Teacher/student affair in R.A. Nelson's Teach Me

A personal note - I got this book and another and they are in a bag, somewhere, along with my new favorite green sweater, from last Friday, somewhere. I swear I am tearing everything apart and throwing out and sorting once I get back from Turkey, even if it means missing parties and events. I don't care anymore, I have to get organized so, I don't know, I can read a book that I start.

So anyway, what's funny about this is that I'm inteviewing Razorbill editor Kristen Pettit for Mediabistro, and am familiar with their line of young adult fiction, having read Will Leitch's excellent forthcoming novel Catch and randomly, this guy Russ Nelson emailed me a few weeks ago. But I thought his "real identity" was a secret, because he goes by "R.A. Nelson" as his pseudonym, but apparently the secret's out. Teach Me features high school student Nine, who pursues one of her teachers until they begin an affair. According to the article, it's Razorbill's lead title. Here's the publisher's blurb:

What happens when a high school student and her teacher cross that line?

Teach Me by R. A. Nelson is a powerful debut novel that readers will not be able to put down. From the very first page, Nine speaks in a voice that is at once raw, honest, direct, and unusually eloquent. "There has been an earthquake in my life," she says, inviting you inside an experience that fascinates everyone-an affair between teacher and student-and giving a personal answer to the question: How does this happen?

R. A. Nelson's strong writing is paired with a story we all want to hear, resulting in a novel that will speak to every teenager. A novel about a love so intense that the person you're with becomes your world, and when you lose that person, you lose your world.

Speaking of Razorbill, their motto is:

"RAZORBILL for teens who WANT to read, HATE to read, NEED to read, LOVE to read"

Apparently, they also have a book called Flirtology: Over 100 Ways To Release Your Inner Flirt.

Anyway, once I find the book and read more, I should have more to say about it - I read the first few pages and was intrigued by Nine and her sense of secrecy and alienation. Though really, I need to be reading some other work-type books and interview-prep stuff. I plan to read on the trip to and from Turkey: Neil Strauss's The Game and Jennifer Shahade's Chess Bitch (click for the book cover featuring a pink wig).