Thursday, September 15, 2011

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Release date: September 27, 2011
Published by: Simon and Schuster
Received from the wonderful Brooke @ Brooke Reports
Sisters Say: Steamy, Snarkie, and Stirring




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. (summary from goodreads)





First off, let me start off by saying, "how unbelievably beautiful is this cover?!?!" From moment I saw this art work, I knew that I would read this book regardless of the summary! However, with a cover like this, one might wonder if the words can live up to the art? I would have to give you a resounding "Heck yes!" Before this book, I had been in a reading slump and Mara or maybe I should say Noah snapped me right out of it. The novel has it all, endearing characters, a hot boy, a great mystery, and creepy bad guys!

I honestly loved all of Michelle's characters! Each character in this novel actually correlates with real people in my life! When an author can pull that off it adds a believability and a familiar comfort to their story! Mara's little brother, Joseph has a love of the news, stock reports, and is all around, basically a 35 year-old businessman in a child's body! That is pretty much my youngest sister, Brittany! Those of you who read our blog regularly, know her as Baby Sister Brittany. When she was a little girl (early elementary), her favorite book was the biography of Nelson Mandela! Not kidding folks! We were also frequently corrected on our use of affect/effect, further/farther, who/whom etc. Being 7 years older than her, as you can guess this did not go off well. I do look back on those times fondly and with a smile though! So, when Joseph was doing his quirky little things, I found him so endearing!

And, Noah......What can I say about Noah? All of you know how much I love Jace, well, let me tell you, if you have thing for Jace, then Noah is going to make those butterflies in your stomach do a flash mob! He has the witty, aloof, snarkiness of Jace only a tad more bad boyish!  Oh yeah, and did I mention he's British?!?!  He's completely irresistable! I was seriously sporting the goofy grin every time Noah appeared on the page. I have a feeling Noah is going to be a huge contender in the Crush Tourney next year!

Now, for the boy next door, Jamie! He had me at Ebola!!! That's a little inside joke, but Jamie is wonderful! He's everything a best friend should be! Plus, all of his Harry Potter references caused me some serious squeeing!  I want Jamie as my best friend!

Lastly for characters, I can't not mention Mara! (dang double negative) I love characters that use sarcasm to deal with life. My sisters and I tend to do the same thing, maybe that's why we are constantly raving about how much we love snarkie female heroines! Life is too hard to take everything so seriously and be a Debbie Downer. Sarcasm makes light of situations that on most days would break us. I love that Mara has suffered a horrible tragedy but hasn't lost the sense of who she is.  She's still funny and relatable even though most of us haven't experienced the kind of tragedy she has endured.

Okay, this is getting a tad long, so I will try to wrap this up quickly!  Not only does Mara Dyer have amazing characters, it has a great mystery that will keep you guessing until the end!  Several times I wondered if I was reading a paranormal or contemporary only to have what I thought I knew turned completely upside down and inside out with the shocking ending!  There are several villains through the entire story that will send tingles up your spine from bullies in the school room to the courtroom, and some you never even see coming!  All I can say, is the ending will leave you speechless.  I think I have more questions at the end than I had at the beginning, but its the fun questions.  The ones you spend hours trying to sort out and predict where the story is headed.  Pre-order this book, read it as soon as you get, and you won't regret it!!!