Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)

by Becca Fitzpatrick

[Rinn]

Also posted on my blog, Rinn Reads.

I read reviews of this book here on Goodreads, and as I'm a sucker for trashy YA paranormal romance, I thought I'd give it a try - and the next day, found it in a charity shop for 80p.
My first thought when looking at this book was Twilight - the cover, the font, the plot. Little list of similarities:
- Nora and Patch meet in Biology class
- he wants to kill her AND seduce her
- she finds him dangerous, yet attractive
- Patch has to 'rescue' her from a trip to the nearest big town/city where she cleverly went off by herself
And there are a lot of other similarities, but also some differences.

For one, Nora isn't as annoying a character. She's not a Mary Sue, but it almost feels like the author was trying too hard to make her 'quirky' - writes poetry in secret, plays the cello, only listens to baroque music. She is however, plain stupid. And is apparently applying to Stanford, Harvard and Yale. And then of course there's the token annoying best friend, who is a 'typical' teenage girl (although I don't actually know many teenagers who act like these typical teenage girls...).

Patch was a seriously disturbing character. If you thought Edward Cullen was twisted, wait until you meet this guy. He is manipulative, abusive and just plain nasty. I'm not sure what it is with these paranormal romances, but when did treating someone like that equate to caring for them? There's looking out for someone, and then there's... that.

Then there was the situation in Biology class near the beginning, where Nora's teacher essentially puts her on the spot and asks very personal, humiliating questions, and Patch plays along. I'm not sure what teacher would ever think that sort of thing was okay, but I'm sure if they actually did it, it would result in their dismissal.

Overall, no the book was not original. It's a very overused format, but instead of vampires or whatever we have fallen angels. Cookie cutter characters, very simple writing - yet honestly, I just kept reading. I'm not sure if it was because it was simple and therefore a quick read, because I just wanted to get it over and done with, or because I actually enjoyed it despite all the wrong moral messages it sends out, but I finished this book in just a couple of hours.

EDIT: A couple of mistakes I noticed. There is one point where Nora is in Patch's Jeep, and decides to look through his glove compartment for more information on him. She mentions how even just his cell phone number would be good enough - but she already has it. He wrote it on her hand on the first day.

When Jules' parents are described as being away, due to their jobs in the diamond industry, and that they go to Africa and Australia a lot, Nora queries why they would go to Australia since it's not big in the diamond industry. Do you know what country is pretty big in the diamond industry? Here's a few clues: kangaroos, Ayers Rock, kookaburras, the Sydney Opera House, koalas - yes! It's Australia!