Michelle Hodkin is such a good author. The novel just grips you and won't let you breath until you've read it all!

Biedenharn, Isabella (2015-11-03). "Michelle Hodkin will write a spin-off series to the Mara Dyer Trilogy - exclusive". EW.com . Retrieved 2015-12-06. The other problem with the Mara Dyer series is that it uncritically embraces several sexist tropes. Mara’s love interest, Noah, spends the entire first book following her even when she rebuffs his advances. Their first date occurs because he announces to the school that they’re already dating, which is supposed to be a romantic gesture, and then he tells her “you owe me” and she agrees that she does. Throughout the first book, every step of their relationship consists of Noah pursuing, Mara rejecting him while being secretly interested, and him continuing to pursue until she relents. The reader, of course, is in Mara’s head and knows that she reciprocates his interest, but that’s what makes the trope so damaging. It presupposes that the girl who is rejecting the boy’s advances secretly wants him, and therefore excuses the boy’s refusal to accept her boundaries. Now for the bad: the series does a good job of portraying PTSD, but when it comes to race and gender and other mental illnesses, it leaves something to be desired.stars Welcome to yet another teen romance masquerading as a paranormal novel. If you’re like me, you’ve been salivating to read this book for months because of the breathtaking cover—and of course, the premise of a girl waking up in a hospital with no memory of how her friends were killed is pretty intriguing. I’m sorry to say, however, that the maddening phenomenon I’m calling “cover fraud” strikes again, since this is another book whose interior does not live up to its beautiful cover art. i loved that it had me pretty much guessing the whole way through, and that there were some creepy dark themes. honestly just what i needed rn. i almost wish it was a bit darker tho.

Michelle Hodkin is an American New York Times bestselling author, [1] and the creator of the Mara Dyer Trilogy, consisting of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, The Evolution of Mara Dyer, and The Retribution of Mara Dyer. [2] Early life and education [ edit ] How in the hell am I supposed to defend and believe in the fact that she's not insane when she does things like that? There are also other times ( I believe 4-6 other times) to support this where she just stands somewhere for up to two hours and has no idea what she did there and why she just stood there for so long. Her "ability," which I will talk about later, should not attribute to any of these "episodes" that she has. I can't even comprehend any of what she does; it's all so random, and put in the worst situations that make me anything but like Mara Dyer. I wouldn't touch that girl with a ten-foot pole if I saw her in real life. Call me cruel, but after you kill someone then you start maniacally laughing about it; about how funny it all is, then I will not be friends with you or even equate myself with you. Ever. It probably has to do with the writing through the unreliable narrative voice of Mara which is funny, thoughtful, a bit creepy and mysterious but definitely gripping. When a girl tells a story about how she could be the suspect for the murder of her friends, you definitely WILL listen. ;) You’ll listen more when she tells you about this perfectly beautiful guy (despite his always tousled look) who smells of ocean and sandalwood. (Why do hawt guys in books usually smell like sandalwood?)Still, there’s something disarming about Noah’s charm and I couldn’t help but love his character. We all know I love MCs that know their literature and it’s almost impossible to resist a character that has his own library and can quote books by heart. XD I know a lot of people think that Noah is very demanding, arrogant and full of himself. Which admittedly he is, but of course he is hiding his true self behind his attitude. ;-) So yeah, this is as stereotypical as it can get. *lol* In the Becoming of Noah Shaw, Noah starts to distrust Mara, after Stella told him about her killing people in the Retribution of Mara Dyer. Mara confesses to Noah that she is responsible for his father's death and Noah breaks up with her. What is Mara's response to his rudeness? I nodded feebly. o_O You nodded... feebly? What is wrong with you? I can't understand why you aren't all like:

The profound, prolific, and purely dramatic prologue. *lights dim and a single spotlight focuses on me; a narrator's voice comes out of the loudspeakers* Said main character becomes arch enemy with the pretty popular girl just because. Plus she hates the girls wearing “slutty costumes” at the Halloween party… I am so tired of weak, weepy, young girls - swept off their feet by rich, handsome, mysterious, brooding boys. Mara Dyer took it to the limit, and then just kept on going. The bumbling, tentative, yet beautiful-but-doesn't-know-it girl with surprising inner strength is so over and done. Yeah, I get it, it's supposed to be us, but give me a freaking break already! And every time (every. single. time.) Mara sees Noah, the reader gets to learn how incredibly good-looking he is. I would to tap him on the shoulder and go, "Hey, buddy. You dropped something." "Huh? What? Where?" he'd say. And I would respond, "Your lips. I see them over there dangling off your momma's right ass cheek. Go and get 'em, will ya? It's distracting."

Publication Order of Shaw Confessions Books

the writing felt a bit choppy. and the dialogue was cringe but i honestly didn’t mind it. it gave me a good laugh bc this was written over a decade ago so i kinda loved the vibes. Mara is half-Indian, a fact that could be removed from the story without changing it at all. There are approximately three mentions of her heritage in the first book: first that she doesn’t look Indian, second that she doesn’t like Indian music, and third that her mother doesn’t wear Indian clothes. Of course, there are plenty of second-generation immigrants who feel disconnected from their culture, and half-white children who look fully white. Both are stories worth telling. However, when these are the only mentions of her heritage, I am left feeling like Hodkin wanted to call the character half-Indian without putting forth the effort of writing a half-Indian. This is the wearing-eyeliner-on-your-bottom-lid-but-not-your-top of books. The I Heart Justin Bieber graphic tee of series start-offs. The Twilight of YA fantasy paranormal romance. Wait. Twilight is the Twilight of that. Noah is the bad boy love interest of the story that has had sex with the entire female population of the school. >insert eye roll here< His character is also over the top with bad boy stereotypes. He gets away with everything because everyone loves him. He is loaded with cash money. He's ridiculously good looking with a *le gasp* English accent. He's incredibly arrogant, rude and tactless. Oh, and most importantly, he only has eyes for Mara. Of course. Once he enters the picture, Mara completely forgets about everything. *cough*the plot*cough* I suppose it really isn't her fault. After all, Noah possesses a "panty-dropping smile." Hide your daughters! Like I said earlier, I really can understand why people would like this book. The common tropes like sleep-in-bed-with-your-love-interest-without-the-parents-knowing, and everything else that I listed is a lot more subtle than other novels like Halo, Hush, Hush, or Fallen, but my main point? It's. Still. There. Having said that, the masochist in me will read the next book; hopefully there will be more character development and the plot will get going. I beg on my knees crying I hope that it will get better, but doubt it. If there's a main thing I would say to this book it would be this, in the end:

He's basically the prefect blend of being attentive to your needs and not being over protective (like your mom is) and still letting you still do your own thing without judging you. Graduating with an English degree from New York University, Hodkin intended to pursue a career in academia. [3] Hodkin instead attended law school in Michigan immediately upon graduation. She completed her law degree at the age of 23. [4] Career [ edit ] ANYWHOOO im actually excited to read the next book because it ended on a cliffhanger and i’m invested in the plot now.And the last book prompted this, “Well that ending had me SHOOK. But it definitely felt like it was dragging in the middle there. I can’t wait to read The Shaw Confessions series. NOVEMBER GET HERE NOOOOOW.” And to make things more interesting beyond that (zero) Mara constantly reminds us of her visions and nightmares and of how crazy she is. Guess what, Mara, after a certain point... One of my favorite things about a book is when it reaches the part where I get an explanation of the title or of the cover of the book. Some books sadly don’t get to that part at all. This book definitely did earning my well-deserved “ooohs” and “aaaahs.” Mara was more than a decent heroine which, I didn't know why, just came as such a pleasant surprise to me. She had PTSD from the accident she and her friends were in when the book opened. I need to give the author credit for not creating yet another YA heroine who solely obsessed about her love life and magically forget about everything else. Mara was not like that at all: she didn't suddenly tossed aside her messed up life and she actually had the presence of mind to want to put her shit together before thinking of having a boyfriend. That was refreshing I tell you. Woohoo!