Unteachable: Leah Raeder

Maise O’Malley is an eighteen-year-old high school senior. All Maise wants is for her mother to be her mother. To get into film school. And to not screw everything up. When Maise meets Evan at a carnival one night, their connection is like no other. However Maise only does hookups, no relationships. After their wild random hookup she can't seem to get Evan out of her head...
 It makes it even harder to get someone out of your head when they turn out to be your new film teacher.
 Maise and Evan try to stay away from each other, but that is easier said than done. People start to notice, rumors fly, and the truth will slowly be revealed.

“Part of falling in love with someone is actually falling in love with yourself. Realizing that you're gorgeous, you're fearless and unpredictable, you're a firecracker spitting light, entrancing a hundred faces that stare up at you with starry eyes.” 

What did you just do to me Leah Raeder?!?! Was my heart just beautifully broken?? I think so. 

Unteachable is about a student and a teacher falling hopelessly in love. Emphasis on the hopeless part. Saying that Maise is an average teen would be a lie. Forced to grow up at an early age and take care of herself, she sees things different than most people her age. She also seeks out older male lovers to fill the void of a male figure in her life since her father left her. A void that she says "can only be filled with dick.". Maise is a ball of cocky attitude and insecurities. She is a character that you wouldn't think you would find funny, but with her F this attitude you'll find yourself loving her. As far as NA protagonist go she feels more real than any other leading ladies I've never met recently. 

 

After a steamy evening at the carnival with a man who instantly takes her breath away she discovers him to be her new film teacher. Instead of calling things off they take to seeing how far they can push their relationship.

Mr. Evan Wilke is the 32-year-old heartthrob teacher that was all passion and mystery. Despite finding out that he is her teacher he can't stay away from her. They end up sneaking school make-out sessions and hot mini sexy getaways together. Evan is all sorts of adorable. I'm use to the leading males in NA novels being cocky, rude, and a lot of times controlling. It was refreshing to have him be the super vulnerable one. He had me hardcore swooning with his way with words so much during this book.

“...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.”   

Seriously, stop being so perfect and breaking my heart Evan! 

As the relationship builds and as the characters spend more time together you start to slowly question the motives of the relationship. You are left wondering what's keeping their relationship going. Is it the love or the forbidden-ness that is holding it together? Along with the amazingly built characters came the wonderfully lyrical written romance scenes. And there are A LOT of steamy scenes in this book. 

My face basically looked like this the whole time

We're talking next level hot. 

As much as I loved the two main characters this story did however have a few flaws. Towards the middle of this book the story kind of drifts too this odd side story. It involves her mom and some random side characters, Hiyam and Park. I really didn't enjoy any of them. I wanted to feel a little more connection to her mother, but was left wanting more. Even knowing the connection would be one of negativeness I still wanted it. I did love when she finally starts to take control of her life and tells off her B of a mom.

 She stared at some central point on my face, not quite my eyes. "This how I raised you? To make fuckin' threats about disowning me?" "No," I said quietly. "This is how I raised me." 

Hey mom, need some help with that BURN! 

The side character I did like was Wesley. He was so cute and I was hoping him and Maise would end up together. The witty and real dialogue they zap back and forth between each other is amazing. The plot of this story was so strong that it more than made up for the few tiny flaws. Even though I figured out the "big twist" before it happened the way it was presented still had me flipping and failing everywhere screaming "NOOO!! I DIDN'T WANT IT TO BE REAL! WHY DID I HAVE TO BE RIGHT!!! WHY???!!"

Laeder's writing style was amazing, breathtaking, and unforgettable. The way she perfectly twisted in a movie theme, that now has me loving Casablanca even more, and the way Maise uses past tense in her mind was something I found so interesting. The ending of this story left me with so many feelings. It gave me the perfect combination of wanting more and being completely satisfied. This might have (even from my description) sounded like just another F'd up love story, but it was so much more than that. It was of loneliness, desperation, and about how hard it is to grow up. If you're a fan of Colleen Hoover's Slammed or Tabitha Suzma's Forbidden then you'll love Unteachable.

9/10 Stars 

-Angela