Review: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Title: Hush, Hush.
Series: Hush, Hush, #1.
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick.
Publication Date: October 13th, 2009.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster.
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 391 pages.
Source: Bought.
My Rating:

A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure whom to trust.

Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel. For she 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 Nora her life.

 

Review

My friend had been bugging me to read this book for a while now, probably since not long after it came out. However, I was very reluctant to do so. Why? Because I’ve never really been overly keen on the speculation of Angels in general. I don’t have a proper, detailed explanation as to my being opposed to them – however I do think it has something to do with the fact that I’m not religious - at all. It’s not that I have anything against religion; it’s just never been my cup of tea. I suppose when I think of Angels, I think of God and the pearly white gates and I couldn’t seem to separate the two. When I first started reading Hush, Hush, I didn’t have my hopes up and wasn’t expecting much. However, I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed reading it – so much so, that I read it in only three sittings.

Ever since Nora Gray’s Biology teacher re-assigned the class seating arrangements and she was placed next to Patch, the brooding new kid – things have been happening around her. Things she can’t explain. Nora is drawn to Patch from the start. It’s not just his dashing good looks – there’s something dark and mysterious about him – something Nora wants to desperately find out. As she learns more and more about Patch and his dark past – Nora can’t decide whether to fling herself into his arms, or run and hide.

Nora’s character was quite interesting. She wasn’t the most in depth character I’ve read; however, her character narrated the book very well and made it quite a pleasure to read. Nora is just your typical teenage girl; worrying about what clothes to wear, messing around with her best friend and trying to pass her exams. Although Nora’s character was generally stated as a girl who doesn’t care much about boys in general, she falls - against her better judgement - for Patch, a new student who has suddenly has become her new Biology partner.

Patch is tall, dark and mysterious – every girls dream, right? Yet Nora also finds him slightly threatening and dangerous. She does her best to stay away from him, yet finds he crops up wherever she goes. It wasn’t until I was nearing the last 70 pages of this book that I actually started liking Patch’s character. He was too rude, too arrogant and honestly; he just really irritated me. Even though I didn’t like Patch at the beginning, I found myself constantly rooting for Patch and Nora to get together – don’t ask me why...

Although most of the time Nora is pretty much petrified of Patch, and is constantly trying to figure out whether he’s starting to stalk her - her plan to keep away from him fails. This really irritated me. Yes, she felt a strong pull towards Patch, yes he’s smoking hot and you wouldn’t mind taking him for a few laps. But honestly, girl - if you think he’s dangerous, so much so that you’re getting paranoid and mentally accusing him of different crimes – you avoid him! I can’t help comparing Patch to Edward Cullen, although Patch doesn’t tell Nora to stay away from him (like Edward does), they’re both giving off dangerous vibes, yet the female characters are drawn to them. Isn’t it our natural instinct to flee from danger? Doesn’t Nora have the fight or flight button programmed into her like everyone else?

Anyway, apart from my irritations with Nora’s actions at times, I did like her character overall. Every character has its flaws and rough edges. By the time I was ending the book, I’d warmed up to Patch’s character – he didn’t make me swoon and faint on the floor, but he turned out to be a pretty likeable guy. The last two characters I’d like to introduce are Vee and Elliot. Vee is Nora’s best friend. Her BFF, they share clothes, cars and love to talk about pretty much everything. Vee’s character wasn’t that well developed in my opinion; however I don’t think it really mattered. I do think that she was too easily swayed by the good looks of a guy and would rather tell her best friend that she’s crazy than admit that Nora has a stalker – which annoyed the hell out of me. Overall, she seemed like a reasonable character and I loved her connection with Nora – it was incredible.

Moving onward to Elliot, not long after Patch became Nora’s Bio partner, he transfers from an Elite School in which he held a scholarship, to the regular high school Nora and Vee go to. Elliot starts off seeming like a stand up guy, quickly becoming friendly with the girls and hanging out with them. Nora even admits to liking him at the start until she ends up spending more time with Patch. Right from the start I never liked Elliot. He seemed like a slimy, stuck up worm that wanted to latch onto any pretty girl he could. Yet, that’s probably me being too judgemental of him in general. Pretty much wherever Elliot went, his friend from his old school, Jules followed in the background, not speaking much at all.

Overall I thought the characters were amazing and very interesting – even the ones I didn’t like were very well thought out. I loved the way Nora’s and Patch’s relationship wasn’t so cheesy and insta-love, which, if it was, would have ruined the book in my opinion. It wasn’t exaggerated and overdone and kept in balance with the plot line well. There were so many different twists and turns throughout this book, it kept me completely on edge, constantly wondering what would happen next. I debated around quite a bit about whether to give this book 4/5 stars or 5/5. In the end I settled for the 4/5 stars, mainly because I felt there were a lot of loose ends that the book didn’t tie up – and my irritations towards the characters idiocy at times. I think Becca Fitzpatrick is a great writer and I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel to this book.

Quotes

Patch grinned down at me. "I'm hard to resist."
I blinked up and him. "Leave me alone." I tried to sidestep him, but he caught me by the elbow.
"What's wrong? You look ready to throw up."
"You have that effect on me," I snapped. - Page 108.

"I can't walk in high heels."
"Good thing they're not high then."
"They look high," I said, eyeing the protruding stiletto.
"Almost five inches. They left 'high' behind at four."
Lovely, If I didn't break my neck, I just might get to humiliate myself while seducing secrets out of Patch's coworkers. - Page 168.

A car door opened and the crackle of gunfire broke out. Two shots. The car door slammed and the black sedan screeched away. I could hear my heart hammering in my chest, and it blended with the sound of running feet. I realised a moment later that they were my feet, and I was running to the mouth of the alley. I rounded the corner and came up short. - Page 278.

Review: Generation Dead by Daniel Waters

Title: Generation Dead.
Series: Generation Dead, #1.
Author: Daniel Waters.
Publication Date: May 6th, 2008.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster.
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback, 393 pages.
Source: Bought.
My Rating:

The dead boy reached for her, his pale eyes glowing in the darkness.

All over the country, teenagers who die aren't staying dead. Against her better judgement, Phoebe finds herself drawn to Tommy Williams. He's gorgeous, funny, on the football team. And dead. But not everybody is as accepting as Phoebe. There are those who would like the rid the community of this sinister phenomenon, and they'll stop at nothing to achieve it...

 

Review

Phoebe is pretty much like any other teenage girl, apart from the fact that she’s a Goth. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on a guy named Tommy, who just happens to be a Zombie. All over America, teenagers who die aren’t staying dead – in fact, they’re getting up and walking away from the morgue. A scarce few of the population are fine with this, and are intrigued as to why this is happening. However, the rest of the society isn’t so accepting of the ‘living impaired’, especially when they want to go back to school and live a normal life. People avoid them, the teenagers skirting round them in the corridors and avoiding eye-contact. There are many of people out there who want the dead, well – dead, and will stop at nothing to do so.

I had been looking forward to reading this book for quite a while; however I was quite disappointed in it to say the least. I have to say; I expected more of a Zombie-Human romance story - however it focused more on the aspect of discrimination/prejudice of the Zombie’s or ‘differently biotic’ teenagers (As society is supposed to call them).

The book is told by three different people’s point of views; Phoebe, Adam and Pete – three of our four main characters throughout the book. First off, meet Phoebe - a full-on Goth, who listens to heavy rock music and writes poetry whilst dreaming of being held by a member of the living dead. Phoebe is the character that the storyline bases around and to be perfectly honest, I’m on the fence on whether I really liked her or not. The way she acts throughout some of the book irritated me. Although, her general character was well developed and it was different to read about her and her life. It was interesting to read about a proper Goth character, rather than characters that claim to be Goth, yet never seem to fit the ‘mix’.

Moving onwards; let me introduce Tommy Williams. Tommy is Phoebe’s crush, and the reason the Football team has got its knickers in a twist. He’s a Zombie - big shock there, right? Tommy, like most of the ‘differently biotic’ teenagers, takes a while to get full sentences out, walks rather slowly and is the ‘leader’ of the un-dead kids. There’s not a lot to Tommy’s character, apart from the fact that he seems to like Phoebe, but I guess there’s not much to say about someone whose main characteristics are gone and is a living corpse.

Now, please welcome Pete, a rude and nasty Zombie hater. If I were to allow myself to use more strong language about how much of an ass Pete's character is, I think it’d have to be censored for younger readers. It's not JUST the fact that he hates the Zombies, it's the fact that he thinks it's his DUTY to 'rid the world' of these 'abominations'. The fact that he can’t even let the ‘Zombie’s’ do normal day to day things in life – say, playing on the football team - to him it’s not natural. How is any of it natural at all? In real life, do the dead suddenly get up and walk away? No. But the Zombie’s in this book are obviously here to stay. People are going to continue to become Zombies after death – whether a Zombie plays on the football team or not – so why the heck should the rest of the team care?! Pete obviously doesn’t care about equality and wants rid of the Zombie’s and anyone who’s friends with them. Great guy, huh?

Lastly, let’s give a warm round of applause for Adam – one of Phoebe’s best friends and the cute guy that lives next door to her. Adam is also on the Football team and used to be good friends with Pete, until Pete decided to start a ‘war’ of sorts against the Zombie’s. Adam took Tommy’s side, and stood up for him throughout the book. However, at the beginning, the only reason he did so, was because Adam has the hots for Phoebe; who’s obviously Pro-Zombie. Adam’s character starts off seeming like a usual jock/popular guy, however as the book moves on he really develops into a caring and interesting guy. He drops the whole ‘cool’ act and actually becomes friends with the un-dead kids - he actually starts to care about what happens to them.

It took me quite a while to actually get into this book; It only started to get vaguely interesting well over half way through. In my opinion there was way too much Football talk and action involved. With me not being a sporty person at all, I was bored nearly to tears reading the Football scenes and nearly gave up on the book on several occasions. However, I was determined to finish this book and it turned out to have a better ending than I expected. I knew that I was going to give it 3/5 stars whilst I was still reading the book, mainly because it just didn’t captivate me or interest me enough. I did hope that once I’d finished it I’d be able to bump it up a star, but the overall book just didn’t do it for me. In conclusion, it was a good read, one I may probably read again one day and I’ll probably pick up the sequel to see what happens next – seeing as it was left on a cliff-hanger. Was it the best book I've read? Definitely not. Would I recommend it to a friend? Probably not.

Quotes

"So you never told me how practice was," Phoebe said, turning to look out the windshield. "How was it playing with the corpsicle?" - Page 70.

"She felt Tommy's light touch on her arm. "The music is ... loud?" Tommy said.
"Very."
"We will ... turn it down," he said. "It takes much ... to make the ... dead ... feel." - Page 169.

Phoebe's pulse was racing through her as she struggled for a responce. She wanted to say something to Tommy, something that would make things better for him, but the only response she could come up with was one she was not ready to give. - Page 380.