The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

I've been eying this book up for ages and finally caved and bought it and I only regret not getting it sooner. I've heard many mixed reviews for this book so was on the fence for a quite a while, and I can see where both sides are coming from. This novel offers very generic usual teen fluff but has surprising twists and turns that make them entirely acceptable (in my humble opinion). From the start I wasn't much of a fun of Mara, she gets relatively annoying an extremely predictable at parts along with her love interest Noah, he's your usual bad boy with a broken past but that sucks everyone in and if you disagree, you're lying. Six feet tall with an English accent, he is the boy you wished had been in your high school but only existed in books, with his beautiful eyes and mercurial attitude. All that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am itching for book two.

Mara Dyer has awoken in a hospital bed with no memory of the events that led up to it, but finds she has survived a horrible accident and that her friends weren't quite as lucky. Her loving parents, to help cope with her stress, move the entire family a few states away from Rhode Island to Miami. Mara finds out that no matter how far you run, you can escape the past. Materializing in way of nightmares and daily hallucinations Mara thinks she's going insane from PTSD. At her new school she meets local heart breaking legend Noah Shaw who can't seem to stay away from her, seemingly equally lost and broken the two find themselves inseparable almost immediately. As their relationship progresses they start to learn more and more about each other while a multitude of accidents begin to occur around them. They begin to dig deeper and see what it is that has drawn them so closely together, something much bigger than either could have ever imagined.

As you can see by my above synopsis, predictable, average teen novel that pulls you in and throws you curve ball after curve ball. Just when you think you've got the story down pat Hodkin gets you with a zinger. I avoided the series for a while due to similar information being given to me before, but I wholeheartedly can say to put that aside and read this novel because it truly delivers. I really considered for about 5 minutes throwing on my coat and shoes and flying up to my job to pick up book two, that's how much of a need I have to continue the story. I am very excited to see how this can carry forward with another two books and don't expect to be disappointed. With real life properties, fantasy and romance all mingling together in this book, it has something to offer even the pickiest YA reader.

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All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

If you enjoy teen books with real depth, emotion and pain, you need to purchase this book with the utmost of haste. When I started this book, my heart broke for Violet and Finch, your high school student main characters, their pain and sorrow make its way into your own bones and force you to feel it. If you have ever struggled with loss, darkness, fear, these two will be kindred spirits and if you have been lucky enough to avoid such tragedy, they will open your eyes to the battle others go through. I am a big encourager of teens reading books that not only make them feel and think, but also open them up to consequences. Every single day so many people throw out cruel words at another human and laugh, whether alone or with a group, we are each and every one guilty. So many people though, forget that what they do and say affect others outside themselves. This is without a doubt, going to be the book (and then film!) of the year.

First is Finch, chaotic, uncontrollable, volatile, Finch. Awake, as he calls it, for the first time in weeks we meet him up on the bell tower of his school. As he stands upon the edge, contemplating life, looking at the people milling about below, he turns and sees Violet. Violet's story is less of a mystery, a few months ago she was in a car crash that caused the death of her sister and left her lingering with a heavy dose of survival guilt. Finch climbs over and coaxes her down from the ledge, but Violet his too popular for that kind of stigma so Finch protects her by allowing everyone to believe she went up and saved him, Crazy Finch. In their shared class of US Geography, Finch makes Violet be his partner for a project of visiting and documenting the beautiful sights of Indiana. In no time at all, Finch is in love (normally in a teen book this is where I'd groan and yell ALREADY?! but from what we've seen of erratic Theodore Finch, it is the exactly correct time frame for him to fall for someone) and carting Violet all over Indiana, compelling her to get back into living her life, instead of wasting away in her room fading away. As the book goes on and fills you with bubbly happiness and joy for these love struck teens, you start to notice a shift in Finch. Small things you pass over start to sit in the back of your brain and remind you what Finch fights each day. Finch begins to live solely out of his bedroom closet and that is when you start to accept, these are not quirks but a deep issue plaguing a brilliant boy. Violet finally begins to see the red flags and begs him to seek help and tries sending help to him when he refuses. Then, just like that, Finch is gone. Violet is receiving strange text messages and finds their project isn't as complete as she thought.

Painfully beautiful this book really opens your eyes and your heart. I have bawled and screamed and begged and pleaded with this book, praying the words would change but knowing this could not have been more perfectly written. If you were a fan of The Fault in Our Stars, you will be blown away by All the Bright Places. So many people, especially teens, hide away in shame if they know they are different. People that struggle with depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, even OCD, hang their heads in shame because in our society if it can't show up with a thermometer, it isn't real. All the Bright Places will help people to make changes, don't call someone fat, freak, stupid, weird, see how much brighter each day is. I will be showing this book to everyone the moment it shows up at my job and I can not wait for the film adaptation so those who don't want to read 400 pages can still get the beautiful message from this masterpiece.

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