Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can 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 mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.

It was - once again - that feeling you get when you are overly excited for a novel, one that has been praised and recommended and suggested all over the internet. Then you start reading it. You might also finish it. But you put it down in a state of major disappointment and ask yourself what on earth all the hype was about. 

Oh, well, or you are one of the people who love this book to pieces, but if you are, you might want to tune out now, because I don't have much praise for it. 

The beginning of the novel was quite promissing. Hodkin's writing style is easy to follow and nice to read, with the exact right amount of detail and pace, guiding you through the first few chapters like you are watching the beginning of a really good movie. 

When the excitement of the first few pages let off, something else kicked in and grabbed my attention: Noah Shaw. The book crush of the book crushes. From the very first time he appeared on the pages I wanted Mara to be with him and I never wanted him to leave her life and this story anymore. 

So, just to recap: writing great, love interest perfect. 

What was it, then, that put me off this novel so much?

Well, the plot was a major disappointment. I didn't like the twists at all. Sure, there were many. Sure, they were surprising. 

But they didn't hit me like that. They didn't feel real. They felt like something the author had just come up with and thrown it into the story like that. The twists felt fake to me and that is the one thing I disliked most. 

In addition to that, I found Mara's mental state rather confusing and irritating. I get that she was highly insecure and didn't understand her new abilities or her life and herself at all and I guess her reactions were sort of normal. 

But that weird state of depression she was in left me as a reader unsatisfied, because she seemed completely out of it one second, and back in the game the next. 

Lastly, I think one big contribution to my disappointment was  that I expected too much. I thought this would be an unputdownable (don't even dare to tell me this is not a word!!!) thriller and all I got was a love story with confusing plot twists thrown in. 

Again: I get why people would like it, really! I might even read the second book - and go at it with a new set of expectations. And if you like novels that are mysterious and unrelatable, read Mara Dyer's story despite my bad review. Looking at how many people enjoyed this book, it might just be a personal thing...