Title: Hush, Hush

Author: Becca Fitzgerald

No. of Pages: 391

First Released: October 2009

Synopsis (Courtesy of B&N): “For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.

For Nora 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 her life.”

Comments and Critiques: I’ve held off on writing this review again, because I had to think about how I was going to write this. I didn’t dislike the story but I didn’t love it like I hoped. To me, it has all the makings of a great book, but it just fell short.

I was going to try to avoid the comparisons of this story with the Twilight series but find that I cannot. There were SO many similarities that I just can’t ignore them. From the bad good guy to the idea of sacrifice, from the meeting scene in high school biology to watching over Nora while she remains unaware, I found the similarities distracting. Ms. Fitzgerald has a great idea with Hush, Hush, and to try to capitalize on the same formula that succeeded so well for Stephenie Meyer does her book a disservice, in my opinion.

This was my first story about fallen angels and nephilim. I had never heard of these myths and legends before, and I’ll admit that I was fascinated by this part of the story. Patch makes a great bad good guy, and because I am not familiar with the legends, I did keep reading in order to solve the mystery of Patch. Unlike Edward Cullen, I was concerned that Patch was dangerous. He made for an intriguing hero, and I can see millions of teenagers falling for him quite easily.

Unfortunately, other than my interest in solving the mystery and learning more about Patch, my concern for the characters did not grow. I was not vested in Nora as the heroine, and therefore not vested in her burgeoning relationship with Patch. I really disliked Vee, Nora’s best friend. But I can’t help but think that I could have been emotionally involved with them as characters. Rather, not just could but should have been emotionally involved.

I do believe that Ms. Fitzpatrick has the potential to be a great writer and that she will improve as she continues to write. The mystery was well-plotted, and the action kept me reading the book. It’s just not there yet. Still, Ms. Fitzpatrick kept me interested and left enough unresolved questions that I feel the need to find out the answers to those questions. I will definitely be picking up the sequel once published.

I do predict this will be a popular book with young adults, but I do not see it becoming the next Twilight or Harry Potter. As I mentioned, it was enjoyable but still lacking in that something that would have made it a great book. Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Since I read this two weeks before the challenge, and Carl did say we could break the rules, I am going to count this as my first book for this year’s RIP Challenge! One down, at least three more to go.