#180 Book Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer

The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #2)
Release Date: February 2013
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Australia
Source: Publisher for Review
Format: Paperback
Where to Buy:  Fishpond | Booktopia
More Info: Goodreads

Summary:

Mara Dyer knows she isn't crazy. She knows she can kill with her mind, and that her boyfriend, Noah, can heal with his. Mara also knows that somehow, her ex, Jude, is not a hallucination. He is alive. Unfortunately, convincing her family and doctors that she's not crazy isn't easy. The only person who actually believes her is Noah. But being with Noah is dangerous and Mara is in constant fear that she might hurt him. She needs to learn how to control her power, and fast! Together, Mara and Noah must try and figure out how Jude survived the asylum collapse, and how he knows so much about her strange ability...before anyone else ends up dead.

Cover:
LOVE. GORGEOUS. LOVE. UNDERWATER! Forgive me for this random use of words but that cover is seriously gorgeous. I love how the girl's hand and the boy's hand is trying to reach other and how the photo is taken underwater of course!

Story:

“There will come a moment when there's nothing you want more than us. Together. When you're free of every fear and there is nothing in our way.” - Noah Shaw

MIND-BLOWN. Yep, this is the only word I can think of after finishing The Evolution of Mara Dyer. I am writing this review precisely 13 minutes after finishing the book. It is probably selfish for me to say this when I know that Mara Dyer needs more help than I do but helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpme! I don't think my mind can work properly now because this is the question that lingers in my head : "What did I just read?"

I read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer earlier this year and LOVED it. The mystery, romance and the intriguing premise were addictive. Now, The Evolution of Mara Dyer is still the same case, but maybe a bit different. I'm no longer intrigued by the premise. I NEED to know everything that happened. I have so many questions that are not yet answered in this book. Jude, who what are you? Mara, who are you? The story was absolutely hooking. I could not stop reading at all. I was reading the book at night and the wind outside was so loud, making the atmosphere creepy, chilling and haunting. The book is still written from Mara's POV although it jumps back and forth from the present and 'before'.  

I am thankful that I still know what was going on in the book because Hodkin throws in mysteries and unpredictable surprises in this book that I never thought I would keep up with. As usual, I love Michelle Hodkin's writing too. She captures the intense, vivid and haunting feeling of the book so well. The ending was a bit better than The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Not exactly a cliffhanger but helphelphelphelp I NEED The Retribution of Mara Dyer so desperately!   

Characters:

“If I were to live a thousand years, I would belong to you for all of them. If we were to live a thousand lives, I would want to make you mine in each one.” 

SHAW. Noah Shaw. Is it possible for anyone not to love you? Because I sure can't resist your arrogant, charming, swoon-worthy and romantic qualities. Plus, you're British. The accent! Yep, can't resist. Mara and Noah are probably the only characters in this book that stood out most for me. I felt sad for everything Mara  had to go through in this book. She thinks she's crazy but when Noah said these 3 words: I believe you, I immediately fell in love with Noah Shaw all over again. Noah is always very supportive of Mara and that makes everything so much better. I love his relationship with Mara and this confession:

“You can't hurt me the way you think you can. But even if you could? I would rather die with the taste of you on my tongue than live and never touch you again. I'm in love with you, Mara. I love you. No matter what you do.” 

Mara, I really really want to know what is going on with you. What are your powers? Can you actually kill someone with your mind? Then again, she doesn't really know what is going on with herself so hopefully book 3 is going to explain this! Noah, you have no idea how many times you break, mend and twinge my heart. As for the other characters, they're great but Noah and Mara for the win! And one thing, I hate Jude. What an evil guy.

Overall:
Loved The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer? Then you will not want to miss this mind-blowing sequel. The Evolution of Mara Dyer continues the mysteries revolving Mara and her life. And not to forget the AMAZING Noah Shaw. Just prepare to get scared, swooning and mind-blown with this epic sequel! Absolutely can't wait for The Retribution of Mara Dyer!

5 Forget-Me-Not flowers for The Evolution of Mara Dyer!

Thank you Simon & Schuster Australia for the review copy!

Check out the book trailer below!

#41 Book Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #1)

Genre: Young Adult
Pages:452

Release date: September 27th 2011
Author: Michelle Hodkin

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Source: Owned

Format: Hardcover

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

My review:

Cover:

Absolutely gorgeous. I always love covers set in underwater. Love the cover models and how they seem to be hugging under the water. I think I've featured this in my Cover Crazy post and what convinced me to read this book was the cover completely! The summary wasn't very intriguing for me but I couldn't look away from the cover so I had to read it!

5 Forget-me-not flowers for the cover!

Story:
This book completely blew me away. So I decided reading this together with Mary@Anxirium and Racquel @TheBookBarbies so we can have a discussion about the books. I already had a good feeling when starting this book because the cover is absolutely gorgeous. The story? Even better. 


First of all, I love books that are unpredictable. Honestly, when I read the summary, I couldn't even guess what the genre of this book would be. I know it's YA but is it paranormal? dystopian? or even other genres I rarely read? While reading this book, I kept on trying to guess who Mara Dyer is and trying to understand the life she's currently living. I'm also anticipating this guy I've read about in so many reviews. Noah Shaw. What an awesome name. Who is this guy? How is he involved with Mara Dyer? This book combines romance, mystery and paranormal theme into a fantabulous read I really enjoyed. I could never guess the story plot (which makes it even better). This book is a bit of a mystery as well so it feels like as Mara tries to remember what happened in the accident and what is happening to her, we are also trying to unravel her memories and secrets together with her. While I really enjoyed the paranormal and mystery theme, what makes this book even better was the one and only Noah Shaw.


The romance between Noah and Mara was entrancing and left me breathless. It was not sappy at all and although their attraction felt quick, I didn't mind it at all. There were so many swoon-worthy moments where it left me speechless because it was so amazing. The way these two came to like each other was so sweet and I really enjoyed reading the time they spend together. Basically, the book's storyplot was unpredictable in a positive way that will hook you until the end and the romance is plenty you'll have more than enough! 


Characters:
Oh dear, Noah Shaw, you are my newest latest YA book crush. Let me explain to you how he is my newest obsession and unforgettable character. He is bilingual, has BRITISH accent, a bit of a lonely type (not close with his father), he's rich but thinks that money is not everything, he ties your shoe laces, he carries your bag in school, he opens the car's door for you and he's smart. He is the exact potrayal of perfection and pure awesomeness. Although he's a bit of a smart-ass, he's actually really sweet and truly loves Mara. I never expected that both he and Mara share another same thing besides their attraction and chemistry. Mara herself is a character I was able to relate to entirely. She is having troubles trying to remember what truly happened in the accident while trying to understand what is happening with her. I completely understand her sadness, pain and her attraction to Noah. Of course, she did not expect to meet Noah and fall for him. I also loved reading other characters such as Daniel (Mara's brother) and Joseph (Mara's younger brother). They were both such a nice siblings I want them in my family too! The characters were written very well and I'd like to give Hodkins a big round of applause for writing this fantastic book!


Overall:
The best book I've read in 2012! This book completely blew me away and it was absolutely fantabulous! The book's plot was completely unpredictable and as you try to unreveal the secrets of Mara Dyer and her memories, you get to read the awesome Noah Shaw. I definitely recommend it to everyone who enjoys paranormal and swoon-worthy romance. PS: Don't forget that Noah Shaw has British accent which means, I think you guys know! ;)

Favourite quotes:

Don't. Don't ask me why. It's annoying. I want to. That's it. That's all. So let me.

But I need to go home," I said, my eyes meeting his. "My parents are going to kill me."

"Taken care of. You're at Sophie's house."

I loved Sophie.

"So I'm...staying here?"

"Daniel's covering for you."

I loved Daniel.

"Where's Katie?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

"Eliza's house."

I loved Eliza.

"And your parents? I asked.

"Some charity thing."

I loved charity.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

No, it isn't irrelevant. You want me as much as I want you. And all I want is you."

My tongue warred with my mind. "Today," I whispered.

Noah stood slowly, his body skimming mine as he rose. "Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever." Noah's eyes held mine. His stare was infinite. "I was made for you, Mara."

Have I convinced you to read this book? ;)

5 Forget-me-not flowers for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer!

Check out the book trailer below! I loved it! 

Cover Crazy #3

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by The Book Worms. I really want to adore all those beautiful book covers out there! I've chosen the cover of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin!

I love the cover so much! It's in the water and it's really awesome!

What I like from this cover is it's underwater!!! The coolest photo-shoots to me are underwater! I've never seen a cover with underwater and setting and this book, not only does many readers enjoy it but the cover is absolutely breath-taking!! What do you think?

Note: I just can't wait to read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer! Ordered it online already!

Waiting on Wednesday #2

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.
I don't know why but I think some of the books from Waiting on Wednesday will appear here again! I just can't wait for them because some of them are not yet out in Australia although it's out in US just a couple of days ago!

Positive reviews on goodreads! It's about faerie so I want to read it!!!!

I am reading the excerpt now but I've pre-ordered this one so totally can't wait!

It's out already! Geez! I just hope it's going to be out soon here!

No other reason than it's Stephanie Perkins' book! I've pre-ordered this like 2 months ago but it hasn't arrived! 

This must seem like a boring Waiting on Wednesday. But, I'm still dying to read it and I can't get it off my mind!! What about the books you're dying to read?

Waiting on Wednesday #1

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

I've decided to join this weekly meme too. I know it's too late because it's not Wednesday but I really want to share the books I'm dying to read! So, here they are:

Found many positive reviews on this one! Have to read it!

No other reason than it's Stephanie Perkins' book!

Stephanie Perkins recommended this one! I really want to read it too!

Found the summary in goodreads and it looks amazing!

Been waiting for this forever!

Ash's point of view!! Absolutely can't wait for this one!

What do you guys think? And how about the upcoming books you're dying to read?