ARC Tour Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Title:  The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author:  Michelle Hodkin
Series:  Mara Dyer
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publication Date:  September 27, 2011
Links:  Amazon | Goodreads
Rating: 

From Goodreads:

 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:

I was so excited to get my hands on an ARC of this novel, and it did not disappoint. (Thanks to the ladies at Good Choice Reading for offering up their copy for an ARC tour.) I’m still reeling from it! And what I love about this book is the fact that I STILL don’t have a flipping clue what’s happening to Mara Dyer!

I loved the author’s use of nightmares/flashbacks to tease the reader with the details of the tragic accident and its ensuing chaos on Mara’s life. It was also refreshing to be thrust right into Mara’s tale of woe. No slow build-up here. Just crazy, crazy, surprise, and then more crazy.

Mara’s story is as unpredictable as it is unique. She’s been in a horrible accident, and she keeps seeing the ghosts of her friends, the ones who died in the accident that she miraculously survived. Mara thinks she might be crazy. She might be right. But that’s not going to stop her from trying to move on, to live as normal a life as she possibly can. So, Mara’s family moves away, giving her a fresh start. But things only get weirder. Only now, she’s met someone who might understand, if she’ll only let him in.

Mara is a snarky, keep-you-on-your-toes kinda heroine. I love the voice that Michelle Hodkin has given to this character, and the novel wouldn’t have been the same without the witty repartee between Mara and Noah. Noah is the guy our mothers all warned us about, but despite Mara’s best efforts, she can’t help falling for him. (What is it with those sarcastic bad-boys, with their good looks and British accents?)

This novel had my mind pulled in so many directions, and I’m still trying to sort it out. I still have so many questions, and I’m terribly afraid I’ve missed something vital in my attempt to inhale this novel. The story is so captivating, though, that it warrants a second reading, just to clear up the confusion. But even so, I have a feeling that the author is going to leave us guessing right up until the end.

Michelle Hodkin has a fantastic debut novel on her hands, one that I’ll definitely be picking up when it’s released next month. I’ll just have to remember to spend more than two days reading it so I don’t miss anything the next time around.