*possible small spoilers in this review*Nora Grey is a good student, good friend, good daughter walking the straight line in hopes of a successful future. Patch is secretive, sometimes sexy (when not being creepy), in-your-face bad boy(?) with a dark past. These two opposites are thrown together when their biology teacher teams them up as partners. Nora tells herself she doesn’t care about Patch, he is not attractive, he is in fact annoying and a little scary. Patch invades Nora’s space, is full of innuendo (or is downright open) of the hot and heavy kind, seems to know Nora on a very deep level and can send thoughts to her mind. Of course, this is the beginning of a teenage paranormal romance.
hush, hush, Becca Fitzpatrick’s debut, is a well-written fast-paced read. I did enjoy it but did not come close to loving it. The premise is interesting: fallen angel (Patch) is roaming earth looking for a way to become human. Nora is possibly the key but for sinister, not lovey, reasons. Hence, his very forceful chase of Nora. Throw in some great side characters, chase scenes, spying and intrigue and you should have the makings of a great mystery. Yet, I did not find all great.
Patch uses his ability to “speak” to Norma within her mind in a very disturbing way in a particular scene. If this happened to me, I would not be waiting around to see what disturbing thing was waiting around the corner. This is one reason I could not decide if I liked Patch. I felt the attraction but I think the creepiness far outweighed the sultry bad-boy image. And Nora, while I appreciated that she was basically a normal girl (boring?), I was disheartened at what seemed to be her lack of better judgment. I am not an old fuddy duddy. I remember perfectly well being young and swooning over the foxy guy with a mysterious background and that look that made your knees buckle (being love-stupid). Yet, if after becoming involved with said guy there were what seemed to be supernatural forces following me, bending the door of my car, and destroying my bedroom, I may begin to put two plus two together and turn to someone for help. Nora does add up the equation yet ignores the obvious. She continues to place herself in harrowing situations with the encouragement of her best friend. Vee, the rebel outgoing friend, was a problem for me. Her reactions and advice to Nora concerning very harrowing occurrences were not exactly what I would tell my best friend. She seemed complacent to Nora’s situation and was always looking for a good time even if that meant “danger” was yelling out and slapping her in the face.
Overall, I just liked the book. I have seen many comparisons, good and bad, to Twilight which I have not read. I am glad I was able to judge this book on it’s own merit.
Author Becca Fitzpatrick is planning a sequel to hush, hush which is appropriate since the ending was a perfect set-up for a continuation of the story. I am curious to see how this story fleshes out. Perhaps there will be more depth to the characters and the background story of Patch and his fall. I am also interested in checking out the final version of the book released today. I received an ARC for the Barnes and Noble First Look Book Club and came to find out the ending has changed (don’t click if you do not want to know the final few sentences).
You can find some great information on the author and future information on the sequel at Ms. Fitzpatrick’s website.
What about you? Did you read both Twilight and hush, hush? If so, is there a comparison (good or bad)?
I keep seeign this around the blogosphere but it’s the slightly creepy aspect to it that keeps putting me off. I’ll keep thinking about it but I’m not sure it’s up my alley.
There were a few creepy parts but I have certainly read creepier. Nice little read!
Overall it was a very good book. Alot of it was way to simialr to Twilight though, so that was quite annoying. Once you got over the begining it became its own book.
I personally adored the book. While I did not particularly care for Nora as a character (she was a little undynamic and boring for my personal taste) and I understand your concerns about her bad judgment, I believe it is a necessary flaw. In a story like Hush Hush, it is not only a teen romance, but part mystery thriller as well, and without Nora’s continuous decisions to pursue Patch (and Elliot for that matter) little progression could take place in the plot.
I loved this book and im someone who does not read alot. hush hush is a realy good story. I loved the characters.
it’s really great!!!
i hope CRESCENDO will be out soon…
i’m sooo luking forward to it
I enjoyed it alot. I hated Vee, though, because I thought she was moronic and annoying. Nora was okay, but I did’t like how oblivious and boring she was (as you said before.) I liked Patch alot; he was sexy, funny, and ironic. The bad boy thing was something refreshing in a book with romance; I was getting a little sick of all of the sweet guys. I grinned whenever he came into the scene. Although I didn’t like the fact that he could send thoughts and pictures to her head, that was creepy, and that when she touched his scars she saw a memory. That was gross.
Overall, I thought it was very good and original (hardly anything close to Twilight) and I read it in less than a day. (;