Florida: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Book review via barnesandnoble.com. After Mara survives the traumatizing accident at the old asylum, it makes sense that she has issues. She lost her best friend, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s sister, and as if that weren’t enough to cope with, her family moves to a new state in order to give her a fresh start. But that fresh start is quickly filled with hallucinations—or are they premonitions?—and then corpses, and the boundary between reality and nightmare is wavering. At school, there’s Noah, a devastatingly handsome charmer who seems determined to help Mara piece together what’s real, what’s imagined—and what’s very, very dangerous.

This fast-paced psychological—or is it paranormal?—thriller will leave you breathless for its sequel, The Evolution of Mara Dyer.

So, I know I said I would read my book club reading before this book, but then I read the synopsis and decided to just get started at least. Well, that led to an entire Saturday night and Sunday afternoon reading the book. That’s alright though, because I still have time to read the book and discuss. Alif the Unseen is 300 and something pages, while Hodkin’s thriller was close to 500. The only distraction I see coming up is the fact that it’s MARCH MADNESS! I have Friday off and though I should spend that time reading, I will not be. It’s my favorite sports month of the year y’all!

Now for Florida of the YA reading challenge.  So, my husband says that my main problem with reading     (and stories in general) is that I do not have the “suspension of disbelief” gene. It’s true, I have issues with it. I feel if stories are written with a style in the realistic fiction genre then they should feel realistic. It’s why The Splendor Falls caused me some problems.  With that, Hodkin has a great fast-paced thriller here. I tried my best to suspend my skeptic thoughts and just read the story.

The book went by quick and was very action-packed. Mara’s hallucinations and PTSD is disturbing and detailed…in a good way.  The type of trauma that we later learn the details would provide some of these horrific incidents that she experiences.  We are meant to sympathize with Mara. Technically someone with these abilities, we would be more fearful rather than sympathetic, but I like that Mara is written that way. Sometimes I like a disturbed character written in a likeable manner, like Snape in Harry Potter. The story is suspenseful and has many twists and turns.

In addition to the paranormal suspense, there is the realistic high school problems aspect of the novel to discuss. Being the new student is used in so many YA novels that it almost seems boring sometimes.  When I noticed that Hodkin was obviously going this route, I kind of rolled my eyes thinking ‘yeah, yeah Mara is new and misunderstood, blah blah’.

It is done a lot you have to admit. I mean out of the books I have read for this blog? Let’s see there was Sylvie Davis moving to Alabama for the summer dealing with new surroundings. Then Alaska in some ways when Julie/Miyak moved around the tribal groups, but this was muted. With Everybody Sees the Ants, Lucky spends the rest of the summer in Arizona, a new surrounding and meeting local teens. Arkansas is the first one where I can’t find that “new student” aspect.  Then there is Bloodlines by Richelle Mead.  This very much addressed the “new student” genre with not just Sydney, but also with Jill, the vampire girl she is protecting. This felt more prominent with Jill, than Sydney.  With the rest of the books I read, the story reflected with characters who were already established in their community. So out of nine I have read, five discussed the new student jitters. Yeah boring…just like the paragraph I just wrote.

To wrap up, this book ended with a cliffhanger and I wish I didn’t have to wait a year to read yet another great YA series.  Mara is a relatable and sympathetic character and this book is a page-turner. I would vote getting it for your library’s YA Fic section as there is nothing like a thriller with more books on the way. That’s nine down, 41 more to go. Now I need to read the book club novel!