The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Series: Mara Dyer #1
Published: Sept. 27, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 452


"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. "

Wow. This book had my mind reeling. I honestly at some points had to stop reading just because I felt like I was going crazy. This is a longer book with 452 pages but the writing makes it breeze to get through. I would be so caught up in the book I wouldn't realize I had just blown through 150 pages in what felt like seconds. I felt like there was always something strange going on. There were some things that I thought is this real or is this a hallucination. Which is great that it kept me guessing, I love when a book does that.

Mara was an interesting lead. There were times that I thought she was just crazy, then became absolutely convinced she must be possessed and then I was even imagining in her a black cloak as the grim reaper. When we find out what is actually happening to her I had a sense of relief to finally know. I liked her character though, I felt like her actions were fitting to her situations. No matter what was going on with her, she did just lose her best friend. Which would be traumatic at any age and in any circumstance. Her character felt real and understandable to me. She was a ghost of her former self for most of the book, just ghosting in out of life. At the end though she seemed to finally get a hold of herself and gained a new sort of confidence.

Noah is of course the bad boy who actually has a good heart. I like that fact that his past "sins" don't just get washed away. It's not like they never happened but it doesn't mean he can't be different with Mara. He seemed genuine and not afraid of being who he is, whether people thought he was bad or good.

I liked the love story between Mara and Noah. Especially because Mara was so resistant to it at first. I never felt like she was obsessed with him. This is a girl who feels like she has lost everything and thinks she might be going crazy. Noah became her anchor, the good thing that she could think about when she seemed to slipping from reality. It's easy to say that her family would be that, but she felt like she was disappointing them by not holding it together. There were no expectation with Noah, she could lose herself and because she thought he was a player, she wasn't going to hurt him. I think that it was easy for her to finally fall into the support of someone who wasn't going to run away from her. She needed that bit of security and Noah was offering it. It seemed natural for her to appreciate and fall in love with him for that.

I really enjoyed this book and I understand that it is not for everyone. From what I've seen it's either people love it or hate it. I would give it a chance, just read the first few pages in the bookstore and you might find yourself hooked like I was.

Evermore by Alyson Noel

Title: Evermore
Author: Alyson Noel
Series: The Immortals #1
Published: 2-3-2009
Pages: 306

"After a horrible accident claims the lives of her family, sixteen-year-old Ever Bloom can see people's auras, hear their thoughts, and know someone's entire life story by touching them. Going out of her way to avoid human contact and suppress her abilities, she has been branded a freak at her new high school-but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.
Damen is gorgeous, exotic, and wealthy. He's the only one who can silence the noise and random energy in her head-wielding a magic so intense, it's as though he can peer into her soul. As Ever is drawn deeper into his enticing world of secrets and mystery, she's left with more questions than answers. And she has no idea who he really is-or what he is. The only thing she knows to be true is that she's falling deeply and helplessly in love with him." ~goodreads

This book has been sitting on my TBR shelf since it came out in paperback. I had picked it up because I liked the cover and the premise seemed good. Somehow it just kept getting pushed off the top of the pile.

The book was interesting. It kept me reading because I was quite sure what was going on, about half of the way through I was still wondering who was who. I kept checking the cover to make sure it said the Immortals and not the Vampires. Alyson Noel does have the characters joke about that a little in the book themselves. Evermore was like a mystery novel figuring out why Ever is the way she is and why Damen is the way he is. It does have a lot of similarities of some of the other popular YA novels that came out around that time.

I really liked Ever in the beginning. She was going through a lot but she still had a sense of strength about her. I liked that she didn't cave to Damon easily and would even take control of the situation at times. Towards the end of the book I felt she digressed a little bit, she seemed to get more sappy and selfish. Where was that strong girl I enjoyed in the beginning of the book. Even though she hid under a hoodie she didn't seem like she was going to take anyones crap.
Damen was mysterious and seemed totally devoted to Ever. I don't think it was ever really explained why he could silence her thoughts. There are five more books to explore just that I'm assuming.
Drina was good as the villian and when her and Damen's true relationship comes to light. I found that perspective unique. She wasn't just following Damen around for no reason. I also liked her influence on some of the supporting characters, it made her seem more clever.

The writing flowed and I actually finished the book quickly. I had to know what the mystery was! So as far as keeping me engaged it did a good job with that. I'm not going to pretend I would consider it my favorite book ever but it is definitely an interesting read. If you like paranormal romance, this definitely falls in line with that.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

"Obviously, something went terribly wrong. Genetic mutations have festered, reducing human longevity to twenty-five, even less for most women. To prevent extinction, young girls are kidnapped, mated in polygamous marriages with men eager to procreate. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery, a recent victim of this breeding farm mentality, has vowed to break loose from its fetters; but finding allies and a safe way out is a challenge she can only hope she will survive. A dystopian fantasy series starter with wings. Editor's recommendation." ~goodreads

Intriguing was the word that kept popping into my head when I was reading this book. Lauren DeStefano did an excellent job of making the gears in my head turn the entire way through Wither. I have read many books in the dystopia genre and I feel like the world that was created here is believable. People trying to mess with genetics to create the perfect child...haven't we heard this before in the news. Lauren DeStefano's writing is beautiful and haunting in this book. I easily got lost in the book and it's premise. I feel like most dystopia novels the characters are trying to escape from a situation like this, but here we find the characters knee deep in it right off the bat. I wasn't sure if I would like the whole sister wives idea in this book but honestly it seemed normal while you were reading. Like everyone does that these days.

Rhine, what a great main character. She's strong and has her wits about her. She doesn't give up on her ultimate goal, even when she finds herself getting comfortable in her new life. Rhine's sister wives Jenna and Cecily were the perfect compliment characters. Jenna was so easy to love and Cecily, well you get used to Cecily.

The romance was a little flat for me. I couldn't connect with Gabriel. Even Rhine herself mentions that she isn't sure what the outcome will be between them. I found myself extremely sympathetic to and liking Linden. He was such a weak person in the beginning and you could see how Rhine was making him stronger. It almost seemed that he was standing up to his father about certain request that wouldn't be fulfilled previously. Of course in the mansion there is not much that can go on when someone is always watching.

Vaughn definitely had the creepy factor and who knows what was really going on in his basement. He had the whole mad scientist aura about him and it seemed that many people alluded to how dangerous he was. You almost feel like Rhine could have a happy life at the mansion but you never knew what Vaughn would really be up to. Could Linden's love be enough protection.

All in all, I was extremely intrigued by the book. We find out pieces of what happened to the world through Rhine's memories. Like pieces of a puzzle fitting together. I'm excited to see how things evolve.

Go visit Wither and visit Lauren's blog as well because I think she is hysterical.

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

"Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life."

I normally do not read stories about ghost. There was something about the title, Anna Dressed in Blood, that drew me in. I pleasantly and creepily surprised by the quality of this ghost story. There were so many points when I thought in my head, holy crap did that just happen. I usually read late after the kids go to sleep and I found myself hearing every little noise in my house. Kendare Blake's writing sent chills down my spine at points but I couldn't stop reading it. I was so captivated by the characters and what their stories were. I was surprised for some reason every time someone was murdered. It was a creepy roller coaster ride with a lot of twist and turns and things you don't seem coming.

I really liked the characters in this book. Cas, the professional ghost killer, was easy to like. Even though he's shut himself off to the world with a no friends policy. You can see his tenderness in the way he treats his mom and his dedication to finishing what his dad started. Anna, the rampaging murderous ghost, was easy to feel sorry for. Even while she was murdering people before you knew what made her the way she is. Cas's white witch mom, black witch friend and the prom queen made a fun cast of supporting characters. I liked that the prom queen wasn't some mean dim-witted girl like you would expect. I connected to the characters easily.

In general I loved the story and I loved how it was written. It had me by locked in but I felt the end was a little rushed. They introduce a sort of new character and it seems like Kendare kind of speed through his role. I'm wondering if he will make a reappearance in the next book but we will see. It's the only reason I would give this 4.5 stars instead of 5. Even if you don't like ghost stories usually I would read this book.