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Tease
by
If you gulped through reading or streaming 13 Reasons Why, Tease is the book for you.
Provocative, unforgettable, and inspired by real-life incidents, Amanda Maciel's highly acclaimed debut novel Tease is the story of a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide. With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and stron ...more
Provocative, unforgettable, and inspired by real-life incidents, Amanda Maciel's highly acclaimed debut novel Tease is the story of a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide. With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and stron ...more
Hardcover, 321 pages
Published
April 29th 2014
by Balzer + Bray
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Sandra
Personal I would say 14+. (It also got some sex/drugs in it).
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Tease

Ignore the rating.
This book was almost impossible to rate due to the amount of thoughts - both positive and negative - running through my head when I put it down. I say thoughts and not emotions because I sadly remained rather emotionally detached from the characters despite the strong subject matter. The fact is... Tease is an ambitious book that will likely piss off a lot of people because the author refuses to take sides, even when presenting us with a narrator that is increasingly di ...more
This book was almost impossible to rate due to the amount of thoughts - both positive and negative - running through my head when I put it down. I say thoughts and not emotions because I sadly remained rather emotionally detached from the characters despite the strong subject matter. The fact is... Tease is an ambitious book that will likely piss off a lot of people because the author refuses to take sides, even when presenting us with a narrator that is increasingly di ...more

"She asked for it."
"It didn't have to happen if she didn't do this... if she didn't do that..."
"We didn't kill her. She did this to herself."
How many times have we seen these excuses being said by bullies and perpetrators, in defense of their horrible actions? How many times have we read these kinds of comments by people on the internet, heavy words easily thrown under the veil of anonymity? Too many times, I bet. Once is already too much. And every time I stumble upon such words, such impli ...more

**Spoilers, rambling and profanity** (honesty too)
(view spoiler) ...more
(view spoiler) ...more

Dec 05, 2014
Kelly (and the Book Boar)
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
liburrrrrry-book,
read-in-2015
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Boy this little book sure sparked some strong opinions. Here’s the deal. It’s not an easy read. For a YA novel, Tease deals with some really serious issues. Suicide, slut shaming, bullying . . . just about everything nasty that can possibly come out of high school. And the kicker? It’s told from the bad guy’s perspective.
In order to lighten the mood and to confirm I’m sick in the head, I will be using the assistance of the Most Popula ...more
Boy this little book sure sparked some strong opinions. Here’s the deal. It’s not an easy read. For a YA novel, Tease deals with some really serious issues. Suicide, slut shaming, bullying . . . just about everything nasty that can possibly come out of high school. And the kicker? It’s told from the bad guy’s perspective.
In order to lighten the mood and to confirm I’m sick in the head, I will be using the assistance of the Most Popula ...more

You have never read a book like this one. I won't lie and tell you how amazing this book is, that you'll feel as if you just have to read it in one sitting and that you will love a main character. But it is a brilliant book. Amanda Maciel speaks up about the things we'd rather push under the mat and not think about them and she does all that from unexpected point of view. That is the reason why Tease is not an easy book to read.
We need more books like this. If you read only to escape from real ...more
We need more books like this. If you read only to escape from real ...more

See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
3.5 stars
I can definitely see where Tease lost it's appeal. It's written from the perspective of a bully--Sara. She's not vaguely sorry about Emma Putnam's suicide. Even though she and her friends are accountable for it according to the public. We have chapters that take us back to the time when Emma Putnam was still alive, but in between we get to see Sara's current life. One that is falling apart fast. It's like she cannot go anywhere without getting a dirt ...more
3.5 stars
I can definitely see where Tease lost it's appeal. It's written from the perspective of a bully--Sara. She's not vaguely sorry about Emma Putnam's suicide. Even though she and her friends are accountable for it according to the public. We have chapters that take us back to the time when Emma Putnam was still alive, but in between we get to see Sara's current life. One that is falling apart fast. It's like she cannot go anywhere without getting a dirt ...more

Apr 20, 2014
Hannah (jellicoereads)
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
contemporary-fic,
deep-and-meaningful
I remember when I was 6, and was in the swimming pool with my cousin and another girl who was on a playdate with us. I dared her to go into the deep end without her armbands on, even though I knew she was a poor swimmer, but I kept taunting her until she did it. My cousin and I got distracted my other things, and when we turned around, the girl was drowning. The adults noticed in time, and rushed her to the hospital.
I still remember it to this day. I also remember that sense of power I had over ...more
I still remember it to this day. I also remember that sense of power I had over ...more

I've decided Amanda Maciel might be one of the most underrated authors ever. After adoring this book and Lucky Girl, I'm beginning to sense a trend; Maciel writes incredibly unlikable protagonists, readers hate them, brilliant books get middling ratings. But man, I wish that weren't the case.
If you've read the blurb, you'll know that this book follows a girl who teased another girl to suicide. I feel like it should be obvious why the main character is unlikable. But wow, I empathized with her s ...more
If you've read the blurb, you'll know that this book follows a girl who teased another girl to suicide. I feel like it should be obvious why the main character is unlikable. But wow, I empathized with her s ...more

Oct 09, 2013
Molly
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
favorites,
top-5-to-read-in-2014
Huge thank you to the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this. I'm writing this honest review to say thank you
You're going to either love this or hate this. I've seen A LOT of DNFs and 1-star ratings because people don't like the narrator. She feels no remorse, she's not sorry, she's self-centered. I feel like that's the point of this book though. The narrator, Sara, is part of a group of popular kids who bullied a girl until she killed herself. Sara doesn't understand why she's t ...more
You're going to either love this or hate this. I've seen A LOT of DNFs and 1-star ratings because people don't like the narrator. She feels no remorse, she's not sorry, she's self-centered. I feel like that's the point of this book though. The narrator, Sara, is part of a group of popular kids who bullied a girl until she killed herself. Sara doesn't understand why she's t ...more

I'd heard great things about this book, and was really looking forward to finally reading it, but I have to say I was a little disappointed. I knew that the main character was likely to be un-likeable, being the bully, but I was also curious to see the story from her perspective.
The problem I had with the character wasn't the fact that she's blind to the damage she's caused, mainly because 'everyone did it', but more her constant whining and childish attitude towards EVERYTHING. The idea of bein ...more
The problem I had with the character wasn't the fact that she's blind to the damage she's caused, mainly because 'everyone did it', but more her constant whining and childish attitude towards EVERYTHING. The idea of bein ...more

Yeah, no. When a book uses the following terms and phrases, I am NOT going to waste any time on it:
"Fat Beyotch."
"He obviously won't be texting Emma Sluts-a-Lot if he's getting the good stuff from you".
"You know they're in Language Arts together...and you know she keeps hooking up with Jacob and Tyler, and you know she's a dirty skank. Don't assume she's not creeping up on your man."
Slut shaming to the nth degree.
"The debate, more like, over whether I should lose my virginity to Dylan at the pa ...more
"Fat Beyotch."
"He obviously won't be texting Emma Sluts-a-Lot if he's getting the good stuff from you".
"You know they're in Language Arts together...and you know she keeps hooking up with Jacob and Tyler, and you know she's a dirty skank. Don't assume she's not creeping up on your man."
Slut shaming to the nth degree.
"The debate, more like, over whether I should lose my virginity to Dylan at the pa ...more

Release Date: April 28, 2015
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
I find myself at a loss for words when reviewing this book because it is extremely unconventional. The subject matter of bullying is the main theme of this book of course, but rather than focusing on how the victim feels and lives through the torment, we are taken into the mind of the teenage bully herself, Sara. This is very clever on the authors part however, readers are going to find it very hard to relate and connect with the characte ...more
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
I find myself at a loss for words when reviewing this book because it is extremely unconventional. The subject matter of bullying is the main theme of this book of course, but rather than focusing on how the victim feels and lives through the torment, we are taken into the mind of the teenage bully herself, Sara. This is very clever on the authors part however, readers are going to find it very hard to relate and connect with the characte ...more

I. Loved. This. Book.
Sara, her BFF Brielle, and three boys that they are friendly with are all in big trouble. Emma Putnam committed suicide and the blame is being placed solely on them. They are all being charged with bullying, harassment, stalking, and/or assault. Sure Sara didn't like Emma. Yes she maybe said and did some mean things to her. Yes it was her goal in life to get Emma to transfer out of their school. But did she force the girl to kill herself?? Did she put the rope around the gir ...more
Sara, her BFF Brielle, and three boys that they are friendly with are all in big trouble. Emma Putnam committed suicide and the blame is being placed solely on them. They are all being charged with bullying, harassment, stalking, and/or assault. Sure Sara didn't like Emma. Yes she maybe said and did some mean things to her. Yes it was her goal in life to get Emma to transfer out of their school. But did she force the girl to kill herself?? Did she put the rope around the gir ...more

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
17-year-old Sara didn’t want Emma Putnam to kill herself, she just wanted her to stop sleeping with her boyfriend, but that’s not the way the general public saw things when Emma committed suicide.
Did Sara’s bullying lead to Emma’s death though? And should Sara and her friends be held responsible?
This was an interesting story about bullying, but I could definitely see both si ...more
17-year-old Sara didn’t want Emma Putnam to kill herself, she just wanted her to stop sleeping with her boyfriend, but that’s not the way the general public saw things when Emma committed suicide.
Did Sara’s bullying lead to Emma’s death though? And should Sara and her friends be held responsible?
This was an interesting story about bullying, but I could definitely see both si ...more

This book made me get in a lot of trouble just because of the title of the book. If you don't speak arabic you won't get it. I'm going to tell you my first incident.
So mom asked me what book I was reading and I told her. my older brother was in the room with us and he gave me this "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?" look, and i swear to god I almost shit my pants!! I had to explain to him that it was not what he thought it meant. IT WAS FRICKEN HORRIBLE OMG!
Back to my review, it took me seven days to ...more
So mom asked me what book I was reading and I told her. my older brother was in the room with us and he gave me this "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?" look, and i swear to god I almost shit my pants!! I had to explain to him that it was not what he thought it meant. IT WAS FRICKEN HORRIBLE OMG!
Back to my review, it took me seven days to ...more

Feb 22, 2014
eileen
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
contemporary
Check out more of my reviews at Singing and Reading in the Rain!
Tease would have been a more positive reading experience for me if one thing had happened: Sara was a completely different character entirely. While the idea is creative, Sara’s entire personality ruins the air of melancholy loss and grief.
What angered me the most about Sara was how nonchalant she was about Emma’s suicide. Tease is told in two time frames, before Emma’s suicide and after it. The two together worked well, but I reall ...more
Tease would have been a more positive reading experience for me if one thing had happened: Sara was a completely different character entirely. While the idea is creative, Sara’s entire personality ruins the air of melancholy loss and grief.
What angered me the most about Sara was how nonchalant she was about Emma’s suicide. Tease is told in two time frames, before Emma’s suicide and after it. The two together worked well, but I reall ...more

Welp, this is a timely read considering that parts of the internet are upset over that Slate article about why adults reading YA should be ashamed of themselves. The author's main argument is that YA lit is simplistic, often wraps up neatly, and is not representative of real life. Generally I agree with that assessment for widely popular YA (though it hasn't occurred to me since I was probably 20 to assign a value judgment on what other people like to read, so way to give a good impression of "l
...more

I was not sure that I was going to like this book. It was about bullying and sometimes I fined that all the Anti Bulling books become full of useless platitudes about doping unto other etc.
This is not that book.
I want to say it again.
This is not THAT BOOK.
Tease is written from the view point of one of the girls who did the bullying and the person she bullied commits suicide. Now she is being sued by the dead girls parents.
This book draws you into the world of a 16 year old girl who is trying to ...more
This is not that book.
I want to say it again.
This is not THAT BOOK.
Tease is written from the view point of one of the girls who did the bullying and the person she bullied commits suicide. Now she is being sued by the dead girls parents.
This book draws you into the world of a 16 year old girl who is trying to ...more

This book really stuck with me, as I imagine for many other people who have experienced bullying and read this book can share as well. I could relate both to Emma and to Sara. I personally view that every person at one time in their life or another have been both the bully and the victim. I think everyone should read this book, because of the fact that it is a book much needed in this day and age, specifically for my age group. This will most likely stick with me throughout the rest of my high s
...more

There is something wrong here.
I don't know what exactly but Tease has this certain ring to it that is inevitable. I tried so hard to refrain myself from reading reviews--positive-wise and negative-wise, knowing that other people's opinions matter to me and might possibly affect my reading experience. This book is not actually that bad (I've read far worse) and it did have a message I believe should be sent out to everyone.
But being inside a mind of a bully is something of a new experience for me ...more
I don't know what exactly but Tease has this certain ring to it that is inevitable. I tried so hard to refrain myself from reading reviews--positive-wise and negative-wise, knowing that other people's opinions matter to me and might possibly affect my reading experience. This book is not actually that bad (I've read far worse) and it did have a message I believe should be sent out to everyone.
But being inside a mind of a bully is something of a new experience for me ...more

Such a strong book, deals with bully but from the side of those who did it, a new take of an old story. I'd like to see a little more guilt about what she done, i didn't feel she was feeling bad as she sould. But i really liked it.
Rating: 4 Stars.
Steam: 0 out of 10.
Triggers: (view spoiler)
Love Triangle: (view spoiler)
Cheating: (view spoiler)
HEA: (view spoiler) ...more
Rating: 4 Stars.
Steam: 0 out of 10.
Triggers: (view spoiler)
Love Triangle: (view spoiler)
Cheating: (view spoiler)
HEA: (view spoiler) ...more

"My knees are still pale after this long, long summer spent inside, talking about my feelings, talking about a girl I barely knew who didn't want to live. Didn't want to live in the world that had me in it. And I'm still here, in this crappy world. Fighting her ghost."
The story started when Sara, Brielle, and other guys were sued because Emma Putnam killed herself. It's because of the grounds that they somehow affected her to came up with a decision like that. But what really happened that m ...more

In Tease, readers get a chance to take the bully’s journey and explore the escalation of events through a different set of eyes. How did things go so far? Why? This book does something important in showing that children do evil things, but that doesn’t make them evil. They take actions without thinking of consequences, and in their world they have tools to do tremendous harm—even push others to kill themselves.
The protagonist Sara demonstrates the most beautiful change through the story, and the ...more
The protagonist Sara demonstrates the most beautiful change through the story, and the ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

*More of a 3.5*
Okay so this is the first ARC I've ever gotten and it's been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for 3 yearssss. I never unhauled it cause it sounded interesting and I'm sentimental af, which is probably the same reason why I didn't dnf it.
This book was good. It just didn't blow my mind. I've been in a weird reading mood all month and that might be part of it, but also the main character was a bit frustrating. Basically everyone in this entire book is a shitty person. I didn't ...more
Okay so this is the first ARC I've ever gotten and it's been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for 3 yearssss. I never unhauled it cause it sounded interesting and I'm sentimental af, which is probably the same reason why I didn't dnf it.
This book was good. It just didn't blow my mind. I've been in a weird reading mood all month and that might be part of it, but also the main character was a bit frustrating. Basically everyone in this entire book is a shitty person. I didn't ...more

Two girls in high school bully another girl, calling her mean names and eventually driving her to commit suicide. Is it sort of like murder? Or was it the girl's fault. This novel really tried to tell a good story, but instead, the characters were ALL unlikable. The girl who was being bullied didn't come across as being a well developed character with much of a personality, making her seem very one note. And the main character, our narrator who was one of the bullies, did not have a whole lot of
...more

rating - 4.5/5
TW: this review contains themes of suicide, slut shaming, etc etc! if it bothers you, i suggest skipping this review and this book altogether.
amanda maciel. breathe if you agree.
look, i have the attention span of a piece of spinach. aka, not very much and hence, i usually take like 4-5 days to 'savour' and appreciate a book similar in length to tease, usually if shorter i probably skimmed half of it. however, amanda maciel's books are different. they're so engaging, i'm constan ...more
TW: this review contains themes of suicide, slut shaming, etc etc! if it bothers you, i suggest skipping this review and this book altogether.
amanda maciel. breathe if you agree.
look, i have the attention span of a piece of spinach. aka, not very much and hence, i usually take like 4-5 days to 'savour' and appreciate a book similar in length to tease, usually if shorter i probably skimmed half of it. however, amanda maciel's books are different. they're so engaging, i'm constan ...more

After a lot of thought, I ended up somewhat torn on how I'd rate this book. While I understand what the author was going for, I found Sara to be one of the most childish, shrill and unlikeable characters I've come across. And both her lack of growth and her lovely, shining happy ending made me very angry at the author. A quote from the author's note at the back: "But it seems to me that there's always more to the story--at least two sides, if not four or seven or one hundred. And I believe that
...more

"You’re in your own world, and no one can understand what that’s like unless you let them in."
I don't this is the right rating for this book. For a long time I sat down and thought how many stars I should give this book, because I liked it and disliked it in (sort of) equal ways, so I settled for 3 stars.
Tease is told from Sara's perspective. Emma Putnam, "the school slut", commited suicide due to bullying. She was bullied by almost the entire school, all lead by Sara and her best-friend Bri ...more
I don't this is the right rating for this book. For a long time I sat down and thought how many stars I should give this book, because I liked it and disliked it in (sort of) equal ways, so I settled for 3 stars.
Tease is told from Sara's perspective. Emma Putnam, "the school slut", commited suicide due to bullying. She was bullied by almost the entire school, all lead by Sara and her best-friend Bri ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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YA Buddy Readers'...: Tease by Amanda Maciel - Restarting June 3rd 2015 | 93 | 136 | Jun 04, 2015 04:12PM | |
2015 Reading Chal...: Tease by Amanda Maciel | 2 | 9 | Mar 28, 2015 04:38AM |
Amanda Maciel has worked in book publishing since graduating from Mount Holyoke College and is currently a senior editor at Scholastic. She spends her free time writing, running, or riding the subway with her young son. She lives with him, her husband, and their cat, Ruby, in Brooklyn, New York. Tease is her first novel.
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“You're weird,' he says.
Despite everythin, I smile. 'You're always saying that, but in fact, you're weird,' I say.
'Yeah, I know. Remember? That's how I can tell you're weird, too.”
—
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Despite everythin, I smile. 'You're always saying that, but in fact, you're weird,' I say.
'Yeah, I know. Remember? That's how I can tell you're weird, too.”
“The thing about having one really good friend, one person you talk to all the time about everything, is that you stop really talking to anyone else. You sort of talk to other people, but mostly you have your one person and that's enough.
And then one day, maybe for a good reason or maybe out of nowhere, you can't talk to that friend anymore, and you suddenly realize you can't talk to anyone else. Like, it's physically impossible. No one understands you except that person. it's like you speak another language, and the other person who also speaks it is gone.”
—
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More quotes…
And then one day, maybe for a good reason or maybe out of nowhere, you can't talk to that friend anymore, and you suddenly realize you can't talk to anyone else. Like, it's physically impossible. No one understands you except that person. it's like you speak another language, and the other person who also speaks it is gone.”