Monday, November 8, 2021

Book Review: The Becoming of Noah Shaw, by Michelle Hodkin

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

I’d never wanted to see the place before, and now that I stand here, looking up at it, nondescript and shuttered in a toxically ugly part of Brooklyn, I feel justified. There are windows stretching up for stories, boarded shut, crudely. Father always was good at hiding. 

“You’re serious?” Daniel asks, staring at the building.

“Deadly,” I say. I lift the metal shutter; it groans in protestation, and I feel my way for the lock. The rusted red door opens, and I slide my hand over the wall for the light switch.

The lights slam on at once, the sudden artificial brightness a bit shocking. “I don’t think we’re going to find anything in here that’s going to help prevent whatever’s going on,” I say, looking up at the towering shelves, “but you do. And I trust you with whatever might or might not be in here.”

Daniel’s quiet, staring ahead at the aisles that go on forever.

“So this is what’s happening today,” I go on. “Mara, Jamie, and Goose are at the brownstone with Leo—”

“And Sophie, probably,” Daniel mumbles.

I shrug a shoulder, as if it doesn’t matter. “Perhaps. No one’s texted yet, and I don’t much care, honestly. But listenthere was a map that I just barely got a glimpse ofI have a near-photographic memory, but the room was dark and I couldn’t make everything out. Now that we’re all on the same team

Daniels’s eyes drop, and he looks away.

“The same let’s-not-allow-innocent-people-to-die team,” I inhale, trying not to sound frustrated.

Noah, his love Mara, and their friends have Gifts, with a capital ‘G.’ Perspectives vary on if their Gifts are good or not, but they are what tie this group of friends together.

Official synopsis:
Book 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.

While these characters seem interesting, a lot of their background was surely explained in the previous Mara Dyer books. Having not read those, some parts of their characters or their relationships were unclear. 

In this book, Noah Shaw starts out in England for a family function, and his girlfriend Mara is around, but not directly with Noah and his family at first. They soon travel to the U.S., and are joined by Noah’s school friend, Goose, who has nowhere else to go at the moment.

In the U.S., Noah, Mara, and Goose meet up with some other young adults with Gifts who apparently Mara had been staying with at an earlier date. Since they all chose to separate at some point, no one is sure who to trust, especially when other kids like them have been disappearing or being found dead. Not a lot of the population knows about these unique kids and their Gifts—could it be one of them causing all the trouble? It’s never said for sure, but there are more books that follow in the Noah Shaw series.

Overall, I’d give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The characters were definitely intriguing, but there was a large chunk of the story I was missing since I’m unfamiliar with the rest of the Mara Dyer series books. The Mara Dyer and Noah Shaw series would probably be enjoyable for those who enjoy teen series with a twist of paranormal mystery.

{Click HERE to purchase}

Becki Bayley still likes zombies, Christmas movies and music, and sitting close to her space heater in the office. Check out her other book reviews and Detroit area posts at SweetlyBSquared.com.

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