Teen Fiction Tuesday: Hush, Hush

Hush, Hush, by Becca Fitzpatrick

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 391
Reading Level: 14 and up


Anyone who has not taken a good look at the cover of this book should do so right now. I mean it. Did you do it? If so, you are probably pretty intrigued already. I know I was when I first saw the cover. As much as I know that I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, this is definitely one of those situations where I bought the book because of the it. Lucky for me, it was a really good book.

For me, Hush, Hush started off on the wrong foot with a prologue. I have a personal bias against prologues. I hate them. I rarely ever read a prologue I like. I'm sad to say that this is true of Hush, Hush as well. However, as soon as I started reading the chapters, I completely forgot how much I disliked the prologue. The writing was smooth, the dialogue was real, and the characters were interesting.

The novel follows the story of Nora Grey, a smart, shy, distrustful high school student. The day she meets Patch, a transfer student in her biology class, strange things start to happen. Not only is Nora oddly attracted to Patch, but she also has the feeling that he may want to hurt her.

I was intrigued by the plot of this book. It was complex, involving romance, mystery, action, and fantasy. At times, there was so much going on, I wondered how the author would be able to wrap up all the pieces. Now having finished the story, I can see how many of the pieces were connected and how hints were sprinkled throughout the book. Even so, I don't think it's possible to guess the ending or to answer Nora's questions until they are revealed at the end. The story ended so completely, I felt entirely satisfied with this as a stand-alone novel. However, I was still happy to hear that there will be a sequel and now I've started to think about a few little mysteries that are still unsolved.

As much as I liked the book, there were a few occasions where I felt the situations were contrived. It was as if the author decided she really wanted to have certain scenes, then created a feeble reason for those scenes to take place. My biggest problem was Nora's “undercover” mission to get more information about Patch. It felt very unrealistic and unnecessary.

Despite those reservations, I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading. I know I'll be in line to buy the sequel when it comes out.

Happy reading!

Rose



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Stay tuned on the blog tomorrow for pictures from Becca's Houston visit as well as a chance to win a copy of Hush, Hush signed by Becca Fitzpatrick!

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