Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Page Count: 452 pages, Hardcover

Date Published: September 27th 2011

 

  

Goodreads Description:

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: Can I just marry Noah already? Please? So in love with him and this book!

I finished this book in about 6 hours, on one of the days that I was sick and I was so distraught when it was done! I devoured this book and loved every minute of it... Well, almost. There was one point where it went downhill, but it slowly went back up after that.

Michelle Hodkin has written a story so incredibly intriguing, that I just couldn't get enough of. The language/dialogue is witty and original. Though this book was dark and mysterious, it was also hilarious. I love books that can make me laugh uncontrollably on one page and the next have me shaking with fear and locking the doors. That is what this book did to me! With that being said, don't think this book is a silly, fun, fluffy read. It's dark. Totally creepy and shiver-down-your-spine worthy. That aspect's evident from the very first page.

There is also a completely swoon-worthy romance in this novel that, at times, made me weak at the knees and sighing, while imagining myself in the place of Mara. Not gonna lie, I'm totally in love with Noah. Why, Michelle Hodkin, did you have to create such an incredibly hot and intelligent guy who is impossible to attain? His English accent... *FANGIRLING*. Quick random fact for you: I am Canadian, but all of my thoughts run through my head with an English accent. No, I'm no kidding. It's been like this since I can remember. Weird, but true. Maybe it's because of the millions of times I've watched Harry Potter. Anyways, I'm getting off track. So, the relationship between Noah and Mara was super sweet, but truthfully, a little cliche: The new girl who makes the playboy jerk of the school fall in love and change his ways... Yadayadayada. But, I loved it anyways. ;) There was one part in the book, when Noah drives her to school and everyone's staring, that reminded me completely of this scene in Twilight...

'' Noah grabbed his blazer from the backseat, shrugged it on, opened my door, and then there we were, standing side-by-side as every stray eye turned in our direction.'' (248)

I usually hate comparing things to Twilight, for multiple reasons, but this was just so terribly similar that I thought I'd share. :)

Finally, I had mentioned earlier that there was one part where this book went downhill... Let's just say that this particular scene involved alligators. That's all I'll say, so not to give away any thing important, but this part confused the heck out of me. I didn't fully understand what was going on at this point and this continued up until after Mara's birthday. It began to get a little better after that point, but the damage was done. The first 3/4 of this book was fantastic, but the last bit... Not so much.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is really an incredible book, especially for this being Michelle Hodkin's first novel. Mara Dyer is unlike any other YA protagonist you'll meet. I was overall seriously impressed with it and I'm highly anticipating the release of The Evolution of Mara Dyer on December 12th!

 Have a great day/night, everyone!
-Kristy