Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer #1
Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy, YA
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Kindle Edition and Library physical copy
Pages: 456
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SYNOPSIS: 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.
LAURA'S REVIEW
Alright I first read about this book on Tumblr because everyone on my dash kept reblogging edits about Mara Dyer. I had no idea it was a book until I read the tags where it literally said 'books' and things such as 'I loved it!' 'So good!' etc.
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is really different from any other book I have read like ever. It is a quite creepy, paranormal-type of book with twists and romance (but thankfully not a love triangle) and I really really liked it bu it is just so indescribably weird.
THE WORLD: There is not much to say about it since it is just our world. Our normal world with not so normal people around it but basically there is no change in the world except that some people have "powers"... sort of powers.
THE CHARACTERS: Mara Dyer, is the principal character of the trilogy and also the principal narrator of the story. She is a weird teenager to say the least... pretty normal 16 year old girl before the start of the book with a best friend, 2 other friends and a boyfriend (we learn that from the flashbacks) but after she has an accident, let's call it an accident, she starts hhmm well having hallucinations of her dead ex-boyfriend so I guess we can say she's a bit unstable. The hallucinations drive her and her family insane so they decide to move to Florida to start a new life there, hoping that Mara will stop seeing impossible things. Once Mara moves we are introduced to the other important character, Noah Shaw, the cool (and rich) guy that notices her when nobody does. Sounding cheesy? It is not. The book always follows the creepy and paranormal concept so no worries!
PLUS: In my opinion the major big plus is the concept of Mara's craziness. She never knows if what she is seeing real and also she discovers she has some sort of powers because around her weird things happen. Other pluses are that there are a few chapters where another related story, which happened in the past, is narrated and I am guessing it has to do with the origin of her powers. I call them powers but I don't really have a word for it... anyway turns out she's not the only one with powers *wink, wink* and of course I have to mention the whole concept of creepiness incorporated to the story. Since Mara is the narrator and she believes she is "crazy" it makes the reader feel crazy as well. Have you ever read a book from the point of view of a mentally unstable character?
MINUS: Unfortunately one of the pluses is also a minus point because Mara is so messed up with her real vs. non-real things that it drives the reader crazy as well and there are plot twists and when you finish the book you're left thinking "what-on Earth-was-THAT?" mixed with other thoughts such as "heck yeah!" and "I want the next book" ;)
OVERALL: Different from most of the books on the market right now. If the last book of the trilogy keeps it up they could be epic. So creepy. Everything, and I do mean everything, is twisted into something unexpected. Romance. PLOT TWISTS. If you're up for some creepy mystery then it is your book!
EXTRA: I gave it 4 stars because like I mentioned I was very confused when I finished this book (and even more when I finished the next one) that I just couldn't. Do you know the feeling? You really enjoyed the book but you don't even know if the trilogy will make it to your favorites because they mess up with your head maybe a bit too much and it ends up driving you crazy? In Spanish there is a perfect expression for this... me raya [la cabeza] mucho.
THE WORLD: There is not much to say about it since it is just our world. Our normal world with not so normal people around it but basically there is no change in the world except that some people have "powers"... sort of powers.
THE CHARACTERS: Mara Dyer, is the principal character of the trilogy and also the principal narrator of the story. She is a weird teenager to say the least... pretty normal 16 year old girl before the start of the book with a best friend, 2 other friends and a boyfriend (we learn that from the flashbacks) but after she has an accident, let's call it an accident, she starts hhmm well having hallucinations of her dead ex-boyfriend so I guess we can say she's a bit unstable. The hallucinations drive her and her family insane so they decide to move to Florida to start a new life there, hoping that Mara will stop seeing impossible things. Once Mara moves we are introduced to the other important character, Noah Shaw, the cool (and rich) guy that notices her when nobody does. Sounding cheesy? It is not. The book always follows the creepy and paranormal concept so no worries!
PLUS: In my opinion the major big plus is the concept of Mara's craziness. She never knows if what she is seeing real and also she discovers she has some sort of powers because around her weird things happen. Other pluses are that there are a few chapters where another related story, which happened in the past, is narrated and I am guessing it has to do with the origin of her powers. I call them powers but I don't really have a word for it... anyway turns out she's not the only one with powers *wink, wink* and of course I have to mention the whole concept of creepiness incorporated to the story. Since Mara is the narrator and she believes she is "crazy" it makes the reader feel crazy as well. Have you ever read a book from the point of view of a mentally unstable character?
MINUS: Unfortunately one of the pluses is also a minus point because Mara is so messed up with her real vs. non-real things that it drives the reader crazy as well and there are plot twists and when you finish the book you're left thinking "what-on Earth-was-THAT?" mixed with other thoughts such as "heck yeah!" and "I want the next book" ;)
OVERALL: Different from most of the books on the market right now. If the last book of the trilogy keeps it up they could be epic. So creepy. Everything, and I do mean everything, is twisted into something unexpected. Romance. PLOT TWISTS. If you're up for some creepy mystery then it is your book!
EXTRA: I gave it 4 stars because like I mentioned I was very confused when I finished this book (and even more when I finished the next one) that I just couldn't. Do you know the feeling? You really enjoyed the book but you don't even know if the trilogy will make it to your favorites because they mess up with your head maybe a bit too much and it ends up driving you crazy? In Spanish there is a perfect expression for this... me raya [la cabeza] mucho.
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HANNAHCASSIE'S REVIEW
I have heard very different opinions when it comes to this trilogy but I have also seen that Laura loved it so when I saw it in the library I was like, oh hell yes!
THE WORLD: It is really just a normal world like ours. The story is mainly set in Miami.
THE CHARACTERS: So the main character is Mara Dyer. The book starts with a tragedy and then it slowly unravels, however because of this tragedy Mara and her family move to Miami where she has to join a private school in the middle of trimester. Auch. Anyways, to be honest Mara is pretty much like all teenagers you have in YA books. However, to my surprise, I do not find Mara annoying. I actually like her! Score! Who I do not like tho is Noah, the super attractive British boy who is basically an arrogant walking ass. I get it, Noah is all different and deep and blah blah but to me he is just another high school self centered persona who has way too much money on its hands. Same with Aiden and Anne. Trust fund brats basically. But I do like Mara's brothers! Daniel and Joseph seem like seriously the type of brothers I would have loved to have around when growing up.
LOVE: So love is pretty straight forward in this book. Mara meets Noah, Noah is a well known slut till he sees her and them boom instant love forever. Very twilightish if you ask me.
PLUS: Now we got to the cool part, so you know how this whole book sounds like another teenager in love cheesy blah blah story? Well it is not! The tragedy that happened to Mara killed her best friend, her ex boyfriend and his sister. Only Mara survived. And she does not remember anything. So all the way during this book we get flashbacks. And what is even cooler is that Mara is kinda unstable, she has serious hallucinations. And they are so crazy! Sometimes you do not even know what is real and not.
PLUS II: The plot! When her memory starts to come back and you get to know what actually happened...oh my that was seriously depressing stuff. And then the plot twist in the end! Because of this real or not real feeling all through the book I do not even know how to act to the plot twist! So crazy and so good!
MINUS: How to say it without spoiling? Well there is the part where Mara remembers and tells Noah and he tells her some stuff and then what it all means...I expected something more. I do not like the direction this story took.
OVERALL: I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book. All these reviews I read that said it is another whiny teenager book. NO! I dissagree on so many levels! The mystery in this book is awesome, the crazyness is just perfect! I am loving it!
EXTRA: So I got the physical copy from library, the hardback. And oh my gosh! That cover! I literary want to buy this book in hardcover so I can look at it on my shelves! It is so so gorgeous and dark and twisted! I wanna!
What did you think about THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER?
