From the Archives: Book 10: "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick

 

Book 10: "Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick

"Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick
Verdict: Meh. A shallow, not great book even for a YA book.

This book has received a lot of attention for, honestly, reasons I can't comprehend. I give Fitzpatrick credit for having a pretty cool idea. If you don't know what this novel is about, here's a short explanation: a fallen Angel falls in love with a human teenager. The reasons and how this happens are a little more involved, but basically that's the whole point of the book. The conflict was okay, keeps the reader in slight suspense for a very short period of time. Overall this is an okay novel; I just have two major issues with it.

Issue number one: the characters are flat: a.k.a. the characters don't develop or change, they are one-dimensional. Growth periods are spoken of but all of the main characters did all of their growing before the book starts. I have an issue with this because it's boring to read about people going through experiences and ending up exactly the same person. It kind of makes one think at the end of the book, "what's the point?".

Issue number two: it takes forever for anything to happen. Nothing happens for three fourths of this book; it is truly more like just following the main character around on her boring teen routine. A few interesting moments and some unsettling encounters occur, but overall...nothing. Then all of a sudden the end is there. I'm a big proponent of character building as well as the building of plot momentem. In this novel, however, there is neither; you know the character well within two chapters (as in most YA novels) and the rest is just there. There is no building of momentum with the plot either; it's simply going and then action is occuring...like walking through a quiet park when one of those five-minute storms hits and seems to dissipate immediately. That was this novel; nothing to everything back to nothing.

There is a sequel and probably more after that to be released, I don't know when. My suggestion, if someone you know has this book, go ahead and read it but don't seek it out, it's not worth the money or effort.