Category: Michelle Hodkin

Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #2) by Michelle Hodkin

by Alexia, posted in 5 Stars, book 2, Michelle Hodkin, Mystery, October 2012 releases, series, Simon & Schuster Books For young Readers, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, YA
Book Title: The Evolution of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Published Date: October 23rd, 2012
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Books For Young Readers
Genre: YA Mystery
Series: Book Two in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer trilogy
Book Link: Goodreads
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.
She can’t.

She used to think her problems were all in her head.
They aren’t.

She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.
She’s wrong.

In this gripping sequel to The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, the truth evolves and choices prove deadly. What will become of Mara Dyer next?

Disclaimer: Library book.

Review:
Holy crap, what an opening for this book. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what was going on at the end of the last book, but this one opened with a bang. We learned some things about Mara’s grandmother that we weren’t expecting and that Mara, herself never knew about.

We also delve into the differences between Mara’s family and Noah’s dysfunctional family. Noah’s father is cold and distant and his stepmother tries to be there for him, but it doesn’t really work out like that. Noah is very loyal to his sister, Katie, she’s the only one to not let him down. He’s clearly envious of the fact that Mara’s family loves her and supports her throughout this messed up time in her life.

Mara starts to have issues with sleepwalking, all the way to the point where she doesn’t remember throwing things away. She’ll wake up the next morning and have no memory of the things she did the night before.

The concept of genetic memory is broached which I loved hearing about. I found that idea to be so fascinating. I loved that Noah brought it up. It was supposed to be a connection between Mara and her grandmother, and given how it unfolded, I liked it a lot.

Noah pushes her to put down her defenses and actually wanting him first, instead of having him always being the aggressor. She struggles with the fear that she’ll hurt him, but he wants her to trust him, he wants her to fight against her fear. He is in love with her and she is in love with him. There is a lot of fear and distrust between them, but not in the way most people would think.
“This was the boy I loved. A little bit messy. A little bit ruined. A beautiful disaster. Just like me.”

Near the end, we start to get some of our questions answered. Questions about Jude, Stella, Jamie and Phoebe, among others. The ending was absolutely bat-crap crazy. Even crazier than the first book. I loooooved this book, it was an improvement over the first book, although I was crazy about the first book too, but this book was a crazy-awesome roller coaster ride. 5 stars to this book. ALL THE STARS!!

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin

by Alexia, posted in 4.5 stars, Michelle Hodkin, September 2011 releases, Simon & Schuster Books For young Readers, The unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Trilogy
Book Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Published Date: September 27th, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Genre: YA Mystery
Series: Book One in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer trilogy
Book Link: Goodreads
Synopsis from Goodreads:
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.

Disclaimer: This book was a gift.

Review:
Holy, freaking, crap. So. So. So GOOD!

I had no idea what I was getting into with this book. I was sure I was going to love it. Right off the bat, I was hooked. It started with a letter by Mara and then we dove into her life, both before the incident and after the incident. It was a book that kept me guessing all the way through. I never knew what to expect every single page.

Noah, holy crap he was adorable and hot. He was nothing like he was originally portrayed. He was sweet, kind, swoony and he deeply cared about Mara. I was worried that he was going to be an asshole, especially once he found out what she was hiding. I didn’t want to stop adoring him, and I hoped that it wouldn’t come to that.

Mara’s family was great. I loved that she had a close knit family that seemed to actually care about each other and be reasonably normal. So often in YA books we get dysfunctional families and while that’s not a big problem for me, it’s nice to read about families who have stuck together and whose parents are still married.

There are so many things that I want to talk about, but they are spoilery things and while this book has been out for awhile, I still don’t want to talk spoilery things for this book. So this book was awesome and everyone needs to read it. It was a bit slow in some parts, and that’s the only reason I’m giving it 4.5 stars.