The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Review

11194970I loved this!

We follow Mara Dyer after she has woken up in the hospital. She was involved in an accident that killed her best friend, her boyfriend and another girl in her year but she doesn’t remember anything about that night. Eager to move on her family agree to relocate to give her the space to heal.

I really liked Mara as a character. She was deeply flawed, yet still so persistent and dedicated to trying to pick up and continue on with her life. She hasn’t lost touch and completely succumbed to her condition, she is still trying to maintain some form of normality, which I thought was commendable. I thought she was witty and the banter she has with Noah and Jamie was fun to read.

I loved Noah… I found his surety and his arrogance very appealing. I think he was written in a way where you can’t help but find him likeable, even when he’s kind of being duchey. I like that we get such a thorough backstory and we see that there is this completely different side of him that he doesn’t show.

I also really liked Jamie. I thought that he was a great friend to Mara and I think it was purely the fact that he only wanted to be friends with her. There were no strings attached, he just seen a kind of awkward, new girl in his year and was nice to her. He gave her some pretty sound advice based on his personal experience but he still let her make her own decisions and still supported her regardless. You don’t really see a lot of these characters and I appreciated him a lot in this book. It kind of sucks how his arc sort of ended abruptly but hopefully he makes a reappearance in the rest of the series.

I also really enjoyed the relationship Mara has with her brothers, especially Daniel. I thought he was so supportive of Mara and didn’t judge her in any way. They still had the typical big brother little sister dynamic but there was a protectiveness that he has for her that I found very endearing.

I was very much sucked into the book from the start! I liked how it was paced; it started off pretty slowly but gave me enough information that I still needed more and that really kept me turning the pages. That paranormal element to the story I felt was executed very well. That aspect of the story was always kind of floating around the edges and then finally when Mara came to the realisation of her powers it was thrilling.

I think this a highly entertaining read and honestly after that plot twist at the end it just made me want to pick up the next book and start reading it right now!

⭐️4.5/5 I loved my experience reading this!

January TBR

Its a New Year 😱! I had a great reading year in 2018 and I want to continue on with my momentum into the new year with some new releases as well as continuing my journey in catching up on some cult favourites! So with that being said my TBR for January is:

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

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The Wicked King by Holly Black

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Nevermoor and Wundersmith by Jessica Townshend

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The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

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To all the boys I’ve loved before by Jenny Han

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Dance of Thieves by Mary E Pearson

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December Wrap Up

I’m feeling great about my reading this month! I managed to read nearly all the books on my TBR as well as 2 extra books which put me at 99 books read for 2018!!!  I pretty much loved everything I read in December as well which really topped off my year. I have reviews on all the books I’ve read this month up on my blog so if you would like to see just click on the titles!

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner – ⭐️4/5 stars

Archenemies by Marissa Meyer – ⭐️4/5 stars

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor – ⭐️4/5 stars

Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare – ⭐️5/5 stars

Shadow Study by Maria V Snyder – ⭐️4/5 stars

Wildcard by Marie Lu – ⭐️4/5 stars

Night Study by Maria V Snyder – ⭐️4/5 stars

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli – ⭐️4/5 stars

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee – ⭐️4/5 stars

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K Rowling – ⭐️5/5 stars

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K Rowling – ⭐️5/5 stars

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⚡️Harry Potter Update⚡️

img_2565So I couldn’t help myself and finished The Philosopher’s Stone and continued straight onto my other illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that I also got for Christmas. I finished it in one sitting and can I just say how incredibly beautiful these editions are, the illustrations just enhanced the experience sooo much and I am loving my rereads so far! I am itching to continue on with The Prisoner of Azkaban but I want to get my hands on the third illustrated edition first. I was really hoping to drag my readings out and maybe do one a month and that way it was take up most of the year, but I really can’t see that happening. I am loving diving into this world again so much that I think I will be bingeing the series and finishing quite soon! I won’t be doing reviews on the books, I want to stick to reviewing what’s on my TBR’s every month, I think I will just continue to give updates!

Happy Reading📚

My Least Favourite Books of 2018

I feel like I had a pretty good reading year. I haven’t rated anything under a 3/5 stars which I think is pretty solid. This is kind of like a part 2 because I did my 10 Lowest Rated Books of 2018 so far a few months back so I’ll try not to double up on those books but feel free to check that one out as well as my feeling haven’t changed on those books either.

So with that being said my lowest rated/least favourite books of 2018 are:

31076583A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J Maas – I think this is mostly my fault, I went into this book thinking it was going be as in depth and plot driven as the other books in the series and being a novella I just didn’t get any of that… It was a little uneventful and there wasn’t as much action or adventure that I was yearning for. So it was a bit average and boring to me. ⭐️3/5 stars

The first three books in the Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi – I had pretty high PicMonkey Collagehopes for this series, when Restore Me came out earlier this year everyone was scrambling to pick it up and were hyping the series up but when I read them it wasn’t as good as what I thought. The premise of the books is really intriguing but the execution didn’t surpass my expectations. Shatter Me ⭐️3/5, Unravel Me ⭐️3/5 and Ignite Me ⭐️3/5

darkest-minds-giveaway-featureThe Darkest Minds Series by Alexandra Bracken – Another series that was super hyped when the movie adaptation came out earlier this year as well as a new paperback set… Again I felt like the premise of the books was super interesting but as I was getting into them I was just bored. I gave the first book a 4/5 as I liked the introduction of the characters and there was a few action sequences that kept my interest piqued but as an overall series it didn’t do it for me. The Darkest Minds ⭐️4/5, Never Fade ⭐️3/5 and In the Afterlight ⭐️3/5

1966969Fire Study by Maria V Snyder – I loved the first two books in the Study Series soo much that I went into Fire Study with those same expectations and unfortunately it didn’t work out for me. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with this book it just was really hard to finish. There was everything there that would otherwise keep me entertained but the pace of the book was a little slow and I had to kind of force myself to finish it which kind of spoiled the book for me. ⭐️3/5 stars

81SuJQI8uNLEdgedancer by Brandon Sanderson – I liked Lift as a character but after the immensely intricate, convoluted and expansive world of the previous books in the Stormlight Archives I found Edgedancer to be a little too confined and slow paced. I am an epic fantasy lover so I relished reading The Way of Kings and Words of Radiance and I wasn’t as equally thrilled at the end of Edgedancer as I was with those book. ⭐️3/5 stars