Review Time: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

by Brittany Geragotelis

Review Time: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Story: 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 strangely unharmed. There is. She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love. She's wrong.

Why It's a Must-Read: It's been a long, long time since I read a book that gripped me in the way that The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer did. But let me start by saying: I LOVE scary movies. I throw whole parties dedicated to watching horror films. And this was the first book I've read that's been scarier than most of the horror films that are out on the market nowadays. But I wouldn't describe The Unbecoming as horror. We're not looking at a Stephen King book, here, where there's a deranged killer clown stalking kids. I would classify this as more of a psychological thriller...one of those stories where you're constantly wondering if she did what she thinks she might have done or whether it was all in her head. Either way, the book is addictive and nearly impossible to put down once you pick it up. It was terrifyingly beautiful.

Okay, how GORGE is Michelle?!?!

What a Character: I love, love, LOVE the sassiness of Mara Dyer. Despite what's going on in her life and in her head (she sometimes sees dead people and is suffering from PTSD), to the outside world she's quick-witted and isn't a fool. But even though she's tough on the outside, on the inside she's barely hanging on. I love a character who's damaged. Call me crazy, but I think they're more interesting. And it takes a lot of energy for someone to act as if her world isn't crumbling down around her, just to make others feel better.

And if I felt a kinship with Mara Dyer, I wanted to have a secret love affair with Noah Shaw. At first he appears to be the ultimate bad boy. Achingly beautiful with an ego to match. But as the story goes on, we find out there's so much more to him than we thought. And this is one of those stories where the bad boy IS attainable. Thank gosh, because he's H-O-T and the perfect match for Mara's razor-sharp wit.

A Little Something Extra: I picked up this book, after an author friend of mine, Amanda Havard, told me about it at BEA. She was saying how she couldn't wait for Michelle Hodkin's follow-up to The Unbecoming, called The Evolution of Mara Dyer. And now that I've read the first, I have to agree. Good thing we won't have to wait too long for it--The Evolution will begin on October 23rd. You can pre-order it here. I think I may have found one more person to add to my list of favorite authors....

Be sure to follow her on Twitter @MichelleHodkin and then go out and buy her books!

5x5,
B.

Review Time: The Survivors by Amanda Havard

by Brittany Geragotelis

Review Time: The Survivors by Amanda Havard

The Story: In 1692, when witch trials gripped the community of Salem, Massachusetts, twenty-six children were accused as witches, exiled, and left for dead. Fourteen of them survived. The Survivors is the first installment of the tantalizing tales of the fourteen ill-fated Survivors and their descendants, who have been content in hiding for over three centuries. Isolated on a Montana mountainside, only Sadie, the rogue daughter, dares to abandon the family's sacred hiding place. But no matter how far Sadie runs, something always pulls her back.
     On a muggy summer night in Tennessee, she witnesses a shocking scene that will change her life forever. It is the first in a sequence of events that will drag her from the human world she's sought to belong to for over a century and send her back to her Puritanical family and into an uncertain future filled with cunning witches, mysterious nosferatu shape-shifters, dangerous eretica and vieczy vampires, millennia-old mythology, and the search for her own mortality. After all... HOW DO YOU KILL A SURVIVOR?
Why It's a Must-Read: A lot of research went into writing The Survivors. Besides the fact that it's loosely based on the Salem Witch Trials, the author Amanda Havard, really delved into the history of all monsters, supernatural beings, etc., which for someone like me who's intrigued by creepy-crawlies, was really cool. On top of that, she's created a world that's rich with interesting characters, and the story itself is beautifully written. Fans of Twilight will LOVE The Survivors....It's a much more creative and complicated book, but it will give you the love story you crave, along with all the supernatural elements that you loved so much from Bella and Edward's world. 
What a Character: I really gravitated toward Sadie, our main character, because she's a strong-willed and independent woman. But on the flip-side, she's also desperately looking to make a connection. She's constantly on the search to find a place where she fits in, even though she knows that she's unlike anyone else in the world. And there's something about that that's incredibly endearing. I also really liked Mark and Ginny; Mark because of his easy-going attitude but fierce loyalty to Sadie, and Ginny because of her sweet and caring demeanor. But really, there are so many characters in this series that you're bound to connect with someone!

Amanda Havard

A Little Something Extra: I've known Amanda Havard for over a year now and she's such a smart and talented person! Something that you should know about her is that she has a very creative mind and won't back down from her lofty dreams. When she first began shopping around her book, The Survivors, she had very specific ideas in mind for it. She wanted to go places that books had never really gone before, and publishers were really hesitant to go there. But instead of giving up or giving in, she found a publisher that was willing to do everything she envisioned, and because of it, she's pushing the boundaries of storytelling. 
      Namely, she's created a totally Immersive experience for her readers. If you buy her Immersedition from iTunes, you'll get extras that you can't find anywhere else. In this edition, you'll get links to documented moments in history throughout the book, that will give you more background info on specific parts. Amanda created a book soundtrack, both with existing artists, as well as singers/songwriters that she signed to her own music label, created specifically for this project (Some of her signed artists have been on "Glee" and "The Voice"). Amanda is an avid music junkie and felt very strongly that music was just another dimension needed to accurately tell the story. 
       On top of that, you can check out the cars the characters drive, as well as the clothes they wore, watch music videos for the soundtrack and link straight to the Twitter accounts for most of the characters, which date back to two years before the book was released. The Survivors is a truly unique experience and one that I see books heading toward in the future. Oh, and I had the pleasure of writing a blurb for the sequel, so you KNOW it's gotta be good!


Follow her on Twitter @AmandaHavard and then go out and buy her book!

5x5,
B.