The Bursting Bookshelf: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Interview with Michelle Hodkin, Author of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Do I ever have a treat for you guys. This lady is the author of the already popular book The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, which I loved, and she has answered some of my questions. Let's get started:

1) Thanks for stopping by! Who was your favorite character to write?

I really do enjoy writing all of the characters, but Daniel, Joseph, and Jamie don’t give me trouble the way Mara and Noah sometimes do, so they tend to be the most fun.
2) Your book is based on true events. How did you find out about these events?

It was inspired by some events that actually happened; for example, the building that collapses in the book really did collapse, though I gave the building a fictional name and set it in a fictional town. The full story of how I was inspired to write the book will be posted on www.maradyer.com when it goes live.
3) As a teen going through high school, what was your favourite book?

So hard to say; I remember discovering GEEK LOVE by Katherine Dunn in high school, and I still love it so much. I also loved (and love to this day) A WOMAN WARRIOR by Maxine Hong Kingston, LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov, JURASSIC PARK by Michael Crichton, and THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by Oscar Wilde.
4) My favourite question: what was your reaction to finding out you would be published?

When the book sold at auction to Simon & Schuster, I was out to dinner with one of my brothers, so the first thing I did was order dessert :)
5) Did you plan the end of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer? If so, did it change along the way?

I’ve known the ending for the series since very early on, and knew that the events that occurred at the end of THE UNBECOMING would happen at some point in the story’s timeline, but I didn’t decide that THIS book would end precisely where it does until I was deep into the writing process. That said, it ended exactly the way it had to in order to get to where Mara’s story is eventually going to end up. I can’t wait to share more!

4:57 AM
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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

5/5

Title: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Author: Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers

Release: September 27, 2011

Pages: 464

Series: Mara Dyer #1

ADVANCE COPY PROVIDED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER CANADA

Synopsis:

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.

Review:
I received this book in the mail a while back (before the Canada Post strike/ lock out) and I could not wait to dive in to it. I had seen the cover and a countdown on another blog and had thought about how gorgeous the cover was. When I stumbled across the official synopsis later, I was beyond curious. Needless to say that when it showed up, I was reading it ASAP! Did I enjoy it? Yes multiplied by a million.

When I first saw the cover of this book, I wanted to know more about it immediately. Who are the two characters on the cover? Is the male a antagonist? Is he a love interest? What are his intentions? How about the girl? Is she in trouble? Why are they underwater? These were some of the first questions I thought upon looking at this cover. After my initial thoughts, I fell in love with this cover and felt drawn to read the book.

The lead character in this novel was Mara Dyer. She had recently gone through a tragedy involving her closest friends, which lead her family to move to sunny Florida to help Mara put her memories behind her and obtain a fresh start. Enter Noah, the care free bad boy with a even worse reputation to boot. The process that brought romance between these two characters was NOT instant, which I found very refreshing. I very much enjoyed these characters because of how they were very realistic. They were like real teenagers to me. Amongst the secondary characters I also had some favorites. One of them being Jamie. I loved Jamie for how genuine he seemed.

My one problem with this book lies in the language that was often used. At times it seemed a little excessive. Apart from that one point, I loved the writing for this novel. It was amazingly submersing for the reader and it was uber-intriguing. Plus, there were unexpected points of humour throughout the book, often through the banter that passed between Noah and Mara. The storyline itself was very mysterious and full of twists and turns you would never see coming. Especially the ending. I never in a million years saw that coming.

I cannot wait for the next book in this series, and until then I give The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer a 5/5 despite my dislike of some of the language used. This book was a never-let-you-go thrill ride that I would recommend to anyone, especially someone who likes very mysterious books with a hint of paranormal added in.

12:29 PM
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In My Mailbox

Fury

Hello everyone! I got a couple of books in my mailbox today. I got some REALLY awesome books in the mail and I just had to share them with you!

For Review:
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada)
Fury by Elizabeth Miles (Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada)