Like the first one, this book is pretty hard to resume so here's a copy paste of the back cover.
Mara Dyer once believed she could run from her past.
She can’t.
She can’t.
She used to think her problems were all in her head.
They aren’t.
She couldn’t imagine that after everything she’s been through, the boy she loves would still be keeping secrets.
She’s wrong.
Oh boy, where do I even start...
Mara thought she could run from her past, but she clearly can't. In fact, it comes crashing back in her face at the end of book one when Jude, her ex-boyfriend who's supposed to be dead, shows up at the police station.
This plot line was probably the best in the entire book in my opinion. Why? Because of the creepiness. What I loved so much about the first book was the creepy aspect; all the scary shit that happened to Mara gave me goosebumps and THAT'S what kept me reading. This time, Mara has to deal with the fact that no one believes her and that everyone thinks that she is quite literally crazy. Except that with Jude coming in and out of her house and leaving her special "gifts", it's hard to not go crazy!
Her problems might not be in her head, but a lot of things ARE happening in her head. For example, those random flashbacks. I simply don't get it. I felt like they were randomly placed to add an element of "ohmigod what are they?", while all I felt was simply confused. I wish Michelle had given us more explanation, more answers to the question that were brought up by those flashbacks. Oh! And the doll! I SO want to know what's up with it! What was written on the paper? And especially, why the hell was there a metal piece matching Noah's necklaces?
Anyways, back to Mara, I did like her character development. Yeah, at some point, I did found her annoying and a bit whinny, but with all the shit she was going through? It's totally understandable. And man that takes a lot of strength! I could feel her emotions, and share her worries and I really liked that.
Noah... That guy I just... It's another case of too much character development if you ask me. Where is the guy with the badass comebacks? Where is the guy with the mischievous smile? Where did he go? Because I can tell you where he isn't: in the book. We are left with a mushy version of Noah, one that's almost like an empty shell. I wish Michele hadn't done this because I feel like Noah lost a lot of colours in this book, like he wasn't the same guy he was in the first one. Am I too demanding from the characters? Maybe. Possibly. But it doesn't change how I feel, which is disappointed regarding Noah's development.
I need to put a special mention for Daniel in here. He is THE best brother in the world! His relationship with Mara is incredible and if someone stayed the same, it was him. He remained the cool, funny, intelligent guy from the first book and I enjoyed every scene he was in.
I didn't talk about the plot that much and that's because I'm still not sure how I feel about the direction it is taking. I liked when Mara and Noah were the only ones with special abilities. But now? With a whole bunch of teenagers having them? I don't know if I like it or not... I'll just have to wait and see in the last book of this trilogy!
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot, simply not as much as in the first one. But regardless, I have a strong feeling about the last one, I think I'm in for an epic ending!
Sophie
