Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Series: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1
Release Date: September 27th 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books
Amazon Book Depository

Goodreads 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.

I absolutely loved this beaut! Or at least the first half of this book anyway. It’s haunting and feels like a dream and the words just flow off the page! Until the ending. Where the book literally disappointed me so freaking much, I wanted to gouge out my eyes and set them on fire.

Mara Dyer wakes up in a hospital where she doesn’t remember what happened in the accident where her friends Rachel and Claire along with her boyfriend Jude die, where she somehow managed to get out with only scrapes and bruises. Great so far right?! With the attempt to get away from all the misery Mara’s family decide to move towns and start again in a new school where she meets Noah Shaw; the local unkempt bastard with a panty dropping smile who uses girls and dumps them the next day. Obviously Mara was going to fall for him and he was going to change for her *yawn* but their relationship was super fun! Especially the chase.

“And just like that, I was completely, utterly, and entirely, His.”

 Not only was there a promise of a flirty relationship that would only be fun for about half an hour and then get boring but also the mystery as to what happened to Mara Dyer during the accident and how come everyone is dying all of a sudden around her.

The idea was absolutely astonishing and the art work on the cover was beyond beautiful. A new girl at a new school, a bully, a hot smoking guy and a trail of dead bodies. What’s not to love?

The mystery behind what happened to Mara and her friends was amazing. Or so I thought. I never imagined that the story would take a massive turn to snooze ville where everything turned to crap. Mara was starting to see things that weren’t there, seeing her dead friends amongst other things. Which is fine and was actually a good idea. But then she kills a guy just with imagining him dead?! What.

Up until the death of the dog owner and her teacher the book was absolutely amazing and didn’t have any faults, I could not put it down. I was literally grinning while reading this book. Then confusion replaced my happiness.

I thought the point of Mara not remembering the accident was that she was the killer. That she turned psycho and killed her friends. With her hands. Not her freaking mind. WTF. I can’t even comprehend that. She imagined both her teacher and a dog owner dying and they did. If this happened to me I would be leaving a bigger trail or dead bodies that Mara herself.

Not only that but Noah seems to have some sort of supernatural “powers” as well. And girly ones if I may add. He seems to be able to “fix” people, by healing them I guess. Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue what the hell his “powers” were.

Everything was going great until Mara’s brother was kidnapped. Noah was somehow able to find him in a shed, in the middle of nowhere. Who then told Mara the truth about him; which I still don’t understand. Where the hell did these powers or whatever come from?!

I cannot fathom why in the world Michelle Hodkin thought that turning this book into a paranormal romance would be a good idea. It was the worst thing that could have happened since Finnick Odair’s death in the Hunger Games. Yes I’ve said it. Yes I’m nearly crying right now.

The shit hit the fan. The shit being the ending of this book. (and the paranormal romance crap)

There are so many things I love with this book! As in freaking in love could not stop grinning like a lunatic screaming at my friends that I’m in love with this flipping book love. I loved Mara. I think she’s a great YA female character who actually has a back bone until she meets Noah. She then somehow manages to forget about all the dead bodies! Erm hello. NO! Noah is a massive douchebag that everyone is meant to love because of his smart mouth and his hot bod. Don’t get me wrong I flipping love Noah and his smart douchebaggy mouth but did he really need to be the poster boy for an STD campaign who wouldn’t keep it in his pants for ten minutes and needed to have sex with EVERY. SINGLE. GIRL he ever set eyes on? Control yourself dude.

What’s with the black, Jewish, bi friend whose also super short Jamie? Okay yes it’s a fact that YA books need more minorities in them but seriously… Sometimes less is more. And sometimes you shouldn’t make just one character be everything that a book is lacking. Spread it out. Share it out. But I freaking love Jamie. The gossip! Oh my gosh, he is a queen bitch of gossiping and I need him in my life. Then there’s Anna. The virgin who somehow ended up on everyone’s dicks. Not only that but she’s the school bully. Go figure.

So the characters are almost great. Yes there are things that would have made them a lot more better and less annoying; I agree with that. But nobody is perfect in real life so why should they be in books? I can overlook the character’s douche baggy flaws.

So to sum up my very bipolar review of this beautiful disaster:

 

• ·        The beginning of the book. GOOD. Oh my flipping god yes the beginning of the book was amazing. 
• The writing. Incredible. I fell in love with Michelle’s writing. Boy can she write!
• The characters. Meh nobody is perfect.
• The fact that Mara somehow decided to lose interest in people dropping like flies whenever she was around Noah and could only think about him? Erm no Mara; you deserve a slap.
• The freakish super powers that make Mara kill someone whenever she imagines it? How about no. How about you go on a killing spree without any paranormal heebiee jeebies.
• The book after Mara’s brother’s kidnapping? Go burn in hell. That was painful to read. 

 The beginning of the book deserves to get a 5. But the ending deserves about a 3... So a 4.5 will have to do.