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Consent

Nancy Ohlin (Goodreads Author)

3.16 · Rating details · 938 ratings · 199 reviews

In this sexy and intriguing novel, an intense—and passionate—bond between a high school senior and her music teacher becomes a public scandal that threatens the reputation of both.

Bea has a secret.

Actually, she has more than one. There’s her dream for the future that she can’t tell anyone—not her father and not even her best friend, Plum.

And now there’s Dane Rossi. Dane is ...more

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Kindle Edition, 288 pages

Published November 10th 2015 by Simon Pulse

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Lists with This Book

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Young Adult New Releases November 2015

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Average rating 3.16 ·

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· 938 ratings · 199 reviews

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May 19, 2015 Tink Magoo is bad at reviews rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: student-teacher, no-hea-together, it-costs-how-much, zzz-cover-black

I'm just gonna spoiler this whole review and pat myself on the back for holding in all the fucks I wanted to add.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 13, 2015 Taylor Knight rated it did not like it

I read one of Nancy Ohlin's other books, Thorn Abbey, years ago and I didn't really like it that much but I really wanted to give Consent a chance. And honestly, I wish I hadn't.
Consent started out kinda slow and the writing was weird and even though the writing did get better, it still wasn't that great. I didn't like the way the teacher-student "romance" was portrayed. It didn't really discourage or warn the reader about what could happen when you get involved in a bad relationship. There was ...more

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Nov 30, 2015 Hannah (jellicoereads) rated it did not like it

Shelves: contemporary-fic

1.5

Teacher-student ‘romances’, specifically those set in high school, are highly problematic, for obvious reasons, and need to be dealt with using tact and sensitivity. You have to avoid romanticizing these kinds of relationships. You have to make sure it comes across that no matter how much the student pursues it or ‘consents’, the responsibility lies with the adult, as the one in a position of authority. Consent given by somebody underage still does not qualify as consent in the eyes of the la ...more

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Jun 20, 2017 Jay G rated it it was ok

Want to see more from me? Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...

2.5 Stars

17 year old Bea Kim enrols in music history as her elective for her senior year of high school. Her substitute teacher, Mr. Rossi, hears her play piano one day after class and pushes her to pursue Julliard as an option for college. What starts as gentle encouragement quickly develops into more between them and a trip to New York changes everything.

I found the characters to be very one dimen ...more

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Nov 25, 2016 Gaby rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2016, young-adult

Started meh, got better then not so much!

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Mar 12, 2015 Paige (Illegal in 3 Countries) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, fuck-yeah-diversity, favorites

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten! My copy was an ARC I got from the publisher via Edelweiss.

*Bea is Korean and Ukrainian; her best friend Plum and Plum's mom are brown-skinned
*passing mention that Plum's aunt is with another woman

Teacher-student relationships in books aren’t my jam, but my buddy Bekka wanted me to read it because she was scared of how the subject would be handled and the book did sound interesting. The same day I started the novel, I finished it because oh my God. Book hangover material? Oh yeah. I give Consent my seal of approval. It’s complex, doesn’t offer any easy answers to anything, and keeps its intensity from start to finish.

No one tells you before you start that Bea is biracial (her dad is Korean, her mom Ukrainian), so that’s a pleasant surprise when it’s revealed and her character is very authentic. Mom is dead, Dad and brother are barely present, and there’s only so much you can rely on your best friend before it causes problems, so Bea is in the perfect position to get into the kind of relationship she does with Dane. They fall for each other very quickly in this short little novel, but Ohlin makes it work through their mutual love of music and piano. I can go with it for the sake of the story.

Ohlin also takes every step to make Bea and Dane’s situation a complex one. If he’s twenty-seven and her substitute teacher while she’s seventeen/mere months from eighteen, can they make it work? The situation is played so close to the border and set in a place without Romeo and Juliet laws so we have to ask ourselves that. There’s going to be a lot of disagreement and I still don’t know how I feel about Bea and Dane. My tenth-grade biology teacher married one of his former students and they were still married last I knew, so it’s not that unbelievable for me. Then again, years passed between when she had him as a teacher and when they got together.

I’m not entirely horrible. Their relationship is an instant NO legally and in many other ways because he’s her teacher, she’s still underage for the time being, and there’s the potential for an abuse of power and privilege between them. What muddles the line for these two is–as it always is–emotion. If you get emotional in a situation that’s black-and-white legally or morally, it won’t be so black-and-white anymore.

The novel didn’t open on a very sweet note for me, though. There’s some casual sex-shaming in the beginning when Bea calls two girls who whistle at Dane the “senior sluts.” Maybe I went to a super chill high school or really WAS that far out of the loop, but I don’t think we had any person or persons designated the senior sluts? It’s unnecessary in any case.

Toward the end, the investigation of Bea and Dane happens very quickly and the aftermath of it is almost skimmed over. Plot points like who told on them and why are dropped like nothing. Honestly, Consent needed another sixty pages or so to show us more of the aftermath, how Bea feels, and the personal consequences she has to deal with. Even if both were exonerated because they successfully covered it up, matters like these aren’t forgotten and not everyone will believe the police did their job right.

The open-ended conclusion of the novel lets readers decide whether Bea and Dane’s relationship was a bad decision they’ll both look back on with embarrassment in the future or if it was something true that came about in the worst possible way. I read darkly, so I have my own interpretation. (view spoiler) If you want a book that will play with your ideas of right and wrong in situations as strange as this, get Consent. ...more

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Sep 14, 2015 Princess Bookie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: a-net-g, read2015

My Thoughts: I always seem to be drawn to the teacher/student romance books. I know I shouldn’t like them but I always want to know how they will play out.

We are introduced to Bea who really enjoys playing piano. Her dad doesn’t fully support this because her mom was a music lover and it brings back a lot of memories.

One day when Dane hears Bea playing he really thinks she's talented. He starts to encourage her and things heat up from there. Bea and Dane’s relationship was a little weird to me t ...more

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Jan 25, 2016 Carlene Inspired rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed-books, young-adult, romance

3.5 Stars

Bea's life is just perfect; she has good grades, she has an amazing best friend, and she uses lies to cover up the rest. Her family is almost non-existent, she doesn't want what her best friend wants, and her own dreams are impossible. With college applications looming and hard decisions to be made, Bea finds herself in an elected music history course. There she meets Dane, her substitute teacher. He's young, charismatic, British, and he has a true ear for music. When Dane hears Bea pla 3.5 Stars

Bea's life is just perfect; she has good grades, she has an amazing best friend, and she uses lies to cover up the rest. Her family is almost non-existent, she doesn't want what her best friend wants, and her own dreams are impossible. With college applications looming and hard decisions to be made, Bea finds herself in an elected music history course. There she meets Dane, her substitute teacher. He's young, charismatic, British, and he has a true ear for music. When Dane hears Bea play the piano he encourages her to succeed, setting her up for all hopes of achieving a dream she had kept hidden for so long. What starts as encouragement soon grows to more when Bea develops feelings and Dane reveals his as well. A trip to New York later, and a major opportunity on the horizon, things fall apart when Bea must question their relationship, herself, and who Dane really is.

Bea is seventeen, which seems both old and young all at the same time. While I am not one to encourage relationships with teachers, I have seen it work in real life and I have read plenty of books with similar story lines. The relationship between her teacher, Dane, and Bea makes the reader question Dane, because how is it so easy for a man of his decorum to fall into a relationship so easily. He crosses the line several times and I personally thought immediately he must have done this before. It's the way in which Nancy Ohlin writes his character, with so much charm, with a true love of music that blurs the rules. Then there's Bea, our main character. She's biracial, constantly filled with guilt and lies, and lacking a true family home. She's relies on her best friend's family, she acts like more of an adult, and her love of music is hers alone. What starts as just music grows to so much more. Not only does Dane fulfill a missing hole for Bea, but he nurtures her in a way she lacked. So while Bea is this adult child, she's also still so young and her maturity level and emotions show that. I love that we only read from her POV, because it allows the reader to really see how Bea's thoughts work, how the relationship looks only from her eyes, how that approval of music meant so much, and when things heat up with the investigation how she finds her family filling that hole she didn't even realize she had. This is a short novel, so things move fast, but the life of Bea is sadly perfect for the situation. Dane and Bea fall so easily into a relationship, because no one is looking at Bea and worrying. I do love that her best friend is there no matter what, even at the times it feels uncomfortable. It allowed me to really think about the fact that they weren't warned off of this sort of thing or really taught the rules.

Of course, I like the open ended ending, because we as readers don't really know what the future holds for Dane and Bea. We do know that Dane has held on hope and Bea has moved on to realize her freshman year of college is promising, because her life has changed so drastically since they first met. Their relationship is both exciting and scary, because Bea has all these emotions, but she also has fear of discovery and the natural thoughts of a young woman when she starts really looking at who Dane is. While their relationship is one that is illegal, it is easy to see from Bea's point of view and the emotions that are involved. It's also fairly easy to see why Bea chooses space from Dane, even though the emotions are still there. I appreciated that the author gave us just one POV, allowing us to understand the mind of a seventeen going on eighteen year old girl.

I needed about another 6 chapters to Consent, not because it was a book I super wanted to hang onto, but I felt like everything was smoothed over. There wasn't enough to the investigation, into the school and Bea's peers thoughts, or even her own. On top of that, consent is merely mentioned within a couple of chapters, then it too is passed over. While I really enjoyed the natural way in which Bea realized she couldn't be with Dane, I don't feel as though it was due to learning about consent, but more about how she felt about Dane when she learned about his past and reviewed her feelings during the investigation. It made the story so much more romantic, if that's a term you want to connect to the student/teacher relationship, instead of a lesson.

While I ended this book feeling like it lacked some things, it did not disappoint. Consent is very well-written and I think is a great addition to the young adult genre. The situation between Bea and her teacher, Dane, isn't unique, but I do feel like this book stands out. This book makes you think about what is right and wrong, and the hazy line in between. ...more

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Nov 12, 2017 Dani St-Onge (Literary Lion) rated it did not like it

Shelves: rape

http://literarylion.ca/

Let me describe this book in a single word: Ew.

Please be aware that the following review will be spoilerific. This book is gross. Let’s start with the smallest almost inconsequential problem. Bea is awful. She’s a piano prodigy, which fine maybe I can believe. Her dad sucks. Her teachers are all usually awful. Her classmates are dumb and slutty. She even bashes her dead mom’s handwriting for being too girly.

She’s also a compulsive liar who lies not only to her poor single http://literarylion.ca/

Let me describe this book in a single word: Ew.

Please be aware that the following review will be spoilerific. This book is gross. Let’s start with the smallest almost inconsequential problem. Bea is awful. She’s a piano prodigy, which fine maybe I can believe. Her dad sucks. Her teachers are all usually awful. Her classmates are dumb and slutty. She even bashes her dead mom’s handwriting for being too girly.

She’s also a compulsive liar who lies not only to her poor single father who’s trying his best, but to her sweet as sugar best friend whom she absolutely does not deserve. Bea acts like she’s too special and different for anyone to understand but she’s really just a terrible person. And here’s the kicker, I still feel sorry for her because she is a rape victim.

This book portrays a teacher grooming a seventeen year old student. Going on a weekend trip with her and having sex a bunch. Then having sex with her in a classroom. None of this is written in a way that implies it’s wrong and gross. It’s written like a romance. Mr. Rossi is her teacher and he has sex with her, this isn’t romantic. Oh god, why is this written like it’s romantic?!

There is a brief part of this novel where it seems like maybe, just maybe Bea will get justice. Bea’s father points out that if they did have sex, it was rape. Bea learns that Mr. Rossi had sex with a fifteen (FIFTEEN) year old girl previously. This is good, maybe Bea didn’t realize she was a victim before but now she will get closure. NOPE. Mr. Rossi goes free.

The epilogue implies that Mr. Rossi has now moved to New York, where Bea will be living and she might still be “in love” with them. They might get together again. He has not ruined her life enough and will probably rape other young girls to boot.

There are definitely other things I could pick on about the book. One-dimensional characters, zero character growth but do I really need to? This book is a teacher grooming and then raping his student portrayed as romance. Why would anyone read this knowing that? I feel dirty for even having picked it up. ...more

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Nov 21, 2015 Lexi rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, books-by-women, yes-i-ya, contemporary-realistic-fiction, books-by-bipoc

Okay, I have some thoughts, so I'll try to lay them all out.

Firstly, I initially didn't realize this was a Simon Pulse title, to which I can only congratulate their art department--the covers are getting a lot more distinct and interesting, which is always a good thing, and the cover is one of the things that drew me in, so good job, guys. Personally I can't stand covers with ambiguous body shots of models, which both the author's other books feature, so this was a pleasant change.

Secondly, I Okay, I have some thoughts, so I'll try to lay them all out.

Firstly, I initially didn't realize this was a Simon Pulse title, to which I can only congratulate their art department--the covers are getting a lot more distinct and interesting, which is always a good thing, and the cover is one of the things that drew me in, so good job, guys. Personally I can't stand covers with ambiguous body shots of models, which both the author's other books feature, so this was a pleasant change.

Secondly, I wanted to read this book because CONSENT is the name of a short story I've been working on for the past year, and even though mine deals with campus rape between students and not the underage student/younger teacher dynamic, consent is still a really interesting issue to me.

SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT--I tried to avoid them but the execution is what I had issues with, so it was inevitable.

So, let's begin the post-op look at the book:

1. I'm aware that this is a nitpicky personal pet peeve, but I REALLY don't like overusing pop culture references--not just in YA, but in all fiction. I find that they date the text and run the risk of alienating the readership. I especially don't like celebrity references, so the MC and her best friend repeatedly referring to the hot teacher as Kit Harrington was annoying and cringe-worthy.

2. Not only is the MC, Bea, a piano prodigy--despite being self-taught and more or less keeping her playing a secret from absolutely everyone--she is also a straight A student with high SAT scores. Ditto her best friend--Plum, short for Pernilla, cue eye roll--whose mother is an ex-model and father is a famous architect. I'm really tired of characters with Mary Sue levels of perfection--this is not a realistic representation of 99% of high schoolers, and it's vaguely obnoxious and mildly insulting. Furthermore, Bea mentions that their high school is a performing arts school, but everyone is shocked when she turns out to be a musician? Not sure how that adds up.

3. Ohlin also abandons some interesting plot threads that she promises early on in the story--she hints that Bea's estranged brother Theo dresses and lives above his means as a CVS clerk, but she never follows up on that. She also sets the reader up for a cathartic or something approaching reconciliation between Bea and Theo, but again, never follows up on it beyond a three-word text message from Theo to Bea ten months later. Similarly, Bea agrees to go to the homecoming dance with Braden before learning some pertinent and negative information about him, but we then skip ahead ten months to the epilogue, and that's it.

4. Even the characters who take center stage are flat and one-dimensional. Dane has no personality beyond being vaguely British (of course), shy, cute and supportive of Bea. Bea lies her way around intimacy with her friends and family, and then is surprised when they're upset, seeming to prefer to endure life by avoiding it. Plum steamrolls over Bea by assuming they want all of the same things, but Bea never stands up for herself and when that blows up in her face, Plum is more or less fine with it and they remain best friends. Not a lot of self-awareness going on here.

5. I think the book's most important flaw is that the dichotomy of consent is not actually explored or analyzed with any real thought. Bea's lawyer father gives her the facts, but she's basically like, that's stupid, I love Dane and I said yes. She dedicates less than a page to the situations that consent laws were put into place for, and horrifyingly, when she finds out Dane had sex with a fifteen-year-old at his last school (she was drunk, didn't look 15, etc. etc.) she breaks it off but eventually (again the ten-month jump) it's implied that she forgives him. I very much feel like I feel when I read a Bustle or an XOJane article with a catchy and provocative title promising one thing, and I get a watered-down, lightly-touched-on version.

You can attempt to explain away much of the above with "What do you expect, it's only YA," but there is YA out there that explores real issues well and with honesty, grace and respect to the truth of the situations it fictionalizes. This just isn't one of them.

...more

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Jun 19, 2015 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: prof

Between all of the lies she tells at school about her non-existent piano teacher and her supposedly okay home life, Beatrice Kim has a lot of secrets even before starting her senior year at Andrew Jackson High School.

Then Bea meets her music history teacher. Mr. Rossi is young, good-looking, and completely believes in Bea's potential as a professional pianist--something Bea hasn't ever allowed herself to consider.

When their shared passion for music turns into something else, Bea and Rossi begin Between all of the lies she tells at school about her non-existent piano teacher and her supposedly okay home life, Beatrice Kim has a lot of secrets even before starting her senior year at Andrew Jackson High School.

Then Bea meets her music history teacher. Mr. Rossi is young, good-looking, and completely believes in Bea's potential as a professional pianist--something Bea hasn't ever allowed herself to consider.

When their shared passion for music turns into something else, Bea and Rossi begin a sexual relationship that could ruin them both. Bea thinks she knows what she is doing and what she wants. She thinks Rossi understands her and loves her. But with the threat of discovery looming, Bea will have to confront uncomfortable truths about herself and her relationship with Rossi in Consent (2015) by Nancy Ohlin.

Consent delivers two stories in one slim volume. One, reminiscent of Sara Zarr's The Lucy Variations, explores how Bea lost her love for the piano and how she can reclaim it; the other is an often uncomfortable examination of a relationship that never should have happened.

Despite the problems Bea hints at in her home life and the lies she tells, everything comes very easily to Bea in Consent. She is at the top of her class despite having no real interest in college. She is a piano prodigy with perfect pitch although she has never had formal lessons. She is also, conveniently, at a recently rebranded "Campus for Baccalaureate and Performing Arts" despite having a nearly pathological desire to avoid the piano at the beginning of the novel. Readers who can get past these contrivances will be rewarded with a layered and thoughtful contemporary novel.

The push and pull between what is perceived and what is true throughout Consent adds another dimension to Bea's often unreliable first person narration as readers, and Bea herself, contemplate Rossi's agenda. Despite some heavy-handed moments, Ohlin delivers an open-ended novel ripe for discussion as readers follow the plot's twists and turns.

Possible Pairings: Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo, The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee, The Truth Commission by Susan Juby, Boy Toy by Barry Lyga, Teach Me by R. A. Nelson, Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls by Lynn Weingarten, The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

*A more condensed version of this review appeared in the September 2015 issue of School Library Journal from which it can be seen on various sites online*

You can find this review and more on my blog Miss Print ...more

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Sep 28, 2015 Kimberly Sabatini rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mg-ya

What captured my attention while reading CONSENT was how complicated and confusing the issue of consent really is for a teenager who is emotionally and sexually influenced by an adult--particularly and adult who is in a position of authority. Since finishing Ohlin's novel, I've found myself continuing to ponder ethics, emotions, common sense and the human condition. CONSENT isn't designed to have the answers, but it certainly raises many important and thought provoking questions. ...more

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Dec 28, 2015 Katelyn Bartholomew rated it it was amazing

I need a sequel, Nancy. I NEED IT. I'm almost in tears right now. I loved this story more than anyone else has, I think. I need a sequel. I wish I could personally write Nancy Ohlin and tell her how much I'd give for a sequel. I really loved this book. It was fairly realistic considering the subject, and I couldn't put it down. ...more

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Jul 08, 2015 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

these always end so god damn badly. ugh

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Dec 29, 2015 Ashley rated it it was ok

Shelves: library, 2015, 2-stars

Meh. I like books about student/teacher relationships, but this one didn't make the grade. (HA!) Between the insta-love and the teacher's constant blushing and bashfulness (plus he was British, PUH-LEASE) it was just one cliché after another. The only thing that really kept me reading was that I wanted to know what Bea's big huge lies and secrets were, and even those weren't worth anything. The only character that I really did like was Plum: she was adorable, her family life seemed interesting, ...more

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Dec 01, 2015 Christina (GoodGirlKills) rated it liked it

This was cute but nothing special. It was highly predictable and didn't make a lot of sense. I still enjoyed it because I needed something shallow to read. Also the story is getting really interesting in the middle of the book. ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Dylan rated it did not like it

One of the most terrible books i've ever read? yes. ...more

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Nov 09, 2015 Kathy rated it really liked it

4.5 stars.

Consent by Nancy Ohlin is an incredibly thought-provoking young adult novel about an affair between a high school student and her teacher. Well-written and impossible to put down, readers will be thinking about this story long after the last page has been turned.

Beatrice "Bea" Kim's life is full of secrets but she has trouble keeping her crush (and subsequent relationship) with her music teacher, Dane Rossi, under wraps. Bea cannot help but notice how sexy and good looking her substitu 4.5 stars.

Consent by Nancy Ohlin is an incredibly thought-provoking young adult novel about an affair between a high school student and her teacher. Well-written and impossible to put down, readers will be thinking about this story long after the last page has been turned.

Beatrice "Bea" Kim's life is full of secrets but she has trouble keeping her crush (and subsequent relationship) with her music teacher, Dane Rossi, under wraps. Bea cannot help but notice how sexy and good looking her substitute teacher is but their interactions are at first innocent and focus on her extraordinary talent for playing the piano. His praise and interest are just the inspiration she needs to consider pursuing a future as a concert pianist and their shared passion for music easily bridges the age gap between them. The attraction between Bea and Dane simmers in the background until the two take a trip to New York so Bea can audition for a professor at Julliard. Careful to keep their distance from one another upon their return, a careless moment of passion sparks an investigation into their affair.

In spite of her less than happy home life, Bea manages to excel at both her school work and playing the piano. Bea's relationships with her father and brother are distant and the reasons for the rift between the family members remain unclear for a good part of the story. Although she is essentially a piano prodigy, she has ever received any type of formal training nor much encouragement to nurture her natural abilities. The one bright spot in her life is her friendship with Plum but despite their close relationship, Bea is less than forthcoming about many details of her life.

The various story arcs are interesting and the characters are relatively well-developed. The music aspect of the storyline is possibly a little too detailed for a layperson but music enthusiasts will certainly enjoy the close attention to detail. Bea and Plum are vibrantly developed characters that are three-dimensional and quite likable. Bea's brother and father are not as fully fleshed out and for the most part, they remain on the periphery of the overall story. Dane remains enigmatic despite his rather prominent role in the storyline and some of the questions raised about him are never clearly answered. Nonetheless, he is a larger than life character whose obvious charisma and charm make it very easy to understand why Bea is so attracted to him.

The questions swirling around Bea and Dane's relationship and the age of consent are extremely insightful and thought-provoking. Viewing the romance through Bea's eyes, it is easy to understand what she is thinking and feeling from their very first meeting until the novel's end. Her perspective during the investigation is intriguing and it is not until she learns unexpected information about Dane that Bea sees their relationship more clearly and with this newfound knowledge, she makes a rather surprising decision about their future. While most of the storyline is resolved, a few lingering questions remain about certain individuals and their actions.

Consent by Nancy Ohlin is an adeptly written novel about uncomfortable subject matter that is guaranteed to generate interesting discussions between parents and their teens. An outstanding portrayal of a sensitive topic that I highly recommend to readers of all ages. ...more

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Nov 15, 2015 Shelby rated it it was ok · review of another edition

For the better part of this novel, I had the strongest feeling that it would receive three stars from me. After finishing this novel, I couldn't give it more than two.

My favorite thing about this novel was the obvious dedication and infatuation with music. Ohlin clearly spent a great deal of time researching the proper terminologies and the most beautiful compositions. The passion bled through the pages.

Our characters were racially diverse, which was nice. Beatrice is Asian, her friend seemed to For the better part of this novel, I had the strongest feeling that it would receive three stars from me. After finishing this novel, I couldn't give it more than two.

My favorite thing about this novel was the obvious dedication and infatuation with music. Ohlin clearly spent a great deal of time researching the proper terminologies and the most beautiful compositions. The passion bled through the pages.

Our characters were racially diverse, which was nice. Beatrice is Asian, her friend seemed to be biracial - black and white. And of course, the sexy professor type was British. There were also a few LBGTQ characters mentioned and though none had an actual role in the book, I still appreciated that she included a same sex marriage.

These observations considered... I couldn't move past her main characters' vocabulary. Our main character, Beatrice, is seventeen years old. She and her friend Plum are the top two students in their rather esteemed school. Perfect grades, high intellect, Harvard prospects even. Yet... Beatrice's voice did not portray her intelligence. In fact, her vocabulary tended to be juvenile at best, as she often used words like "totally" and overused the word "also" one too many times. (Also, Plum is 17 and still calls her parents Mommy and Daddy. Not even in a cute way, just... in a very childish way. Perhaps it was just a personal judgement. Perhaps I just yearn to hear more intellectual language in young adult fiction.)

I love teacher/student affair books and I'm drawn to them and I should really learn my lesson because most of them disappoint.
Ohlin really had me invested with the sincere concern and honest hope Dane had for Beatrice. He wasn't creepy or inappropriate. He was supportive and strong and honest. Things moved slowly, which is something most student/teacher books don't do. I really enjoyed that. Dane remained mostly innocent for much longer than I anticipated. And yet, when he finally gives in, after little provocation, they don't hold back. No subtle anything. Just, home run straight from the start. And from there, everything went downhill.

I found the ending to be sort of hurried and confusing. In the end, I feel this book is missing something. Many parts were cut short and there was so much more left to be desired. I really wanted to like this book a lot but in the end, I simply couldn't lie to myself or to you.
_______________________________________

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. That in no way influenced my review. ...more

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Nov 11, 2015 Kelesea rated it really liked it

Shelves: edelweiss, creepy, dark, mind-effing, twisted, coming-of-age, heartbreaking, contemporary-fiction, young-adult, coverly-love

Title: Consent

Author: Nancy Ohlin

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Series: N/A

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was given a copy of this book by the publisher, Simon Pulse, through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review--thank you so much!

My previous experiences with Nancy Ohlin's work has been ambivalent--I read her other novel, Thorn Abbey, and I just wasn't feeling it. So I was a little apprehensive when I began to read Consent. For one thing, it talks of self-discovery, ...more

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Mar 20, 2016 Chrissy rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, read-in-2016

I've always been a *huge* fan of the teacher/student relationship novel -- especially when it veers into potentially scandalous/illegal/uncomfortable territory. So, I was definitely excited when I had the opportunity to read Consent -- a book with a title that just screamed "You're about to jump into some massive ethical quandaries here!"

That said, I think I was expecting a bit more complexity here -- which may or may not be fair for a YA novel. Our main character, Bea, is a high school senior w ...more

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Jan 25, 2016 Stacey Conrad rated it really liked it

Shelves: hs-copy, 2015

Bea is floating along her senior year, letting her best friend, Plum. dictate their agenda: studying for classes, planning college trips to the best ivy league schools, and practicing for the SAT test. But Bea has a secret, she plays the piano like her mother who died when Bea was an infant. Father cries whenever he hears Bea play, so she has had to learn and practice on her own. When she is overheard playing by a new, young music teacher at school, Mr. Rossi, he is the first one to tell her jus ...more

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Nov 29, 2015 Audrey Graser rated it liked it

Shelves: 2015

I honestly almost put this book down when Bea walks into her class and the hot young teacher at the board had a British accent......

Okay, but moving past that. Consent .... what am I to do with you? It was a short little novel that brought up some interesting ethical dilemmas and dealt with some character growth, but ultimately it didn't bring a whole lot to the table in terms of teacher-student relationships.

Beatrice Kim had some interesting dimensions to her. We definitely see some of her i ...more

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Sep 18, 2016 Ashvin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-own

I only have good things to say about this book, despite other reviews.

'Consent' by Nancy Ohlin is a very good fast read, about an almost 18-year-old student, Bea, and her teacher, Mr. Rossi. They both share a passion for music and slowly start to like each other in the process. As things start to get more intense, Bea has to discover what is true and what isn't about Dane, herself and their relationship.

The book is pretty straight forward, which is why I quite like it actually. It isn't dragged ...more

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Nov 21, 2015 Nichole rated it it was ok

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

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Mar 22, 2016 Alisha rated it it was ok

I read this book because I'm expanding my "tough topics" and had heard good things about this book and its approach to statutory rape.
Yet another absentee parent(s) in YA. Dead mother, emotionally (and mostly physically) checked out father.
I didn't really understand why she was lying to people about piano lessons, and I felt like the reason behind her not being able to practice was not adequately explained, or at least not put in the right part of the narrative.
Until his previous affair was rev ...more

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Apr 15, 2017 Meg Chia (bibliophilogy) rated it liked it

3.75 but its not a 4 star so i gave this a 3 star rating.

the plot was in my opinion weird as i have no idea where it was going and i sorta think it changed its direction in the middle(?) but im fine with it though. writing style was my favorite and after all this time, i still cant deal with the protagonist hiding a not-so-secretive-secret and it annoys me a lot! but overall everything was pretty good and im happy with how everything ended.

one thing i need to point out is the relationship betwee ...more

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Jun 14, 2015 M added it

This book is formulaic and unfortunately doesn't bring new or unique content to the student-teacher romance trope.

I also couldn't stop imagining David Rossi from Criminal Minds (aka Joe Mantegna) as the teacher.

What I found more interesting was Bea's history with the piano -- I wish this had been the main focus, because I think we get a lot more out of that story, and it's more of a unique story than the tired old "precocious kid who doesn't quite fit in falls in love with a teacher" plot. ...more

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Oct 01, 2017 Kristen rated it liked it

For a book that was described as "sexy" in the blurb, this was...well, boring. The taboo subject (student-teacher relationship) grabbed my attention, but the the characters are cliche (The hot British guy! The perfect best friend! The distracted dad!), and the romance is slow-moving and unemotional. The piano details bored me to tears (sorry, piano players), and the handling of the "is-it-rape-or-is-it-not" issue is just kind of quickly glossed over. This could have been a really intense, though ...more

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Sep 08, 2015 Patricia rated it liked it

Shelves: ya-books, read-in-2015, read-in-a-day, virginity

Story of piano prodigy who connects with her music appreciation teacher during her senior year in high school. Opens many avenues for discussion of what must be termed statutory rape, no matter how much someone is into the idea. It does all this while also telling an interesting story and managing not to go the easy route of demonizing the teacher.

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About Nancy Ohlin

Nancy Ohlin

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I am the author of Consent (Simon Pulse 2015) as well as Always, Forever, a YA retelling of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and Beauty, a YA retelling of the Snow White tale.

I've also contributed to several celebrity novels, including a New York Times-bestselling YA trilogy.

My favorite cures for writers' block are long walks, long showers, popcorn, chocolate, and really expensive coffee. I talk to m ...more