Title: Unteachable
Author: Leah Raeder
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: New Adult // Romance // Contemporary
Source: Publisher // Netgalley
Format: e-copy
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 (goodreads).
My first one-star review, EVER. Clearly, I didn't enjoy this one as much as others did.
Plot: The synopsis of Unteachable grabbed my attention almost immediately. I'm always a fan of forbidden love and this seemed like a sordid affair with juicy drama. Yeah there was drama, but nothing about this was juicy or sexy.. Ethan and Maise meet at a carnival, ride a few rides and then promptly hop in the car together and get naked. Of course Ethan is her teacher, and they're both shocked and appalled (for about 30 seconds) but decide...."hey who cares, let's keep doing this!" IN THE CLASSROOM NONETHELESS! There seemed to be no fear of consequences (like I dunno, losing your job) and they just kept making their relationship more and more obvious.
Characters: Maise has got some problems. She lives in southern Illinois (Maise can tell you many times that it sucks), her mom's a druggie, and her best friend is in love with her. Maise has decided that she has major daddy issues and thus acts on this by having sex with older guys, like a lot older. My problem with Maise is that she was too hyper-aware of her problems. She kept finding reasons to make her a victim (my daddy left, my mommy does drugs) and then decides that these reasons give her the green light to act out and lash out at anyone. Hell, her mother is written almost like a villainous character, which I'm sure is only because Unteachable is told through Maise's eyes. I just....hated Maise. Like with a passion. Now Wes, I liked Wes. He was young and Maise's best friend, but once again, Maise has to paint everyone as out to get her, so Wes' character was not spared. Oh yeah, one more thing. Evan and Maise's relationship was nonexistent hey claimed they loved each other, but I couldn't see that with all of the "fucking" (Maise's words, not mine) they did. Seriously it was sex, got to school, high school drama, sex, high school drama, sex, a hint of emotion...sex.
World Building: The story takes place in mostly Southern Illinois with some adventures to St. Louis. Maise's hometown is described as dilapidated and most certainly hodunk.
Short N Sweet: An annoying main character and a dull romance made this one extremely hard to get into.
Labels: book review, leah raeder, one star, review, unteachable
