The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer Trilogy, The) [Kindle Edition]

Michelle Hodkin (Author)

Book Description

<span>Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a</span><span> </span><span></span><span>hospital with no memory of how she got there. </span><span>It can.</span><span> </span>

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<span></span><span></span><span></span><span>She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember</span><span> </span><span></span><span>that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed. </span><span>There is.</span>

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<span></span><span>She doesn't believe that after everything she's been</span><span> </span><span></span><span>through, she can fall in love. </span><span>She's wrong.</span>

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Haunting and dreamlike, the intrigue and romance of Mara Dyer will inescapably draw you in." --Cassandra Clare, author of the New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments series

"The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer strikes a rare balance of darkly funny, deliciously creepy and genuinely thoughtful. One minute I was laughing out loud, and the next, I was so scared I wanted to turn on all the lights and hide under the covers. Michelle Hodkin’s talent and range are obvious, from her chilling descriptions to romantic scenes that almost crackled on the page. I’ve never read anything quite like it."--Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author of Divergent

"A clever, captivating thriller, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is perfect for those (like me) who like their heroes dark, their heroines dangerous, and their romances seriously twisted."

--Kirsten Miller, New York Times bestselling author of The Eternal Ones

"WOW. Michelle Hodkin's debut will keep you guessing until the last page--and long after."

--Beth Revis, New York Times bestselling author of Across the Unviverse

"As spooky and twisty as it is lyrical and beautiful, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Read this one with the lights on." --Rachel Hawkins, New York Times bestselling author of Demonglass

From the Author

Michelle Hodkin grew up in South Florida, went to college in New York, and studied law in Michigan. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found prying strange objects from the jaws of one of her three pets. This is her first novel. You can visit her online at michellehodkin.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 1252 KB
• Print Length: 465 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 085707363X
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (September 27, 2011)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004IK988I
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,800 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #59 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Teens > Mysteries & Thrillers
  • #69 in Books > Teens > Mysteries

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I LOVE This Book! Hauntingly Beautiful October 7, 2011

By Aeicha @ Word Spelunking

Format:Hardcover

The synopsis for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is enticingly vague, so I didn't really know what to expect when beginning this book, I just knew that I had to know what it was all about...flash forward to me starting the first chapter before bed telling myself Just this one chapter, then I'll go to sleep...flash forward again a few hours after this to me looking at my clock as it blinks an ungodly wee hour in the morning time telling myself Well I've gotten this far, I might as well read a little more...OMG I can't put it down now...Must. Know. Ending.

This is definitely One Of Those kind of books. The kind that grips you tight from page one and still has a hold of you long after you've read the last sentence on the last page. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a stunning and impressive debut novel from Michelle Hodkin. I found it absolutely captivating, riveting, smart, highly original, and brilliantly written and developed. To say that this book is simply a Paranormal-Romance or a Psychological Thriller or Mystery or Contemporary Fiction, doesn't really seem to do it justice to me, simply because it's kind of all of these things. It's a word potpourri made of all things awesome, beautiful, chilling, startling, and deeply intimate.

The three main aspects of this book that stood out to me are its characters, the overall story (both the story on the surface and the one pulsing underneath it), and the romance between Mara and Noah.

The characters in this book seem perfectly developed and balanced. And by balanced I mean that they're never too much or too little; they're close enough to the realm of stereotypical to feel comfortable and familiar, but far away enough to be refreshing and hard to ignore.... What I loved about Hodkin's characters is that they're predictable when you need them to be, yet always surprising. The book is told from Mara's perspective, and there's a truly intimate connection developed between Mara and the reader, at least this reader. Mara has a sharp and sometimes biting wit, she's observant, smart, thoughtful, and not afraid to speak her mind. She's also conflicted, confused, lost, and scared. In other words, she's real and she's relatable. Noah Shaw, Mara's love interest is, on the surface, arrogant, confident, careless, charming and too smart for his own good. He's also everything and nothing that you expect him to be at any given moment. His flaws, insecurities and depth are slowly revealed throughout the novel, and both Mara and the reader get to know him at the same time...and this reader also fell for him right along side Mara. The "supporting" characters- the Dyer family, school peers, teachers, ect- are all well developed and add a layer of realism and familiarity that I think both readers and Mara need.

The romance between Mara and Noah is anything but cliché. This romance is intense, sexy, real, and a little twisted. I appreciate how Mara and Noah's relationship progresses naturally; I was actually able to witness and feel them fall in love and wasn't just told that they were in love. The chemistry and sparks between these two are palpable and really jump off the page. I think the emotional and physical aspects of this romance were written in a very smart and sensitive way.

The story itself blew me away with its originality, emotional layers and explosive ending. The story moves at a nice, natural pace and has a real lyrical flow. I liked that the story was told from Mara's perspective and that I was, essentially, in her head, seeing things unfold through her eyes, because it is Mara's story, it's the story of her unbecoming. There's a haunting beauty to the paranormal and romantic aspects of Mara Dyer, while there also exist a startling, yet irresistible pull that I felt from the emotional aspects of this book. The actual paranormal aspects are different from anything I've ever read, and there's a real dark, dangerous edge to them that make them exciting and intriguing. But it's the emotional and psychological aspects of this book, the unbecoming or really the unraveling of Mara Dyer, that kept me captivated. Hodkin's depicts the unraveling, the coming apart of Mara in such a realistic, honest and stripped bare kind of way that it was, at times, almost relentless with its stark emotional onslaught, but in the most breathtaking and impossible to ignore kind of way.

I think there's a certain universal, but rarely confessed, perversion that people have for peeking behind other people's proverbial curtains and getting a glimpse of the "real" picture behind the surface perfection, and I think as readers we kind of get to do this in this book. We get a glimpse inside families-like the Dyers and the Shaws-that seem very together, happy, and even perfect to the rest of the world, but behind closed doors they are anything but perfect with their secrets, lies, and fractures. Behind closed doors we get to see them for what they are- fathers who work too much, mothers who are controlling or too self involved, kids who are cracking under pressure-and I really think this is kind of the story beneath the story, kind of an underlying layer.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but I will say that Mara's story is one that will leave you reeling and will have people talking. You'll want and need to talk about Mara's unbecoming, her unraveling, her romance with Noah, and her choices because they are all thought provoking and unforgettable.

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: I was captivated from beginning to end, and the ending left me breathless, wide eyed, and longing for more. I love this book and HIGHLY recommend it to all of you...seriously, you MUST read this book! Read more ›

50 of 57 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Psychological Thriller with a Paranormal Twist September 28, 2011

By Fire and Ice

Format:Hardcover

Hmmmm. This is one of those really hard reviews to write because there is so much you can't say! Plus the plot of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is shrouded in mystery and suspense and I want to keep it that way. So here's what I will say...

What I liked: The cover is a five. Wow. Beautiful. I could frame it! The author is awesome. I met her at BEA and she responds well to her fans.

This book sucked me in because I love psychological thrillers. Mara is dealing with some heavy duty issues such as PTSD and hallucinations which I really like to see addressed so openly in YA literature. I have a love-hate relationship with both the main characters. Mara has quite the trashy mouth which for me is hard to read. I like that she tells it like she sees it, just maybe not so colorfully. Main bad boy Noah was the love 'em leave 'em type before Mara came along. Even though I seriously wonder why both of them acted the way they did at times I was still rooting for them. By far the best character of the book was Mara's brother Daniel. It is so refreshing to see a good strong sibling relationship!

What didn't I like? There were some holes in plot and at times I was scratching my head wondering what in the world was going on. Santaria? The missing shop and priest?
Where did Mara's best friend Jaime go- I mean I know he was grounded...but? Didn't enjoy the paranormal elements. Also a little too much foreshadowing for my taste.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone. So...I predict this book will be huge. While it was captivating, I still personally have very mixed feelings about it. In short, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is steeping in eery atmospheric undertones. It's definitely one you'll read all in one sitting....

Content- heavy swearing and violence, sexual tension and violence, petting, underage smoking. Not recommended for younger teens. Read more ›

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin October 3, 2011

By Amber @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Format:Hardcover

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is everything I want in a read-- it's sexy, suspenseful, heartfelt, sarcastic, intriguing and I've barely scratched the surface. The suspense surrounding what happened to Mara combined with killer dialog, endearing characters and pulse-inducing male lead makes for one hell of a read. Be prepared to be blown away because Mara Dyer packs a powerful punch.

I'd be friends with Mara in a heartbeat. Her voice flows naturally off the page and her witty little comments ("so we're going to do this the hard way, awesome") in her head and sometimes out loud kept me laughing long into the night. Though her relationship with her mother was strained, Mara had a well rounded family life. She got along with her brothers and knew her mother was trying to do what was best for her even if it was annoying. The question of her sanity was an interesting point in the novel and it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't being in her point of view. There aren't too many unreliable narrators in YA fiction (or any novels that I can think of) and Mara was absolutely believable.

Mara isn't the only character I fell in love with. Both of her brothers are equal parts caring and rotten boy which I loved. Her older brother, Daniel, really is the type of big brother any girl would want and theirrelationship felt so realistic. Mara's friend Jamie was snort out loud funny. Everything out of his mouth made me giggle and I loved that Mara could match him word for word in the shock department.

All of these characters were wonderful but Noah, the male love interest stole the show. From his rebel without a care demeanor to his British accent, he was born to break hearts. And break hearts he did!... Half the things out of his mouth were so wildly inappropriate I was gasping and the other half were so steamy I was also gasping... for an entirely different reason, of course. He was definitely a riddle and I could totally see why he and Mara worked so well together. Noah worked on shock factor and Mara was able to shock him back. The other thing about that I loved about Noah is I felt like I knew him before Mara started to really like him. I could see him chewing his straw and lounging wickedly on his bed surrounded by his books. What he and Mara had was based on trust and personality as much as it was to physical attraction and their relationship was electric.

I liked the mystery of what happened to Mara and her friends in the closed insane asylum and that she remembered it in pieces. It worked well chopped up and put into her new life at certain times. The revolutions are shocking and the ending happens almost too quickly to comprehend. I don't think I've ever read a book as quickly as I read the last 100 pages of this one. I was literally dying to find out what was going to happen and get some questions answered. I wish more was revealed about what Noah and Mara find out but I understand that they don't have the answers and they need time enough to find someone who does. Even though this book was a whopper, I found myself wishing it was even longer. I could have spent a lifetime in Mara's world (and more specifically in Noah's head). The vivid and beautiful writing had as much to do with this as the story did. There are such beautiful images in the story. I'll never forget Mara describing a dead man with his "bright red watermelon insides spilling out of his skull".

The addictive quality of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is hard to resist and the ending of the novel really does beg for the reader to turn around and re-read the entire thing. I could go on and on about the merits of this novel. I fall in love with everything about it. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is an absolute must-read (and then re-read again). You'd be crazy not to! Read more ›

More About the Author

Michelle Hodkin grew up in Florida, went to college in New York, and studied law in Michigan. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found prying strange objects from the jaws of one of her three pets. THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is her first novel. You can visit her online at michellehodkin.com.