Despite the insanity of the past couple weeks, I have managed to read a new book. I just finished Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, a young adult novel. This is the first in a series by the author and although I kind of knew what I was getting into upon opening the book, I decided I HAD to read it since I've seen it on the bookshelves forever.
This series has widely been compared to
Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series and after reading the whole thing, I can definitely see where the mass of haters are coming from. The plot is all very de ja vue if you've read both, I'll admit. Both create a world in which things from dreams suddenly become a reality for a young girl. In Twlight it's vampires and werewolves whereas in Hush Hush it's angels. Both girls suddenly have baddies trying to hurt them and their other-worldly heroes rescue them time and time again. But still...
Nora never wanted a boyfriend, despite the fact that her BFF is completely and utterly boy crazy. Nora wanted to go to school and do homework and forget the fact that her father was killed in a freak accident. Enter Patch, the dark, sexy, seductive boy in school who Nora can't seem to stop thinking about. In fact, she's somehow drawn to him in a way that she can't even explain.
Long story short, after being rude to her, Nora decides that Patch and her will be boyfriend-girlfriend...because all good relationships are based on insults and mistrust, right? Nora's life is in danger a number of times while Patch is vague about who he is and why things are happening. Nora finally finds out that Patch is a fallen angels and is basically trying to find the light again.
Okay, so parts of this story did bother me.
The relationship between the two main characters, Nora and Patch, kind of strike me both ways. I hated the fact that he was downright rude to her and treated her poorly at times. For a YA novel, I think this sets a bad precedent on what we think young girls should expect from the young men they date. On the other hand, when Patch is loving, he's...well, pardon the pun, but he's an angel. I got lost in moments of tenderness between the two. Patch also had a great sense of humor, which lent itself to the story nicely. It broke up some of the more intense parts. Nora, I must say, was just a poor pathetic, naive girl who really was lucky to stay alive. I have a hard time believing that with all of the adventures she encounters that she still is silent on the whole thing and never tells her mother or the police.
One more thing I will say in regards to comparing Hush Hush with Twilight is that both authors did a wonderful job of pulling the reader into the story. I felt they both created characters that despite their many flaws, still really appealed to the reader. I wanted to know more about the characters and find out why they behaved the way they did. Even when I didn't like something or someone, I wanted to find out what made them that way or what caused them to behave in such a manner. Now, whether those questions in my head were actually answered as I continued reading is another story entirely.
In the end, I can say that I liked the Hush Hush series. All three books collectively created a full story with mystery, fantasy, and romance. I would recommend them to readers who like fantasy fiction on the light side. Don't go into it expecting an award winning series; you're not going to find it here. You will find a couple of books to suck away hour after hour of your weekend easily though.
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