The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

""What kind of school was this?" (Pg. 77)<br/><br/>I kept on running into problems. So I decided to mark the pages where I saw them. I had 40 pages marked. Here's my reaction to the problems, organized by person;<br/><br/>MAYA: <br/>• I hate how all the character say Maya's swearing is 'unbecoming' and the like. She swears. The end. <br/>• You're having her take AP English?! When she's already having issues with life? People I know who have taken that class have suffered through it. Gimme a break. <br/>• I have never heard of anyone who has enjoyed 'Lolita' like she does. She reads it FOR FUN. Wow. What a book for recreation. She abuses the spines too. The author said that she "cracked the spine" when she opened it. I can't tell if the spine cracking was on purpose or not but that got me irritated. <br/>• She doesn't want to take time off of school so she can "graduate on time." But school is what's giving her problems. Who cares about graduating "on time" when you have a serious mental illness!!! Take care of your mental illness first. You can afford to do so!<br/>• Maya hates it when detectives do their job. She doesn't like when they take notes on what they are saying. <br/>• She just happened to draw a realistic portrait and just MINDLESSLY?!!! Teach me your ways. Then you can actually tell who it was and Noah was shocked at how he looks like. (I can't believe that she draws with charcoal in a sketchbook. Charcoal is famous for being one of the most messy mediums to draw in. You get it everywhere and you have your drawing smudged if you rub anything against it.)<br/>• She actually reads her language textbook. Wow. What year is this placed in? <br/><br/>NOAH AND MAYA:<br/>• She hates Noah but she is attracted to him? I'm confused and don't really approve of this ship. Because he doesn't accept no for an answer. <br/>• He also kicks girls out of the girl's bathroom. Excuse me??? YOU aren't supposed to be in there. <br/>• And then he has the audacity to MAKE her spend time with him. <br/>• He's creepy and so possessive. <br/>• She says no so many times and he ignores her. <br/>• Of course he can charm her mother and family. Just of course... <br/>• "How is it that you have friends, Noah?" "I ask myself that daily." Wait... He has friends? The way he's acting sure doesn't seem like it. He never is around them. <br/>• He won't even tell her where she is going or who she is meeting. Creepy. <br/>• Of course he has a tragic backstory. Of course. <br/>• So he looks like a college student and so does she. Weird. <br/>• And of course he knows languages because he's rich. "German, Spanish, Dutch, Mandarin, and of course, French." <br/>• How dare she pay for her own food! -_- <br/>• So she has this pretty dark and depressing backstory and her brother just told the boyfriend without telling her. Wow. At least Noah said he wasn't going to force it out of her. Hopefully.<br/>• OF COURSE he was charmed by her the second he saw her. <br/>• And then he wants to "fix her." <br/>• Page 246 is a complete description of his outfit and look. I had to skip it. <br/>• It was worth getting in a fight for her when she could have? The way he is it was gross. "That's what I get for defending your honor." I laughed. "That was NOT for me. That was you marking your territory," I said. <br/>• Poor Jamie. Kicked to the curb because Maya found someone hotter and more interesting. <br/>• I hate it when boys shut girls up by putting their finger on their lips. It is unrealistic and rude. <br/><br/>EVERYONE ELSE:<br/>• Is this just a psychologist stereotype or is it real that they like to answer questions with questions? (pg 8)<br/>• Can I get Jamie Roth's shirt? "I am a cliche." Poor guy really was one though. <br/>• It says that Jamie learned Parseltongue. Ummmm I'm not sure that you can learn Parseltongue. The Harry Potter series has 0 instances where you can learn it from. So FALSE. <br/>• Of course she lets her daughter take the priceless diamond earrings. Of course!! "Don't lose them" though. What BS. <br/>• How could we even tell that Jamie got in a fight by his jaw clicking??? So confusing. <br/>• What even is Ebola? And why would you keep your hallucinations to yourself when you need help? <br/>• 'Can I change it [TV channel]?" I asked... "Might want to turn it off. Dinner's ready." Excuse me??? You can't imagine that your daughter would be freaked out about the TV program about her friend's DEATHS?!?!?! This mother....<br/><br/>-------<br/><br/>After an hour or so of marking every page I saw a problem on, I got tired of how many problems there were and just quickly read through it to get done. I was honestly tired of the problems, how people approached/reacted to them, and how they were 'resolved'. <br/><br/>The story is so cliche it HURTS. I would say the main genre of this would be high school romance, with a tiny sub-genre being psychological horror. (Possibly.) It was slow and really dragged. I was disappointed. <br/><br/>The characters are so problematic. Did not enjoy. MC was annoying. Love interest was a jerk. Everyone else was a mix of being annoying and a jerk. Except the little bro. He's chill. The characters are just so stereotypical!! <br/> • So I was reading this and posted an update, saying that I saw this as similar to Twilight. Edward and Noah would be learning creepiness from each other. Bella and Maya would be in a mental institution together. It's just... Bad. They are just way too similar. <br/><br/>Writing was in its 3rd draft. It was not finalized.<br/><br/>A lot of people seemed to really enjoy this. I dunno. Too much shady stuff for me to enjoy this. Would not recommend."

"For starters, the storytelling was good. It flowed. The love interest is also funny and charismatic. But, overall…I’m confused and a bit disappointed. Maybe I expected a pragmatic reasoning behind the mystery, not really understanding that the book is paranormal fiction. So, that was my fault, going into it with opposite expectations. That also interfered with my thoughts on the romance sub-plot. It was nice, but the tone felt off. Some of it also felt far-reached for me, as if it was a wistful dream, a break from all of the bad things that the mc is actively facing. Therefore, the love interest’s reactions to certain parts of this book just doesn’t make sense. Nonetheless, if you are very fond of “Shatter Me”, I think this is a nice book for you. But, if you are used to mystery thrillers that have plot twists where things would be explained without supernatural factors, this would be something a bit foreign. 3/5"

"The series begins with a million questions that pull you in right away. But after a while become painfully drawn out. I think this trilogy could have been written in 2 books. A lot of things that were didnt make sense at times somethings were too obvious. I did enjoy the main character and her relationship. It just seemed like some of the geeky references were pushed. I started out liking this series but at the end of book 3 I was ready for it to end. All together not a terrible read but nothing shocked me or put me on the edge of my seat."

"TW: sexual assault, death of a friend, and PTSD hallucinations I originally read this book back when I was fourteen and I was absolutely obsessed with it. However, as an adult I was led to believe that maybe this book wasn’t as good as I’d remembered it being (given I barely remembered anything at all. Like I didn’t even remember Noah and Mara kissing in this book). Hesitantly, I picked this book back up again after seven years and it was just as amazing as it was the first time. This story follows Mara who after being involved in an accident that killed all her friends, she moves to a new city to get away from it all, however she starts to see her dead friends along with other strange events that start to happen and you start to wonder if it’s just the hallucinations from her PTSD messing with her or is this stuff really happening? It’s so fun revisiting a book you barely remember because it feels like reading it for the first time again. All I remembered was the plot was interesting and I loved MaraShaw but I wouldn’t be able to tell you why. When I was younger I just loved things without reason but now that I’m older and I’ve read a lot, it’s cool being able to see and understand what I love about a book. First off the characters, I loved them. They’re all great and all compliment the story well. Mara and Noah are definitely the standouts, but the side characters were also amazing. Jamie was such a fun friend for Mara to have and if my memory serves me correctly I’m excited to see him again in future books. I definitely want to see more of his friendship with Mara because he kind of just disappeared from this book. Mara’s brothers were also amazing. I really loved the relationship she had with both of them. I really love loving sibling dynamics in books and how all of them were really supportive of one another. I would say my only complaint to this would maybe be the female characters. Mara is the main one we see but aside from that, the female characters w"

"July 2024"

"This book had potential. It could have been creepy and awesome. I loved the beginning and wanted to solve the mystery but it went so downhill so fast. BOO."

"W O W. This book is a marvel. I adore Noah Shaw. Reading this book made me raise my standards so high because I NEED my own Noah Shaw. The story hooks you from the beginning and keeps you enthralled throughout its entirety. I didn’t expect the supernatural plot point, it is so interesting though. I thought it would just be a mystery where Mara pieces together her trauma, but it became so much more than that. The ending made my jaw truly drop. I am officially obsessed and need to read the series. "

"I need the next book! This was so good"

"3.5 very bamboozled stars<br/><br/><br/>hey so actually what the flip was this book i dont know if im just dumb or if a lot of it legit didnt make sense or like ??"

"OMG SOOOOO GOOD!!!! I was literally hooked from the first chapter. Finished in 4 days."