Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Why have I not read this until now?? I was sucked in right away, and though at times I couldn't tell what kind of book I was reading, it was phenomenal.
Mara wakes up in the hospital and is told that she was in an accident. She and her friends went to a condemned asylum, and the building collapsed. She was the only one to make it out alive, but she can't remember anything. Some say it's her minds way of protecting itself, but as weird things continue to happen, she starts thinking maybe there is something wrong.



***Spoilers***
Mara meets Noah at her new school. He is the class whore, and she's warned away from him by her new bff. Noah is not one to be dissuaded and continues his pursuit. Eventually when his ex Anna pulls a real bitchy little stunt to embarrass Mara, Noah steps in and turns it all around. Anna is the only one embarrassed. From that point forward the grow closer while spending time with each other. Mara hasn't told anyone about the strange things that are haunting her, the nightmares that reveal some of the missing memories, the ghosts of her dead friends, or the way her thoughts sometimes create reality. Mara doesn't know what is real, and what's fake so she remains quiet. After seeing an emaciated dog, and his disgusting owner she imagines the guy falling, hitting his head, and dying. After school when she walks back to check on the dog, she sees the police there and sees the man dead. Her Spanish teacher lies about Mara doing well on her exam and gives her a failing grade. Mara imagines her choking on her own tongue. Until the teacher dies of anaphylactic shock, Mara thinks they are coincidences. Noah shows up at her house one night, telling her she has to come with him. Her little brother Joseph was taken, and Noah knows where he is. They find him tied up in a shed, and Noah reveals he saw it all in a vision. They couldn't go to the police, otherwise, they would want to know how he knew where to find him. Joseph doesn't remember any of it, and they tell him he fell at school, and passed out. They found him and brought him home. Mara and Noah agree to keep the real story to themselves. Afterwards, Mara confesses everything that's happening to Noah, and he reveals that he saw her in a vision before meeting her. She is the third person he has seen in a vision, but the first he's met in real life. He also reveals he has the ability to heal people. The person that took Joseph they later find out is the guy on trial for murder, that her father is defending. When he gets off on the charges, Mara says she has to use her new power to stop him from hurting anyone else. Noah tells her not to do it, that the other times were accidents, and this would be intentional. Knowing that it means losing Noah, she still imagines the guy being shot on the courthouse steps. The mother of the victim shoots and injures both the defendant and her father. The mother is taken to jail, for a crime that Mara made her commit. She goes to the police station to turn herself in, but Jude (her ex who died in the collapse) walks in behind her. At first, she assumes he is another one of her hallucinations until the officer there responds to his question. She wakes up in an institution, having flipped out and confessed to everything, naturally they think she is crazy.

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