Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Publication date: September 27th, 2011

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.

Review:

With all the hype surrounding this novel, I was afraid that I'd be going into it with my expectations set too high, but I was definitely not disappointed. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer not only lived up to my expectations, but exceeded them. This novel is absolutely beautiful and has just about everything you could want in a good book. Mystery, suspense, romance, sarcasm, wit... I could go on and on. There's the intriguing mystery that starts with Mara waking up in a hospital bed, unable to remember why she's there or what happened to her friends that night, which then slowly unravels in bits and pieces throughout the book. There's the budding romance between Mara and Noah, filled with so much chemistry and tension that you just want to explode. Noah is completely swoon-worthy. I really disliked him at first, but grew to love him by the end. Reading about all of Mara's experiences with her PTSD, flashbacks, nightmares, and confusing actions was a pleasant surprise for me as well. It definitely filled my appetite for all things psychological.

This novel was amazingly well-written, consumed every bit of my attention, and then kept lingering in my mind while I was doing other things. The ending is a huge cliffhanger, which I wasn't expecting, but then again the whole novel was so unpredictable that I should have learned not to expect anything! I absolutely can not wait for the next book and will heavily recommend this one to anyone looking for a captivating read that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darn close and is a novel I will definitely be reading again.

Characters: 9/10

Plot: 9/10

Originality: 9/10

Writing: 10/10

Overall grade: A+