I'm submitting this book to the 2011 Debut Author Challenge, hosted by The Story Siren.
Review: I did not see this one coming. This book has a rather unique plot, making you second-guessing what you've just read and complicating further Mara's story. It's rare to read a mystery/thriller in the YA genre, but I enjoyed every bit of it.
Mara Dyer is starting school anew. She has moved due a personal tragedy - her best friend, her boyfriend and his sister died, leaving her with no memory of what happened, except for these hallucinations, these visions that haunt her. She doesn't know how to get back to normal.
It was refreshing to read Mara's story. She's an unreliable narrator (one not very common in YA), due to her hallucinations, and she had me second-guessing everything she said that she saw and did, and even when I found out what was really going on with her, I was very skeptical at that particular revelation. The plot kept me suspicious until the very end, and I was a bit uneasy about how the thing with Mara turned out.
Noah, the male MC, starts out as the typical player, the hot and British guy - he's the kind of character that would annoy me for being such a cliché, but he and Mara had some chemistry and I was chuckling at every remark that they both threw at each other, usually sarcastic or with some sort of innuendo.
They come off a bit too intense, though. I wasn't sure if it was Mara's "craziness" or just teenage behaviour, but still, their relationship was a bit odd. And unique, as well - I was curious at how they were connected and what that means for them, as it could go either very right or very wrong.
I adored Mara's family, they were so supportive of her, especially her brothers, Daniel and Joseph. Jamie, the guy she befriends, was interesing and funny, although a bit cliché. I just lacked any strong female characters besides Mara. Her dead friends don't count, and the she-slut that tried to screw with Mara doesn't either.
As for the final chapters and the ending, I was shocked. At how Mara behaved, at what she was willing to do and at what she may have (or may have not) done. And also at what she was going to do before the big cliffhanger. Seriously, what is going on with these books? Cliffhangers are so exciting but also make me pine so much for the next book. I tell you, it is not a pretty sight to behold, leaving me hanging like that. September 2012 is so far away...
Pages: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
