Black Iris Cover Reveal!!!!!

We here at Southern Read are so excited and honored to be apart of the cover reveal for Leah Raeder's new novel Black Iris. If you don't know who Leah Raeder is she is the author of Unteachable. Which is the novel we choose as our biggest surprise read of 2014. We both read and reviewed that novel for our blog and have reviews posted (Links at the bottom of the page). We absolutely adore her! So again we are so thankful too be a part of this.  

Seriously people look at that cover!!! IT'S STUNNING and it's only making the wait for it harder!

Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago. You can learn more about her and see more of her work by visiting her at LeahRaeder.com. 

Wondering what Black Iris is about?? Well we've posted the description below... So after reading it be sure to go and add it to your TBR on goodreads.

"It only took one moment of weakness for Laney Keating’s world to fall apart. One stupid gesture for a hopeless crush. Then the rumors began. Slut, they called her. Queer. Psycho. Mentally ill, messed up, so messed up even her own mother decided she wasn't worth sticking around for.

If Laney could erase that whole year, she would. College is her chance to start with a clean slate.
She's not looking for new friends, but they find her: charming, handsome Armin, the only guy patient enough to work through her thorny defenses—and fiery, filterless Blythe, the bad girl and partner in crime who has thorns of her own.
But Laney knows nothing good ever lasts. When a ghost from her past resurfaces—the bully who broke her down completely—she decides it's time to live up to her own legend. And Armin and Blythe are going to help.
Which was the plan all along.
Because the rumors are true. Every single one. And Laney is going to show them just how true.
She's going to show them all."

Black Iris will be available in both Ecopy (5.99) and Print at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Booksamillion, and Indiebound (15.00). It's also available on all those sites for per-order.

WE CAN NOT WAIT TO GET OUR HANDS ON THIS BOOK!!! 

BUT WAIT! That's not it... We were also provided with an excerpt from chapter one to give yall!

  BLACK IRIS by Leah Raeder  

April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot said, and that’s because it kills. It’s the month with the highest suicide rate. You’d think December, or even January—the holidays and all that forced cheer and agonized smiling pushing fragile people to the edge—but actually it’s spring, when the world wakes from frostbound sleep and something cruel and final stirs inside those of us who are broken. Like Eliot said: mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. In the deepest throes of depression, when sunlight is anguish and the sky throbs like one big raw migraine and you just want to sleep until you or everything else dies, you’re less likely to commit suicide than someone coming out of a depressive episode. Drug companies know this. That’s why antidepressants have to be marked with the warning MAY CAUSE SUICIDAL THOUGHTS.
Because what brings you back to life also gives you the means to destroy yourself.

 LEAH RAEDER YOU'RE GIVING US GOOSEBUMPS!!! 

You can also follow Leah on her many social media pages listed below:

http://www.leahraeder.com/

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

and check out both of our reviews for Unteachable here: 

Angela's Review

Leah's Review 

 Thanks again Leah Raeder and the people at Simon and Schuster the people at ATRIA BOOKS ( a division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.)

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