(b) Unteachable by Leah Raeder

Unteachable (2014) by Leah Raeder is a new adult novel about the (budding yet forbidden) relationship between a teacher and a student. In a nutshell. I don't feel like you need to know much else about the novel. If this topic bothers you, maybe steer clear of it; other than that, it was a refreshingly well-written novel about a potentially illicit relationship (no one was underage, just pointing that out). It has mature content so beware if your sensibilities are easily offended.

I read Colleen Hoover's Slammed a week before this so the whole "girl met boy, they like each other, boy turns out to be the teacher"-thing wasn't really as unique, and I might have preferred the more PG-13 version of the teacher-student relationship in Slammed. Perhaps since in the latter, the age difference was a mere three years.

Maisie O'Malley and Evan Wilke's (Mr Wilke) relationship is not a dirty one where the older teacher takes advantage of a young student (despite the numerous times the female protagonist referenced Lolita - I hated those), but a fairly equal romance. Both of them have their own secrets and crosses to bear, so I didn't feel like the male teacher was a father figure. It didn't seem "dirty" like I said before.

I liked the fact that the protagonist is a self-sufficient and a confident young lady - despite her family life and lack of financial possibilities. She is smart and an "old soul": something I think one of the characters even said at one point, perhaps to justify their relationship. She is a self-made woman and doesn't need anyone else's help in that department. Of course, her ways of achieving this aren't always necessarily right but still... It counts, right?

I can't say that I absolutely loved this novel. Everyone raves about the writing and as it was certainly beautiful, I don't think I could award the full five stars purely because of that. The plot had a few dramatic/twist-y moments that felt too cinematic. I'm sure this was purposeful, though! This is a risky subject to cover - teacher-student relationships - which was "worsened" in a way by the noticeable age difference between the two main characters. I think at one point the novel went in an odd direction for me and I just wasn't that invested in it but it didn't really feel "creepy" at any point.

I listened to the audiobook so maybe it was the narrator that had something to do with the three star rating (there are a few other hyped books that I don't love in audiobook form). While I generally liked her - voice-wise she more or less fit the part of a teenager - it seemed to take her a while to get a handle on the character. I wasn't a fan of her narration for the first half of the novel and thus I wasn't a 100% invested in the story.

I think all in all I would give this book 3,5 stars. I don't usually give half a star ratings but this one just fell perfectly between that ambiguous gap of liked but not REALLY liked it. I just didn't connect to any of the characters. Not enough to get really into it.

A lot of people mention the end and the lack of an epilogue. No spoilers! but I thought that it was perfect and an epilogue was not necessary. Usually, I really love epilogues and finding out what happened after the last chapter but in this one - considering the whole feel of the novel - the end was very fitting. This might even bump the rating up at a later point but right now I feel fairly happy with my rating.


Disclaimer: I bought this audiobook myself from Audible.

(b) Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Short announcement: I am back! I hope to start posting on this blog again regularly. I will focus more on books but if I manage to cook up something delicious (and photogenic), I won't hesitate to add pictures and/or recipes!

Now, on to the book. First of all, Making Faces (2013) by Amy Harmon is a very chaste new adult (YA?) novel. None of the hot sexy times that usually go along with the genre. :)

The novel features Fern Taylor, her love interest Ambrose, and also her amazing cousin Bailey (definitely my favourite character). Ambrose Young aka Hercules aka Sex-on-legs decided to join the army after 9/11 but returns with a severe injury (not a spoiler, it's on the back cover). Now, I really enjoyed the book as it was unique in the genre and a very quick read. The second half was extremely captivating and I could not put the novel down - figuratively, though, I read an e-book version.

However, I had some issues with it and thus decided to deduct a star (I'm using the Goodreads 5 star rating system*). There were a few flaws in logic that kind of bothered me. I'm not always very observant about editing issues, unless it's misspellings and typos, but I felt that these issues should have been eliminated in the editing process. I don't think I can go into this as it might spoil some aspects of the story.

Another qualm that I had with the novel is that ALL the horrible things happened to this tiny group of people. I feel like the author couldn't focus on one or two difficult subjects (eg PTS), and decided to cram in as much heartache as she possibly could for maximum emotional destruction. I won't mention everything as it would be spoilery, but come on... It got to be so much that it wasn't believable anymore. Of course, I know this is fiction and it's not supposed to be true. But in order to immerse myself in the world of the novel I want to be able to believe that this could happen (the positive things at least; not the bad things, please). Especially considering the whole metafiction aspect where the protagonist writes romance novels and then is surprised that people "in real life" actually say the sweet things of which she has only dreamed. Meaning she considers her life as real as it gets, not fiction. Sidenote/tangent: this is a pet peeve of mine. They use it in films and books alike... "Oh, this is just like in a film!!" ((you ARE in a film)). Minirant over.

Also, back on topic, I completely understand that bad things happen - especially to good people - but on this scale? Right, I don't think I can explain myself without some general SPOILERS [highlight to see the general spoilers: 

war, KIA, death of close friends, serious chronic disease, disfigurement, domestic abuse, physical violence, sudden death
all these happen to three or four close friends]. OK, spoilers OVER.

So yes, I hope I made any sense. Sorry if I came off a little cold-hearted and mean: it was still a lovely read, and I really enjoyed the novel. In my opinion, a strong four stars. Even though most of the novel is emotionally very taxing, it is also emotional in a good way as it has some definite swoon-worthy moments. All in all it is definitely worth a read, just have a box of tissues ready.



* 1 star - not really worth a read; did not enjoy at all; or did not finish
2 stars - less than average; quite boring; would not recommend
3 stars - it was all right, I liked it but had some issues
4 stars - I liked it a lot and really enjoyed reading it
5 stars - amazing; I love this book; it affected me emotionally and/or "came at the right time" for me personally

Disclaimer: I bought this e-book myself.