Mara Dyer (Re)Read Sign Ups!

It's finally almost here! The release of The Retribution of Mara Dyer is quickly approaching and I feel like I need to read the series again. A few bloggers had expressed interest in reading the series, either again or for the first time.

I am going to be hosting a read along (sort of). Starting in September I will have a post up where you can link your reviews, and Christy from The Reader Bee and I (perhaps others, message me if interested) will be having discussions via a Google document that I will share on the blog. I want to encourage everyone to leave theories, and just general fangirling on any of the posts going up.

The month of September will be focused on The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. In October will move on to The Evolution of Mara Dyer. That will ensure that both books are finished just in time of the November release of Retribution.

If you're interested, sign up using think link below so that we all know who is involved. I am even open to a Twitter chat if enough people are interested.

Hope you'll all join in, and I can't wait to discuss this series with everyone!

Mara Dyer Blogger Love

Mara Dyer Week is sadly ending today. I thought it might be fun to get some other blogger's opinions on why the Mara Dyer series is so great. I collected a few blurbs to share with you guys. Don't forget to go back and visit each stop and enter the giveaway while you're at it.

First up is the awesome Ciara at Lost At Midnight Reviews

I hate being scared. Seriously. I can’t stand horror films, I sleep with a night-light on, and I very rarely read scary books. And that’s the thing I love most about The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: it petrifies me and I love it. It makes me love being scared, because it does frightening so well. 

Mara Dyer thinks she’s going crazy, and that’s probably one of the scariest things to go through. Reading about her heart-attack inducing hallucinations had me cowering away from the book. I am dead serious when I say I could not look in a mirror head-on for three days after finishing the book. I found myself jumping out of my seat at the scary scenes, had my jaw dropping with the shocking twists, and had my heart pounding with adrenaline. This was a scary, scary novel. But, I loved it. It was amazing to have a book scare me so much and have me happy about it! Michelle Hodkin is a master story teller, and her suspenseful, addictive novel was purely fantastic. When Kathy asked me to write this guest posts, I remember wondering what I was going to write about. There are honestly so many things I love about this book, and I was having a hard time choosing just one. But, for me, one of the signs of a powerful book is when it makes think a different way. Usually it’s in a very powerful and emotional way (for example Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers) but in this case it was something very different. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer made me enjoy something I hate the most: fear. For a book to do that is pretty fan-freakin’-tastic in my opinion. 

If you’re a fraid-y cat like me, this book will terrify you. And if you’re a fearless horror genre veteran, I think this book will scare you too. Maybe it’ll be the hallucinations or the frightening deaths. Maybe it will be the horrifying idea of slowly going insane. Whatever it is, something in this book will get you. Something is going to get your heart racing, your palms sweaty, and your eyes darting around the room. Mara Dyer is going to scare you. And you’ll love every bit of it. 

Big thanks to Kathy for giving me this opportunity to guest post about this amazing series! It was a ton of fun! (Although I’m beginning to fear looking in mirrors again…*wink*)  

Also check out Ciara's review for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for more reasons why she loves this series.

Next up is amazingly lovely Brodie from Eleusinian Mysteries

Every sexual fibre of my soul is screaming at me to write "NOAH SHAW" as my most favourite part of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and I'm almost tempted too. But as I'm-drowning-in-a-puddle-on-my-own-drool sexy as he is, it's the mystery and suspense that made this novel for me. What I loved so much was having my mind twisting knots around itself. Who is the real Mara Dyer? Where did that botanica disappear to? Was the kiss real? Wait, JUDE?!Not knowing what Michelle Hodkin was going to throw at me next... knowing that I couldn't even rely on the narrator to keep my sanity grounded... that kind of uncertainty is so exhilarating to read!

Check out Brodie's review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for more.

Next up the fantastic Evie from Bookish shares why she loves this series

What I love the most about Michelle Hodkin's gorgeous YA series, Mara Dyer, is definitely the lead male character, Noah Shaw! British, mysterious, total sweetheart with a reputation of a heart-breaker.. ahhhh~ So swoon worthy! He's undoubtedly one of the hottest, most charming male protagonists out there. And not only because he is drop-dead gorgeous and bring-me-a-napkin drool-inducing hottie, but also because of his wonderful character, wittiness, mysteriousness, gentleness... everything! There is no other like Noah Shaw!!! 

Here's my favourite quote: 

“You want me as much as I want you. And all I want is you." Noah stood slowly, his body skimming mine as he rose. "Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forever.”

 Check out Evie's review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for more.

Next we have the amazing Meaghan from Feeling A Little Bookish with her favourite part of the Mara series

When Kathy asked me to participate in Mara Dyer week I couldn't be happier.  I have read both books in the series and I can say so many good things about them.  I think what stands out for me is Mara's character.  I love that she is an unreliable narrator and that she keeps you guessing.  You never really know what is going on in head or what is going on for real.  You can't help but feel for the girl because she lost all of her friends in a freak accident and is then transplanted into a new place.  Not only is she having to adjust to a new life but she also has to reconcile what happened in her old life.  While her life may be a little messed up, she still remains a sweet girl.  I also love the bond that she has with her brothers.  There really is a sense of family pride with her even when they frustrate her.  She is constantly trying to prove that she is okay but you can tell that she appreciates the support her family gives her.

Again, while the storyline has many wtf moments and it keeps you guessing, it's not just the story that gets to you.  It really is Mara herself that finds a little place in you and keeps the story going long after it is done.  My sister and I were talking the other day about the need to know what a character is doing long after the book is done and I think this applies well with Mara Dyer.  A few days after both novels, I found myself thinking: what is Mara doing?  This, my friends, is the sign of a well written book.

Check out Meaghan's review of The Evolution of Mara Dyer too.

Next up is the incredibly sweet Emilie from Emilie's Book World

I am a major sucker for anything that involves mystery. Whether it's in a book, TV show or movie. When I heard about The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I knew that this would be a book that would play right in to that. And it did. The entire time I was reading, the book was messing with my mind. I never knew what was real and what wasn't. And while that normally would frustrate me to no end, with The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer it didn't phase me in the least. Of course, I was just constantly trying to figure out what was happening, but that's what made me love the story as much as I did. And the mind messing part, was my absolute favourite part of the book. Though a certain Noah Shaw wasn't so bad either…

 Be sure to check out Emilie's review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer too.

The next to share is the delightful Kelly from KellyVision

The reason I love this series so much is because it has all the elements of a great paranormal trilogy/series: a great heroine, a compelling story, a hot love interest, twists and turns aplenty. But at the same time, Mara Dyer is completely unique and always surprises me. It's th best of both worlds: everything I know I love and wonderful surprises that still make sense, given the parameters of the story.

Be sure to stop by and check out Kelly's review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer as well.

The last blogger I invited to share is the wonderful Katie from Bookishly Yours

I don’t know how she did it, but Michelle Hodkin managed to write an even creepier sequel filled with even more questions and more plot twists. I read all five-hundred-something pages in one sitting because it just wouldn’t let me go! (Yes, this book has PHYSICAL power, y’all) The hotness that is Noah Shaw continues and we even get a great little peek into his thoughts. 

Michelle Hodkin has an awesome (frightening) gift for drawing you in with her brilliant characters and disturbing plots and gripping secrets. This sequel does not disappoint!

You can see her review of The Evolution of Mara Dyer on Monday by visiting her blog!

Thank you to all these amazing bloggers (I love all of their blogs! Such smart, fun women) and I totally recommend following them.

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by. I am already busy planning Mara Dyer Week 3 for next year.

Mara Dyer Week Post # 2 - Mara Dyer Quiz

Today for Mara Week, I have put together a quiz. It's a way to refresh our knowledge of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer before reading The Evolution (which is in stores TODAY).

There are spoilers for The Unbecoming so if you haven't read it you may want to skip this post (and go to your nearest bookstore or library, just saying). 

Once you have taken the quiz be sure to leave a comment with your favourite part of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer.

Hope you have fun taking my little quiz! It was a lot of fun to make.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for my spoiler free review of The Evolution of Mara Dyer!


 

Team Mara...and Why You Should Be Too!

You may have heard about a little tournament going on right now. It's being hosted by YA Sisterhood. A tournament all about selecting the best YA heroine. Mara's official advocate is Casey from The Bookish Type.

Lori from Pure Imagination asked for members of Team Mara to help take part in special Mara Mondays post.

You may remember I did a week long blog event dedicated to how AWESOME this novel (and Mara) is so, of course, I am Team Mara.

Here is why I am voting Dyer and why you should too!

1 She's the heroine you can relate to. She's not perfect, but nobody is perfect. She's the heroine for those of us that are a little different, and unique.

2 She loves animals. Not only does she love them, but she saves animals in distress. She happens to save them in a pretty epic way as well.

3 They say you can tell a lot about a person by the people they choose to be around. If that's true, Mara must be awesome because her best friend Jamie is pretty much the best.

4 A heroine always thinks of others. Mara always thinks of her family, and what her actions might do to them. She is especially concerned about her younger brother and the impact things would have on him. She also worries about what she is capable of doing to others.

5 She gave us the term "ass crown". Her colourful language in general is a plus.

6 She's strong. I don't mean physically (although....*spoilers* she can cause some damage) but she went through a lot. It's impressive that she is even functioning.

7 She doesn't make excuse or apologize for who she is. She's not in the popular crowd at school, and she is definitely OK with that.

8 She is capable of holding her own in a banter contest (see #5). She is witty, has a spark, and isn't afraid to stand her ground.

9 She leaves you wanting more. We don't know everything there is to know about Mara. She has a little mystery. It's part of what makes her awesome.

10 Lastly, because Noah Shaw would. Doing what Noah wants is pretty much going to happen anyway, you'll be too distracted by his hotness to put up a fight.

So with this I hope you'll vote on Dec 16...

The End of Mara Dyer Week.

Here we are, the last day of Mara Week. It’s gone so fast.

Now that I have gotten you all excited and hopefully some of you have decided to devour book 1, my sights are already on book 2.

The book left me with so many questions, and I am going to try to write down what I want answered in book 2 without giving anything away.

This may end up being a very vague, very incoherent post, but hopefully I can make it work.

Things I want more of -

Kissing. Lots and lots of kissing.
Noah Shaw, Noah Shaw, and Noah Shaw
More dark and twisty scenes
Mara’s sense of humour and sarcastic remarks. LOVE THEM
More of Mara’s friend Jamie. He is awesome, and needs to be around MUCH more
MORE ANSWERS!! *see below*
The paranormal element. I just want more details, more everything when it comes to it. We get a few, and I am sure we’re going to get even more with the second book.
Did I mention Noah Shaw already?


Questions I hope are answered -

The end- I didn’t see it coming. It opens up a MILLION questions. The impact on the characters is going to be felt for the rest of the series, and I am anxious to find out what it means. I have my suspicions but I have a feeling I am going to be totally wrong (and I will love it).

Noah Shaw - *sigh* I can’t help but think our dear Noah has a lot he is not telling Mara. I am hoping some of the questions I want Mara to ask him get answered. We learn some about him, but he seems like a guy with plenty more to tell. There is also that whole “love ‘em and leave ‘em” reputation that he has that Mara may (and should) have more questions about. His whole background is a mystery and I want to know more.

Noah has a necklace that is mentioned in the novel a few times. Is it important? Or am I reading way too much into it?

The accident - yes, we find out quite a bit about the accident and what happened that night. I still think there is more to uncover and more answers that Mara may need to really figure things out. Will Mara’s search for answers take her back to the scene of the accident?

Has anything like this happened previously (the accident, the events afterwards)? I am wondering if there may be others with similar stories.

So there are just some of the questions I am looking forward to having answered. If you have read the book chime in and let me know what you are most looking forward to during book 2 (spoiler free please or email directly if spoilers). Shall we start a support group to help us with the wait?

Thank you all for stopping by, be sure to enter the contest, and a big thank you to Michelle Hodkin for being as supportive of this week as she’s been, and for that awesome interview.

The Men of Mara Dyer

Hopefully you've enjoyed Mara Dyer week so far. We're already at Day 4!

Today's post started out as a "Dream Cast" type post but something kept pulling me towards the guys in the book. All the different men in Mara's life and how the different relationships impact her story.

So without further ado.... May I present....

The Men (and boys) of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Daniel Dyer



Physical Description: Dark hair, and dark complexion. Mara calls him "Mr Perfect" and he resembles his mother (again according to Mara)

Relationship to Mara : her protective older brother

Impact on Mara: he's a support system. He is there for Mara and really cares about his sister.

Note about the picture I chose: I kept picturing a Colin Egglesfield look a like, so I tried to find the youngest photo I could. He's too old now, but something similar to this is what I imagine.



Joseph Dyer

Physical Description: Mara says that he looks like Daniel.

Relationship to Mara: her sweet younger brother

Impact on Mara: he provides a person for whom she worries about. She really cares about how he is going to think, react, etc to the stuff that is going on. She wants to protect him. She care about her whole family, but it seems amplified when it comes to Joseph, most likely because he is younger.

Note on the photo: I could not find anyone that I felt suited. He is described as looking like Daniel anyways.



Jamie Roth



Physical Description:: Dread locks, short, dimples and likes to dress up his school uniform with his own t-shirts

Relationship to Mara: best friend extraordinaire

Impact on Mara: first person to be friendly towards Mara when she transfers schools. He's witty, sarcastic and their banter provides some normalcy to Mara's crazy life. He also happens to be an awesome math tutor and likes to look out for his friends(especially if a Britsh hottie with a certain reputation is involved)

Note on the picture I chose : I picked Corbien Bleu because that is who I kept picturing. Sadly, Corbin does not have the dreads that Jamie is supposed to, but otherwise I think he's about right.



Jude Lowe



Physical Description: All American, blond hair, green eyes and a football player

Relationship to Mara: ex-boyfriend

Impact on Mara: Huge. He was with Mara the night of the accident, and she is haunted by not being able to remember what happened to him.

Note on the picture I chose: I chose Zach Roeig because he reminds me of an "All American" football player, and he's blond.



Noah Shaw



Description: Grey/Blue eyes, chestnut hair, scruffy, British accent, with a panting dropping smile (according to Jamie) and he also happens to love animals. Basically, the hottest boy in YA ever.

Relationship to Mara - Um, let's call him a maybe boyfriend

Impact on Mara- SO MUCH! I don't know where to start. Noah helps Mara in figuring out what is going on with her, he supports her, and listens to her. He's someone that she can talk to.

Note on the picture I chose: Ben Barnes. Sigh. He just needs to be a little scruffy and his eyes are not the right colour but he could work. He just needs to be a little disheveled in this picture.



These are some of the most important men in Mara's life. They will all hopefully play a role in the second book.

Mara Dyer Week ends tomorrow with a look ahead to book 2. Come back tomorrow and see what I am most looking forward to.

Make sure to enter the book contest as well so that you can read this awesome novel for yourself.

My Scary Story...AND a Mara Dyer Giveaway

Welcome to Day 3 of my Mara Dyer week.

For today's post I am going to share with you the scariest/creepiest thing that has ever happened to me.

*Back when I was in Grade 8 or so I had gotten an Ouija Board for my birthday as a gift. My friends and I used to play it all time at sleepovers, etc. I never really thought it worked, as it was usually just silly stuff we asked and you could tell someone was moving it.

One day a friend and I decided to play with it in the graveyard behind her house. I immediately could tell something was different. We didn't have to ask any questions before it started moving. It began to tell us a story.

It told us the story of a guy. Let's call him Jason. Jason had died in a boating accident some years prior on a lake near where we lived. He told us about the accident and that he was the Uncle of a boy in our class at school. I knew the boy (let's call him Paul) but not overly well. My friend knew him a little better, but claimed she had never heard about this Uncle.

We ran out of the graveyard and back to her place as fast we could. I knew I hadn't moved it and my friend SWORE she never moved it.

We went to school the next day and asked Paul about his Uncle. He confirmed the details of the story and was surprised we knew about it.

Do I think it actually worked? Not sure. My friend totally could have read about it and decided it would be a fun joke, but something tells me that wasn't the case.*


So now that you know my scary story let's get to the good stuff. I have a hardcover copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer up for grabs along with a mini Ouija Board keychain. If you've seen the trailer, you'll see that an Ouija Board is involved in the story (bonus because it relates to my story as well).



In order to win simply tell me what YOUR scary story is(or what scares you)! Fill out the form below with all the details and I will let Random.org select a winner.

I will be posting some of the most fun answers in a post later on, so please let me know if that is not ok when entering.

Contest is international and will end Oct 12th.

Michelle Hodkin Interview

Yesterday I told you all about why I love The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Today I have the fabulous author, Michelle Hodkin stopping by for an interview.

I was fortunate enough to have met Michelle at Book Expo America this year and she is one of the sweetest, kindest authors I’ve met.

You can learn more about her by visiting her blog, her official website, and Twitter.

1. Describe The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer in 3 words

Dark. Sexy. Twisted.

2. Who is the first person that gets to read your writing?

For THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER, one of my dear friends, Emily, was the first person to read any of it-ever. I ended up with about eight readers, though, for that book-members of my family and friends I've had for many years. I am still so grateful for all of the help they gave me.

3. What kind of research did you do for The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer? (if this is too spoilery please replace with this question - what made you want to become an author?)

Well, the most interesting research involved shooting a Glock 23 uncompensated 40 caliber gun. I was also chased out of a botanica in Little Havana when I went with a friend to do research for the book. Creepier still? We couldn't find the botanica again when we went back the next day. It was just.gone.

4. If you could go back in time to any time period and any place, where and when would you travel to?

Laurelton, Queens (New York) circa 1947. My grandmother would have been 17 and it would be so amazing to know what she was like as a teenager, since she and I have always been so close that in high school, I would routinely tell people she was my best friend.

5. This is not book related, but it is a cause close to my heart as well. You're really involved with animal shelters, and just animal causes in general. I volunteer at my local animal shelter, so I really admire what you do. What made you want to get involved? Any tips for people wanting to get involved?

I have always loved animals (my second word was 'duck') and I've been active in animal rescue for over ten years. I started volunteering for a shelter when I was in college, but I really became inspired when, after volunteering for that shelter, I met Maggie-who I later adopted. Maggie, my rescued pit bull, came from a house with 42 other animals in it and she had so many mental and physical problems stemming from her abuse and neglect. It made me want to help the millions of animals who find themselves in shelters through no fault of their own.

There are so many resources out there for people looking to do more. If you can foster an animal (take one into your home), then contact your local animal shelter and see if they can use you. Or if you have even just a free half-hour a week that you can spare, see if they could use volunteers to help walk the dogs-sometimes that's all the human interaction they get each day. Not because shelter staff doesn't care, but because there are too many homeless pets and not enough loving families to adopt them all.

But if you're limited on time or space, then visit the Animals section of Change.org. It's a grassroots platform dedicated to social change, and you can help tremendously by adding your name to petitions for causes you care about-and there are ALL kinds of causes on there! All it takes is one click, but so many victories have been achieved because people cared enough to click through at all.

Thank you for asking about this, and for doing all of the good work that you do, and for having me on your blog!

Um, shooting a gun for research??! BAD ASS!

Change.org really is a fantastic site and if you are looking to get involved they are a great place to start.

I would like to thank Michelle for stopping by. Come back tomorrow for a chance to win my Mara Dyer prize pack featuring a copy of the book and other goodies!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Release Date – September 27, 2011
Publisher – Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 464
My Rating- 10/10
*obtained from Book Expo America for an honest review*

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

Welcome to the first post in my Mara Dyer week. Yup, that’s right - WEEK! This book rocked my world and I am going to be annoying and gush about it constantly.

So the synopsis doesn’t tell us much - and guess what? I am not going to spoil anything either. This book is one of those books that needs to be discovered, revealed and experienced. Please don’t spoil it for yourself as it’s really almost magical what happens while reading it if you are not expecting what’s coming.

Dark, sexy, twisted, WTF, and OMG. These are the words that went through my mind as I reading this book. It literally grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go.

The writing style is amazing. It’s one of those books where each and every plot point has been thought out and planned for. It’s so lush, beautiful and well written. Michelle can create a mood with just a few words and the timing of her humour is perfect. She builds suspense and intrigue really well. You want to keep reading, you always want to know more.

Mara - I love her. Really I do. I would be friends with her. She’s fragile and broken after the accident. At times she, and the reader, are wondering if she is going crazy. However, there is a strength to her. She is trying to get her life in order, and move on. People are capable of dealing with a lot and Mara reflects this. It makes her very likeable. I enjoyed that she doesn’t remember much about the accident so we are able to take the journey with her. We learn things as she does (mostly) and it makes her really easy to relate to. We can relate to feeling out of place (Mara transfers schools after the accident) and wanting to just blend in in certain situations. The question that is teased with this book “Who is Mara Dyer?”, the answer to this is pretty awesome, and I can’t wait to find out more about her in the next books.

The romance in this book. Sigh...BIG SIGH. Noah Shaw is my book crush right now. The guy I will measure all other book crushes against. I want one of him for my birthday (or Christmas, not fussy). I love how he and Mara balance each other. I love that whenever Noah is snarky, that Mara can dish it right back. Mara has her own stuff going on (hello, she was in an accident that killed her friends, and now weird things are happening) so she makes it clear that she isn’t interested in Noah’s games. LOVE IT! This makes Mara a challenge for him, and he pursues her as a result. I love that he is British (my love affair with the British accent is well known). He ends up being very sweet, and really does care about Mara which makes him even more adorable. The chemistry is off the charts when they are together and they have some of the hottest make out scenes in YA. This is a really sexy book (if Michelle manages to top the sexy in book 2 I might explode). The teasing, and banter between these two is funny, and genuine.

I also want to point out that Michelle’s teenagers FELT like teenagers. They did what I would expect teenagers to do, talked about things like sex, worried about college, dealt with the mean b*@ch in school. I liked that it seemed realistic even with the creepy under current.

The ending of the book…it KILLED me. It is one of the best twists I’ve read in a book. It was something I did NOT expect to happen, and it has me going crazy for book two. It creates a whole new set of questions that I can’t wait to dive into. I am also legitimately scared about what might happen to these characters I already love in book two now. How long exactly until I can read it??!

In My Mailbox

This is a weekly meme hosted by the awesome Kristi at The Story Siren. It gives us a chance to showcase the books we got during the week.

I got a few fun things in my mailbox this week.

First something non book related. I LOVE Gremlins. The movie brings back memories of sitting and watching it with my sisters and I've always loved Gizmo.

One of my sweet penpals (who is really now more of a friend) sent me a present. A Christmas ornament of Gizmo!! It's seriously the cutest thing ever and I squealed when I got it in the mail.



He is so cute he will be in all my pictures this week :)

So I got 2 books this week.






Purchased -

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin (goodreads)


From the library -

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead (goodreads)

So I pre-ordered 2 copies of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and ONE of them was shipped early. I am not sure when the second one will arrive (I expect this coming week) so you can expect to see it again.

I have read Shadow Kiss and LOVED it. This series just gets better and better. My heart was kind of broken at the end of this one though. :(

What books did you get this week? Leave me a comment and I will check it out.

Happy reading everyone!

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer book trailer...

Sigh...

So I live in Canada and can not watch this. However, I am sure it's amazing, sexy, dark, and twisty..because that's exactly what The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin is.

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

EDIT -

Here is a video that should be viewable to all. The trailer is amazing. Seriously. One of the best I've seen.



Enjoy the video and come back next week for my Mara Dyer week.

Mara Dyer Craziness

We are now about 20 days until the release of one of my favourite books (quite possibily favourite) of 2011. I have been working on something extra special for the release of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and am finally able to share some of the awesome details.



I have some giveaways, discussion posts, and even have Michelle stopping by for an interview. In total it's a week full of posts and other fun things.

Michelle is having an EPIC (hello annotated ARC, I want you) giveaway right now. You can check out the details on how to enter at her blog.

I have a blog button set up for the Mara Dyer week and if you wish to put it your blog you would be my favourite person ever. You can find it on my main page.

Movie Magic

I am sure everyone has experienced this - you’re reading a book and you can picture the characters and the world so vividly that you’re dying to see it made into a movie.

I thought with all the excitement about the Hunger Games and Mortal Instruments movies I would highlight some books that have yet to hit the big screen… but I sure hope they do.

Some of these have already been optioned for a movie (and hopefully one will be made) others I have heard nothing about. I am going to try not to give any spoilers for the books that are on my list, while still giving you an example of why I want to see it on the big screen.

1. Shatter Me

This novel is amazing and filled with moments I want to see on the big screen. The ending is so epic, and made me so excited for the next book. There is a scene in the book that involves a young child that would make my physically ill to see on screen, but that shows the power of that scene. The hot romance would play out wonderfully if the cast had great chemistry.

2. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The accident would be intense to see on the big screen. The paranormal element would provide some great movie moments, and the sexy chemistry between Noah and Mara would ignite the screen.

3. Starcrossed

The fight scenes, the “dream sequences” and the beautiful island scenery are just some of the highlights I would be looking forward to. The scene where Helen and Lucas are fighting and they dent the earth would be the most insane movie moment.

4. Vampire Academy

The action alone in this book would make an fantastic movie. Getting to see the school would also be a huge movie moment for fans. I have only read one book, but already I can see the appeal of a movie. The training scenes, the ball when the Princess visits, and heart pounding end would be my “must sees”.

5. Delirium

The landscape and seeing this whole area fenced in to keep out the infection would be interesting. The first time Lena sees Alex (the scene with the cows) sticks out in my head for some reason as a great moment. If it could be shown properly seeing how everyone acts once they have the procedure would give me chills.

6. Wither

The house that Rhine lives in after becoming a Bride and the all futuristic gadgets and illusions would be on the top of my wish list for this movie. That house is so detailed that it would be fun to see it realized in a movie.

7. Die For Me -

The setting of Paris would make it visually pleasing. The sword fight scenes, and that romantic end scene would leave everyone dying to go to Paris and find their own Vincent.

8 Divergent

The whole world Veronica Roth has created begs to be made into a movie. The scene where Tris jumps off the building not knowing what awaits her at the bottom would be my most wanted scene. I would love the complicated, intense relationship between her and Four as well. Getting to see where the Dauntless live as that area was so detailed.

9. The Iron Fey Series

Getting to see the NeverNever and the Summer and Winter Courts would be amazing. I can already visualize the Winter Court and it would be stunning on screen. The magic, romance, and epic fight scenes would make this one visually captivating movie.

I am sure there are tons of books I am not thinking of right now. What is the book you hope they make into a movie?

Waiting on Wednesday - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin


Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

Pretty vauge synopsis but gives me just enough to get interested. Just from the brief description I have so many questions. The cover is stunning. I am so excited to get my hands on this one.

Expected release date September 27th, 2011