"The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer" by Michelle Hodkin

When I first sat down with The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer I was skeptical. It was tough not to feel like I was about to voluntarily be burned by some cheesy, teenage romance novel with a fantastic twist - again. [I can't be the only one still a little sore over reading a thousand pages of "Sparkling Vampire" drivel, can I?]

But you know what? I don't feel burned at all. The story that Michelle Hodkin weaves in her first novel is interesting, dark and compelling. The main character Mara is well rounded... well... as well rounded as teenage girl can be I suppose... and her relationship with Noah doesn't feel like it's being forced down my throat.

My one and only complaint is that like many other books in the genre a large percentage of the heroine's hurdles are solved by having access to another character's bottomless bank account. While this may have proved original at one point, its clearly not anywhere near realistic and has become a shameful and obvious cop-out that used to avoid having to come up with creative solutions to their character's problems.

Even with that one, extremely small critique, when push comes to shove the author still manages to deliver a surprising, thoughtful, sometimes creepy, and altogether solid read with a cliff hanger that just begs to read the second title in the series due out in October.