The holidays are upon us and you know what that means — quality reading time! So if you’re looking for a great book and haven’t yet discovered Michelle Hodkin’s The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer or its sequel The Evolution of Mara Dyer, carve out a few hours between opening presents and eating take-out. (Hey, don’t judge — no one in my family can cook!) Just to whet your appetite: Entertainment Weekly spoke to Hodkin about her YA debut, her experience as a lawyer, and the inspiration for Mara Dyer.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The true story behind The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer is creepy.
MICHELLE HODKIN: [Laughs] It’s definitely inspired by [a real event]. There was a person who I met in 2008 and she started telling me about her daughter, who’d been in this building collapse. That’s not the law that I practice, so I couldn’t help her, but I took down her information. As she turned to leave, I realized that her daughter had been with her the whole time and I just was immediately struck by the sense that there was more to the story. A year later, someone said something that reminded me of that girl, so I called the number and it was disconnected. It was just like lightning — I was on the plane ride home from my brother’s graduation and I literally started writing on the plane. It was immediate — one day I was a lawyer and the next day I was a writer. READ FULL STORY »