Unteachable - Leah Raeder

*Swishes mouth back and forth*
Hrmph...??

I'm not even sure how to start this one.
This is my 1st student/teacher book and I was skeptical going in.
I know I shouldn't say that, but I just wasn't sure how I would like it to be honest.
Yet, I was intrigued.
I've heard my friends rave on and on for this book and they really connected.  Really.

So this is what *I* think...

I knew Maise was trouble from the get go.
She's no angel. Not even close.

However, I found her to be more in tune with herself than I initially imagined her to be.
Being so young, I was expecting supreme immaturity...Which, let's get real...she's a high school student, so there were times when that shined through, but for the most part, she was more of an adult than some grown up's I know!

She's been dealt a rough hand at life and she's dealing.
Slowly, but she is.
Then more crap is piled upon more crap, just making a bigger heaping pile of crap.
The chic just can't catch a break.

I felt compassion towards her.
Sympathy, even.

I just wanted to give her a big ol' hug, because there were times when it felt like all she really needed was to know that she could be loved.

The raw, grittiness to this book, should not go un-noticed.
I was impressed with the author's direction.

I hate relating things to others, but (to me) it almost had that American Beauty feel to it.  Not the story line (but actually, kinda!) , just the rawness.  It was out there, shining the business like nobody's business kinda thing, but yet it's dark. Mysterious.

Just so many horrible things are going on in their lives.
Then you add the hiding.
The secrets.
The affair.

But there was lust.  Oooh...and it's the fireworks kind and I liked that. A lot.
It made me feel that even though the age difference was so great, it helped me understand that love really should have no age limit (if its legal!), and that helped me embrace this book.

But then something irritating would happen and then I had a hard time shifting myself to feel that connection again with these characters.  It was like I was stuck in the middle between right and wrong.

So, for me, it just kinda fell short, but I still liked the story, because it was so different.
So raw.
So new.

I'm sounding like a total head case trying to review this, because quite honestly I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

In any case...I think this is just going to have to be one you'll have to read to find out on your own.
Like I said, some people L.O.V.E this book, yet for me, I wanted more.  *Shrugs*

This is a stand alone novel, but I highly encourage Leah Raeder to release a follow up.
It's like I still need to know more.
I need it.

I just feel kind of lost without the more.

So what's it about?

The synopsis -

"I met him at a carnival, of all corny places.  The summer I turned eighteen, in that chaos of neon lights and cheap thrills, I met a man so sweet, so beautiful, he seemed to come from another world.  We had one night: intense, scary, real.  Then I ran, like I always do.  Because I didn't want to be abandoned again.

But I couldn’t run far enough.

I knew him as Evan that night. When I walked into his classroom, he became Mr. Wilke.

My teacher.

I don’t know if what we’re doing is wrong. The rules say one thing; my heart says screw the rules. I can’t let him lose his job. And I can’t lose him.

In the movies, this would have a happy ending. I grow up. I love, I lose, I learn. And I move on. But this is life, and there’s no script. You make it up as you go along.

And you don’t pray for a happy ending. You pray for it to never end."

See what I mean?  It's intriguing!
So have a go at it...Let me know how you guys feel.  
I'm so curious!

 

3.75-4 Stars 

I'm not even sure if I should rate this until my head is fully wrapped around this baby, but I'm still thinking about it, and that should speak volumes!