The Life & Times of a Book Addict: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1) by Michelle Hodkin

Publication: September 27, 2011

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Source: Gift from friend

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.

This. Book. I feel like there are not enough words to properly convey my true feelings for this book. But I am going to try. Forgive me if I ramble!

The story begins with Mara waking up in the hospital with no recollection of what occurred to get her there. Mara’s parents inform her that her best friend, boyfriend, and boyfriend’s sister are dead. It seems that all four of them had previously decided to go into an abandoned Asylum and spend the night, but Mara was the only one who actually made it out alive. She doesn't understand how she could have been the only one to survive the building collapse. Why was she the only one? And how did the building collapse in the first place? Looking for a fresh start, Mara and her family uproot their lives and move to Florida. New state, new school, and a completely fresh start where no one knows about what happened. But she finds that her past won’t let her escape unscathed.

Noah, Mara’s love interest in the book, comes from a wealthy family. His family is a little lax in his upbringing and he pretty much does anything he wants. By all accounts, he seems like a typical rich kid. He feels bored with school and his life, but things start to improve when he crosses paths one day with Mara at school.

Mara was an easy character to love. All she wants is to be normal and find happiness and peace. But that is easier said than done in her case. At times she becomes a little bit of a mess and it’s hard to tell if things are really happening like she says or if she is actually crazy. Unreliable narrators are so much fun! I never knew what was going to happen next or why.

This book came to me at the perfect time. I was in a really bad reading funk. Nothing seemed to bring me out, until I began reading this book. It was the perfect book to cure me. I had my eye on this one for awhile, but I was never 100% sure I would even like it, especially since there was some romance involved.

It seems I can go either way with romances lately. Especially YA romances. I find that they are usually too cheesy, too dramatic, too unrealistic, and too much insta-love. When I read a romance with any of those elements, I am like no. Just no. But the romance between Mara and Noah. OMG! It just may be my favorite romance to date. 30% into the book and I found myself falling for Noah myself. I LOVED NOAH AND MARA.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer was a surprisingly easy and addictive read. It took me on a rollercoaster ride filled with crazy emotions. I literally devoured this book and the other two in the series. I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy young adult paranormal romances in a heartbeat.

RATING: 5 out of 5.

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