Who For Art Thou, Mara?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Written by: Michelle Hodkin

Released: September 27, 2011 by Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing

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.

This was THE most sought after ARC at BEA this year and for good reason. I don't think that there is another YA novel whose hype can compare to that of Mara Dyer. Seriously, people had it on their Goodreads lists as far back as at least last summer (it made its way onto my To Read list last January) and the advanced copies were equivalent to literary pirate treasure. And for good reason.

What a crazy-ass rollercoaster ride. I warn you, if you hate novels with horrible (and by horrible I mean ones that leave you wanting more than more) this is a novel you may want to hold off on reading until you have the second (and maybe third... this is a trilogy, right?) novel in hand. I, on the other hand, am incredibly impatient when it comes to books that I want – no need – to read and now I’m stuck with the super long wait until the next.

If you can’t tell already, I loved this novel. It kept me guessing and left me guessing. Hell I still have so many unanswered questions for the next instalment which, normally, would leave me one very peeved reader. However, I find myself – while longing to know what happens next – unable to be angry at how desperately this book left me hanging high and dry and in a complete WTF moment.

Michelle Hodkin I tip my hat to you; you are one smart lady and an amazing writer.

It’s slightly hard to classify this novel. While I would describe it as paranormal, I think that it’s also a lot more than that. Mara has these incredibly vivid hallucinations that leave you wondering if they’re more of a second sight or if she’s somehow able to imagine them into being. But then there’s the whole back-story which as a reader you’re able to relive with Mara through flashbacks as she regains her memories.

And then there’s Noah Shaw. The guy is an enigma wrapped in a mystery and smothered in man-whore when you first meet his character. He has this overwhelmingly strong sexuality that practically oozes out of him and yet as the novel progresses you’re really able to see a different side of him when it comes to Mara. Oh my god, the scene with the two of them and the animal cookies in her had me laughing so hard! And if you have yet to read this novel, you’ll know what I mean when you get to it.

This is an amazing debut and I don’t want to say more for fear of ruining it for someone who has yet to read it. I give it a much earned 10/10.

Oh, and hate off to Simon and Schuster for a gorgeous cover! And my eternal thanks to Vanessa for passing along her ARC to me (before I bought my own pretty copy).