Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick - book review

September 29, 7:59 AMReading ExaminerCheryl Vanatti

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Part mystery thriller, part romance, part paranormal-fantasy, Hush, Hush, from debut author Becca Fitzpatrick, is going to be snatched up by the Twilight-styled girls of middle and high school and might well fall into the hands of more than a few adult fans of the genre also. I am not one of those readers. However, I was surprisingly drawn to Hush, Hush.

When high school student Nora Grey gets a new lab partner, it seems she’ll be doing all the work. A newcomer to the school, Patch seems more intent on playing pool than completing assignments. Yet, Nora finds herself attracted to the bad boy and begins noticing him wherever she goes. It doesn’t help that Nora’s recent feeling that someone is watching her has culminated in a supernatural-styled encounter or that Patch seems to know everything about her. Is Patch the bad guy he seems? Is he causing the strange occurrences in Nora’s life? Soon, Nora will learn that she’s caught in the middle of clash as old as the dawn of time. 

Hush, Hush is tightly written, with a good mixture of action sequencing and character development. Protagonist Nora is living in a setting where readers know something bad is looming: absent parents, distracted best friend. Additionally, she's part mystery detective, trying to figure out the good guys from the bad ones along with the reader. Bad boy Patch is Heathcliff reborn as an immortal. He’s not nice and can even be downright wicked. Against the brilliance of Patch, Nora seems a bit flat, but since this is the first in a series, Ms. Fitzpatrick has time to polish Nora.

While Hush, Hush follows the standard boy meets girl, forced teen angst and falling for bad boy themes, it also holds readers rapt. There’s always a concern that poor female decisions at the hands of a cute boy stories will venture into the subjugation realm, but it doesn’t eliminate the fact that many, many teen girls love this sort of thing. Call it hormones or the first bloom of love, assign it any name you’d like, teen readers of the Twilight vein will enjoy this one.