Author: Michelle Hodkin
Year: 2011
Series?: Mara Dyer #1
Format: Hardcover (Library checkout)
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Romance, Paranormal
What's it about?: When Mara Dyer wakes up in the hospital, she has no memory of how she got there. Mara is told that she and her friends were in an abandoned building when it collapsed around, killing Mara's best friend, boyfriend, and her boyfriend's sister. Mara's family then decides to leave New England and moves to Florida in order to escape the memories of what had happened. Meanwhile, Mara is experiencing symptoms of PTSD and is seeing things that aren't really there. In the cluttered mess of her life, Mara meets Noah, the boy with the bad rep who is more than interested in her.
My opinion: Mara Dyer was an intriguing read that was able to grasp my attention and hold onto it for the majority of the length of the book. Before I started reading it I honestly thought that this would be one of those mental hospital books, but while Mara feels she is going crazy throughout most of the book, it luckily wasn't set in a facility. While I was captivated by what was happening in the story I feel that this book could have been edited down a bit. For the amount of plot that actually happened there are too many pages, many of the revelations that happened near the end (and I'm not talking about the cliffhanger ending) should have been revealed earlier on. There are even some characters that I am wondering why they were even in the book at all, because for me they had no obvious role or point, for example Jamie, Anna and Aiden. They all seemed very one dimensional and I'm not really sure what their purpose was. The tone and mood of the book were what made the book, the constant mystery of what happened to Mara that night as well as the mystery of Noah was what kept the plot going. I would have liked to see a bit more romance or steam but alas I was just given the last 1/4 of the book. More Noah time near the beginning of the book would have been nice! I really wanted to love this book, but in the end I just enjoyed it for what it was and I look forward to reading future installments. I genuinely want to know what happens to the characters, so kudos to Hodkin for that. I think I was just expecting a faster paced novel and more of a conclusion near the end than what was given.
I would rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars.
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