Unteachable

By: Leah Raeder

Narrated by: Grace Grant

Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's Summary

An edgy, sexy USA Today best seller about falling for the one person you can't have.

Maise O'Malley just turned 18, 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.

©2014 Leah Raeder (P)2014 Simon & Schuster

Oh the Angst!

This is my first book by this author and I am obsessed. I do love a good student/teacher trope, so this was a no brainer for me and I couldn't have been happier with this pick.

Most books I read or listen to, have the happy beginning, the angsty middle and then the crescendo and then you are given a peak into their new happy life.

Unteachable was not this way. The reader is dragged through the mud, picked up and cleaned off, just to be dragged all over again all the way until the very last few words. Although you get your happy ending, it is a long and painful journey. Elliot Wake (formerly Leah Raeder) is a beautiful wordsmith, making me feel as though these characters were my friends and I knew them inside and out. I so desperately wanted them to be happy and more times than not... I had no idea what the happy outcome should be. I absolutely loved being completely consumed in this world.

Grace Grant is fantastic. She gives each character a voice (literally and figuratively) and her unique tone and timber makes me want to listen to her all day long.

Definitely worth a credit. Best book I've read/listened to all year.

Beautiful writing

Beautiful writing with a compelling plot and nothing cliche about it. That ending, oh how it had me squeal with delight!

The narrator has a very youthful voice that suites the female MC exceptionally well. The only complaint I have is that it's a bit hard to distinguish between characters at times. But overall it was an enjoyable listening experience and a credit well spent.

Intense.

Very intense. Kept me on the edge of my seat. Didn't guess the ending. Liked the characters even though they were flawed. Made them more real.

Meh... Not a Fan

Unpopular opinion... I wasn't a fan of this book. More specifically, I wasn't a fan of the writing, I the characters, or the plot, which is a shame because I really thought I would love this book when I read the synopsis of the book. This is the first book I've read by this author and sadly I don't know if I would read any other books by her as the writing style just wasn't my cup of tea. This book read like a long drawn out poem [if that makes sense] and at times it would jump around without fully finishing a thought thus making me have to stop and re-read to ensure I didn't miss something [I didn't].

***** Minor Spoilers ****

The characters, although developed fairly well, annoyed the hell out of me. Evan/Ethan/E [the Hero] wasn't anything special or memorable. Maise [the heroine] was annoying and whiny. I get that she had a pretty crap life with a drug abuser as a mother and no father figure and I totally support her wanting to better herself, but there just was something missing that caused me to not like her and/or empathize with her [which sounds bad cause she had a shit life]. Maybe it was the fact that she allowed for her friendship to continue with Wesley [I think that's his name] after he made that personally video of her and her relationship with E; I don't know. And then Wesley, another very blah character [in my opinion] until the end when he basically abuses his close friendship with Maise by capturing moments of her intimate life and putting it in a video for class [but it's okay as her face is not shown]. That just boiled my blood. Here is a reality check for anyone who thinks a person who does something like this to you was ever your true friend... they weren't. Another reality check... they will do it again. Even if they learned a valuable lesson and "changed," that friendship ran it's course and let the next person "benefit." I would never have thought I had any "no go" area in books but "friendship" like this is a no thank you type read for me.

Redeeming qualities, I enjoyed the age gap/student-teacher relationship aspect of the book [which was the reason I read it] and I liked Park/Parker, whom is E's best friend. He was witty and funny and pretty much the only good part of the novel. He plays a very, very small role in the story, but every scene he was in I found myself chuckling or being drawn to him and his life story [more than the main characters]. Also, Maise did do a pretty decent thing with getting her mother into rehab with the money she earned despite the horrific childhood she endured as a result of the mother. She also helped that evil classmate [forgot her name too] get her act together [or you can call it revenge] when she was being blackmailed by her. Because of that, this book got 2 Stars.

Had potential

This book had some much potential. I wanted to love it, however that isn't what happened. The story itself was decent. It had holes but wasn't bad. The ending though, horrible. I felt like the author was just done and didn't even care about the ending. Iy was very upsetting and honestly completely tainted the rest of the book.
The narration is a mess. The amount of mispronounced words was infuriating, don't they listen to these before they are released?
It comes down to.the fact that I would never listen to it again.

Not worth the credit

*spoilers


An entire miserable story & they don’t even end up together. They don’t leave each other any better than the found each other.

So disappointing.

Loved this story and the narration is so good

5 solid stars!!!! This was one of the best stories.. the story is nothing new and lots of predictable plots and characters but this story totally worked and the way the characters transform as the author is telling this story was so real and honest. Worth every penny.

Speechless

This book...god this book, it was great.
The story was beautiful written and set a great tone. The author is an outstanding wordsmith.

The ending was absolutely beautiful *not spoiling* already did that to myself

Highly recommended

Dark and dirty

In the first few chapters I kept thinking Pretty Little Liars and was excited to get another chance to be in that world. I’ve missed the show and that relationship always got under my skin. This is a lot like it (only wayyyy hotter) until it’s not.

No, it’s actually not Pretty Little Liars at all, possibly inspired by it but it takes a pretty hard left turn. This book will thoroughly f*#k you up. I’m genuinely unsettled with the authors mind. This is so dark and emotionally disturbing. Another reviewer mentioned that the writer uses too many metaphors and it’s like being stuck in a dream state - that’s dead on. I felt foggy through the whole damn thing.

Despite any complaints or criticism, this book completely owned me while I read it. You need to be in a certain mood to read it or it will just bring you down for a while. Not really any joy. Just all the negative feels, lots of hot sex and a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Go ahead give it a try!

It kept me guessing until the end. I love a book that I can't figure out. I won't rehash the summary to you, because it's written very well and very accurately above. I'll simply say that if you are ok with the subject matter go ahead and purchase. You won't be disappointed.

meh

I dont know what I was hoping for but this felt more like erotica than a novel. I was cringing a lot throughout.

beautiful, Beautiful, BEAUTIFUL !!!!

Any additional comments?

This author has a pen like pure poetry, all of her books are just stunning!

Should come with a caution - graphic content

I feel bad giving this book two stars because I didn't finish it, but I don't feel the description gave a good enough idea of the nature of the book.

I was expecting a young adult love story and instead got scenes of graphic sex linked with an almost non-existent story. Perhaps the story picks up later in the book (it looked like the moral of the story was headed towards: casual sex won't fill emotional holes), but it had already lost me.

Just be aware that although the protagonist is a high school senior, this book is much more New Adult than Young Adult. If you're buying it for the teen in your life, you may want to listen to a few chapters yourself first. It's not just that the sex (and language - F-bombs aplenty) is graphic, it's that it also occurs outside of any kind of emotional connection or context of love, emotional intimacy or commitment. I know that's the point, but still, this could be a harsh introduction to book sex for younger readers. Also, the teen girl has sex (not her word for it) with much older men. Again, I understand that's the story and the author isn't recommending this course of action, but I didn't have the stomach to read about what I consider abuse.

To each his own, just know what you're buying.