Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)

by Becca Fitzpatrick

[Leah]

Hush, Hush is Becca Fitzpatrick's debut novel but if I hadn't already know that, I wouldn't have guessed it in a million years. I, quite literally, could not put it down. After the creepy and mysterious Prologue, we're thrown straight into Nora Grey's life as she's paired with the mysterious Patch. I knew already that Patch was a fallen angel - the cover kind of gives it away - but I was interested to see how the relationship played out between Nora and Patch, and how Nora would find out about him being a fallen angel. The book is about more than that, though, and when a mysterious hooded figure begins pulling Nora's life apart and putting her in difficult and dangerous situations, I wasn't at all sure who it was that was behind it. Obviously there were a number of people it could have been, including badboy Patch and I had no idea who it was!

Hush, Hush is actually the first book I've read about angels. I know they're a hot topic in YA fiction at the minute, but mainly I've just read about vampires and regular people, and I was a bit hesitant about angels/fallen angels because who was to say I'd enjoy it? I was completely wrong to be worried, though, because fallen angels are actually interesting. I thought there would be a lot of backstory and a complicated history but the book was really straightforward with history only being used when necessary to explain things which was fine by me.

One thing I think Fitzpatrick excelled at throughout the book was building the suspense. The book is jam-packed full of it and it helped to keep the book flowing that's for sure. I did want Nora to confide in someone - Patch or Vee her best friend - about the hooded man following her because it was clear that person was intent on doing damage but the lack of Nora confessing about it just built the suspense all the more. The suspense was so bad I didn't know whether to put the book down for a bit or plough on nonetheless. I ploughed on nonetheless - what can I say I'm a sucker for suspense? - and it just kept building and building until it all exploded into a thrilling ending. I had guessed partly what was going on but for the most part I didn't guess at all.

Because Nora narrates the entire story, I (thankfully) warmed to her immediatly. When authors write the book that way, in the first person, it's imperative to like the narrator otherwise the story just doesn't work so I was happy to find that I loved Nora. When she first met Patch, although she acknowledged he had something about him, she didn't fall hopelessly in love with him right there and then, it took time and a heck of a lot of chemistry in between before she admitted she felt anything for him. Believe me, there was serious chemistry between the pair. Patch is the bad boy everyone is supposed to fall hopelessly in love with, and fall I did, despite his arrogance and cockiness. It actually endeared him to me more to be honest. He had his flaws, don't get me wrong, but he was just so charming you could forgive him anything. The chemistry between himself and Nora really pushed the book and I loved the way they sparked off each other. Another character I loved was Vee, Nora's best friend, she was a fab character and I hope we see more of her in the sequel.

As you can probably tell, I loved Hush, Hush. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did but I did, I adored it and could barely put it down. Everything was done perfectly, it drew me in easily at the beginning, the suspense built up from beginning to end with no let up during the middle of the book and the ending was stunning. It works well as a stand-alone, but a sequel is coming out in October so it obviously leaves us wanting more, too. It has it all; love, humour, fantastic characters and such suspensful suspense that I was dying to finish the book to see how it all ended! If you're a fantasy fan then this is one for you. I'm eagerly awaiting the sequel!