Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin

I first read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer almost a year ago. While browsing the books at Target, I picked up this book because the the cover looked creepy. After seeing it described as a “spooky and twisty” and “perfect for those who like their heroes dark and their heroines dangerous and their romances seriously twisted” Instantly I knew that I HAD to read this book!

Mara Dyer is one seriously messed up girl. Just months ago she survived an accident involving an old asylum, that killed the other three people who were there with her. Including her best friend Rachel and her boyfriend Jude. Mara wakes up in a hospital with minimal injuries and lacking any memories leading up to the accident. Now, months later, after moving her entire family from Rhode Island to Miami in order to get away from the nightmare, Mara Dyer is realizing that she is going crazy. Hallucinations of the ghosts of her dead friends have begun haunting her. Time passes hours at a time in just a blink of the eye. Mara can’t let anyone know what is happening to her. All she wants is to be normal. Not crazy.

When Noah Shaw, Croyden Academy’s infamous British heartbreaker, begins throwing attention Mara’s way she wants nothing to do with it. But it may be just what she needs to feel normal. And they may have a lot more in common then meets the eye.

But what Mara really needs is to remember. Remember what happened to her friends. Remember what it is that is driving her crazy.

This novel lived up to the hype and was insanely spooky and twisty. Mara’s confusion and fear of her own insanity and the hallucinations that are plaguing her give this novel a very horror-type feel. It is creepy and I love it. I love Mara and her dark humor and even darker thoughts. She is a character who I feel I can’t relate to even though I’ve never experienced the things she has. Mara is real and she is lovable and she is believable.

Most believable is her affection for Noah Shaw. I mean he’s British so that right there would have had me. But he’s also sexy in this dangerous enigmatic way that ALWAYS gets me. The attention that he gives Mara, before she even gives into him and after, is what every girl has always wanted from a cute boy at some point in their life. Their relationship is beyond swoon-worthy and Noah is beyond sexy. As their relationship progressed I fell harder and harder for him. He’s not perfect and he’s done some things in his past that really aren’t great but despite his flaws it is easy to see that Noah is a good person.

Behind all the creepy psychological parts of this book is a story that is interesting but confusing. Any questions that are answered by the end only leave you with more questions. I hope more will be revealed in the second Mara Dyer novels but I am sure we will be left with even more questions again!

No matter it is still a great read and I can’t WAIT to read The Evolution of Mara Dyer, the MUCH anticipated second book of the Mara Dyer series, which finally hits bookstores tomorrow, October 23!

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Rating: 9/10 ★★★★★★★★★

Book Info

• Publisher:  Simon and Schuster (September 27, 2011)
• Length: 452 pages, Hardcover
• Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance

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