The Evolution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #2) - Michelle Hodkin

Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Rating: 5/5

Genre: Paranormal-romance

Recommend To: fans of the Body Finder

Wow oh wow. I am a huge fan of the Unbecoming of Mara Dyer and the Evolution just certified that fact. It's creepy and confusing at times, and mirrors the effects of insanity (you go with Mara the whole way). The romance is practically sizzling off the page, I think I actually blushed at some points. Yeah (Noah...*sighs dreamily*). There are probably people who can argue that the basic story follows the same girl meets boy and is a superhero type of plot line, but seriously, how many times does the girl have the ability to kill everything in a mile radius and also ends up in an asylum? 

The Evolution of Mara Dyer continues on from the Unbecoming which ended with that nasty, shocking cliffhanger. Mara grows a lot, she focuses on her family and keeping them safe, as well as her relationship and familial connections to Noah *sighs dreamily again* . What I liked was that Mara recognized the fact that the more she acted insane, the more she would be scrutinized and institutionalized. She is intelligent enough to know what to do to cover up her slipping grasp on reality, whereas other characters just whine a lot. What's even more scary is when we go with her on her insane rides into the past. Her life becomes more terrifying as she realizes she is forgetting things, and at times, she'll fall asleep or have blackouts, and wake up somewhere completely different. The Jude situation worsens, as she wonders if he is stalking her and her family with the intent of doing harm (plus he's creepy, that's all I'm going to say there).

The most frustrating thing about the book was how her family wouldn't believe her and the dramatic irony of the situation. It was pretty painful, and I just wanted to shake them like *Jude is THERE and Mara ISN'T insane!!! Why can't you SEE??* Although it is so nice to have a character with an actual supportive family, rather than being a poor orphan raised by an aunt or something. That's been overdone.

Finally, the mystery of the powers she has is slowly being solved (can't wait for book 3!) and Noah is there every step of the way. The relationship between him and Mara is deepening, as they try to figure out what is actually going on with Mara and well, a whole boatload of crazy stuff. He is deep and brooding, typical guy dark hero stuff, but you can't help loving him. It's actually a fun read and isn't too heavy. It makes you go nuts, but it's always fun to get into a story the way you can easily slip into the world of Mara Dyer. I recommend for paranormal romance fans who are tired of the werewolves and vampires.