Well, let me get this out of the way - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer has nothing whatsoever in common with The Adoration of Jenna Fox, even though their publisher-provided plot descriptions are almost identical. What it is similar to is the infamous bestseller Hush, Hush, but it is just a tad less offensive. So, if you are a fan of that novel, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is your next natural reading choice.

I'll attempt to refrain from excessive ranting here, but, goodness, this novel is just as ba More...

I truly have no idea where to even start. I'm sure if I just said 'Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow' over and over again that it would get my point across just fine, but that might be a little repetitive and inarticulate. I'm going to try to get my very gushing thoughts in order for you guys.

When I opened the pages of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I had no idea what to expect. The synopsis really doesn't give you much, and I like it that way. The vague synopsis, the eerie cover, and the fantastic titl More...

1.5 stars Welcome to yet another teen romance masquerading as a paranormal novel. If you’re like me, you’ve been salivating to read this book for months because of the breathtaking cover—and of course, the premise of a girl waking up in a hospital with no memory of how her friends were killed is pretty intriguing. I’m sorry to say, however, that the maddening phenomenon I’m calling “cover fraud” strikes again, since this is another book whose interior does not live up to its beautiful cover art. More...

Hmm...Where do I even start with this book? I guess I should start by saying The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and I have this awkward love/hate relationship. If this book were a person, it'd be the boyfriend I sometimes had fun with, but never wanted to take with me in public because I knew he would do something stupid and embarrass the hell outta me. For majority of the first half of the book, I wanted to stomp it into the ground with my pair of patent leather pumps. However, somewhere along the lin More...

Quite possibly my favorite cover of 2011. Simply beautiful.

Mind=blown. *sits and thinks* *sits* *thinks*

I think this was probably my most anticipated book in the past months, and I also think that was it's downfall. You really look forward to a book. Everyone is saying how incredibly awesome it is. Nothing could ever be as good as this book - except maybe Daughter of Smoke and Bone - so how can it possibly live up to my already extreme expectations? Well... not like this.

Mara Dyer - Oh Mara Dyer, you had such an awesome beginning. A mysterious and creepy letter to set the mood. A strange event no More...

THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is one of the most interesting books that I have read in awhile. It blew my mind, kept me on my toes, crawled under my skin, tugged at my heart, and won't get out of my head. It is a multi-layered story: part psychological thriller, part epic teen romance, part high school story, part mystery, part family dynamics, and part suspense. Oh, and I can't forget the slight paranormal tendencies (in the mental sense not creatures) underlying the events of this book. It is a More...

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Hodkin manages to weave a story that’ll leave you pondering it long after you’ve read the last word.

Mara wakes up disoriented in a hospital with no recollection how she got there. She survived the accident, but her friends hadn’t been so lucky. Since that day she’s been having flashbacks and nightmares. In an attempt to stop her from reliving the past Mara and her family move to Miami Florida.

I really loved the fast pace and fluidity of Michelle’s writing. She knew h More...

I absolutely loved this book! I want more of it, and I want Noah Shaw to be real! Beautiful writing, great characters, and amazing plot. Michelle Hodkin is perfect!

I would give this full points for Noah alone. Seriously.

The hell am I gonna finish this.

Now usually I don't listen to reviews, but I was a little concerned when all I read was how this was a great novel UNTIL... But, as I am a curious critter, I had to read it when given the chance. I could not put this book down! I am a huge fan of character driven novels and this fit the bill. I was drawn to Mara and her issues, ok, so I wanted to fix her (it is my thing), I wanted to hug Jamie for being well, Jamie, Daniel was a whole lot of awesomesauce (can i have an older brother like him?) a More...

An instant favorite. This book is beyond words incredible. Full review coming soon, but let's just say this: This book deserves much more than just 5 stars. It's brilliant!

This debut has received a ton of hype in the past few months and it completely lives up to the hype. I absolutely devoured this story; I couldn’t put it down. I stayed up late and read until my eyes were so heavy I had to close them, then woke up early enough to pick it right back up and finish it (thank goodness for the weekends!). Michelle Hodkin is most certainly an author to watch because she not only weaves an engrossing tale, but she incorporates the perfect mix of mystery, snark, romance More...

Wait. WHAT?! this is going to be the most painful wait for a sequel EVER.

My first thoughts after The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer:
*Speechless*
and then after being speechless I became very paranoid. Like scared to look in the mirror after you take a shower paranoid.

This was crazy twisted and beautiful. No one told me how creepy this was going to be. When I wasn't sitting around looking under my bed I was sitting trying to understand what just happened. One page I think I know what's going on and then the next it's like I haven't even read the pages at all. I didn't feel l More...

I...I can't even...what in the world...DID I JUST READ?
This book is wrong in so many ways. Wrong and confusing. Wrong, confusing and weird.

What is wrong?
Pfftt, honey, the whole book is wrong to be exact.

I just can't believe that this book, with such an amazing cover plus having an awesome *trailer (With a hot hero) which can convince almost everyone to read this and then having such a mysterious yet gripping blurb to make this book sound so good to the readers here, can be so...bad.
*http://ww More...

If I had to pick the top ten worst books I've ever read, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer would be one of them. It ranks up there with Halo, Hush, Hush, and Fallen in terms of plotting, romance, and characterization. Consequently, if you liked all three of those books chances are you're going to love this one.

In exploring the problems with this novel, I suppose I should start at the beginning: the cover. While it's beautiful and great from a marketing standpoint, it has absolutely nothing to do with More...

I was flipping back and forth between 1 and 2 stars but I think I have settled on 1 because I do feel like I was lured into something bad that was disguised as something good and that feels like lying which I hate. I was drawn to this book by the cover, as most on this site will admit too and I feel that the old adage about books and covers should have, in my case, been heeded, but I have yet to learn this lesson and so I will vent some of my issues with the book in the hopes of saving others fr More...

Posted in august: This cover is absolutely breathtaking! I know not to judge by the cover but, really, how can anything with such a stunning picture on the front not be amazing? truly gorgeous

Review:
Well I was right. With a cover that great this book had to be amazing. And whatever i was expecting, this was 100X more amazing. This is arguable the best book I have read all year. There is a lot of mystery surrounding this book. There was no real plot summary given before the book was released, I More...

Somewhere in the 3.5-4 range if I MUST give a star rating

So hard to give this one a star rating. I flew through it and could not put it down but I didn't find it perfect the way many other people did. It's hard for me to measure it's level of enjoyability and unputdown-ablity versus some things that straight up confounded me and peeved me. It's hard to find the balance for me. Especially since this was the first book, after starting and abandoning (and not reaaaading a book at all) a total of 6 More...

I am on tenterhooks and it is all because of Michelle Hodkin, or more specifically her debut novel The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. After reading this, I feel like I have been put through the ringer. I literally inhaled this book over the course of two days.

Read the rest of my review here

Love, love, LOVED The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer! The story line leaves you tearing through pages and wanting more. I cannot wait for book #2!

Crazy synopsis, right? It doesn't tell you anything! It only made me want to read the book more. (I guess that's the point.) Normally, a synopsis will tell you a little bit about the book, or maybe what to expect. I had no idea what I was getting into when I dove into this book and still don't know what to expect after reading it. Twice.

Michelle Hodkin is unbelievably good at building suspense. I was totally consumed by the book and the story. Who is Mara Dyer? What happened to her? There are a More...

I'm probably a little bit biased, but I absolutely adored this book.

I've been PSYCHED to read this book for over a year now.... one of the downsides of me seeking out books to die for.... er I mean pine for. The cover was what drew me in, I'm not going to lie. Look at that thing, it's freaggin gorgeous. Then I got an email from Michelle about possibly interviewing her on stage at BEA. Now... they don't usually ask us lowly ole bloggers to do that sort of thing, so I was extremely humbled to eve More...

I read this when it was in semi/draft form and found it to be AWESOME! Since this is a book made for my age group, I could not have loved the plot, storyline, or dramatic flare more! I felt a real connection to all character troubles. Mara's love to Noah added a new fold to a already fascinating plot. Noah helps her with the hard times-and often inspires the good times- just as any boyfriend should. Their romance is cute but intense at the same time. This book is a perfectly balanced peace of ar More...

WOOO. AWESOME BOOK. At times the main Mara and Noah gave off a very "Bella & Edward" vibe which was a bit of a turn-off for me, but the whole mystery and creepiness of the book was great! And THAT ENDING. Now I really want to read the second book, but I'll have to wait until my birthday or something for somebody to get it for me since I'm not allowed to buy books this year!

I love this.


When it comes to mysteries and whodunits, I'm not very easy to surprise. The culprit is usually stupidly obvious, all the clues have something in common, and meanwhile the detectives are just standing around like idiots going, "Hmm... Who's the killer? The weird looking guy with the bitter glare? Or the flamboyant grinning woman?"

"I know, it's the creepy dude!"

No, you imbeciles, I always feel like saying to them. It's the lady. Duh.

But somehow, this book had me jaw-dropping and "No f More...