Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Posted by : Deborah Takahashi Saturday, January 14, 2012

Plot Summary:
Life for Nora Gray has not been easy. It's been a year since her father was mysteriously murdered and her mother has taken a full time job, leaving her alone with the housekeeper. Nora isn't popular and she is quite ordinary in comparison to her outspoken and curvaceous best friend, Vee. This year, Nora and Vee are enrolled in a class focusing on Human Reproduction and they are expecting to be partners. However, when Coach, their teacher, assigns them new seating arrangement, Nora is teamed up with a gorgeous boy named Patch. Despite his good looks, there is something about him that makes Nora uneasy. As an "ice breaker" Nora and Patch must ask one another questions about themselves, but Patch seems to know a lot about Nora without even asking her, which creeps her out. When its Nora's turn, Patch is incredibly reluctant to tell her about him, which kicks off a series of events that put Nora in incredible danger. Moreover, her life becomes even more complicated when she starts falling for Patch even though he scares her. The more Nora is around Patch, the weirder things become, especially when she gets the attention of another boy named Elliot, who is quite interested in Nora. However, when Elliot invited her and Vee to Delphic to ride the "Archangel," Nora finds herself the center of a devious plan involving the Nephilim and the Falling.

Critical Evaluation:
Although the story is intriguing, I started reminiscing about a story between and human and a certain vampire. Granted I am not into a lot of romances, I was hoping for a strong female lead and was somewhat disappointed. However, in comparison to the traditional female role, in regards to supernatural love triangles, I have a lot of hope for Nora's character, especially when she made a rather courageous decision towards the end. Since Hush, Hush is part of a saga, the opening sequence will not make a lot of sense nor will the truth behind Nora's involvement be revealed. This entire installment is very stereotypical teen romance where the main character is unsure as to why someone like Patch (i.e., dark, mysterious, and gorgeous) would be interested in them. Furthermore, Nora's best friend, Vee, in my opinion, is irritating since she doesn't do a lot for Nora other than force her to rescue her from her own ignorance when he should have listened to her best friend's warnings. Despite these flaws, the story is rather entertaining and I may actually read the next installment just so I can learn more about the Nephilim and Nora's family history.

Information about the Author:
In her website, Becca Fitzpatrick fell in love with storytelling in Kindergarten. However, she and her sister, alike, didn't like their elementary school not because they disliked learning, but the girls were mean. When she moved to Nebraska, before second grade, she started liking school and came across Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden. When her sister introduced her to Roald Dahl, she was hooked and when she saw the movie "Romancing the Stone" she knew she wanted to be an author. Although she still held onto her dream to become an author, she actually had the idea to become a spy: " I stalked the CIA website and filled out at least a dozen applications. I thought being a spy was dangerous and sexy. I didn't want to be the girl who got a degree, only to settle down and do house-ish things...like answer telemarketers' calls and choose between Spanish or Ladybug Red for the kitchen walls" (para. 6).

After marrying her husband in 2000, Fitzpatrick did not join the CIA but got her degree in Community Health at Brigham Young University where she hot a job working as a secretary at a local high school Although she loved working with the students, everything changed when her husband enrolled her into creative writing classes, which helped her to write Hush, Hush.

Genre:
Teen Supernatural Romance

Reading Level/Interest:
Grades 9 & up

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