From My Notebook #1: Book Review - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

When I read I write notes, thoughts, and quotes about the book in a notebook. I sometimes write drafts or full book reviews in my notebooks too. And sometimes I forget to write up a review from those notes. Or sometimes I would forget to type up and/or post those reviews. So From My Notebook will be the notes, thoughts, quotes, or full reviews that I had in one of my notebooks from other the past years that I forgot to share before. 

Book Review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Read: May 2015

 Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
(Mara Dyer #1)
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Length: 456 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Classification: Young Adult, Paranormal, Mystery
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Source: Paperback

Mara Dyer believes life can't 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 strangely unharmed. There is.
She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

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In some ways I'm not really sure what I just read. There were several times I thought "What the heck is going on?" The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was crazy, intriguing, and extremely difficult for me to put down. 

There was an accident that claimed the lives of Mara's best friends. Mara was lucky to be left alive. She has no memory of what happened and doesn't understand why she is the only one that didn't die. Her parents move their family across country to give Mara a new start. But crazy things are happening and Mara doesn't know what to believe. 

I love that I didn't know what was going to happen! This book really surprised me and I didn't really have that many guesses until the end. And even then I didn't see everything that was going to happen.

The story is confusing. But I think it is that way because Mara is equally confused about what happened and about what is happening. 

I really like the sibling relationships between Mara and her brothers, Daniel and Joseph. They really care about each other and want to be there to help the others. Plus I like the sibling banter. 

Mara is an interesting character. I definitely felt bad for her. I couldn't imagine losing one of best friends and the heartache and grief that brings. Mara is really struggling with figuring out the truth about what happened that night. And about what that truth means about her. I think she is a strong character because she has been through so much, and she is trying to keep going on with her life. She is determined. 

The only thing that didn't blow me away about this book was the romance. I liked it, but I wanted to love that part too.

It ended with a bit of a surprising cliffhanger. So I am anxious to see what happens next and maybe get a better understanding about what is happening. It definitely feels like I have more questions than answers.

I enjoyed the story, so I am looking forward to reading the next installment; The Evolution of Mara Dyer.

My Rating:

I even had a small section in my notes titled "CRAZY THEORIES". Which I am not going to post because I don't want to ruin anything for those that haven't read this book yet. But they are pretty crazy.