The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

After waking up in the hospital, Mara Dyer has no idea what has happened in the last few days. She finds out she's been in a coma for 3 days, and before that she was found trapped in the abandoned asylum building.

Mara also finds out that her best friend, Rachel, along with her boyfriend, Jude, and his sister, Claire, were with her in the building. And the old building had collapsed while all 4 of them were inside.

Mara was the only survivor.

No matter how hard Mara tries to remember, she can't recall any events leading up to that day. But after leaving the hospital, Mara begs her mother to move out of Rhode Island. She can't go anywhere without remembering Rachel.

So Mara and her two brothers, Daniel and Joseph, along with Mara's mom and dad move to Florida and enroll in a private school.

Things should get better, right? Except Mara keeps having hallucinations and nightmares. She sees Jude and Claire in her sleep, during the daytime. Only, it's just Mara's brain playing tricks on her.

What's the one thing that Mara didn't see coming her way throughout this whole mess? Noah Shaw, the playboy of her school. He's showing a lot of interest in Mara only she doesn't want any part of his "next conquest" agenda. Only he won't go away.

With Mara's father taking a case for a murder suspect, Mara has a feeling of deja vu and is reminded of Rachel and her friends' death.

But when horrible things start to happen around Mara, she has a terrible suspicion that things are not as they seemed and maybe has the answer to how Mara survived the collapsed building but Jude, Claire, and Rachel didn't.

And Mara does not like the answer that she has come up with. Not one bit... To find out what happened, read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer to find out!

My Thoughts/Reflections
Ohhh! I really enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure what to expect by just reading the back blurb, and some of the reviews on Goodreads weren't very appealing to other readers, but I was sucked into this story from the very beginning and couldn't put it down!

I could not imagine what Mara went through when she found out that her best friend was killed in the accident that Mara had been in - and Mara was the only one who survived. I think I would have left town as well, running away from the ghosts of her past and guilt.

Mara is a very tough girl. She assumed she was seeing things but kept a brave face on for her mom, since she was very sensitive to Mara and finally gave in to seeing a psychiatrist when things were getting too far out of control.

And Mara's resistance to Noah!! I don't know how that girl did it - I would have given in to him in a heartbeat, but she fought against the undeniable attraction to him to the end! And boy did he make it hard for her.

Even though this book kept giving me unexpected situations that I was somewhat confused about throughout the novel, I would definitely recommend this book to other readers!

There is mystery and suspense, romance to make your toes curl, and supernatural events that leave the reader wondering what happened, but still wanting more by the end of the novel.

This is the first novel in a series (not sure of how many books yet) and the second novel, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, will be coming out in October 2012 - so just a little while to wait! I will definitely be reading this next book to finds out what happens to Mara!