Tag! I'm It!

Oh dear. I would never normally do two blog posts in one day. But I seem to have been caught up in an internet game of tag! I've been tagged by Ya fiction author, Michelle Krys. Check out her website here: http://michelle-krys.blogspot.ca/

So now I have to answer eleven questions, and come up with eleven of my own and tag OTHER bloggers in this post. (It's supposed to be eleven, but really, I mean come on. I'm not that popular).

1) What are the top three books in your TBR pile?
See sidebar! Ooh! Cheating.

2) Who is your top book boyfriend (dare I say husband)?
Hm. I would have to say Eric Northmen, from the Sookie Stackhouse books. Meow.

3) If you could have written any YA book in history, what would you choose and why?
The Harry Potter series. Aside from money and fame...I really do think they're sheer creative genius. Then of course, there's the money and fame....

4) If you could live the life of any book heroine who would you choose and why?
Hermione or Ginny from Harry Potter, because I wish I could wave a wand and do magic.

5) Choose one: your book is a literary masterpiece with tons of critical acclaim but very, very lacklustre sales, or your book is a blockbuster of a novel with millions upon millions of copies sold but others question its quality and it is nearly universally bashed in the writing community, a la Twilight. There's no in between or neither choice either (Nice try!)
Aaaw, that's a crappy choice. Um, I'll be shallow and go for the sales. Hopefully my next book will be a literary masterpiece AND I'll be famous enough to sell it! Haha.

6) If you could have the super power of any literary hero or heroine, who would you choose and why?
Tessa, from Cassandra Clare's Infernal devices series. It would be so awesome to be able to morph into someone else and trick people!

7) You're stranded on a desert island for life, with one author. Who is it?
Young adult fiction author, Rebecca Lynn. Because we would just build our own starbucks out of bamboo and sip coconut milk and talk about books forever.

8)You are forced to live one day of your life over and over for eternity. What day is it and why?
Hm, I think it would be my last birthday. Chocolate cake for eternity wouldn't be so bad.

9)If you could be invisible for one day, what would you do with that time?
Um, honestly? I'm tempted to say I would go act heroic or something, but I would probably sneak around and play pranks on people.

10) If you had to be reincarnated into an animal what would it be and why?
A bird, because I've always wanted to fly.

11) If you had to rename yourself what would you choose?
Something fancy. Hm, like Rebecca Velvet. That sounds cool and mysterious. Or maybe the last name Warrior. That would be AWESOME on a book cover.

The Newly Tagged:
-Rebecca Lynn- http://www.authorrlynn.com/
-Melvyn Windham - http://meloramawrites.blogspot.ca/
-Janeen Ippolito - http://thequietpen.wordpress.com
-Cassie Mae - http://www.ninjaswrite.com



My Forwarding Questions:

1)If you got to meet a famous author who would it be?
2)If you got to say only ONE thing to them, what would it be?
3)Make up a fake (and short) book jacket with these words included: Dishwater, hedgehog, nylons,wobbly, sausages, dangerous, angry. Okay, GO...
4)Who is your book boyfriend/girlfriend?
5)Your publisher is paying for you to go anywhere in the world and write a book about it. Where?
6)What is the most HORRIBLE book character you can think of and why?
7) Who is your favorite villain?
8) What is your favorite book to movie?
9)  What was the most horrifyingly scary book you've ever read? Why?
10) What book series do you wish you had written?
11)When is the last time a book made you cry and what book was it?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: A Book Review

                Normally I have at least three books on the go. At this very moment I am reading Rebecca Lynn’s “The Descendants” (highly recommended and will be reviewed next!), Mira Grant’s “Feed” and “The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences” by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris. (The third one I probably won’t be doing a review on, because in all honesty, I was expecting a wonderful Gail Carriger kind of read, and thus far have been very disappointed.) But before this trio I had another three going, but ended up totally captivated by The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and ignoring the other two.  The book is dark and confusing, and at times I wondered where the heck the plot was going and if it was even going to make any sense in the end.  It was the very start that grabbed hold of me and refused to let go. It opens with Mara and her two friends playing with an Ouija board (always ominous anyways) and one of Mara’s friends asks “how am I going to die?” and the board spells out M.A.R.A. Then the narrator (Mara) tells you “They were both dead within a month”.

The first thing I do when picking out a book is look at the cover, if that pulls me in I’ll flip to the front page and read that. If THAT draws me in, and the writing is good, I’ll buy it.  Not only does Michelle Hodkin have an excellent and believable YA voice, the beginning is enough to give you the chills and make you want to keep reading. The front cover is quite accurate, since I sort of felt like I’d been plunged into a deep and murky depths, creepy, disorienting and maybe a bit over my head. For most of the book Mara is sufferings from PTSD (Post Dramatic Stress Disorder) and seeing her dead friends and strange, creepy things that aren’t there. If a little bit of schizophrenic action isn’t enough to keep it interesting, people around her start dying in grotesque ways. Top that off with a little romance with a unbelievably good looking (of course) English boy (doesn’t seeing your dead friend in the mirror get you in the mood for a little romance?) and you’ve got The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. Honestly, the romance was a little much. I mean, she’s seeing dead people and wondering why on earth people around her are dropping like flies, and then suddenly WOAH, we’re in the middle of a grand old romance and the dead people are forgotten. Um, sorry? And then of course the boy is unbelievably gorgeous and has every girl in the school wanting to wrap themselves around his neck like a scarf, but he suddenly only has eyes for Mara. And he’s a rich asshole who has slept with every girl in the school, but he actually turns out to have a big heart, shhh, don’t tell. At parts the “cocky bad boy” thing was a bit hard to deal with. Parts where he puts a finger over her mouth to tell her to be quiet (I’m sorry what? She DIDN’T punch his face after that?).  The part where he tells her “you’re mine” made me wonder if the author has some…er…issues. 

I won’t give anymore away, since I suggest reading it for yourself. When I closed the book my reaction was a mixture of “That was cool.” And “Um, what? Okay…I THINK I get what just happened.”  Overall, even though it was dark and gritty and left me feeling like a wanted to go watch a comedy (something light and happy to get the taste of dark insanity out of my mouth) I can see why it’s a best seller. It has a bit of everything:  Ridiculous romance, confusing paranormal type plot, a few psychotic breakdowns. What’s not to love? I did feel like the plot wandered a little bit, sort of like a drunk who knows where he WANTS to go, but there’s a lot of staggering and shuffling involved on the way. YOU may love it, or it may leave you scratching your head. BE WARNED…there is a ridiculous cliff hanger at the end. This book does not resolve itself. I felt a little like chucking it across the room, but hey, the cover art is so nice…

I WOULD recommend this book, and rate it an 7 out of 10 on my bookshelf scale.