The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer 

Series: Mara Dyer Trilogy

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Page Count: 452

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Mara Dyer doesn't think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

My Thoughts

     I ordered this book from Amazon after reading multiple reviews on some of my favorite blogs that just raved about the book. It was also featured on a poster I came across (http://themetapicture.com/the-united-states-of-ya/) entitled The United States of YA. I was intrigued by the title, the cover, and all the reviews I read about it, so I ended up giving in to temptation and ordering a copy from Amazon. I do not regret it.

     I loved Mara. She was such a mess. She tried so hard to be normal and please her parents, but she was seriously just a hot mess. I think I was as desperate as she was to figure out what had happened to her/what went down that fateful night of the accident. My need to know made it impossible to put this book down. I read it in under 24 hours. I liked how Mara struggled on her own for so long, and attempted to keep her problems to herself/be her own problem-solver. I was reluctant for her to let anyone else in. I liked her family members, even the over-involved tendencies of her mother. I thought her older brother was a little too helpful at times, being too willing to lie to their parents for her and help her get away with things. I even liked Noah. He was just damaged enough to be a good match for Mara. I am a little tired of characters that very conveniently come from a family that just so happens to have millions and millions of dollars and throws money around like it doesn't matter, but that was my main issue with Noah.

     Michelle Hodkin's writing was beautiful, even though there were so many typos in the book that I lost count. Her writing made everything seem so realistic and, well, real, that the spooky stuff really got to me! I love creepy books and this one definitely exceeded my expectations on that front. The writing was so flawless and beautiful that I was completely wrapped up in this story. Especially when Mara and Noah were interacting. I really felt like I could hear every word exactly as it was being said and picture every movement. I love when that happens.

     The twists and turns in this story are great. Some of them were predictable while others were completely off the wall! I prefer a story that keeps me guessing, and this one did just that. There were some plot twists that I loved and others that drove me crazy (because they made things difficult for the characters I had come to love), but they made for a high-paced, impossible-to-put-down story. The last 50 pages or so of this book were so intense that I couldn't even think about anything else. The rest of my world ceased to exist because I had to focus solely on this story and getting to the end. I was desperate to find out what happened, but at the same time didn't want the story to end. Let's just say, the ending made me want to drive to the bookstore in my pajamas to buy the next book in the trilogy!

     So while there were a few minor annoyances in this book (namely the conveniently rich male character and some conveniently lax family members), the main character is easy to love and the story itself is addictive. Highly recommend reading this one! And I cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy!