Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)

By Michelle Hodkin

Release Date: September 27th, 2011

Number of Pages: 452

Format: Hardcover

Source: Bought

Rating: ♥ ♥ 1/2

Blurb 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.

My Review:

It was between a 'it was ok' and 'like it' rating.

Erm, how do I start?! The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was one insane mindtwist. When I started reading, I was haunted with so many questions and confusions over Mara and her hallucinations(if they were even that to began with). But by the end of the book, instead of being blessed with revelations and light at the mouth of the dark tunnel, I was further confounded. Not that those weren't good things. They were as I enjoyed the psychological twists but the whole thing just befuddled me and I had no idea what was real and what was just hallucinations. It left me musing whether this was a paranormal scenario like X-Files or it was just a psychological drama.

I can say that I did enjoy all the creepiness, the dead bodies and all the mysteries surrounding Mara *X-File or Criminal Minds music plays*. But...yes, there's a BIG but. BUT, I could already figure out that Mara possessed a super deadly power when she viscerally killed her next victim. Ah! The effects of reading too much mystery stories. Joy!

On the other hand, I did not see that coming concerning Noah. I really didn't. A bonus point there.

I also enjoyed the banters between Mara and Noah. They were very entertaining and I liked Mara a lot better when she was around Noah and her brothers because when alone, she tend to be all emo and stuff. I really liked her brothers though. They were such refreshing characters that helped lightened the dark aura of the book.

All in all, I was slightly let down as there were so much high expectations and hype for this book(note the awesome cover!). Also, my enthusiams for it were dampened by all the different things being mixed and concocted till' you don't know what the final results were supposed to be. Nevertheless, Michelle Hodkin did do a great job for mushing my brains - in a good way - and I applaud her for that.

Trailer: