The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Published: September 27, 2011 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 450/Hardcover
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge
Source: bought


Summary: 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.

Review: People. Go read this book. I know I say that about a lot of book, but seriously. Read it. The hype and anticipation surrounding this book is completely well worth it. 

I loved Mara! She was so great. She was smart and funny and very quick-witted when it came to snarky come backs. She's one of those girls who says what she wants and does it with sarcasm and whit. When it came to the hallucinations and what was happening to her shew as scared but strong. She didn't break down and run to her boyfriend/love interest to solve her problems.


Noah started out a bit rocky for me. He had "that angle." Let me explain to you "the angle." "I'm an extremely attractive guy (most likely with an accent) who sees girls as conquests. I use them once and them I'm done with them. But you're the new girl and there's just something different about you." This is an angle that I think is incredibly over-used in YA novels, but alas I love this angle. I'm a closet fan of angst-ridden teenage romance, so this started out as a really great thing. Once I got to know Noah and heard his story, though, I really did see him differently (kind of like Mara).


I loooooved Jamie! He is the best friend that everyone wants. At least, I want him as a best friend. He tells Mara like it is whether she likes it or not because he cares about her, but he's still supportive and respectful of her decisions. It seemed like after he left about half way through he just disappeared from the book. So I hope that if there's another installment in this potential series he makes a return.


One thing that surprised me about this book was that the first half really could have been just a normal book with no paranormal part at all. Sure Mara was having hallucinations, but they could have been easily explained as her post traumatic stress. And when it did turn paranormal it was original. I could tell that Hodkin had an imagination when writing this book. She didn't decide to go with vampires or werewolves or whatever else is popular. She went with her idea, and the originality of it was quite refreshing. 


There was a lot that wasn't resolved and a lot that's still left to learn about both Noah and Mara. I'm not sure but I'm really hoping that this is only the start of a series. There's still so much left to learn, and with that ending? How can there not be a sequel?


I know you've all heard about this book, so do yourself a favor and go read it!