Unteachable

Written by Leah Raeder

Narrated by Grace Grant

An edgy, sexy USA TODAY bestseller about falling for the one person you can’t have.

Maise O’Malley just turned eighteen, but she’s felt like a grown-up her entire life. The summer before senior year, she has plans: get into a great film school, convince her mom to go into rehab, and absolutely do not, under any circumstances, screw up her own future.

But life has a way of throwing her plans into free-fall.

When Maise meets Evan at a carnival one night, their chemistry is immediate, intense, and short-lived. Which is exactly how she likes it: no strings. But afterward, she can’t get Evan out of her head. He’s taught her that a hookup can be something more. It can be an unexpected connection with someone who truly understands her. Someone who sees beyond her bravado to the scared but strong girl inside.

That someone turns out to be her new film class teacher, Mr. Evan Wilke.

Maise and Evan resolve to keep their hands off each other, but the attraction is too much to bear. Together, they’re real and genuine; apart, they’re just actors playing their parts for everyone else. And their masks are slipping. People start to notice. Rumors fly. When the truth comes to light in a shocking way, they may learn they were just playing parts for each other, too.

Smart, sexy, and provocative, Unteachable is about what happens when a love story goes off-script.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781442376373

Leah Raeder

Leah Raeder—known now as Elliot Wake—is the author of Unteachable, Black Iris, Bad Boy, and Cam Girl. Aside from reading his brains out, he enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. Visit him at LeahRaeder.com.

Reviews for Unteachable

[byeol-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really, really liked this. It was and melancholy and sad, sweet and joyous, hot and exciting, and just beautifully and, at times, lyrically written. Maybe I'll think of more to write about it some time soon, but for now just let me say that, much to my surprise, 'twas quite good!

[andromedastrain-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book could have been creepy or could have gone too far. But it was a perfect love story. Maise is a rough teenager who meets a guy at a fair, claims to be older than she is, and has a one-night stand. Then she finds out he's her new film teacher. The beginning of the story and the fact that neither of them knew the truth about the other lets the writer off the hook for the whole teacher/student relationship thing. The story is really about what are they going to do with this accidental relationship. Toward the end it took an unexpected turn that I didn't see coming. This saved it from being just another inappropriate love story.

[Brooke Hatfield · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely spectacular! The writing is superb and the story is all consuming.

[4everfanatical · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

So I went into this book expecting a realistic portrait of student-teacher relationships, and why they are so toxic, consuming and never work. For the first half of the book it looked promising. Maise and Evan's relationship was definitely consuming, passionate and taboo - but I felt it lost its way in the second half of the story.

For starters, Maise is a troubled teen who fully acknowledges why she likes to have sex with older men - she is brutally honest and frank with herself and I really liked that about her, there were no girlish delusions of 'true love'. She has a druggie for a mother and generally had a tough upbringing. I felt the book should have concentrated more of the toxicity of Maise and Evan's relationship and how it changes Maise and I wanted Evan to be more predatory then he was portrayed as. We are told that Evan lied about his first name and that in his last job he knocked up a 17 year old student, while he professes that he basically found her annoying and used her for his own perverse needs. Despite this, the reader is constantly led to believe that Evan is a truly nice guy who has nothing but pure love for Maise. It would have been so much better if he just used and abused Maise and the whole thing was a cautionary tale and a learning curve - making Maise further respect herself in future. Would have also been great if Maise ended up falling in love with Wesley, who I felt was the real hero of this story.

Instead the reader gets a bizarre side plot of Maise being blackmailed by an Iranian fellow student, who she has to sell cocaine to. Maise then approaches a drug lord so she can deal drugs. I mean, what the hell? Also after Maise and Wesley film said student taking drugs, they give the video to her insanely rich father who thanks Maise for her discretion by giving her 10,000 dollars? Is that realistic? After all Maise was the one who was dealing his daughter drugs in the first place, is it realistic he wouldn't be mad about that and reward her with money?! That whole scenario was a gaping plot hole for me.

So after all that, Maise saves up enough money to go to college and she begs Evan to go with her and he of course refuses so I was thinking, finally a realistic ending to this story - but then Evan meets her on the plane and its true love and so romantic and happily ever after. I was beyond disappointed with the ending of this book, but it was an enjoyable read at first so that is why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1.

[kairih-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When I finished this book I automatically gave it 3 stars and I have no idea why, since for the most part I was so annoyed by this book it was a struggle to continue reading, and it was definitely worth just one tiny little star, I thought.

First of all, this book made me understand what an “unhealthy” relationship truly is. I mean, very often in YA-NA books people complain that the relationship between the two main characters is toxic or unhealthy, but I never thought that way. To me, no matter what, it was just a relationship, with its ups and downs. A relationship, I thought, is unhealthy only if the guy abuses you or beats you up or something. Well in this book the relationship was unhealthy as hell even though there was no abuse or anything of the sort. And it wasn’t because it was a teacher-student relationship either, it was because they made it toxic, they poisoned it. I mean:

“Spread your legs.” I did, my heart wild. He was telling me what to do, like a teacher. My teacher.

"What kind of people would we be without secrecy and desperation?"

If that isn’t unhealthy I don’t know what is.

They were both sick people, and by sick I mean sick. I’m not a prude or anything, but she was 18 and was obsessed with sleeping with older men, sometimes middle-aged men, so I dare you to call her otherwise, and his situation wasn’t that different since he liked to sleep with young girls, even 14 years younger than him, even if it was one of his students. But well, that was the point I guess, the troubled girl and the troubled guy meeting and falling in love, but that doesn’t mean I liked the way the whole thing was handled.

Another problem is, he is described like a haunted man, but I couldn’t really understand by what he was so haunted. There’s a back story about his family, but I didn’t think that was enough to make him this “dark” character that the author wants to sell you (at least it didn’t work for me). In fact, I kind of sort of uhm, hated Evan, because beside being described as stunning and hot, with perfect abs and a perfect body (yawn) in my opinion he didn’t have a personality at all. The only thing I got about him was that he cried during Casablanca, so he was supposed to be what? Sensitive and shit? But then, what else? I just saw him as plain and dull. In fact, I didn’t like him to the point that when the big “revelation” about him hit, I was supposed to be shocked, I think, but I just giggled because now I knew a part of me was right about hating him, because at that point I really hated him, maybe more than Maise did. I stopped hating him only during the very last scene of the book, because by then I realized it didn’t matter anymore who he was.

And my feelings about her weren’t that different. She was supposed to be this independent beautiful girl who was confident about herself and didn’t have any problems about accepting that she was hot and beautiful, unlike most of the female characters in YA-NA books that are beautiful but supposedly don’t know it. But I couldn’t buy that either, I just saw her as someone full of herself, who thinks all she has to do to get a guy is look at him, and there was this scene where she’s kind of mad at her best friend because he made plans with a girl for Halloween, while she spent every night with her boyfriend and didn’t even tell his friend who this boyfriend was, but when she’s free for one night, of course her friend has to be free too! So she makes him cancel his plans for the night (and she says she doesn’t want to lead him on.. uhm, if that’s the case you’re doing it wrong, sweetie.)

Also, by the time the story ends you realize she was just a girl who wanted to grow up fast, to feel mature, but she was just a child like everybody else, but during the story her attitude was annoying as hell. She said she was mature for her age and complained a lot about guys her age being “hairless”. I mean I’m not an expert or anything, but I’m kinda sure puberty hits at like 14-15, 16 at the most, so by the time a boy is 18 years old he shouldn’t be hairless. By the way she was disgusted by them you would have thought she was among a bunch of 12 year-old children. (But she also found Evan – a 32 year-old man- “boyish” so she really had some issues to figure out, methinks.)

She was really, really, really obsessed with her age and hated being 18 yo. Every time she did something you had to put up with her crap.

I felt like a little girl
I felt like a woman
I felt young
I felt mature
I felt girlish.

And she wasn't like that just about herself, but about Evan too.

He was boyish
He looked old
He looked like a little boy.

Ohmyeffingod. Just stop already you’re driving me crazy!

So yeah, she wanted to act mature despite being 18, but then there were times when she was petty as hell, like this time when she was alone in class with Evan and another student knocks at the door and Evan goes to see who it is and he says “I’m busy with another student” AND SHE FREAKING GETS UPSET BECAUSE SHE WASN’T “JUST ANOTHER STUDENT”! Oh my god, are you kidding me? Or when in the middle of an argument Evan says she’s naïve, and she responds, “I’m eighteen fucking years old. Excuse me for being naïve." So I guess you’re mature and grown-up only when it’s convenient for you, uh?

Which leaves us with Wesley, the only truly likeable character in the entire book, and the reasonable one, too.

“You did it in our class? I can’t believe this. You were with him in our class. That’s so fucking sick, Maise. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Yes! Thank you!

I mean it’s already unbelievable that he keeps being her friend when she acts so superior and treats him as a clueless child when she’s the one screwing their teacher. At some point her attitude gets to him and he says that she’s right and he’s “just a fucking idiot kid.” The way this book generalizes about age is unbelievable and fucked-up. You can be mature at 17 just like you can be a freaking immature prick at 35. Duh?

So, the problems I had with this books outnumbered the things I liked, and I don’t even think there were things I truly "liked", I just realized that through the good and the bad, for some reason this wasn’t a forgettable book, that at some point the characters start to change and take a step torward the person they want to be, thus the 3 stars (maybe way too generous given all the annoying parts, but oh well).

[Angela Cooperrider · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I had a very difficult time getting into the story. The romance aspect was so detached for me. I didn’t feel the love between Maise and Evan and was basically annoyed and bored most of the time. I almost stopped reading several times. I honestly don’t know how I finished it.

[Wendoline Mercado Rojano · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Definitely will read this again sometime. I really like the main character. She is brave.

[leahlo89 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was such a surprise for me. I came into it knowing it would have lots of hot teacher steamy sex, but I wasn't expecting a lot as far as storyline. Man, was I wrong. This book reached inside of my chest and grabbed my heart and twisted it before yanking it out and throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. This isn't a happy love story. Yeah, there are happy parts, but like any real love story, their are parts that make you feel high as a kite and then kick your legs out from under you.


For my full reivew, check it out on my blog

[readerscandyb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! I love a good student/teacher romance and this one didn't disappoint one bit.



Oh the feels this book gave me....

Maise and Evan are a book couple that will forever be in my heart.

Their romance begins at a carnival. From there it goes to high school with him being her teacher. I'm sure you know how the rest goes... Secrets, lies, and sexy escapades.

The angst is thick. They know they shouldn't act on their feelings, but they can't stay away from each other. The relationship gets messy and as the truth is unveiled, ties are broken.



I loved loved loved this book!! Yes, student/teacher books have the same feel to them, but this one brought so much to the table. Talk about a page turner... The plot had just the right amount of twists and turns to leave you craving more. Once I started, I couldn't stop. The sexual tension made me squirm in my seat and the lies left my mind wandering.



I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about this book. Evan was the perfect book boyfriend. He was protective, yet dominate. He wanted control in the best of ways. Maise was a fierce lead. She was seductive and strong. Both characters complicated one another so well and their romance was quite intense.



I highly recommend this read!!

[bookishthings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Review:
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.

[uanbookaddict · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am still unsure of this book. Did I like it? Did I dislike it? I am not sure. It's a good book, but definitely not one of those books that stayed with me afterwards. I was more like, eh with this one. I thought it was going to be more profound and heart-wrenching from the description.

The characters themselves are not as relate-able as I hoped. I didn't like Evan. Given his age, he acted more like the eighteen year old than Maise did. He left a bitter taste in my mouth. Maise is the typical eighteen year old who just wants to be and wants to be loved. She hasn't had that in her life. So she seeks that relationship that she thinks will define her.

The plot itself is one that you are curious about. We have all seen it on TV. The student and teacher having a relationship. However, Maise is of consenting age. That makes it easier to stomach. Then throw in her druggie/drug dealer mother's drama. The combination makes for an interesting read and plot twist. Lies, blackmail. Yeah they are in there in the middle of everything.

Overall, I gave this an average rating. Unfortunately, generally speaking, this is an average book for me. Like I said, it isn't the best book, but it isn't a bad book!

[gwendolyngrace · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

5 stars! I loved it and was totally hooked after the first chapter! I kept thinking of Evan and Maise as a whacked out version of Will and Lake from Slammed if Will had not stuck tight to his morals and just let Lake have her way! But for the record, Evan is no Will Cooper by any stretch of the imagination!! I thought the writing was amazing. My heart ached for them because I felt their relationship was doomed from the start yet I remained hopeful. I couldn't tell which way was up sometimes or decide what I wanted to happen. There was a constant struggle to do the right thing but the problem was trying to define "right". It meant different things to different people. Maise was young but because of what she's endured so far in her short life I felt she was too wise for her age in some ways and that made me a little sad for her. I don't really think their story was so much forbidden as it was against the rules, if that makes sense. Maise was 18 and yes Evan was significantly older than her but if he wasn't her teacher their relationship still might have raised eyebrows but it would have been fine technically. Deep down I think Evan has some issues that need to be addressed but overall I liked him and I liked them together. I actually wouldn't mind a follow up to this book, sometimes sequels can be overkill but I would welcome one for this!

[aly_locatelli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“You can call it love, or you can call it freefall. They're pretty much the same thing.”



It's insane. Type in Unteachable into Google, and you get the best array of quotes, GIFs and carnival art I've ever seen. Leah Raeder has brought together an entire community of book lovers, and given them something else to love: Maise and Evan.

I'm not one to fangirl over a couple. For those who know me, I've only done so a couple of times (Celaena and Chaol anyone?) but with Unteachable, their relationship becomes yours.

"What the hell am I? I thought. Too old to be a real teenager, too young to drink. Old enough to die in a war, fuck grown men, and be completely confused about what I was doing with my life.
You're right, Evan, I thought. No one knows us here. I don't even know myself."

It's a hot summer night when Maise O'Malley heads to the carnival. When a beautiful older man sits next to her on the roller coaster, she is immediately drawn to him like a moth to a flame. When they end up screwing in his car, she does the only thing she knows best: leaves.

Yeah, I hook up with older guys. And then I leave them, before they can leave me. Thanks for the abandonment issued, Dad. Fuck you very much."

Fast forward a week, and she's just about to start her Film Studies class. As she enters, the man at the desk lifts his head and...

I saw him first.
I didn't blink. Everything inside me came to a full stop. He wore pressed slacks and a collared shirt, clean-shaven, hair combed neatly, a silver watching gleaming on his wrist, but it was undeniably him. I knew those hands. I knew that mouth. I'd pictured that face, grizzled with stubble, his eyes half shut, nuzzling at my neck as I lay in bed and got myself off.
I knew instantly, unequivocally. Evan Wilke. Starting his new job as a teacher at Riverland High.
My teacher.

Especially since their romance is that forbidden fruit. A teacher and his student who fall desperately in love. It starts slow, but you already go in with a sense of doom. Please, someone tell me how many real-life teacher/student stories get their HEA? Not many, if any at all. I can guarantee that every single person I know has had a crush on their teacher before. What makes Unteachable so real is that it doesn't skate over the problems you will have in such a dangerous relationship, the obstacles you will have to surpass because of the big age difference, how awkward certain things about this relationship will be.

And hey, it doesn't skate over the steamy sex scenes. Aye, papi!





The second I began reading, I got that heavy sense of doom on my chest. Where you immediately think, "This is going to end badly."

When you're eighteen, there's fuck-all to do in a southern Illinois summer but eat fried pickles, drink PBR tallboys you stole from your mom, and ride the Tilt-a-Whirl till you hurl. Which is exactly what I was doing the night I met Him.

The way Raeder uses 'retrospect' and 'in hindsight' makes your stomach clench and your chest tighten as you think, "What do you mean, WAS?" or "Now that you think about it? HUH?"

Because Evan and Maise's relationship is a roller coaster and the higher you climb, the harder you fall.

Images and words flash past too fast to parse, like the cliché dying moment in film, when life flashes before someone's eyes. Except this 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.

This book should come with a warning. "As addictive as crack. Or Pringles. Once you pop, you just can't stop." It physically hurt to stop reading even for an hour because the minute you set down the book, you KNOW something amazing/terrifying is going to happen the second you turn that page.

I see the lights 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.

The New Adult genre is a tragic clusterfuck of sex, abusive boyfriends, dipshit main character's and brain-cell-murdering plots that you can predict from the moon. What makes Unteachable so different is the characters. Evan, Maise, Wesley and even the secondary characters you don't see often. Raeder gives you a story for each of them, and they develop as the story progresses.

I loved that Evan and Maise weren't perfect. They're fucked up people trying to make it in a relationship that is more than just frowned upon. Maise isn't willing to ditch her future for a man she loves, and Evan isn't ready to hold her back. If anything, he pushes her and pushes her until she either cracks or acts. They're not a dysfunctional relationship... just dysfunctional people.

And don't worry, their stories aren't the Ugh that's pathetic kind but more of the Oh my god, those poor people kind. Their stories are laced with screwed up situations that they overcome. And the best part of it all is that Maise isn't a pathetic, whiny kid you want to high five in the face with a spade. By the end, you will want to adopt her, pat her on the head and say, "Everything will be alright."

"I can't be your manic pixie dream girl. I can't be the girl who teaches you how to open your heart and embrace life and all that bullshit, because I'm trying to figure out how to do that myself. I need a manic pixie dream boy of my own."

Also, the way Wesley's and Maise's friendship starts, flows, and then nose-dives is so perfect I could cry. That's exactly how real friendships are. No friendship is perfect. If you don't hit a rocky patch with your BFF, and survive it, then you're not that close to begin with.

"I want to start working seriously on our movie."
"Okay."
"So I'm coming to your house after school."
"Okay."
"So hide your socks and titty posters."
"That's a sexist stereotype," he said.
I raised my eyebrow at him.
"Okay," he sighed."

If you haven't read this yet, don't let the NA tag daunt you. This book is worth every penny, every minute and every hour and it is damn worth your tears, too.





After reading:

I'm crying more at the acknowledgements than the fucking perfect ending. I cannae breathe. Send help. Review to come once I stop chasing after my sanity.


Pre-reading:

BOOK DEPOSITORY EMAILED ME AND MY COPY IS ON THE WAAAAAAY!





I'm ready to be blown a-fuckin-way.

[manua-4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It has been a while since i last read a book in English, so I decided to give this one a chance, taking a break from the much heftier "Mushashi". It was a nice book, I enjoyed it and, for me, it deserves a full 4-stars rating :D

[sharonhd-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This books breaks every teacher/student love story cliche out there. It reinvents the genre and has ruined me for any that come after. Unteachable had me from the first page and held on long after the roller coaster ride is over. One of the best books I've read this year. I need to sit with this story before I spoil the build up and oh so amazing ending. Read this now!