The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)

I LOVE this cover!

If this book were a movie (the kind you pay full price to see and after doing so are only able to mumble something mildly coherent like, "You just HAVE to see it for your self."), much of my viewing time would've been spent with my hands over my face to hide from the creepy parts (while peaking out through my fingers so as not to miss anything), a hand over my heart to keep it from literally beating out of chest during the intensely romantic parts (the other would be fanning my face) and a hand over my mouth to hide my shock at the ending. (Btw, if this were a movie with a soundtrack, Coldplay's, "Fix You" would be on it.)

This is a MUST read! Just to clarify...when I say it's "creepy", I mean creepy in the best sense of the word, not like evil "creepy" but "creepy" cool, keeping up here? OK, good.

The key players in this book are Mara Dyer and her family which consists of Psychologist Mom, Lawyer Dad, and two of the best brothers a girl could ask for, Daniel is the oldest (I wish Daniel was real & I wish he was my big brother) and Joseph is the youngest. Mara's friends are Rachel (her longtime BFF), Claire (more Rachel's friend & not so much a fan of Mara's), Jude (Claire's brother & Mara's crush), Jaime (he's a good friend to her) and Noah (Yum).

The story begins in Rhode Island where there's been an accident involving Mara, Rachel, Claire and Jude, and she's the sole survivor. Everyone is looking to Mara for answers but she can't give them any because she has no memory of any of it. Another bizarre thing? She's come through the accident without any injuries. In the days and weeks that follow, she tries to recall details about what happened but has no real luck until the nightmares begin and strange things start to happen during the daytime that leave her struggling to decipher between reality and imagination. (Enter the creep factor)

In an effort to help her, the family decides to make a clean break to Florida where she and Daniel start at a new private school, and her father takes over on a high profile murder case. At her new school she hopes to makes a fresh start and leave her past behind her but something won't let that happen. Instead, she meets Jaime, a boy genius who has a penchant for retaliation that involves bio-hazard material of epic proportions, she catches the eye of Noah, the school's #1 hot guy who comes with a rep for being a notorious womanizer, garners the unwanted attention of Anna (Mean Girl extraordinaire) and Ms. Morales aka the Spanish teacher from hell...all on the first day.

Things escalate when the "strange" turns to "creepy" and Mara watches as her world begins to spiral out of control. She knows she's reaching the breaking point not only within herself but with her family as well and she desperately searches for answers only to find help in the most unlikely places, like Noah. On the outside, he's cocky and pretentious but behind that gorgeous, British exterior of his, he's not so bad and he comes to Mara's rescue more than once. (Need to retrieve a Sketchbook anyone?) As she gets to know him more, she sees that, like her, his reputation may not really proceed him and he too is hiding a few secrets. But what they discover about themselves and each other has the potential to change everything, forever.

As Mara begins to face life as she now knows it to be, she realizes the choices others have may not be the same for her. She'll have to decide if protecting those she loves means giving up what she wants the most. Will she choose right? Just when Mara thinks she's make up her mind, once again her world flips upside down leaving both she and the reader gasping.

While I'm partially relieved that this is the "end of volume" because I would most likely have had a heart attack if this was really the end of the story, I want to know NOW what happens! NOW! NOW! NOW! I tell you! :)

I read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer online through Simon and Schuster's PulseIt program. And yes, IT WAS FREE. AND LEGAL.

Mara Dyer and her family move to Florida after an accident that kills her best friend and two others. Sure, there's nothing new there, but somehow, Hodkin made it work. Although Mara is broken on the inside, she still manages to have fun with her family sometimes.

I liked Mara, both as a character and a narrator, right up until the end. I didn't understand her motives about the thing involving Lassiter. (Yes, I'm sure I spelled that wrong.) Nightmares have been haunting her since that night when Rachel, Claire, and Jude died. She's been put on anti-psychotics. I understand that she's angry, but why does she not even consider the consequences of taking a man's life when it's made her feel so horrible all the other times?

Most of the time, Mara's emotions really got to me. She felt real, and even if she irritated me with her repetitiveness, I still felt for her.

Noah Shaw, on the other hand, never irritated me. Not once. He was awesome *-* He wasn't cheesy, but he wasn't an asshole, either. Most of the time.

I only have one question involving his personality: WHERE ARE ALL THE SWEET AND INNOCENT VIRGIN BOYS IN YA? Not every boy has to have had sex with the entire female population of the school. Really. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't have liked Noah as much if he was all sweet and innocent, but it's a valid question.

Another thing I really loved about this book was how when Mara thought she was crazy, I was asking that question right along with her. Were there paranormal events involved, or was Mara just hallucinating and dreaming?

My biggest issue with this book: The pacing was way too slow for me. While the pacing of Mara and Noah's relationship was fine, the pacing of the actual plot was a bit of a problem. Most of the book is just full of Mara's "hallucinations," and you don't get any real answers until the last 70 or so pages of the book. Even then, there are too many unanswered questions for me to be happy with. I know The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is only the first book, considering it says "End of volume one" on the last page, but I think a few more questions should have been answered, or the book almost has no point.

Overall: Although I think large parts could have been cut out and questions really should have been answered, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was an interesting novel full of real emotions and just a hint of paranormal. The characters were addicting, the writing style was perfect, and I can't wait for the next book. 4 stars.

My feelings for this book are very confused! But look at that cover. It's actually my favourite cover of the year. Beeeeautiful! But to start this review I'm going to be honest and throw the bad out in the open.

WHAT REALLY BOTHERED ME
The ending. After 452 pages there was no real conclusion...basically nothing substantial about Mara was discovered. Other than something that was blatantly obvious throughout the book, but no hows, whys or whats. It was disappointing. I'm sure all with be revealed in the next book, but I really felt a little more should have been covered in this one. All series books have cliffhangers, but this wasn't even really used as the cliffhanger - something else that was interesting and completely unexpected was, but that's beside the point. I would have liked a little more clarity.

Now despite that big issue, I did enjoy the book. I absolutely loved the quick witted and often humorous banter between Mara and Noah. This book was full of really funny quotes:

“What could I say? Noah, despite you being an asshole, or maybe because of it, I'd like to rip off your clothes and have your babies.”

“You're distracting,' I said truthfully. 'I won't be. I promise,' Noah said. 'I'll get some crayons and draw quitely. Alone. In a corner.”

And there were tons more, but I don't want to spam this review with quotes I loved from this book, because that would probably get a little too excessive. Noah wasn't exactly a stud for me at "first sight", but he definitely grew on me. Some girls may call him a little inappropriate at times, but I'm horribly inappropriate myself about 98% of the time, so that doesn't bother me much. I thought he was funny! And I love funny!

Mara Dyer goes through some genuinely frightening situations. There were times where I felt thoroughly creeped out and was a little nervous to be alone reading by the light of my little lone lamp. Hodkin's is definitely a wonderful writer and good at setting a mood.


Overall, I liked this, but the fact that basically nothing was solved AT ALL throughout the book is going to have to downgrade my rating. I almost wanted to give it a 3, but ended up going with 4. The other parts of the story made up for it.