The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer started out great, got really dicey about two thirds in, then blew me away at the end.First off, the cover. GORGEOUS! One of my favorites of the past year. Now... Mara wakes up in the hospital after being inside an old building when it collapsed, killing three of her friends. She doesn't remember the details of the night. Her family moves to give her a fresh start but the ghosts of her dead friends follow her.This book really did not take me where I thought it would, where it started out as. For me, it began as a story of a haunted, tortured girl trying to deal with a tragedy. There were undercurrents of paranormal, and that was fine - it worked.I loved the humor of the characters, even Mara herself had a teen-angsty-bitter-sarcasm that was easy to relate to. Noah, the romantic interest, comes across as sex addled comedian but was still somehow endearing. And, the token 'black jewish bi sexual' friend was great.Then things got frantic. Too much was happening and it all became disconnected. Mara sees things that maybe aren't there. People around her are dropping like flies. Her dad's new case is becoming a real threat to the family. Noah has secrets of his own. Top that off with the stereo-typical queen bitch at school. Which, of course, leads to me being lost. What was I reading about again??However, the last two pages surprised me and I will admit to being mildly intrigued by what the next installment will bring.
