ARC Review--The Becoming of Noah Shaw by Michelle Hodkin

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right. 

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review.

I dove into Michelle Hodkin’s The Becoming of Noah Shaw partly eager, excited, and afraid. It’s been a few years since I read The Mara Dyer trilogy and my memory is not so great, nor did I have time for a re-read, so I’ll admit, I was confused throughout the book. I was able to recollect some of the things that happened based on what was going on and what was being mentioned. Still, it was a rather fun read, for I tried to make myself think of this as a new series anyway and not worry about what’s already happened.

We open to Noah’s father’s funeral. We are reminded through Noah that his father was no father of the year type and there wasn’t much sadness going about on his death. The funeral is shake up the death of another person out in the cemetery. It was a suicide from the looks of it, yet right before he died, Noah heard a voice pleading for help. Things are definitely far from normal despite his father being out of his life for good now.

He, Mara, and his friend, Goose go back to the States after the funeral. Wanting to return to a normal life just isn’t in the cards for soon, Stella and her new friend, Leo are getting them involved in more matters of the bizarre after yet another suicide happens right before their eyes and Noah was able to hear her thoughts right before she died as well.

We basically have one strange mystery on our hands here! And since I was reading the last half of this with a head cold, it’s possible that made it all the worst for me as I found myself struggling to understand everything that was happening. I wanted to LOVE this book, but sadly, I just liked it. Being sick and having a really bad memory on top of that did not do me any favors when it came to comprehension

It was still a good read though! I was enjoying the mystery and just utter weirdness and questions that kept popping up. The murders of all the Gifted ones and how suspicion was being cast on a certain character! It was bizarre, yet I did love it for it’s bizarre-ness!

Being inside Noah’s head this time was a trip too! Granted, again with the memory issues, I can’t remember why I loved Noah so much from the past books, but I still loved being inside his head! He’s a different sort of guy with his own secrets and darkness to him.

Which let me tell you, this book does have its darkness to it. I’m not saying it was a dark and evil kind of book, but just an overall sense of darkness and bleakness. Murder, secrets, and mayhem can do that to a story! The way it ends too has quite the impact! Again, what with my horrendous memory, I feel like it didn’t pack quite as strong of a punch as it would if I had the memory I deserved being such an avid reader! But I could pretty much tell that things are about to get very interesting indeed for Noah’s next book!

If you haven’t read the Mara Dyer series yet, which was totally awesome and weird in all the best ways, I would definitely recommend picking those up first before reading this one! And if you have read them and have a slightly poor memory like myself, a re-read might in fact be a grand idea if you have the time! Definitely considering that myself before the next book comes out, but we’ll see how things go!

 
Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars—a slight take down that is mostly my own doing and having a bad memory for the previous books of this world/series. Had I the time to read them beforehand, I could easily give this 4.5-5 stars!

 
The Becoming of Noah Shaw releases November 7, 2017