The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (The Mara Dyer Trilogy)

Originally posted on my blog: Tangled Up In Books Even though I had a small but manageable pile of review books that needed to be read, that wasn't how I wanted to start off my 2015 reading wise. I really wanted to start the new year off with a bang. Something to leave me thinking "wow, am I glad I picked this up instead!" I picked up my Kindle but nothing inspired me to drop everything and read. I kept looking toward the piles of recent purchases sitting on my desk just waiting for me to quit procrastinating and find homes for them on my bookshelves. On top of one of those piles was The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Everything about it just kept calling out to me, the gorgeous cover, the intriguing title and most especially that blurb that piqued my curiosity in unbelievable ways. So I knew this had to be the one. And now that I've finished it? Oh. My. Gosh. Am I freaking glad that I picked this up instead! I have the worst book hangover in the world and I have since ordered the other two books. --"What's the last thing you remember?" I highly enjoyed the whole mysterious side to this book. Sitting here trying to guess as to what is going on as I read. Normally my brain will come up with quite a few different theories, all of which or generally wrong, but with this book I've been completely baffled. I'm still not even sure what's happened fully or what will happen next. I feel like this was a major contributing factor to how much I loved this book. I mean if I can't even come up with a guess, even a wrong one, then I am impressed! --"You don't know me. You only know what Daniel told you, and I don't let him see. There's something wrong with me." The characters in this book are so complex and different. I never felt like they were the same type of character I've read time and time again. Mara was just brilliant. I wondered from one page to the next if there was something truly wrong with her or not. She's funny and sarcastic, brave in so many ways and yet in other ways just a frightened teenage girl. I am so excited for the other two books to come in the mail so that I can see what comes of her character from this point. This one ended with her in a very what in the hell kind of moment so I'm just dying over here! --My mouth fell open. "Did I just see you litter?" --"I'm driving a hybrid. It cancels out." For a brief, delusional, moment I didn't think I was going to like Noah at the beginning. A reputation was implied before we really get to know him. One of him being sort of a love-em-for-one-night-and-leave-em type of guy. It didn't take long, though, for me to fall hopelessly for him. He's so freaking funny and sweet and chivalrous and just an all out good person. Plus he's got that whole British accent thing going on and I am a complete sucker for that fact right there alone. I loved how protective he became of Mara and how easily he fit into her life and melded with her family. He's quite the charmer. --Jamie batted his eyelashes. I kind of loved him. This book is just filled with unique and interesting characters. Mara's two brothers were both favorites and I loved the dynamic between the siblings. Daniel who's a year older than Mara is very protective and watches out for her not just in public type situations but at home with their parents as well. Loved him. But besides her family there's the first person she meets at her new school, Jamie, who is...well I don't know how to even describe him. He's just my favorite. Truly some really great character creation. If I didn't love them I hated them with a fiery passion and hoped for very bad things to happen to them! --"I had grand plans for today. Hookers and blow aren't cheap, but I suppose animal sacrifice will have to do. Happy birthday." What I love most about this book is it leaves you feeling so many things throughout. It's not just a dark, anxiety filled edge of your seat mystery. There's this sweet and yet passionate romance. There is so much humor that I was not expecting at all. There's also stuff to get you riled up and ticked off. You, or at lest I did, really experience the whole spectrum in the feels department. I am absolutely hooked and in love with this series so far. This first book was just a beautiful and brilliant series starter that pulled me in immediately. It kept me on the edge of my seat and the only break I took from start to finish was when my eyes were so heavy it was impossible to keep them open. Now if you'll excuse me while I go sit staring out the window like a dog waiting for his owner, I have a mailman to stalk because I'm dying to know what happens next!

I haven't reviewed any YA books for a while, though I do read a fair number of them, mainly because they are so similar that I keep saying more or lee the same thing. But days after finishing 'The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer' I still find myself thinking about it (a bit obsessively, to be honest). And I think that's because the good things about this book are so good, that the annoying things about it grow by comparison. So, beginning with the good: I loved, loved, loved the premise of this book, partly because it automatically made the narrator unreliable, which is always interesting, but moreso because she was unreliable by such a timely and telling means. Her situation is so common in the modern, western world: high-achieving child of high-achieving parents takes a tumble, and the well-meaning parents throw everything possible at the child to try to 'fix' her, without ever stopping to see and address the real problem. True, the reason for Mara's emotional instability - the death of her best friend in an accident she can't remember - is pure Gothic drama, but her frustration with her family's overzealous efforts to try to make it go away are 100% authentic teen. At times it's authentic enough to make you squirm: i.e. Mara caught on the front steps between her boyfriend who's waiting in the car, and her mother who's trying to make her swallow an antipsychotic before she'll let her go. The best thing about this book, for me, was creeping claustrophobia of the first-person narration: the intensity of being in the mind of this girl who everyone believes to be crazy, as she begins to wonder if they're right. Because of that, the whole thing came crashing down for me when it became clear that there was a supernatural reason for her apparent madness. This book would have been so much more interesting if it had remained a psychological thriller. Instead, about 2/3 of the way through, it became a rather tired rehashing of 'Carrie'. In fact, Mara even alludes to that story. And I don't really get why this had to go the paranormal route, except that that's been the done thing in YA for the last few years. It could have been a great mind-game novel, especially with the (big spoiler coming!) Jude plot-twist at the end. But seeing as it wasn't, let's move on to my other major grip - Noah. Before anyone freaks out, I liked him - a lot, actually. I certainly liked him better than most of the YA love interests I've read of late, and that's why he's also one of the things that's most troubled me - even haunted me - about this book. Taken on his own, he's a great character - funny, flawed, intelligent, with a hidden heart of gold. Put him with Mara and the chemistry is explosive, not to mention the quality of their banter, especially before she falls for him. But there is no way that Mara's mother, as a trained psychologist, would give her carte blanche where he is concerned. For on thing, he's the kind of guy who would make any mother leery - and trust me, we can spot them at 20 paces! But more to the point, the first rule of treatment for any serious psychological disorder is not to begin a romantic relationship. In AA, for instance, they tell people to see if they can take care of a plant, then a pet, before they even think about getting involved with another person. Mara's mother definitely wouldn't be okay with Mara dating. But my biggest issue with Mara/Noah was that she herself didn't have more issues with his reputation. We learn within paragraphs of his introduction that he's slept with every girl in school and broken all of their hearts. I was hoping, especially after his confession about his non-fling with Anna, that we would find out the rep was actually completely false. That would have been far more interesting, and easier to swallow once he and Mara do get involved. But no: he really is an a**hole. I do get the appeal of a bad boy - I think all women do - but there's bad and there's BAD. I'm no prude, and if Noah's badness = riding a motorcycle, writing graffiti, cutting school, smoking joints, partying all night, I'd have still been okay with Mara falling for him. Nor did I need him to be a virgin. But to pathologically use and hurt people is unforgivable, and I couldn't figure out why Mara didn't think so too. She protests for a while, but then his extreme sexiness apparently makes her disregard everything he's done. Ugh, really? This is what we're selling to teenage girls as desirable? The fact that he treats Mara as kindly as he does later on only confuses things further. Love 'em and leave 'em types just don't change their stripes that easily, and even if they did, what makes Noah treat Mara differently from the girls he's used like kleenex, before he even knows anything about her? There's a sort of half-baked 'I knew you before we met' caveat toward the end, but it really didn't convince me. So, four stars for a gripping story and a better-than-average premise. But this could have been 5+++. Hoping some of this is resolved in the sequel...

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Libro aconsejable para el publico adolescente, con una lectura fácil y amena, asi como un inglés asequible para aquellos no nativos que quieran leer en inglés, argumento adecuado para adolescentes

Amazing! Suspenseful and well written

Definitely one of the best series I've ever read. I loved how it all turned out and the twists and mind games. This made me question the line between sanity and insanity, the line between reality and fiction. And let me tell you... Noah Shaw is my book boyfriend No. 1! 5/5 stars to each of the three books.

J'ai entendu pas mal de choses sur cette histoire, surtout des choses positives. Comme j'aime ce genre d'histoire, je l'ai acheté. Je vais vous expliquer ce qui se passe dedans avent de vous faire part de mon avis qui est un peu mitigé. L'histoire est introduite par un chapitre flashback. Mara, 16 ans, se trouve avec ses amis dans un asile déserté en pleine nuit. Mais c'est alors que le bâtiment s'écroule. Mara se réveille alors à l'hôpital mais ne se rappelle pas ce qui s'est passé trois jours plutôt. Les parents de Mara ne veulent pas la brusquer, mais ils lui disent que ses amis sont morts, que Rachel, Claire et Jude sont morts. Ses parents décident alors de déménager pour le bien de Mara, pour qu'elle n'est plus à vivre dans cette ville avec les souvenirs de ses amis. Le premier jour des cours dans sa nouvelle école, Mara se sent un peu perdu. Normal quand on est nouveau dans une nouvelle école. Dans les couloirs, un garçon lui fait coucou en souriant. Elle se demande si c'est pour elle, mais elle ne se trompe pas. Ce garçon lui fait coucou comme s'il l'a connaissait mais pas Mara. Cette dernière assiste à son premier cours, mais en rentrant dans la classe, elle ne se sent pas bien puis demande d'aller au toilettes se rafraichir. C'est en regardant dans le miroir que Mara ne voit pas son reflet, mais le reflet de quelqu'un d'autre, le reflet de sa meilleure amie qui est censée être morte. Mara croit halluciner. Un peu plus tard dans la journée, elle s'assoit dans l'herbe et se repose un peu quand elle entend une voix, une voix qu'elle connaît, la voix de Jude, son petit-ami. Comment est-ce possible ? Elle met tout ça sur le dos du stress. Un jour, en allant à l'école, elle croit voir un chien battu puis le maître du chien apparaît et lui dit de ficher le camp. Mara pense alors qu'elle voudrait voir cet homme mort. Mais ce qu'elle ne sait pas encore c'est ce qu'elle pense va arriver, quelques heures plus tard. Mara apprend la nouvelle en repassant devant la maison plus tard dans la journée. Elle commence alors peu à peu à se croire parano. Ce qui l'a tracasse aussi c'est Noah Shaw, le garçon le plus beau du campus, qui a apparemment que les yeux sur elle. Même avec les choses négatives que son nouvel ami Jami raconte sur ce garçon, Mara se rapproche peu à peu de Noah. Mais pourquoi Noah est-il aussi intéressé en Mara ? Est-ce une attirance saine ? Les premières pages vont laisse sans voix. A chaque page que vous lisez, vous avancez un peu plus dans l'histoire et on constitue peu à peu l'histoire de Mara, en découvrant pourquoi elle voit des personnes mortes surgir devant elle. Autant dire que les premières pages m'ont fait un peu flipper. On est tellement dans l'histoire, que le monde autour de nous semble s'effacer. Mais en avançant dans l'histoire, l'action se tasse et plus beaucoup de choses n'arrivent. On découvre qu'a la fin l'étendue du pouvoir de Mara et pourquoi Noah est tellement obnubilé par Mara. Au départ, je pensais que les choses allaient vite se développer, mais plus je lisais le livre plus les choses ralentissaient. C'est le seul point négatif à cette histoire car dans l'ensemble, l'histoire se teint bien. Même avec un manque d'action, l'auteure arrive à nous tenir en haleine.