Bookworm in Love: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Love: Noah Shaw

Book: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Characteristics:

From the book:

I whipped around at the sound of the warm, lilting British accent behind me.
The person it belonged to sat on the picnic table under the tiki hut. His general state of disarray was almost enough to distract me from his face. The boy- if he could be called that, looking like he belonged in college not high school- wore Chucks with holes worn through, no laces. Slim charcoal pants and a white button down shirt covered his lean, spare frame. His tie was loose, his cuffs undone, and his blazer lay in a heap beside him as he lazily leaned back on the palms of his hands.
His strong jaw and chin were slightly scruffy, as though he hadn't shaved in days, and his eyes looked gray in the shade. Strands of his dark chestnut hair stuck out every which way… He could be considered pale compared to everyone else I'd observed in Florida thus far, which is to say he wasn't orange.
He was beautiful. And he was staring at me.

Well, that pretty much covers his looks!

Why I love him:

For starters, he is BRITISH. I mean come on guys, that's like the epitome of amazing in a guy. Also, he's super sarcastic, which is kind of awesome, because he's just really, really funny, unless he's being romantic, or being funny and romantic (ronny? fromantic?) at the same time. Yeah, he can do that:

"I'm picking you up tomorrow morning," Noah said, as he brushed a strand of hair from my face and tucked it behind my ear...
I blinked hard, and shook my head to clear it. "But it's out of your way."
"And?"
"And Daniel has to drive to school anyway."
"So?"

"So wh-"

Noah placed a finger on my lips. "Don't. Don't as me why. It's annoying. I want to. That's it. That's all. So let me."
Focus, Mara. "Everyone's going to think that we're together."
"Let them," he said as his eyes searched my face.
"But-"
"But nothing. I want them to think that."
[...] "I'm a bad actress," I said by way of explanation.
[...] "Then don't act. See you at eight." He let go of my hand and walked back to his car.

He's also rather rich- "A perk of being Baby Warbucks"- and sort of dresses like a hobo (holey Chucks, needs to shave, and Mara told him he dressed like one!). His fifteen-year-old sister has a Maserati, that she can't even DRIVE, while he carts around in his, kind of crappy, Prius. I mean, come on, the guy has more money than I'd know what to do with, and he drives a hippie car?! I suppose that's his version of morality. He doesn't want people to know how rich he is, but he can joke about it:

"Rubbish. The Taj Mahal is only a hundred eighty-six square feet. This house has twenty-five thousand."
I stared at him blankly.
"I was kidding," he said.
I stared at him blankly.
"All right, I wasn't kidding. Let's go, shall we?"
"After you, my liege," I said.

Cute. Funny. Rich. Uses word "rubbish." What's not to love here? He also defends Mara against the people who mock her for dating him. After he got in a fight with this guy who made fun of her, and is about to be called to the principal's office, he says to her, "It was worth it." And he opens the door for her. Always. HE HAS CHIVALRY (although most likely due to his British upbringing). Come on people, he's amazing.

My thoughts on the book:

Overall I really liked it, even though the ending was kind of weird, and I am still confused. But it's definitely worth reading, considering Noah is awesome and Mara is very real, and her friend Jamie is pretty cool. I loved the way it was written, because it managed to be dark, while it still got me to laugh out loud (literally, and in the middle of class). I think the funniest parts could be accredited to Jamie, who says things such as: