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.