The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle HodkinPages: 452
Grade: 9+ (mature language, sexual content (though nothing explicit), and violence)
Source: Borrowed from the library
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Amazon | Goodreads
Description: (from Goodreads) 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.
Thoughts: This book gave me whiplash. I loved every minute of it of, but wow did it take a crazy turn halfway through and then again right at the end. I read Mara in two sittings (which is a big deal for me - I’m a slow languid reader) it was that engrossing.
I loved Mara’s character right from the start. I loved her snarky attitude and her determination to get better for her family. Her interactions with love interest, Noah, were hysterical. I loved her fierce loyalty to her friends and to her brothers. The narrative style did a great job of portraying Mara’s confusion and turmoil. I never really felt her grief over the death of her best friend, Rachel, though. Instead of grief it mostly rage and jealously towards Claire and Jude, which makes a lot more sense as the plot unfolds.
I also loved Mara’s brothers, Joseph and Daniel. Her relationships with them was great, you could feel the camaraderie between the three and their mutual support for one another. Mara’s parents were pretty typical parents and it was nice to see a family portrayed as loving and supportive of one another AND still annoying to one another, it was very realistic.
Oh Noah Shaw, sexy, misunderstood, rich boy with daddy issues. This kind of character usually makes me roll my eyes but I liked Noah. He had heart and I loved the way he interacted with Mara and her family. I’m curious about his colorful past though both his rumored romantic past and his supernatural past.
As Mara’s PTSD unravels and morphs into something entirely different, the plot of this book delivers twist after twist. It’s full of suspense and lots of drama. The end left with me tons of unanswered questions and feeling a little like I had been slapped, but by someone I really liked.
I’ll definitely be reading the next one in this series.
I sort of wish this would have been a stand alone novel instead of the start of a series, though I really loved this one so I'm okay reading about Mara and co. again.
