**REVIEW** The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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.

Release Date: September 27, 2011

Published by: Simon & Schuster

Hardcover: 452 pages

Trailer

Review

  Just WOW!  I had heard so man awesome things about this book and kept on meaning to pick it up and it just kept getting put off.  Let me tell you how much I regret that.  This novel was so much more than I had expected even afte reading sparkling reviews everywhere.  This says a lot because I normally find myself let down because of high expectations.  However with this one there was just so much that I didn't see coming or expect that happened, that I was won right over.

  The story is unique and intriguing right from the start.  Though you do sometimes feel a little thrown around it's more to help with what is gong on.  There is almost a constant struggle to divide reality and what appears to be delusions.  I found myself almos constantly second guessing if things were what they seemed, like we're Zmara's seemingly dead friends really haunting her?  We're they following her to her new home or was it all just a reaction to the traumatic events she went through while loosing them that caused her to see them.

  Mara herself is a beautifully written yet broken character.  She can't remember the events that led up to loosing her friends or anything after.  She just remembers waking up in the hospital to find out that sh has lost he friends.  Doctor say she Post Tramatic Stress Syndrome and she just feels crazy.  Though I guess I would feel the same way if I were hearing my ex boyfriend in my new school and things were happening that I couldn't explain.  Slowly she does start to put things together but even then she questions her sanity and to be honest I though maybe I was going there with her.

  Noah Shaw is nothing short of swoon worthy.  Though he did follow several of the typical YA bad boy stereo types.  Meaning he has had just about any girl he has ever wanted (or so the rumours say), he is mysterious, British and freakin rich.  The last hung isn't something he shares with everyone though, in fact it's something he doesn't care for peopl to know at all.  He of course starts chasing Mara relentlessly.  Problem was I couldn't decide if he was messing with her or genuinely wanted her because with th reputation he had and the way things were going I was left unsure. Despite his almost too perfect bad boy ways I freakin loved Noah and he has quickly shot to he top of my drool worthy YA guys list!

  This is far from a quick read at 452 pages but it doesn't feel like a long one either.  There is so much action, emotion and mystery that the pages just flew by.  There is so much I wish I could share but it would spoil it for you.   There are twists and turn in every page you turn.  No to ention a certain element that I'm not sure if I ever really seen coming or not.  I know you're wondering how could I be unsure right?  Well that's part of the mystery and confusion that this book takes you through while reading.

   The intensity of the emotions that run through this book are more than enjoyable and definitely had me addicted right from the start.  I still can't believe how it all ended and what was really going on.  The hype fom this book was well deserved and I personally can wait to see where The Evolution of Mara Dyer takes us.  Michelle Hodkin's writing in this novel is masterfully done and will leave you breathless and wanting more.

Quotes

I stared, letting the light sear my corneas, hoping the tears would come.  I should cry.  But I couldn't.  Everyone else could, though, and did.  People she never even spoke to, people she didn't even like.

I half-expected to see woodland creatures burst forth from the buildings and break into song.  Everything about the place shrieked WE ARE PERFECT HERE AND YOU WILL BE TOO!  No wonder my mother chose it.

And just like that, I made a friend.  I mentally patted myself on the back; Daniel would be proud. Mom would be prouder.

Noah shrugged. "I'm a vain bastard, and Mara indulges me."  After a pause, he added, "I'm just glad you didn't get your greedy paws on the other sketchbook.  That would have been embarrassing."

Without thinking, I took his hand back.  "Then I'll put on my big girl panties and deal."