Review: HUSH HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick

When sixteen year old Nora Gray meets the mysterious and seemingly dangerous transfer student, Patch (stupid name, I know), she is not sure whether to run toward him or away.  Patch is a fallen angel whose greatest desire is to become human.  Unfortunately, Nora is standing in his way.

Before I read this book, I checked out some other reviews.  Many of them talked about how Hush Hush is a rip-off of Twilight and panned it accordingly.  However, I think this is a grossly unfair comparison.  First, I have to question the people reviewing it.  Twilight drew in a huge reading audience, many of whom were not big readers.  This is a good thing, but it also left many readers seeking another series which could replicate their Twilight experience.  When it doesn’t, they are disappointed.  The other issue with some of these reviews is that it is unfair to judge every YA paranormal romance against Twilight.  So what if both of the leading men are dark and dangerous?  Couldn’t this be more about teenage girls looking for the bad boy that they can tame?  I read a lot of YA and this good girl/bad boy theme is pretty heavily used.  That doesn’t make it a bad thing, it just means that not every author out there is trying to pattern their books after Twilight. 

Okay, that said, I tried to read this book with an open mind, forming my opinions off of this story alone.  I have to say, I liked both Nora and Patch.  Nora is a gutsy, inquisitive girl with an inner strength.  Patch fully admits that he is not a good guy.  He really isn’t.  However, the evil in him is a part of his character progression.  I wasn’t crazy about V, Nora’s best friend.  I thought she was vacuous and ditzy.  She constantly behaved like an idiot in front of boys.  If she were my friend, no way would I take her on double dates. 

There is also a decent amount of action in this book.  There are several “bad guys” who are after Nora for different reasons.  It makes the story interesting and suspenseful.  I am really looking forward to reading the sequel, Crescendo. 

Overall, I give Hush Hush…

Plot – 4 bookmarks

Character Development – 4 bookmarks

Love Story – 3 ½ bookmarks

Action – 4 ½ bookmarks

Dream Cast (otherwise known as who I pictured while reading) – Kay Panabaker (Nora), Emile Hirsch (Patch), Toby Hemingway (Elliot), Dianna Argon (Ms. Green)