Book 6 - Hush Hush

When I was young, my Nona and I watched Days of Our Lives. I fell in love with Patch. Oh sure, I know "Bo" was the more popular hunk, but he was too pretty-boy to be a true rebel without a cause, and his love of Fancy Face, though sweet, made him perpetually unavailable.

I blame my Nona for turning me on to bad boys - and Patch was definitely worthy of my affections.

There's a new Patch to woo me, now.

In Hush Hush, Becca Fitzpatrick offers a cure for the common Edward. Patch is a fallen angel, and he's fallen for Nora. Hard. When he isn't trying to kill her, he's trying to protect her. I love the way their relationship evolves - through witty (really well-done) dialogue and adrenaline-pumping scenes.

Patch is tall, dark and mysterious and I fell for him from first introduction. He's a bad boy, no doubt, but even his tender, redeeming qualities are peppered with sarcasm.

Thankfully, Nora is no wallflower. She's intelligent and strong-willed, and unwilling to put up with Patch's crap. She doesn't "need" Patch, or any guy for that matter - and that makes her a better role model than I've seen in many young adult books this past while.

Sadly, the book started with a bang and teetered off toward the end. Something about the "love" circle didn't quite connect, and the climax felt a bit rushed. Fitzpatrick had plenty of room to flush out the sub-plot story line, which would have taken it from a bit on the fluff side to something deeper. Still, I read the book in almost one sitting, lured only by the season finale of season 3 Dexter.

Fitzpatrick's writing craft is almost impeccable, making the book all that much easier to read. Although I know it won't count towards my "100 book challenge" I'm thinking about reading it again to see if I can suck up some of Fitzpatrick's talent. Throughout the novel I wanted to highlight a passage and shout, "Now that's how it's done!" But doing so would have marred a beautiful book I wasn't even tempted to spine crack. Gasp.

I'm crossing my fingers the follow-up novel, Crescendo, makes it into my 100 book challenge as well. Yep, thoroughly impressed with Hush Hush and 100 percent smitten with Patch.