting myself through all this torture. The simple answer: to find books like this one. [b:Unteachable|17978680|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370445739s/17978680.jpg|25207434] isn't a perfect book. It sits comfortably within the contemporary romance genre that we've come to expect from New Adult and - plot-wise - it cannot be considered groundbreaking. But the writing, the mood, and the characters made this a book I couldn't put down. You want to get some idea what this book is like? Look at that cover. Look at the explosion of bright colours winding off into a neon portrait of a young woman. That might give you some idea. A gif to represent this book? Here you go:
But really, what is [b:Unteachable|17978680|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370445739s/17978680.jpg|25207434]? I'll tell you. It's a lyrical, intoxicating novel that creates an atmosphere of such feverish intensity you feel a little high, a little out of control, just by reading it. I fell into this story and got lost amongst the lights of the carnival, the smell of beer and sweat, and the MC's apprehension. I felt the pull of this story from the very beginning when Maise takes a ride on that fateful rollercoaster at the carnival and her life starts to change forever. Because this book is a romance and the romantic aspect is the foundation of the story, but it's also about something else. I suppose it is really a coming-of-age tale. Of being a young woman balanced between childhood and the scary world of adults. It asks what it means to grow up. And if any of us ever really do.
Maise O'Malley is the star of this show and I loved her instantly. I didn't expect her to be so funny. She's wickedly sarcastic, she's shamelessly rebellious, she's not afraid of being more than a little crude at times. But, of course, she's so much more than all of that too. Maise is a fascinating combination of:
And a bitter, sad fragility. She feels more real that any of the NA protagonists I've met with recently, there's something genuine about the way she boxes her troubles up and locks them away behind doors with sexy, devil-may-care smiles. I feel like there's something known about pain here. All these NA novels I've read about girls with issues, girls running from dark pasts, girls who were abused... and none of them seem to capture that darkness, that melancholy of being fucked up for a very long time. There's something sadder about the way Maise brushes it off with a shrug and a joke about Freud, it affected me more than the melodrama of other novels. I don't know the author's story, but she certainly writes with a convincing flair that suggests some level of firsthand experience with the thoughts and emotions swirling away behind Maise's closed doors. I love it when an author writes something, a thought or a feeling, that you never realised was exactly how you felt at a certain time or in a certain situation until it was laid out before you in a book. Inexplicable sensations are suddenly explained and it's hard not to smile or laugh or cry along with the characters.
Raeder's writing was, for me, perfect. Atmospheric, pretty without quite hitting the purple end of the scale, just beautiful. Like this:
I biked up to the water tower on the hill overlooking the prairie. Climbed the rust-eaten struts up to a crow's nest some stoners had hammered together out of Mississippi driftwood. It wasn't as hot tonight, and a restless wind raked through the grass, smelling of loam and barley. From here the carnival lights looked like fireflies swirling madly in place, trapped under an invisible jar. Just like me.
I especially love the use of past tense in this book, the way Maise tells the story from a present the reader is far away from reaching. She keeps talking about how "I didn't know back then" and "I wonder what would have been different had I made another choice that day" and I actually loved it. The hindsight makes the whole thing seem somehow tragically inevitable. It works. You know certain things are coming and, rather than dampen the tension, it heightens it an incredible amount. I was sat there with a pounding heart, knowing what was coming, and sometimes wanting to hide behind my hands and not watch what I knew would happen. This, combined with the film metaphors woven throughout, made for a stunning, exciting novel.
Images and words flash past too fast to parse, like the cliche dying moment in film, when life flashes before someone's eyes. Except that isn't what happens when you die - it's what happens when you live. It all flashes past. You barely have time to feel it before it's gone.
Now for the relationship. Teacher and student. All kinds of wrong. All kinds of room for a really hot mess. But I think this relationship is used well here, not just to feed the reader's forbidden fantasies. For one, it's legal (phew) and they "hooked up" before the awkward classroom encounter and she had lied about her age. For another, he is so adorable I do not have words. I've got used to expecting a certain type of love interest from these NA novels. Arrogant, self-obsessed, controlling, annoying... Evan is none of those things. He is sweet, kind, considerate, he puts her first (which adds up to more than letting her come first) and he still manages to be totally sexy. His character development extends beyond his looks, he has faults and he has his own past that isn't so peachy - I think if I could write an ideal NA male love interest, it would be exactly like him. I find it amazing that the NA relationship that is technically most inappropriate is the one that has felt most real and honest to me.
And because I liked Maise and I liked Evan... I loved them both together. And that made the sex scenes really hot. Just sayin'.
Now to get a couple of negatives out of the way. The most notable blemish to this novel's perfection occurs around the middle where there is a slow chunk made up of nothing but sex. I know, I know, I'm such a spoilsport. But there were one or two sex scenes too many if you ask me. Your sex shouldn't get tedious and there was a point somewhere between orgasms when I was hoping it would just move along a bit. Don't worry, though, it picks up again. My other issue was with the handling of Hiyam's character. I would have liked her to have been more well-rounded rather than just a mindless villain used as a tool to threaten the novel's harmony. I also wish Maise had used a different term to describe insecure teenage girls than "bulimic", it didn't sit well with me and seemed to trivialize a serious illness. I understand it was Maise's skewed view of them, but I 'd just rather it wasn't in there.
Now, let's get back to the good! I haven't mentioned the cast of secondary characters that I feel were extremely well-developed for a romance novel. Wesley, Siobhan... and I personally think Maise's mum deserves a novel of her own because we barely scratched the surface with her. She is one of the worst mothers ever, but I'd love to get her story. The strength of all of them, I felt, was in the witty dialogue zipping back and forth. You could almost take out everything but the dialogue and it would still be a four star novel. I recall what I said in my recent review of [b:Hopeless|15717943|Hopeless (Hopeless, #1)|Colleen Hoover|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1353489892s/15717943.jpg|21389085] about how I wished the author had the guts to write a typically unlikeable "slutty" protagonist and make us love her. I got that here. I also got the closest thing to a feminist I'm probably ever going to find in these NA books. I imagined myself and Maise as partners in crime when I read this:
I looked at my desk. Someone had carved RIHANNA = SLUT. I thought about adding CHRIS BROWN = DOMESTIC ABUSER, but Mr Wilke probably would've caught me before I finished.
I really did like this book. A LOT. A lot more than I thought I was going to. It does the one thing I really wanted the NA genre to do from the start: capture that feeling of loneliness and desperation that occurs when you have no idea where you're going next or who you're going to be when it comes time to "grow up". It's about how teens grow up, and it's about how sometimes adults never did. I don't even care that the ending had more than a touch of cheese. I was ready for it. I was like an empty toasted sandwich, waiting to be cheesed <<<<<< Don't judge me, I will likely never again have chance to use that sentence.
One last quote, Emily? Well, if you insist:
That's all life is. Breathing in, breathing out. The space between two breaths.
I am conducting what I'm shelving as a "New Adult (NA) Experiment". I'm going to work my way through some of the popular New Adult books and see if I can weed out the crap and hopefully find some surprising gems. Here's hoping!
I've had several comments on my reviews of the NA experiment books asking why I insist on putting myself through all this torture. The simple answer: to find books like this one. [b:Unteachable|17978680|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370445739s/17978680.jpg|25207434] isn't a perfect book. It sits comfortably within the contemporary romance genre that we've come to expect from New Adult and - plot-wise - it cannot be considered groundbreaking. But the writing, the mood, and the characters made this a book I couldn't put down. You want to get some idea what this book is like? Look at that cover. Look at the explosion of bright colours winding off into a neon portrait of a young woman. That might give you some idea. A gif to represent this book? Here you go:
But really, what is [b:Unteachable|17978680|Unteachable|Leah Raeder|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370445739s/17978680.jpg|25207434]? I'll tell you. It's a lyrical, intoxicating novel that creates an atmosphere of such feverish intensity you feel a little high, a little out of control, just by reading it. I fell into this story and got lost amongst the lights of the carnival, the smell of beer and sweat, and the MC's apprehension. I felt the pull of this story from the very beginning when Maise takes a ride on that fateful rollercoaster at the carnival and her life starts to change forever. Because this book is a romance and the romantic aspect is the foundation of the story, but it's also about something else. I suppose it is really a coming-of-age tale. Of being a young woman balanced between childhood and the scary world of adults. It asks what it means to grow up. And if any of us ever really do.
Maise O'Malley is the star of this show and I loved her instantly. I didn't expect her to be so funny. She's wickedly sarcastic, she's shamelessly rebellious, she's not afraid of being more than a little crude at times. But, of course, she's so much more than all of that too. Maise is a fascinating combination of:
And a bitter, sad fragility. She feels more real that any of the NA protagonists I've met with recently, there's something genuine about the way she boxes her troubles up and locks them away behind doors with sexy, devil-may-care smiles. I feel like there's something known about pain here. All these NA novels I've read about girls with issues, girls running from dark pasts, girls who were abused... and none of them seem to capture that darkness, that melancholy of being fucked up for a very long time. There's something sadder about the way Maise brushes it off with a shrug and a joke about Freud, it affected me more than the melodrama of other novels. I don't know the author's story, but she certainly writes with a convincing flair that suggests some level of firsthand experience with the thoughts and emotions swirling away behind Maise's closed doors. I love it when an author writes something, a thought or a feeling, that you never realised was exactly how you felt at a certain time or in a certain situation until it was laid out before you in a book. Inexplicable sensations are suddenly explained and it's hard not to smile or laugh or cry along with the characters.
Raeder's writing was, for me, perfect. Atmospheric, pretty without quite hitting the purple end of the scale, just beautiful. Like this:
I biked up to the water tower on the hill overlooking the prairie. Climbed the rust-eaten struts up to a crow's nest some stoners had hammered together out of Mississippi driftwood. It wasn't as hot tonight, and a restless wind raked through the grass, smelling of loam and barley. From here the carnival lights looked like fireflies swirling madly in place, trapped under an invisible jar. Just like me.
I especially love the use of past tense in this book, the way Maise tells the story from a present the reader is far away from reaching. She keeps talking about how "I didn't know back then" and "I wonder what would have been different had I made another choice that day" and I actually loved it. The hindsight makes the whole thing seem somehow tragically inevitable. It works. You know certain things are coming and, rather than dampen the tension, it heightens it an incredible amount. I was sat there with a pounding heart, knowing what was coming, and sometimes wanting to hide behind my hands and not watch what I knew would happen. This, combined with the film metaphors woven throughout, made for a stunning, exciting novel.
Images and words flash past too fast to parse, like the cliche dying moment in film, when life flashes before someone's eyes. Except that isn't what happens when you die - it's what happens when you live. It all flashes past. You barely have time to feel it before it's gone.
Now for the relationship. Teacher and student. All kinds of wrong. All kinds of room for a really hot mess. But I think this relationship is used well here, not just to feed the reader's forbidden fantasies. For one, it's legal (phew) and they "hooked up" before the awkward classroom encounter and she had lied about her age. For another, he is so adorable I do not have words. I've got used to expecting a certain type of love interest from these NA novels. Arrogant, self-obsessed, controlling, annoying... Evan is none of those things. He is sweet, kind, considerate, he puts her first (which adds up to more than letting her come first) and he still manages to be totally sexy. His character development extends beyond his looks, he has faults and he has his own past that isn't so peachy - I think if I could write an ideal NA male love interest, it would be exactly like him. I find it amazing that the NA relationship that is technically most inappropriate is the one that has felt most real and honest to me.
And because I liked Maise and I liked Evan... I loved them both together. And that made the sex scenes really hot. Just sayin'.
Now to get a couple of negatives out of the way. The most notable blemish to this novel's perfection occurs around the middle where there is a slow chunk made up of nothing but sex. I know, I know, I'm such a spoilsport. But there were one or two sex scenes too many if you ask me. Your sex shouldn't get tedious and there was a point somewhere between orgasms when I was hoping it would just move along a bit. Don't worry, though, it picks up again. My other issue was with the handling of Hiyam's character. I would have liked her to have been more well-rounded rather than just a mindless villain used as a tool to threaten the novel's harmony. I also wish Maise had used a different term to describe insecure teenage girls than "bulimic", it didn't sit well with me and seemed to trivialize a serious illness. I understand it was Maise's skewed view of them, but I 'd just rather it wasn't in there.
Now, let's get back to the good! I haven't mentioned the cast of secondary characters that I feel were extremely well-developed for a romance novel. Wesley, Siobhan... and I personally think Maise's mum deserves a novel of her own because we barely scratched the surface with her. She is one of the worst mothers ever, but I'd love to get her story. The strength of all of them, I felt, was in the witty dialogue zipping back and forth. You could almost take out everything but the dialogue and it would still be a four star novel. I recall what I said in my recent review of [b:Hopeless|15717943|Hopeless (Hopeless, #1)|Colleen Hoover|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1353489892s/15717943.jpg|21389085] about how I wished the author had the guts to write a typically unlikeable "slutty" protagonist and make us love her. I got that here. I also got the closest thing to a feminist I'm probably ever going to find in these NA books. I imagined myself and Maise as partners in crime when I read this:
I looked at my desk. Someone had carved RIHANNA = SLUT. I thought about adding CHRIS BROWN = DOMESTIC ABUSER, but Mr Wilke probably would've caught me before I finished.
I really did like this book. A LOT. A lot more than I thought I was going to. It does the one thing I really wanted the NA genre to do from the start: capture that feeling of loneliness and desperation that occurs when you have no idea where you're going next or who you're going to be when it comes time to "grow up". It's about how teens grow up, and it's about how sometimes adults never did. I don't even care that the ending had more than a touch of cheese. I was ready for it. I was like an empty toasted sandwich, waiting to be cheesed <<<<<< Don't judge me, I will likely never again have chance to use that sentence.
One last quote, Emily? Well, if you insist:
That's all life is. Breathing in, breathing out. The space between two breaths.
kasiej's review against another edition
4.0
Unteachable was a good read in a lot of ways. I did some issues with it though. Somehow I couldn't picture it like it appears most others did. I'm not even sure I'd recommend it.
Let's start with the cover. Pretty right? Yeah, didn't even see the girls face until after I finished reading it and happen to turn it sideways. Makes more sense but I don't think it matched the book, no matter how many times they described the carnival lights.
This story was weird for me. I'll just go ahead and put it out there.
I could not accept and/or like Evan. Was it the age difference? The student teacher relationship? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was the lying, hiding, and repeated mistakes he was making. To me he was a villain and I couldn't get past that. Yes, she loved him and apparently he loved her, but I didn't believe it. I didn't feel for them. It was tough.
Maise on the other hand was brilliant. Her character stood out by bleeding emotional struggles in each page. She was real and really broken.
The writing was magnificent. Descriptive in all the right ways. It basically played out like an independent film, which was fitting because he was her film teacher.
The book is definitely on the gritty side. Intended for mature audiences for a reason. The drugs, sex, and abuse are only the top layer. When you continue peeling there's a whole other layer containing a psychological mess. It's heartwarming, exciting, and brutal all at once. Like being beat in the face with a baby polar bear. This is why I rated high. The romance wasn't my style but the rest of the book deserves it's recognition.
Would I recommend it? I don't know. I don't normally have a problem with this type of taboo relationship, but something about the two of them just didn't fit right. Oh well, weird romance is better than no romance?
Let's start with the cover. Pretty right? Yeah, didn't even see the girls face until after I finished reading it and happen to turn it sideways. Makes more sense but I don't think it matched the book, no matter how many times they described the carnival lights.
This story was weird for me. I'll just go ahead and put it out there.
I could not accept and/or like Evan. Was it the age difference? The student teacher relationship? I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was the lying, hiding, and repeated mistakes he was making. To me he was a villain and I couldn't get past that. Yes, she loved him and apparently he loved her, but I didn't believe it. I didn't feel for them. It was tough.
Maise on the other hand was brilliant. Her character stood out by bleeding emotional struggles in each page. She was real and really broken.
The writing was magnificent. Descriptive in all the right ways. It basically played out like an independent film, which was fitting because he was her film teacher.
The book is definitely on the gritty side. Intended for mature audiences for a reason. The drugs, sex, and abuse are only the top layer. When you continue peeling there's a whole other layer containing a psychological mess. It's heartwarming, exciting, and brutal all at once. Like being beat in the face with a baby polar bear. This is why I rated high. The romance wasn't my style but the rest of the book deserves it's recognition.
Would I recommend it? I don't know. I don't normally have a problem with this type of taboo relationship, but something about the two of them just didn't fit right. Oh well, weird romance is better than no romance?
mouwuol's review against another edition
2.0
What a mess
Buuuut it did end the way I wanted it to. Was it a good ending? No but it was the one I wanted.. sort of
Buuuut it did end the way I wanted it to. Was it a good ending? No but it was the one I wanted.. sort of
mchristinepo's review against another edition
4.0
The first half of the book, I was not impressed. I was annoyed by Maise's "I don't give a fuck" attitude and creeped out by Evan. The multiple sexual situations didn't bother me; the character development did.
Thankfully, things took a turn for the better in the 2nd half. I was definitely rooting for Maise at the end and loved how things turned out. I loved her Platonic relationship with Wesley and bond with his mother, since she did not have a good one. I was disappointed with Evan still, but at least Maise has a good future ahead of her.
Thankfully, things took a turn for the better in the 2nd half. I was definitely rooting for Maise at the end and loved how things turned out. I loved her Platonic relationship with Wesley and bond with his mother, since she did not have a good one. I was disappointed with Evan still, but at least Maise has a good future ahead of her.