Review: Hush, Hush

Title: Hush, Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Release Date: October 13, 2009
Source: bought

Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems 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 she 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 Nora her life.

Nancy’s Review:

I have had Hush, Hush on my bookshelf for a long time. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it, because I had read so many mixed reviews about it. I get it… it’s similar to Twilight and unless you were a diehard fan, Hush, Hush wasn’t something you wanted to read. However, I figured I shouldn’t just brush it off only because some people didn’t like it.

The story was set in Maine (in eastern US), which I loved. It wasn’t a location that I would have ever imagined to be used in a young adult book. When you hear Maine, you think lobsters and rural farms. It’s one of those places that are so tranquil that people just go there to retire. Well, at least from my point of view, being that I’m only a few hours away. Having Maine as a location definitely piqued my interest before the story even took off.

Once the story started, I could definitely see where the similarities to Twilight were. However, it wasn’t something that bothered me. Hush, Hush was its own book, so I focused on that. There was no use in comparing books, when I could barely remember Twilight. Moving on, right from the beginning I was intrigued. I wanted to know more about the characters, the story, and what was going to happen. The book moved at a good pace, nothing was rushed and I was given enough information so that I wasn’t completely lost.

Of course, the focal point of the book were its characters. Nora, the main character, was great! I really enjoyed her; she was such a normal girl that it wasn’t hard to picture her in my head. Her love interest, Patch, was not what I imagined he would be like at all. He was rude, conceited, sarcastic… it was awesome. He was such an unconventional male lead that I was immediately obsessed. I loved the fact that they had nothing in common, yet they were able to form such a strong relationship.

Though there wasn’t much that I didn’t like about the story, I figured I should just mention the fact that there were some minor things that bothered me. These issues mainly revolved around Nora. Even though I did like her a lot, some things that she would say or do seemed desperate and reckless. I just wish she had put more thought behind some of her actions, instead of being so impulsive. It unnecessarily put in difficult situations. Other than that, I guess the only other thing that I didn’t like was that some things seemed too “convenient”, which is common in YA fiction, so I’m not stressing it.  It wasn’t a big deal.

I really enjoyed Hush, Hush! I wasn’t expecting that I would, so I’m pleasantly surprised. Overall, it was a very fun book to read and I’m expecting that the other books in the series are even better, because the ending suggested at what might happen in the other books. Though I’ve yet to read the others, I’m positive that they’ll be pretty good and I’m looking forward to reading them.