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.

The Becoming of Noah Shaw

After the murder of his father, Noah Shaw uses his inheritance to move to New York with his girlfriend Mara Dyer and their friends, where they investigate the suicides of other Carriers and their Gifts begin to lead them on diverging paths.

esme villanueva

alexandra

I'M SO CONFUSED????? i really regret not rereading the Mara Dyer books before starting this because there were so many references i didn't get. *sigh* even though this is supposed to be a companion series, i definitely wouldn't recommend if you didn't read the original series.

it wasn't that i didn't like this book, but i couldn't understand it. i love the Mara Dyer series for its mystery and intrigue but this was to the point where i was like, "what is going on??" as in: i genuinely didn't understand the plot because i couldn't see one. if you asked me to summarize this novel i wouldn't be able to. most of it was noah and mara having sex, then noah getting suspicious about mara and everything. it all seemed kinda murky – in an unpleasant way.

i just, i didn't know what was going on – in the entire book. :// and characters i originally loved in the Mara Dyer series felt out of touch. maybe it was because we're seeing things from noah's perspective (whom I LOVE, but not as much in this book UGH). there were people i originally remember being so!! wonderful!! and now they're just... duller. could be because i needed a memory refresher or because it was the "first book" of a new series. either way, i'm a little disappointed but still hopeful. i'll probably continue the series, but try not to get my hopes too high for the next novel.

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. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Mara Dyer Trilogy comes a chilling new series told from the perspective of Noah Shaw.

brianna

”if i believed in god i would pray, beg, anything to stop time, to live in this moment with her forever.”
 

makes no sense how everyone’s character development did an uno reverse in this but ok..

The Reckoning of Noah Shaw

”i would beg for nothingness, pray for blankness, but there’s no one to beg. i know no god but you.”
 


pure shit

Nicole

OH MY GOOOOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE IS GOING TO BE A SPIN OFF

Actual review below:

actual rating: 2.8

I’m not gonna lie to you guys, this was a let down to me. It didn’t feel like the same story in a lot of ways. The characters were so much different from how we used to know them as were Mara and Noah’s relationship. Yes, I know, the story is told from Noah's perspective, but the character himsef seemed very different from the boy we used to know. He was veeeery frustrating to me.
There wasn’t a lot of a plot, but I enjoyed the reading experience and the last chapter definitely made me want to know what is gonna happen next, so I'll be reading the sequel as well.

Annabella

I wasn't exactly blown away by The Retribution of Mara Dyer - in fact, most of it frustrated me like hell, but I've always been curious about how Noah's head worked. So, yeah, I'll check this one out because, creepiness+plus Noah's POV? Sounds - and I repeat,  sounds  - great.
Please, Michelle, Please.   Don't mess it up!  
 After finally reading: it's back. THE MAGIC'S BACK.

jess

Trigger warning for discussion of suicidal ideation, self-harm, and mental illness. Oh, and there's a warning at the beginning of the book, too, so definitely pay attention to that if you have triggers. 

Confession time: it's been a while since I read the original Mara Dyer trilogy, and I can't remember it very well, so definitely chalk up some of my confusion to that, though I don't think it has much impact on a lot of the problems I had with this book. Noah Shaw was my favourite character, I think, along with Jamie, so knowing that both of them were coming back - and that Noah was headlining this series - was really exciting to me. 

Things I really loved: Noah's voice. He's bitter and dark and sarcastic, and unapologetically so, and I could relate to him a lot (which is probably a bad thing, as Noah is ... really quite unhealthy. But Michelle Hodkin described suicidal ideation really well. Unfortunately, a lot of other things were handled ... not quite as well. fairly badly, in fact.Honestly, I just read the book for Noah and Jamie, because they were the two most well-written characters in the book. Jamie is a good break from the Noah and Mara Show and all the turmoil and angst surrounding them. He's definitely the most fun character, but he also has depth to him. Mara was all right - I do love good antiheroes - but I just did not feel any connection between her and Noah at all, even though the book was supposedly about them. Seeing Mara through Noah's eyes was really interesting because he definitely idolizes and romanticises her, but I was really frustrated by it sometimes. 

I really was expecting more to happen in this book, plot-wise, but it was ... very slow and boring, for the most part, and I wanted to find out more about Noah that I wasn't getting in this book (but I suppose this is a trilogy). Again, a lot of focus was on Mara and Noah's relationship, but I felt like the book got started ... right at the end. So much of it could have been cut out. Obviously, I don't know what Hodkin has planned for the next books but I feel like it could easily be a duology. 

The big problem I had with The Becoming of Noah Shaw, though, was the romanticisation of mental illness throughout a lot of the story - and, well, through the series too. A lot of it was awful and skewed, such as when Noah tells Mara, "You're my favourite form of self-harm." After a scene where Mara (view spoiler)[
  threatens to leave Noah because he cut himself as a demonstration of healing abilities
 (hide spoiler)]. And that left me absolutely dismayed, because one of the things I know about self-harm intervention is that you're not supposed to make relapses a big deal. People around you are not supposed to make relapses a big deal. How Mara dealt with it was infuriating. And Noah's response was too. That's the big one, but really, this problem is prevalent throughout the entire book.

dana

sexy graveyard makeout scene pero todo lo demás HERNÁN SE DUERME EN VIVO que lo copado pase en las últimas 40 páginas no lo hace buen libro

Aroosa Qureshi

This book 😘😘 I love the fact that you get to see a total different side of Noah, I enjoyed the book a lot and the cute moments had me blushing 😽 overall some characters did annoy me and it was a soft and a little slow start but I enjoyed it!! I didn't want to put the book down. Michelle has created characters you will never forget! So I highly recommend for any Mara Dyer fans to pick this book up!😭😘

All first editions will be signed by the author—available while supplies last! In this sequel to The Becoming of Noah Shaw, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, legacies are revealed, lies are unraveled, and old alliances are forged. Noah’s reckoning is here. Noah Shaw wants nothing more than to escape the consequences of his choices. He can’t. He’s sure the memories that haunt him are merely proof of a broken heart. They aren’t. He thinks he can move forward without first confronting his past. He’s wrong.

Wait hold up what in the world just happened?! 

Like honestly at the start it was pretty slow but as soon as you begin to get closer towards the end...ish begins to start and you are like woah woah hold up this is going too fast (and I loved it)!! Overall, it was a very slow start and not much has happened but because I love Noah, it was a total different side of him being unveiled and it was just so...different and personally I loved it ❤️ I cannot wait for the final book 😭🙌🏻

Camila 

I'm not sure if this is a solid 4 stars or a 3.75ish because the beginning was way too slow for me, and we already had the whole world/problems/characters already set up to make it a little bit faster. 

However, the ending was incredible. As dark as it was I think it captured really well the problems the characters were facing through the whole book and left a great opening for the next one. 

There are a few things that bothered me while I read the book: 
1) A character that appeared only to make the plot move forward. While this is what characters do, the character didn't have a great set up or a real connection that explained why they were there. Yeah, there was some sort of explanation but for me, it felt like it was "ah, this is good enough, here now you got a new character" (I did like the character btw, but it felt a little forced to me)
2) There were a few out-of-character actions from certain characters that didn't make any sense to me, but I guess they help the plot move and they weren't that  awful so I decided to ignore them. 
I would have like to see more of Mara and Noah, I feel like they didn't have the connection they had before (view spoiler)[ even before the break between happened I felt like there was something missing about them. The way things ended in the 3rd book of TUOMD didn't set up their relationship in the way that it was portrayed here  (hide spoiler)] 
Overall it is a good book, it is dark and it's dense but it makes sense because of what the plot of the whole series is about, and I'm really excited about what's to come from the story.

I don't think I will write a full review of this book because I don't think I'll be able to quite articulate what I feel. 
If this book had had the pace it had after meeting Isaac, I think I would have ranked this book higher, however, the first 200ish pages were such a drag. Like I love Noah and I love Goose but like nothing was happening! Like we really spent 200 pages following them and nothing interesting happened :(
Yes, we got a few flashbacks and explanations and backstory but let's be real, I'm not here for this, I'm here for Noah and Mara. 
However, I do think that the end of the book it's a great set up for the upcoming book and I do have high hopes for that one.

Cindy Nataly

Let's see... I loved it, all the plot was good and things got twisted at some point. I was very surprised of some disappointing reviews about this book before I read it, I thought I wouldn´t like it BUT I DID! Of course there are so many things I hated or frustrated me but in general it is a 4.5 stars for me. (Seriously, there are things that really annoyed me but anyways)

Allison Urban

This was so bad. Skimmed the last 75 pages. We’re gonna pretend like this book just doesn’t exist.

Ana Ignat

4.5/5 stars***


------------------
OH MY GOD HOLT PIHLKJASNDklBOAERHAKSJHBDFKNASBDFUKASJDFMNKJASDFNKJNOIAU THANK YOU MICHELLE HODKIN YAS OMG

Alyssa Wilson

Briana Pruscino

this felt like a bad fanfic with no moving plot and made me kind of hate noah whoops

madie anne 

i love the mara dyer trilogy, as well as michelle, but this was just tragic. i was really stoked to read this book, however, i couldn’t get into it. i tried, but the concept was terrible. i hated the way things ended, and have decided not to read the next book. 

i am throughly disappointed. i am just going to pretend everything ended with the retribution of mara dyer.

Jessica 

Review also found here. 


  "Fate is bullsh*t. Destiny doesn't exist. If I want a happy ending, I'll have to write it myself."


As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via Edelweiss by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

When the Mara Dyer trilogy ended a few years back, I found myself beyond bummed to say goodbye to these gorgeous and intriguing characters. One might say that I get overly attached to fictional characters, now more than ever, and there's just something about Mara, Noah, Jamie and Daniel that just went straight to my heart and began to weave themselves into my veins.

Plus, the overall creepy vibes and atmosphere the original trilogy possessed was right up my alley. When I heard that Hodkin would be returning to these characters--a new set of novels centered around Noah Shaw--I nearly screamed in excitement. In all honesty, I probably did. Even with that joy, I was a little hesitant and skeptical on how this spin-off would truly work. The Becoming of Noah Shaw is, of course, its own story and a truly intriguing one at that. Michelle Hodkin manages to work right back into her groove and has just as tight of a grip on my heart as she did when The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer came to be.

Because of this, I might be a little biased. It's not secret that followups and spin-offs aren't always the greatest. When Mara Dyer's story ended, we had a specific picture in our head. Each of us imagined a set of details on what happened in the aftermath of the conclusion. We had knowledge from the bits we were served in the finale, but The Becoming of Noah Shaw is allowing Hodkin to return to the roots of the story (the creepy factor, the romance, the angst) and building up a new set of rules in just under 400 pages. All of our beloved characters have returned in all their glory, but the game is changing--and some faces we knew before are rapidly changing in their own secrets and build up.

I'll be honest with you: the story starts off slow. I can't pinpoint what was wrong with the beginning of it, but it just doesn't grip readers quite like the first quarter of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer. It is not a bad start exactly, it just lacks that extra power that we've come to know from Hodkin. Even the dry wit from Noah, the mystery surrounding his family, the funeral he is attending, and all the new plotlines tangling into the narration didn't make it kick me in the arse like it should have.

Another flaw I found in The Becoming of Noah Shaw was the fact the angst that comes with every last reveal. I'm here for tension and mystery and spine-tingling elements but there was a lot of things that bugged me in how emotions were handled and what we were told. See, there were times when we were told and not shown.

I felt like I had a lot of unfortunate questions towards many things. A lot of characters appearing with little to no backstory or development. Again, during some revelations, I felt like we were only told a bit of what was happening and it was just shrugged off. Perhaps this was only me, perhaps it is a part of Noah's narration I have yet to get used to. I just had some sort of frustration in these moments.

Leo, Stella, Goose and Sophie for example. I felt like the inclusion of these characters to be very, very important.

Sophie and Stella we knew.

Stella being the girl who was (briefly) friends with Mara and Jamie, who escaped their "treatments" with them. She was (basically) an entirely different character in The Becoming of Noah Shaw and while we've already witnessed the changes in everyone, hers was the strongest and I wasn't sure what to think of it. Sophie, we only really knew in passing as Daniel's girlfriend--but now she is in the mix, and revealed to be "gifted" and had known about Mara's abilities this whole time.

Tension, tension, tension. 

Leo and Goose are new transplants into the story. Like Noah can't, I don't get much of a reading on Leo and honestly... don't trust him. There's something charming about Goose's appearance and the fact that he ties into Noah's past and present now that he is living with him and apparently an amplifier.

Despite its flaws, I still found the story to be highly entertaining once it got into its groove about 25% of the way in. I am quite keen on reading more because I have a lot of questions I hope will be answered as the series wraps up. Especially after the last few chapters of the book itself.

Longtime readers of Hodkin know the woman is a pro at giving some serious cliffhangers and this is one of those moments. Because of the way the story ends (so! much! angst!) it's apparent that she is really going straight for the kill with this spin-off and boy, I am here for it.

Overall, it was a really fun read and has all the markings of what readers knew and loved about the Mara Dyer trilogy. A total must-have for the hardcore fans of Noah Shaw and lovers of mystery. I can't wait to read the next book!

The Becoming of Noah Shaw

Reviews