The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Students at school have heard me say many times, I’m sold by great cover art. You may not be able to judge a book by the cover, but it sure can convince me to read it. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer sold me through cover art alone. The story didn’t disappoint.

When they asked the ouija board how Rachel would die, the board spelled out M-A-R-A. Sixth months later Mara is the only survivor of a building collapse, her best friend Rachel, their friend Jude and his sister Claire dead in the rubble. Mara wakes form a coma but remembers nothing of that night.  What was the Tamerlane? Why had they gone there? But that is only the beginning. Mara begins to hallucinate. She sees her dead friends in mirrors. After changing schools to avoid the stressful memories of her dead friends, Mara’s hallucinations follow her. The first day of classes at her new school, she experiences the collapse of the classroom including falling face first and bloodying her nose in front of a room full of strangers. She then discovers it is a fresh round of horror produced by her own mind. Mara is willing to accept the diagnosis of these images as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder until they start meshing with physical reality. After imagining a choking accident for a brutally cruel teacher, the teacher dies of anaphylactic shock – just as she has imagined. Mara begins to question herself. She begins to accept the possibility that she killed her best friend. Somehow she must be causing the violence. As Mara struggles with her personal demons, real or imagined, Noah enters her life. Secretive and bound to break her heart, Mara just can’t resist his charms.

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is a thriller with a touch of romance. It will have you looking over your shoulder in the dark and holding your breath. The romantic element is hot and sultry enough to catch the attention of plenty of romantic hearts but tame enough to happily live in any high school library. Additionally, the romantic element buoys the story. In the hands of a different author, the story of a girl’s hallucinations about her dead best friend and questions of her own guilt could be brutal and tragic. But here it is thrilling, surprising and compelling. Since Mara narrates her own story, realities are revealed as she learns them keeping the reader guessing and wondering along with her. 

If you enjoy stories that are unpredictable, read The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. One of the most compelling parts of Mara Dyer’s story is its capacity to keep the reader off balance. Every time it appears the story will slide into familiar predictable patterns, it shifts just enough to turn the pages a little faster. If you prefer stories that contain both mystery and romance, read this. If you like your romance with a touch of heart racing intensity but without the R rating, read about Mara Dyer. Whatever your preference, read it. You won’t be disappointed.

Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Slice of Cherry is set in a Portero, Texas known for supernatural activity. The town’s residents all wear black to avoid drawing the attention from the surrounding monster community. Residents are known to open doors to other realities. The Mortmaine, clad all in green, patrol the wild and dark places looking for monsters and protecting the local residents. The Cordelle sisters live here. Daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy have discovered their own violent tendencies as their father awaits execution. Kit and Fancy find that violence relieves their anger. Kit, the more outgoing of the two, has a particular talent with a switchblade. After Kit and Fancy attend the annual wishing ceremony at the Juneteenth celebration in Cherry Glade, they discover the power of wishes. Fancy discovers she can open a door to an alternate reality: her “happy place”. This provides them a “safe place” to exercise their violent talents. But wishes granted can be fickle. “It’s okay to wish for things, but wishes are fragile, and the world we live in is very hard.’” The girls exorcise their demons by using their violent skills to help people in the community: taking out their vengeance on a man who aims to assault them, a man who abuses his son and wife, and others. As word spreads of their deeds, popular opinion of them changes. Throughout, the girls meet and develop relationships with two brothers, sons of their Bonesaw Killer father’s last victim. The boys are as secretive and troubled as the Cordelle sisters.

Full of fantastical creatures: flesh eating flamingos, monsters with bodies the consistency of yellow jello, demonic imps that infest through kisses; Slice of Cherry is a fantastical hero journey that tracks the transformation of Kit and Fancy from the broken isolated sisters at odds with everyone to young women who blossom and rejoin the community. Slice of Cherry requires a more mature readership. Violence and death permeate the book. But the violence isn’t the focus of this novel. The real focus is on the relationship between Kit and Fancy. It focuses on their need both to protect one another and heal their own brokenness. Readers who appreciate flawed characters who examine their flaws and rediscover better selves will revel in this read. “It’s not about being saints or sinners or good or bad, Fancy. It’s about being both. You know? About being complete.” Ultimately the sisters’ biggest risk isn’t in killing people, it is showing others “the real you” and opening themselves up to the risks of relationships in the real world. This book should be dark, dim and brutal but it is not. Instead, it is hopeful and thoughtful. It is a book that is a fun wild read. But it also lingers after you’ve finished. Once you get all the way through and think back, the symbolism unfolds like the moon flowers of the text, revealing more of the mystery.

Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

“Everything changes when Tiffany Quinn disappears.” Kendall lives in a tiny farming community in Montana. One spring a classmate disappears. The entire community searches with no avail. Tiffany is simply gone. As summer turns to fall, Kendall and her classmates attempt to return to normal. Tiffany’s absence is obvious, since Kendall’s community is so small that the entire high school attends a one room school house. In spite of her OCD (“counting, always counting something”) Kendall feels like life is back on track with the beginning of school until her best friend Nico acts strange and then he, too, disappears. Kendall’s world is rocked. The community is unsettled, struggling to keep its young people safe with curfews and partner polices. But no one knows how to protect the teens because no one can find a clue about either Tiffany or Nico’s disappearance. Then, Kendall begins to hear the whispers. Will they leader her to Nico or something more sinister?  

Cryer’s Cross is not your average mystery. There is more brewing here than simply a “who done it?” Short, tight chapters are divided by clues from the “We, When it is over, We breathe and ache like old oak, like peeling birch. One of Our souls set free….Calling to Our next victim, Our next savior. We carve on Our face: Touch Me. Save my soul.” Kendall’s struggle over the mysterious loss of her best friend and perhaps boyfriend is authentic. Her escalating struggle with her OCD in the face of events spinning beyond her control becomes increasingly unsettling. Cryer’s Cross becomes ever more creepy and spooky in the second half. For all the clues and fingers pointed in frustration, the end remains entirely unpredictable. For readers who enjoy being kept in the dark waiting for things to bump and surprise, this is a great choice. Cryer’s Cross hooks readers and won’t let go. Read this book if you like thrillers, creepy stories, and surprising endings that also remain free of the gratuitous language and sex that often work their way into YA literature.