Review: hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

A sacred oath,
a fallen angel,
a forbidden love.

Nora Grey is a responsible, independent teenager who lives alone with her widowed mother in Maine. When she is unexpectedly paired up with the transfer student, Patch, in Biology class she is unhappy to be stuck with someone so sullen and annoying. He is also quite mysterious and very handsome, a bad combination. Although she tries to keep her distance he always seems to be around. He becomes a favorite topic of conversation for Nora and her best friend Vee. Eventually she acknowledges her growing attraction to him and realizes he is linked to many strange occurrences. As she starts to dig deeper into Patch's past she must determine where the true dangers lie and to what extremes she will go to uncover the secrets.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the dramatic black and white cover. I really liked it and I had to know what this book was about. My first impression was that it started very similar to Twilight and there have been many comparisons. In a First Look online bookclub at Barnes & Noble the author explained the background of her book. She told how the inspiration for this story came from her own 10th grade Biology class and she wrote the two chapters of classroom scenes in 2003 before Twilight was published. This book took her over five years to write and when it was submitted to publishers the title was Eclipse. (I like the final title much better!) From 2003-06 no agents mentioned any similarities to the Twilight series. It wasn't until 2007 when it was mentioned that it was too similar and was rejected. It's a tried and true formula that's used often in YA stories and hardly a secret. Teenagers spend much of their life in the classroom and most of their relationships develop there. It works for this story as well. As Nora becomes more interested in Patch her friend Vee seems to feel the opposite. But she has developed feelings for her new friend Elliot and it would be so convenient if Nora could be paired off with his friend Jules. The friction increases between the girls as their lives are pulled in different directions and when Nora finds herself in increasingly dangerous situations she turns to Patch for help. This could be the very person she is threatened by but she is drawn to him and he is the only person who understands these strange events. And it seems the events aren't random and her very life is at stake.

I found this to be fast paced and easy to read. There were plenty of twists and turns that kept me turning pages to solve the mysteries. The story was interesting and I liked the mythology of fallen angels. There were elements that bothered me and some were probably more noticeable as a parent of teens than if I were a teen myself. Nora is mature and independent but she was left alone too often even after threats and attacks and some of her decisions made no sense to me. I also realized that I was curious about these characters but I didn't find them very likable and I'm not sure why. Some were annoying but were suppose to be. Miss Greene, the new school counselor, really got on my nerves with her strange questions. I realize she had motives but they seemed so obvious to me. I'm not sure what was going on with Nora's iron pills but they were mentioned a lot. I expect this will have more of a role in the future as well.

Even with the parts I didn't care for I still want to know what comes next. I thought there was chemistry between Nora and Patch and imagine that it will only get stronger in the future. The ending in the finished copy is different than the ARC version. It's only a few paragraphs but it's on the last page but it does make some changes in the storyline. I like both versions. Since this was the author's debut novel I'm sure the stories will get better and better. I look forward to reading more from Becca Fitzpatrick.

The sequel, Crescendo, will be released in October, 2010.

Thank you to TEEN.SimonandSchuster.com for an ARC of this book.

author website - BeccaFitzpatrick.com

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Release date: 10/13/09
Pages: 400
Price/format: $17.99/hardcover
Type: YA
Age: 14 and up