Mol Reads Books: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer` by Michelle Hodkin
Published by Simon & Schuster BFYR on September 27, 2011
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Buy @ Barnes&Noble • Buy @ Amazon • Genres: young adult mystery, young adult paranormal
Source: Bought

Mara Dyer believes life can't 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 strangely unharmed.


There is.


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


She's wrong.

Confession: Sometimes I read books, then I want to talk about them. But I don’t want to write super formal reviews like I did when I first started blogging. I want my reviews to be fun and hopefully make YOU want to read the book. So…here goes! 

 

HOLY SHIZZ YOU GUYS. So WAY back in the day when I started blogging, I featured THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER in a Waiting On Wednesday post, and then I bought it shortly after it came out. From time to time, I’d see it sitting there on my bookshelf with its come-hither matte cover, practically screaming “Read me!” I’d think “I should read Mara Dyer, everyone talks about it and loves it, but *SIGH* I don’t have time.”

Y’all should have told me to MAKE time. 

I sat out in my yard in the fall on one of those last good, sunny days and I devoured this book in huge gulps at a time. Within the first few pages, I was hooked. I was…captivated. Shocked, interested. Whatever THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER was selling, I was buying. In bulk. I didn’t know what to think — all I knew was that I wanted to keep reading. Even if most of the time I was all

Michelle Hodkin, y’all. Michelle Hodkin. She destroyed me with her writing style, the lyricism yet the starkness to it, too, her ability to capture Mara’s fear and apprehension, her wonder at Noah, and her “voice” — authentically teen, never overbearing. 

Every time I thought I had my bearings with THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER, it threw me for a loop. Mara was somewhat unreliable from the start, but by the middle to end of this book, I had NO idea what was happening, who to trust, or even if I could trust *myself*, and I freakin’ LOVED IT. Every minute of it.

AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT NOAH.

 

This boy REDEFINED sexy. Like, I honestly felt a little guilty for crushing on Noah as hard as I did. But darn it, Noah and Mara’s chemistry was OFF the charts. Every interaction sizzled. If you’re looking for a fictional pairing that will make your heart pound, HEY-YO, look no further than Noah Shaw and Mara Dyer. Their sexual tension was WAY up there, even though most of their interactions weren’t THAT intimate, but damn if Noah didn’t make a look or a near-kiss make me wanna fan myself.

Oh and Noah…hey boy. Hey.

AS IF anyone still needs convincing, there are also some really great secondary characters, like Mara’s siblings (especially her nerdy older brother) and her parents (who are around and very genuine and awesome), and Jamie, one of her friends. We don’t see the parents that much in YA books (they’re usually dead or on a permanent vacation or Just Not Around), so I loved that Mara’s parents CARED.

The world-building (we need it even in a present day setting) was amazing. I really felt like I was in Florida with Mara, and not just in a touristy way. I felt like I could visualize the places she went, especially her school.

And the ATMOSPHERE. So so creepy. Michelle Hodkin knocked it out of the park with that aspect. Right away as I said, I was drawn in, but I was also legit creeped out a few times, and that never, ever happens reading a book.

TL;DR

Swoonage on a scale of 1-10: 10 10 10 10 10. For a book without any sex at all, I sure felt the sexual tension!

Reread eligible on a scale of 1-10: It won’t be for awhile, since I’ve read the whole series and know how it ends, but I’d love to reread this one some day. A 10.

Connection on a scale of 1-10: I’m a character driven reader, so even though Mara was an unreliable narrator, I loved her, which immediately made me connect with her. I felt for her, wanted her to get a happy ending. I’d say an 8 probably.

I heart it on a scale of 1-10: This isn’t just a scary story. There’s SO much heart and tension and even some really funny moments. I also loved all the love between Mara and her family.

Favorite Quote

“Fix me,” I commanded him. “This thing, what I’ve done – there’s something wrong with me, Noah. Fix it.”

Noah’s expression broke my heart as he brushed my hair from my face, and skimmed the line of my neck. “I can’t”

“Why not?” I asked, my voice threatening to crack.

“Because,” he said, “You’re not broken.”

 

 

Have you read any of the MARA DYER books? Did you love it/them? Hate? Can we swoon over Noah together?