TITLE: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer, #1)
AUTHOR: Michelle Hodkin
GENRE: Paranormal
AGE RANGE: YASYNOPSIS:
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.
“You could start a fire with the heat between you two.”
“You’re mistaking bitter animosity for heartfelt affection.”
You know how there are always those previously hyped books that you’re a little late to the party with (or, in this case, way late), and you end up worrying that maybe you’ve missed your chance? Maybe it fit the trends of the time a little too well, and now those years have gone by, and what if you aren’t the same person who would’ve loved that book back then? Or maybe that’s just me, and I overthink everything—nothing new there! Anyways, that’s exactly what I worried about, going into this series.
“I was warned about you, you know.”
And with that half-smile that wrecked me, Noah said, “But you’re here anyway.”
Thankfully, that was not even the slightest bit the case with The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, because I enjoyed this book so much. I actually was advised by so many people not to bother because they didn’t think I’d like it, but something in my gut kept leading me towards it, and I’m so happy that I finally caved and picked it up! There was no let-down, no feeling of it being over-hyped; it flew by and left me so intrigued (and a little warm and fuzzy).
“My God, you’re like the plague.”
“A masterfully crafted, powerfully understated, and epic parable of timeless moral resonance? Why, thank you. That’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me,” he said.
“The disease, Noah. Not the book.”
While there are a lot of things to like here—the plot, the writing style, and the characters all drew me in easily—my favorite thing about it had to be the banter. Mara and Noah have such a weird, hilarious, sarcastic flirtation between them that never got old, and even once the sparks had starting flying, I loved that they kept up their wit and poked fun at each other like some sort of long-suffering married elderly duo.
“Because,” he said, “you’re not broken.”
Sadly, I don’t have much more to say, because this has been sitting on my “review to come” shelf a mortifyingly long time, but I will say that revisiting it to write this review has made me so excited to pick up the second book and finally continue the series, and I honestly expect it to only get better from here.
Buddy read with Reg!
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Kelly | Another Book in the Wall
July 24, 2019Wonderful review, Destiny! This is one of the books that I have been meaning to read for SO long, and I can definitely relate to the feelings you mentioned about being late to the party. (This is coming from the very girl who has never read anything by Cassandra Clare sooooo … Haha!) It’s great to hear that the banter is hilarious and that all the other factors work well together! I can’t wait to read this one – hopefully sooner, rather than later! <3
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019Thank you, Kelly! Haha I’m glad I’m not the only one who hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I hope you enjoy it whenever you pick it up!
Jordann @thebookbloglife
July 24, 2019I really enjoyed the first book of the series, the second not so much and I never made it to the third. I hope you have more success with the series xo
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019Oh, bummer! I’m sorry you didn’t like the second one as much. 🙁
Malka @ Paper Procrastinators
July 24, 2019I really loved the first two books in this series! As you mentioned, the banter in these books is so epic and amazing and Noah Shaw is one of the greatest romantic interests ever written! (In my humble opinion.)
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019Noah is great! He’s so entertaining and I can’t wait to read more about him 🙂
frayedbooks
July 25, 2019I actually just read this series for the first time as audio a few months ago, so I COMPLETELY understand your feelings of being late to the party – its ok, I’m late with you. I really enjoyed the entire series and if you liked book 1, I think you’ll like the rest of it as well – can’t wait to see what you think of the next one! 🙂 This is such a good series and while it felt a little dated to me at times, its still a solid read in 2019.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019Oooh, yay! I’m glad you liked the whole series! 😀
jamsu
July 25, 2019I loved this series so much way back when but then I never finished the first book of the spin off. I guess I need to re-read this series before trying it again since I remember almost nothing of this series.
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019I hope you enjoy it all over again if you do reread the series! ♥
Ellyn
July 26, 2019I read this sooo long ago but all I can remember is I read it in a couple of hours at school and loved it! Do you think you’ll continue the series?
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019Yes, definitely!
fictionnochaser
July 29, 2019So glad to hear that you liked this one. I feel like I have been staring at it a lot on goodreads, but I never click add. Maybe I need to hit the button!
Destiny @ Howling Libraries
August 29, 2019I mean, I don’t think it’ll change your life or anything, but if you’ve been thinking about trying it, I would say giving it a chance is worth your time! ♥