Leah Raeder

"Someone should bear witness"

what an amazing story. There are so many reasons to love it that it's hard to put it into words.

First, the writing is absolutely stunning. The conversations are so real and what is left unsaid is just as amazing as what is there for you to read. It's like poetry and music, all in one story.

Secondly, I think this is a powerful story about bullying. That person you are hurting isn't nameless, faceless, family-less. They have a life, they have those who love them. show more The pain we inflict on others is far reaching and widespread. I think this internet age of thinking there isn't a real person the other side of the computer has made it far too easy to be cruel.

Third, I love how well Leah Raeder handled the LGBTQ storyline. Trans-sexual is a tough topic and hasn't always been told with education or respect. This story does it justice and shows the fluid frustration and self-hatred it can cause because you live in a world that wants you to PICK PICK PICK. IDENTIFY! But it isn't that easy for some. And we need to honor and respect that person and their feelings.

Lastly, this is just a good story. It was full of twists and turns and kept me guessing the whole time. As I bounced around time frames, trying to remember what just happened the day/month/year before, it became increasingly hard to put the book down. I needed to know how this all ended. And I'm happy to say it was shocking but very well done. The best story is one that I don't necessarily like the characters, but I know them well enough to respect their journey.I will read anything Leah Raeder gives us! show less

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Some of you may know that I wasn’t a fan of Raeder’s debut novel Unteachable, unlike everyone else I know who read it. While I liked the writing, I couldn’t get past the teacher/student romance, which I probably should have seen coming, since they only very rarely work for me. Obviously, I was a bit nervous trying Black Iris, despite the great advance buzz, since those same people loved Unteachable too. The funny show more thing is that Unteachable didn’t work for me because of how fucked up the romance was, but Black Iris is a million times more fucked up, and I loved it. What can I say? I like what I like.

On page one, I was hooked. As soon as I started Black Iris, I had absolutely zero interest in anything else I was reading. This is one of those books that starts out compelling and just gets more and more impossible to put down as you get further into it. The way things unravel is masterful. I’ve been taken for a fucked up ride, but I enjoyed every moment of it.

The difference for me in the two books lies in intent. Unteachable was first and foremost a romance, which tied my enjoyment up in whether or not I shipped it. Black Iris has romance, but I’m not certain I’d call it a romance; that really could go either way. Plus, the book warns you what to expect right out the gate, and I do mean in chapter one:

"I’m not the heroine of this story.

And I’m not trying to be cute. It’s the truth. I’m diagnosed borderline and seriously fucked-up. I hold grudges. I bottle my hate until it ferments into poison, and then I get high off the fumes. I’m completely dysfunctional and that’s the way I like it, so don’t expect a character arc where I finally find Redemption, Growth, and Change, or learn How to Forgive Myself and Others.

Fuck forgiveness."

This quote is one hundred percent on the level. Don’t expect a surprise twist where Laney realizes that vengeance isn’t sweet; this isn’t that kind of story. Don’t expect good sex to cure her. Black Iris starts out fucked up, and it lives down there in the muck and the blood. It very much doesn’t sound like a Christina book, even though I’ve read and loved it. I’m ALL about character arcs, and I’m very much anti drugs. But in Black Iris all of that stuff works, because it’s all important and the book wouldn’t work otherwise. It doesn’t feel like it’s all in there just to add shock value; it’s intrinsic, and it IS the story.

Raeder does a really good job in Black Iris of walking the line between condemnation of acts and endorsement of them. I think a lot of the fucked up stuff comes off as truly fucked up, and it’s not romanticized, but I think Raeder also makes you consider some of the actions from a different angle and see gray where you might once have seen just black and white.

For me, the fact that the characters know they’re fucked up, and they own their decisions is what really makes dark books like Black Iris work for me. Laney’s not looking for forgiveness anymore than she’s going to give it. Black Iris is a very self-aware book. Ironically, I end this book shipping relationships more unhealthy than in the book where the romance infuriated me; I do see the irony, but the shippy feels cannot be contained. I shall remain on the sinking OT3 of Laney, Blythe, and Armin. I feel like they had better balance and more potential long term than Laney and Blythe alone. Plus, they are insanely hot and sexy in every iteration.

Leah Raeder’s writing is poetry like a bat to the face. It’s gorgeous, lyrical, lilting, but it’s also sharp, metallic and bitter. Her prose is the taste of blood on your tongue. Raeder excels at writing feelings in this brutal way where they just punch the reader right in the brain. Everything’s immediate, raw, and harsh, yet oddly lovely in its broken honesty. This dichotomy in Raeder’s writing is what really makes her writing stand out to me from all the other books I read.

Black Iris is told using confusing time jumps, which oddly enhanced the experience. I was constantly struggling to piece things together, but it felt right to have to do so. Laney and her story aren’t straight forward. She’s an unreliable narrator, and she doesn’t want you to be able to add things up until she’s ready for you to add them all up. She leaves things out, mixes them up, and makes the reader unsure.

You know what writing technique I pretty much always hate? The one where the book you’re reading is supposedly by the main character of said book. However, I love the way Raeder uses this trope in Black Iris. For one thing, that’s not used for the final twist; it’s something you know pretty early on, and Raeder/Laney throw this postmodern hyper-awareness that it’s a book at you constantly. We’re told over and over that Laney’s an unreliable character, both directly and through reference. Knowing that this is the novel Laney wrote adds another layer to Black Iris which made me constantly question everything. Even so, I was not prepared and I didn’t see anything coming.

Black Iris is a level of fucked up that the term “fucked up” doesn’t really prepare you for. I’m still not sure if I think of Black Iris as a romance or not. One thing I know for sure is that I will be thinking about Black Iris for a while. I also know that I’ll be ordering a finished copy for myself. show less

📖: 10/10
🌶️: 4.5/5

Hands down, my absolute new favourite book. I read it in about 48 hours, but if I didn't have sleep and other responsibilities, I would have absolutely devoured it in one sitting. It is a romance involving a teacher and student, so if that will be an issue for you right off the bat, then maybe skip this one. If you're okay (or more than okay) with this taboo in your fictional romance novels, then I urge you (read: beg you) to read this book. The author delves into show more the moral and ethical issues with this arrangement, while purposefully blurring the lines between right and wrong with all involved parties. At the same time though, the spice in this book is perfectly, beautifully spicy AND well written. A journey of a novel that will grasp your soul and suck you in, the twists and turns this story takes will leave you consistently on the edge of your seat. This is one of those books that will have you thinking about it long after you've read it.

GR: lyssrp
Storygraph: @alyp show less

This book was like a huge, decadent dessert of vengeance, sex and the complexities of teenage sexuality.

At times a little over-the-top, I still really enjoyed it. The out-of-order narrative can be a turn-off but I felt it was well utilized here, without feeling excessively messy. It was a fun, delicious read, despite the dark subject matter.

Rating: 8/10
Gay-o-meter: 10/10