Brad About Books: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER
Published: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 452 pages
Series: Mara Dyer, #1

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.

THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is definitely one of those "what the crap is going on?!" kind of books. And I LOVED that. Michelle Hodkin kept me entertained the entire way and always had me on the edge of my seat.

First off, this book is insane. And I'm not sugar-coating that. This book starts off with action from the prologue and barely contains any slow moments. And I loved how the main character, Mara Dyer, has had something tragic happen to her, and she can't remember what it is. I was in a book slump when I read this, so when I first picked this up, it threw me out of that slump instantly.

Michelle Hodkin's writing style was perfect for this kind of book. It's eerie, creepy, but still contains some light-hearted elements in it. She made this book almost disturbing at some points; again, it was perfect for this novel. And oh wow, can she create some fantastic characters. Mara's brothers were so quirky and hilarious; they were definitely some of my favorites in the book. But while they're all fun and games, they still have the protection element that all brothers should have for their family.

Unfortunately, this book took a downfall in the middle of the book. Why you may ask? The romance. For me, the romance in THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER overshadowed the true plot-line too much. At first, the story was about Mara trying to piece together what happened to her, and then all of a sudden, we're focusing on the love interest, Noah Shaw, and how he's so "dreamy" and "caring". 

That whole middle portion of the book annoyed me so much. I was truly enjoying the story a lot, and then a romance blooms, making Mara forget what she's suppose to be doing. But I do understand why the romance was there (the ending really supported the romance); I just feel like there was too much "lovey-dovey" scenes in this crazy book.

THAT. ENDING. For the entire last chapter, I chewing at my fingernails. I knew something insane would happen, and then BAM, Michelle Hodkin throws at us something crazy and unexpected. That's what really made me love this novel; how she took the problem and potentially made it bigger, setting us up for the second novel in this trilogy. And that last page? My mouth was open the entire time. It just blew my mind.

Overall, I recommend that you pick up THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER. If you don't really like the romance part, keep reading it because the ending is totally worth it.

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