Hush, Hush

Today I'm reviewing Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick 3 out of 5

Like must people I brought this because of the links to twilight. Insular teen girl, check. Mysterious moody boy, check. The book started well too Nora being a bright but troubled girl dealing with the death of her father. Just as she seems to be getting her life on track Patch, the transfer student, becomes her biology partner and she discovers that there is secret battle going on between the fallen angels and angels and Nora is now a part of it.

This book made me feel uneasy, not just because of the excellent atmosphere the author creates which is similar to the self contained world of Bella Swan in the Twilight books. The thing that made me uneasy is that even though she is attracted to him she spends the majority of the book afraid he is going to hurt her. Is this a message that the author wishes to convey to teenage girls? That stalking and fear of violence is attractive? Considering a quarter of teenage girl aged 13 to 17 have experienced physical violence in a relationship (NSPCC research, 2010) I can only hope that the author means to address this issue because otherwise Nora and Patch relationship is very creepy. Why Nora, or Patch for that matter, would be interested in each other when he is antagonistic and she is paranoid does not quite make sense however the rest of the novel was interesting and the plot and back story suitably intriguing that will buy the sequel Crescendo when it comes out later in the year.