The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author:  Michelle Hodkin
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Publication Date:  September 27, 2011
Pages: 452
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance

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 FAERYS VIEW

Michelle Hodkin wrote a superb novel focusing on two main characters, Mara and Noah but she also beautifully incorporated and did a fantastic job on the secondary characters which brought a richness to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer that made it seem more realistic. Told in first person narrative by Mara, who is suffering the aftermath of a traumatic accident that killed two friends (one was her best-friend) and her boyfriend. Mara remembers nothing about the accident and is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Dyer family decides to move from Rhode Island to Miami with the hope of Mara getting better by removing her from the situation and place where the accident happened and to allow her father, a powerful lawyer to work on a high profile criminal case.

Mara and her brother are enrolled in Croyden Academy, an exclusive private school. This is where she first meets swoon-worthy bad boy, Noah. Noah pursues Mara with a vengeance but the last thing she wants is a guy in her life right now, no matter how hot he is. Her days are full enough with visions of her dead friends and on top of that, people around Mara are starting to die!

The thing I like most about The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is the constant twists and turns in the plot! Just when you think you know where it’s going, it takes a turn! Mara’s family rocked, too! The absence of families in YA books is all too common because they ‘get in the way’. Not so in this case, in fact Mara’s family enhances the story at some points.

Ms. Hodkin wrote this story beautifully; she kept me intrigued, wrote the twisting turns that kept me turning pages well into the night and created a haunting mesmerizing story that steps outside the usual genre fare. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a rare treat and with the way things DIDN’T end, I’m sure there will be a sequel! A sequel that I will be anxiously awaiting, faery wings a beatin’ a mile a minute and not feeling fully satisfied until some of the questions I have are answered more fully!

THE FAERY SAYS YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!