Book Nerds Across America

Book Summary
Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.

Retribution has arrived.

Flo's Review

Michelle and I at the Miami Book Fair in 2014

Honestly, I am not sure what to say about this book. Did I like it? I did. I was listening to the audiobook, but then HAD to know what was going to happen once I got closer to the end, so I abandoned the audio and read the last 100 pages. At the same time, though, I discovered I have a low threshold for ... gross stuff? There were definitely a few scenes that I had to skim over because if I read them (or listened to them) closely, I felt I would be sick imagining them. Sometimes the situations that characters found themselves in seemed a little too coincidental, even though they weren't. (Ahhh...it's hard to do this in a non-spoilery fashion.) This book reminded me a lot of Allegiant in that I felt there was a lot of information dump in this volume. We spent the first two books being like, "WHAT is going on???" and just finally got answers here. Thankfully, though, it was not all information dump and there was some good action as well. This book also reminded me a bit of The Young Elites because with that book Marie Lu set up to write a story about a villain. Both of these books remind you, and Mara even talks about it toward the end of this one, that sometimes the villain is not all bad, and starts from a place of good intentions. I loved how this ended! I was told what it was going to do by a few people, I think, before I got to read it, but it was still really cool how it played out. I'm curious to hear if Jacque died in her chair when Noah Shaw started speaking words of love en francais?

Jacque's Review

After reading the first two books in the series, this was one of my absolute favorite YA series.  We had to wait over two years between the release of the second and third books, so I was beyond anxious for the release.  Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic, but this book didn't quite live up to my expectations. 

Michelle inserted chapters throughout the book which told the story of Mara's ancestors.  This provided a history of the "superpowers" Mara and her friends possess.  We also come to understand the motivations behind the research that is being conducted at Horizons, which shed some light on not only the characters' pasts and onset of their conditions, but also their future. 

We eventually learn if Jude is "real or not real" and how he is connected to Horizons and Dr. Kells.  I wish there could have been a way for Michelle to tell this story without using quite so much graphic violence.  I read a lot of adult murder mysteries, so I am not opposed to violence as a whole.  I just didn't think it was fitting for this series and specifically not when it was associated with Mara.  It didn't bother me in the least when Mara "punished" a character with her powers, but it was a completely different story when she had to defend herself by traditional means. 

The biggest disappointment had to be the lack of Noah throughout the story.  I don't want to give away any spoilers, but he did not have nearly the presence that he had in the first two books.  He is one of my favorite YA characters and is probably the sole reason I loved the first two books as much as I did.  Without his presence, it felt like something was missing. 
Overall, I felt like the story tied everything together and provided a satisfying ending.  While it didn't live up to my 5 star hopes, it was still an entertaining story and a nice conclusion to the series.  The last 100 pages that Flo referenced above was the saving grace for me.  It probably doesn't take a rocket scientist to determine what must have occurred around this point, but I flew through the last 100 pages.  If only the entire book could have been like that I would have given it 5 stars like the previous two.  (Yes...Noah had several quotes that were beyond swoon worthy.  That is what I probably love about him the most along with his arrogant and confident demeanor.) 

Spoiler Alert: May contain spoiler for the Mortal Instruments trilogy. Proceed with caution.

I pretty much love everything that Smart Pop YA does. They're the ones behind The Girl Who Was On Fire, which I simply adored. So when I discovered that they were doing a book about another one of my favorite series, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, I was beyond excited.

A nice collection of essays that covers many different aspects of the series is contained in this collection. Allow me to speak to a few of my favorites ones:

Simon Lewis: Jewish, Vampire Hero by Michelle Hodkin: Okay, part of my love of this essay is simply because I love Michelle. I have had the opportunity to meet her twice and she is just great! I also really did enjoy her book The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. But I think this essay really stuck with me because I am a devoted Catholic. I know it's not Jewish, but my faith is also rich in history and tradition, and I love that Michelle was able to take her faith, which is clearly also very important to her, and relate/apply it in this way. When I was reading The Mortal Instruments, I was able to pick up on some of these ideas, but not all of them, and certainly not with this depth. Also, I love Cassandra Clare's introduction for this essay -- it almost comes off like she is speechless from the awesomeness this essay.

Brotherly Love by Kendare Blake: Because, yes, the brother/sister storyline -- it needed to be addressed. And Kendare did a great job with it! I learned about the Westermarck effect and I see as I'm looking at my book that I actually wrote in the margin by one point: "I never thought of this!" This storyline was definitely an interesting choice by Cassandra Clare and it was nice to read a thoughtful analysis on it.

Immortality and its Discontents by Holly Black and Kelly Link: I like that Cassie and Smart Pop chose to keep this one in an interview/discussion format. This worked so well with this essay because I, as a reader, was able to follow a thought train and see how we got from discussing one thing to something else. Also, the reality of the discussion led them all to get sidetracked sometimes, which was just fun. Kelly makes an interesting point about Magnus: "In terms of audience reaction, his sexual preferences seem much more notable than the fact that he's immortal." Interesting, right?! Good point, Kelly! Oh, and this one, too, which I love:

"...that's a big part of young adult literature, period. It's a literature of discovery and change. You, the protagonist, have to discover the world. And at the same time you have to discover what you are that you didn't know was possible. You are changed. You change the world."

Wow. Bam!

When Laws are Made to Be Broken by Robin Wasserman: I loved reading an analysis of The Clave!

What Does that Deviant Wench Think She's Doing? Or, Shadowhunters Gone Wild by Sarah Rees Brennan: I remember meeting Sarah at the RT convention in Chicago last year. (We had a deep discussion about the merits of being on Team Stefan in The Vampire Diaries.) She entertained me then, and she entertained me with this essay. I was literally laughing out loud and shaking my head and some parts of this one. And putting this one at the end? Nicely played by Cassie and Smart Pop. And this quote here:

"Love is what matters. Love is the song you hear even while you sleep, and you know you are healed, and safe, and where you belong." <3

My random favorite line of the anthology, courtesy of Diana Peterfreund: "See, Jace never learned to flirt properly because he was raised by a murderous sociopath."

If you are a Mortal Instruments fan, I would definitely recommend you picking up a copy of Shadowhunters and Downworlders!

My favorite book series of 2012 is the Mara Dyer Series by Michelle Hodkin.  I read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer shortly before the release of The Evolution of Mara Dyer.  I LOVED both of these books.  For my complete reviews...click on the links.

I was SOOOO over the top excited about the release of the second book that Book Nerd Flo picked up the following for me at a release party near Miami. 



You can't comprehend how happy this made me. 

So....what makes this series GREAT?  This question can be answered with two words.  NOAH SHAW.  I did a Book Nerds Fictional Boyfriend post about him, which you can find at this link.

If you haven't read this series, you should rush to your local book store, library, eReader, etc. and get these books STAT. 

No, seriously. Michelle and I are the cutest EVER.

You may or may not have heard of a little storm called Sandy? Last Thursday, South Florida got the outer bands of it, which basically means it was rainy and windy like you wouldn't believe! So visualize that, and for fun add in 5 o'clock traffic in one of the worst cities for traffic in the U.S. This lovely scenario I'm having you picture would be the conditions under which I made my way to the Michelle Hodkin signing last week.

Needless to say, I was late. But I did arrive in time to hear these fun tidbits...

About Noah: The idea from Noah started with Michelle trying to think about what kind of guy would fall for Mara? And what kind of guy would she fall for? AND -- the best part -- a little bit of Ethan Hawke from the movie Reality Bites! Yup, I am okay with dating myself to say that that movie is made of awesome.

Michelle also hearts Stephanie Perkins! You know, as in author of Anna and the French Kiss, as in one of my most favorite books ever and that I hooked the other Book Nerds on?!

Could Mara Dyer ever be a movie? Maybe. "But it's a long road from being optioned to 'Coming to a theater near you!'" Michelle explained.

She also talked about the story behind the Mara Dyer trailer, which admittedly I hadn't seen until about 2 seconds ago. In case you're like I was:



Then it was time for the book signing! I had so much fun in line chatting it up with her Mom and some other members of the family -- who are all really cool, by the way! It's so great to see how supportive they are of Michelle. Also, I didn't forget you, readers! I grabbed you some of this fun swag:

Jacque's Review:

I was not familiar with this series until I was perusing the entries in the 2012 YA Crush Tournament.  I was still trying to select our September book of the month, so I thought...what better place to look than a tournament promoting all of our favorite YA Males. 

Noah Shaw IMMEDIATELY caught my attention.  I am a sucker for an English boy.  Add in the fact that he is from a wealthy family, is very smart and well educated, witty, and a bit of a bad boy...I was sold.  I was certainly not disappointed.  Noah exceeded my expectations.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer begins with our protagonist Mara waking up in a hospital.  She was involved in an accident that left her best friend, boyfriend of only a couple of months, and his sister all dead.  She has no memory of the accident or the evening that led up to it.

She begins having nightmares about the accident and is starting to recall bits and pieces of that evening.  She then starts having perceived delusions and hallucinations.  Her family decides to move to Miami, Florida to give her a fresh start.  They enroll Mara and her older brother Daniel into Croyden, a private school, which is where she meets Noah.

I do not want to give away any spoilers, so I will simply say there are a series of unusual events that occur and Mara always seems to be involved.  She thinks she is going completely crazy.  She doesn't know what is Real or Not Real.  (For my fellow Hunger Games fans...I would suggest that she use Peeta's game, but I don't think even that will help.)  What any reasonable person would think is Not Real really is Real.

I have never read any book even remotely like this.  I was completely riveted and LOVE, LOVE, LOVED all of the characters.  Not just Mara and Noah, but her brothers Daniel and Joseph as well.  Her relationship with them and their willingness to go above and beyond to help each other was touching.  Mara's only other friend besides Noah is Jamie.  He was equally as captivating, but not in the hot English boy sort of way.  He is the nerdy guy who befriends her on her first day of school.  His insight on the happenings at the school and his opinions of their fellow students greatly added to the story.

There are some shocking twists that take place the last third of the book.  We learn more about Noah and can appreciate why he is drawn to Mara.  They appear to be soul mates and I can only hope that they will be able to bring a sense of normalcy and understanding into each other's lives.

I will be reading The Evolution of Mara Dyer as soon as it is released on October 23rd.  There is so much more for Mara and Noah to discover and I am dying to see what happens next.  It has been a few months since I have given a book 5* on Good Reads, but this one is more than deserving.  I would recommend it highly to anyone who enjoys a good paranormal story with a contemporary setting.

Flo's Review

So much about this book! I remember it from mid-last year (2011) because it got a lot of attention before its release. I remember seeing lots of book bloggers being like, "OMG, what in the world?!?!" and other variations of this exclamation. Then, I went to the book's launch party in Miami. It was one of my first ones and it was really cool to see all of Michelle Hodkins' family and friends out there to support her. I remember that her brother was really helpful with her marketing, and upon hearing about my blog, gave me several bookmarks to give away. So if you want one, just comment on this blog post and I'll pick three random winners to send one to. For some reason I was lame and did NOT take a picture with her (fail on my part!), but I did get my book signed:


We heard some excerpts from the book at the launch party, and I remember thinking that I needed to read it ASAP! I put it on my bookshelf...and there it sat until Jacque announced that it was going to be the BookNerds September read, approximately one year later. (Second Flo fail.) On a rainy Saturday, I woke up late and, after Jacque's enthusiastic nudges for me to read it, I cracked it open. A few hours later, I left my bed to make some lunch -- brought the book with me. Then I took it back into bed and didn't leave until it was done.

This was definitely one of the largest books I've read in such a short period of time. I kept wanting to put it down at times, but I just couldn't -- I *had* to know what happened next -- I *had* to experience that next interaction with Noah, or get another clue to what happened that night in Rhode Island. I definitely shared some of my fellow bloggers, "OMG -- what is going on?!?!" reactions. While some of the reveals made sense, most of them took me by surprise. Hodkin was about 50/50 with her transitions -- sometimes they were weak, but sometimes they were spot on and had me going, "Oh my gosh, okay, just one more chapter then I'll...."

Another very cool thing about this book is that it takes place in my hood! It was really cool to read about Calle Ocho (I've been down there during that festival!), the house on Biscayne Bay, and especially the crazy Miami drivers! (Yes, they are.) The cliffhanger at the end --- EEEK. I need The Evolution of Mara Dyer STAT!

P.S. Comment to win! One of these bookmarks will go great with your Evolution book!