Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - La oscura verdad de Mara Dyer

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

La oscura verdad de Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

40 reviews

leanbeanaylin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Maybe because I didn’t read the synopsis beforehand, but the legit plot of this book shocked the hell out of me. Although sometimes very confusing, i am DEFINITELY reading the next ones.

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crimsonreadlips's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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araya_24's review against another edition

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5.0

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tina_reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was my second time reading this book, but I didn’t remember anything so I’m counting it as my first time. I really liked it! It was very 2000s and a little confusing at times, but I was very captivated by the plot and will be reading the next book ASAP!

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rebelbooks101's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I originally read this book back when I was fourteen and I was absolutely obsessed with it. However, as an adult I was led to believe that maybe this book wasn’t as good as I’d remembered it being (given I barely remembered anything at all. Like I didn’t even remember Noah and Mara kissing in this book). Hesitantly, I picked this book back up again after seven years and it was just as amazing as it was the first time.

This story follows Mara who after being involved in an accident that killed all her friends, she moves to a new city to get away from it all, however she starts to see her dead friends along with other strange events that start to happen and you start to wonder if it’s just the hallucinations from her PTSD messing with her or is this stuff really happening?

It’s so fun revisiting a book you barely remember because it feels like reading it for the first time again. All I remembered was the plot was interesting and I loved MaraShaw but I wouldn’t be able to tell you why. When I was younger I just loved things without reason but now that I’m older and I’ve read a lot, it’s cool being able to see and understand what I love about a book.

First off the characters, I loved them. They’re all great and all compliment the story well. Mara and Noah are definitely the standouts, but the side characters were also amazing. Jamie was such a fun friend for Mara to have and if my memory serves me correctly I’m excited to see him again in future books. I definitely want to see more of his friendship with Mara because he kind of just disappeared from this book. Mara’s brothers were also amazing. I really loved the relationship she had with both of them. I really love loving sibling dynamics in books and how all of them were really supportive of one another.

I would say my only complaint to this would maybe be the female characters. Mara is the main one we see but aside from that, the female characters were either means girls or just didn’t have a lot of page time. I’d definitely like to see more of the likeable ones.

The plot is gripping. Mara is fun to follow but she’s also unreliable because she’s can’t tell the difference between a hallucination and reality. It keeps you guessing as you try to put the pieces together. I like that not everything is revealed in this book. We definitely do get some reveals to make this book in particular satisfying while also leaving you with enough questions to make you continue on in the series.

The romance is swoon-worthy and I understand why my younger self loved these two so much. They have a lot of great banter but that’s not the only thing the romance is built upon. They have great chemistry and an emotional pull to one another. They share a lot of soft scenes together that only serve to remind me that I’m single but the fluffy scenes just warm your heart and make you smile. When they get together you really get to see the softness of their relationship. Honestly I don’t even care that this relationship takes over the entire book because I love them so much and I love every scene they have together.

An unexpected layer I was not expecting on reread was the humour. This book was genuinely funny and this is coming from someone who has read a lot of books that claim to be funny but evidently fall flat. Mara can be quite the comedic protagonist at times. Her internal dialogue could sometimes make me laugh. Along with that, Mara and Noah also had some silky moments together which humour is always the way to my heart.

Overall I’m glad I picked this back up again, for if nothing else, to at least remind myself that younger me had good taste (maybe not always but this is an exception). It was so fun to revisit this story after seven years and I definitely want to get around to reading the rest of the books because I only ever read the first two. If you still haven’t picked this book up, I can’t recommend it more.

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