Tampa

This was a sick, disgusting book. It made me gag. It took me months to get through because I kept having to take breaks. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to read it again. It was difficult to read, not because of the writing, but because of the content. The writing itself is excellent. It's one of the best debut novels I've ever read.You feel such intense emotions while reading this. It was a little confusing. Most of the time I was pretty disgusted with the main character, but then sometimes I would get caught up and think, "Oh, man, how is she going to get out of this one?" Almost as if I wanted her to win, which was NOT the case. I just wanted the story to win.For those of you who don't know, this is about a middle school teacher who is a pedophile and she uses her position to find targets. She's also a sociopath. She is not a sympathetic character, but she is an interesting character. The story keeps you hanging on. You can't help but get invested - you want her to get caught! You want to see some PUNISHMENT.Does it happen? I'm not telling. You'll have to read the book to find out.It's not five stars because I do have some criticism of Celeste as a character. What are the odds that absolutely no one was suspicious? Or that, if they were suspicious, they could be easily played? I started to wonder if maybe Celeste was an unreliable narrator and that she wasn't passing as well as she thought, but then you see what students and administrators are saying to her face about how great she is, which disabuses the notion of an unreliable narrator.And yes, some people really are good enough to get away with being a sociopath. Sociopaths are notorious charming people, able to pick up on what people around them expect to see and hear and mimic that. But Celeste doesn't do that. She's a bad teacher. She's bitchy to the female students and all but ignores the male students who don't fit what she's looking for. She talks about all kinds of ridiculously inappropriate topics in class. Nobody mentions this to their parents? Even passingly?I also wondered at Celeste's raging sex drive. She comes across almost as a nymphomaniac as well as a pedophile...except she won't have sex with just anyone. She's just constantly filled with sexual urges, to the point of ridiculousness. I started thinking, though - if I absolutely could not express any actual sexual feelings, if I couldn't even TALK about what I was attracted to, much less get off on it, wouldn't I go a little sexually crazy? Maybe? So that part didn't bother me as much.

Celeste Price, a smoldering 26-year-old middle-school teacher in Florida, unrepentantly recounts her elaborate and sociopathically determined seduction of a 14-year-old student.Celeste has chosen and lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web. Jack is enthralled and in awe of his eighth-grade teacher, and, most importantly, willing to accept Celeste’s terms for a secret relationship—car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack’s house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming erotic encounters in Celeste’s empty classroom. In slaking her sexual thirst, Celeste Price is remorseless and deviously free of hesitation, a monstress of pure motivation. She deceives everyone, is close to no one, and cares little for anything but her pleasure.This is another book that has been recommend to me multiple times, and I’ve seen it compared to other books I have read. The content of this book is dark, but the writing was well done. This has a similar feel to Lolita, where the main character is deranged, conniving, and tries to earn the readers sympathy. A hard read, but thought provoking overall.

This book is horrific. The subject matter is nauseating and I had to put this book down several times to take a breath. It's hard to read.That said- it's beautifully written. A modern-day Lolita narrated by a female villain. There is no justification for anything she believes or anything she does, but Nutting forces you to strap in for the ride and experience everything from her perspective. It's truly nauseating, and the ending will leave you with an absolutely hopeless punch in the gut.I'm giving this 5 stars. Not because it's a pleasant read, because it's not, but because Alissa Nutting accomplishes exactly what she sets out to do here. I'm going to be reeling over this one for days.

I bought this book cause of the psych thriller Facebook group ever. However, it’s a very well written novel so it is NOT an easy read if u arnt an English major lol. It’s def a hard read regardless but sooooo well written. I got a few pages in and I needed to take a break. It’s so awful. It makes me think that there are so many sick women out there. So I am giving you a trigger warning. It’s not for the weak. I will be all over the teachers when my kids hit that age and I haven’t finished the book. I ended up lending it to my home girl and she was very disturbed lol

Although *provocative*, this sort of long essay is neither a real enlightenment on the matter of child-adult psychology or entertaining. It's a very well written, cold hearted story. Who is she talking to? What's the point?

First off, don't read this book if you are easily offended. It's about a woman who purposefully becomes a teacher to seduce her underage, male students into sexual relationships.Erotic, shocking and a little uncomfortable to read in places, but on the contrary, very funny at times. The story is told through the woman's eyes, and although a complete pervert and narcissist, I felt she was witty and not unlikable.The premise of the book is good and did make me want to read, but there isnt much of a 'story' as such. Primarily about her sexual deviancies and how she can get them met.Would recommend purely for the sheer shock that someone actually wrote it.

This book was exactly like a pimple popping video for me - so gross but also so enthralling to watch (/read)

I ended up reading this in one sitting, couldn't put it down. Some parts were hard to read, some parts you have to remind yourself about the characters but that's what makes it good