Review: Hush, Hush; by Becca Fitzpatrick

Title: Hush, Hush (Book #1, sequel to follow)
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick (beccafitzpatrick.com)
Pages: 400
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: October 13, 2009

Genre: Young Adult
Themes: paranormal, high school, fallen angels, forbidden love, mythology

Synopsis: (From GoodReads) For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

Additional Information: There are outtakes to Hush, Hush on Becca's site. To view them, click here. There is also a book trailer, posted below.

My Review: Nora Gray is just your typical teenage girl - except she has a mom that's always working, a father who was killed, and a lab partner, Patch, than infuriates her to no end on an almost daily basis. The worst part? The more she tries to avoid Patch, the more she seems to be drawn to him. And there's definitely something more to Patch, maybe even dark, but he's definitely not letting her in on it. As the story progresses, there's more that happens around Nora that she just can't ignore. There's the hallucinations, the attack on her best friend and her nemesis, and not to mention the burglar she found ransacking her room - at least, that's what she thought, until she called the police and they walked into a completely clean, non-ransacked bedroom. Nora decides to do her own investigation of Elliott and even Patch. However, that turns out to be dangerous and possibly deadly on both accounts. By the end, you'll find out that not everyone is as they seem - and even the best people have the worst intentions.

So, call it spoiler-ish or whatever, but I found the beginning of the first chapter, where Nora walks into her Biology class and learns she's going to be taught about sex, completely freaking hilarious. However, that soon turned to somewhat awe toward the author, because she really interlaced the sex ed with Patch's shameless flirting almost effortlessly. I loved it! The plot and back story on fallen angels was amazing, as well as the story with Elliott and his friend Jules being weaved into that plot at the end. The characters were believable and definitely high school students for the most part - though sometimes Vee tended to irritate me. I know girls like attention from guys and there was more going on with her being manipulated, but I never had a girlfriend to choose a guy over me as much as Vee did to Nora - so I couldn't exactly relate to their relationship. However, she did "take one for the team", so to speak, for Nora ... so, she gets back cred for that. The writing was wonderful, the dialogue never seemed to run on more than necessary, and I approve of the point of view. There was a great ending to go along with the story, some good redemption in the end and a good place for the story to end and another to begin. The story was fantastic, but I'll be the first to admit that this cover sold me and I bought it before even reading the blurb. FANTASTIC cover!

On a side note: I am absolutely sick of people comparing this book, as well as pretty much any teen paranormal romance, to Twilight. I am a HUGE fan of Twilight, but there were a ton of books about vampires before it. As well as books about girls falling for the "bad boy". There's also stand-alone books about werewolves, that don't even mention vampires in them - can you freaking imagine that?! I'm glad that Twilight has so much success, but people need to understand that not all ideas are new - they can just be deviated enough to make a good story. People use cliches, and that's okay as long as the story is good. Twilight is NOT the first book about a girl moving to a new place, falling for the mysterious and unobtainable hot guy, and find she's fallen into a forbidden love affair with the paranormal - so please stop treating it as though it's the Bible and people are trying to steal the ideas solely from Twilight to make big money. I'm sure some do - or is it books that have been circulating through agents for a while and they've only had a chance because of the Twilight Saga? We don't know, so we shouldn't treat it like we do. We should appreciate any and all books as their own entities and judge from there.

I'm off my soap box now.

Rating: - It was verging on three, but I think that the mythology behind the story as well as the development of the characters made up for any qualms I may have had about giving it three stars. Did I mention the cover looks amazing? Seriously, this is a great read for people who love paranormal romance as much as I do.


Summary: This story is a good read not only about fallen angels, but a more in-depth look into the tales of fallen angels, including a new take on Nephilim. Add to that some typical teenage behavior, a sadistic plot to extract revenge and a slightly forbidden love affair (yet not so much) and you have a fabulous light read that will get you through those tedious afternoon hours!


Target Audience: Teenagers (and older) who are into some paranormal romance with some slight Biblical references.

Source: Impulsive purchase.

Other Books: Becca Fitzpatrick is working on the sequel to Hush, Hush - named Crescendo - which will hopefully be out some time soon.