(Cover picture courtesy of Violet Crush.)

A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Romance was not part of Nora Grey’s plan. She’s never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora to him against her better judgment.

But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure whom to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is and seems to know more about her than her closest friends. She can’t decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen – and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost Nora her life.

Like The Demon King I’ve had my eye on this book for years.  I just never really considered picking it up until I saw it was on for $4.99 as a promotion for the final book in the series.  Why not give it a try for that price?  It could be good.

I won’t say that I’m disappointed, but I wasn’t especially impressed either.  There were decent enough characters, some humour, good world-building and so-so villains but that was about it.  Hush, Hush never really made that transition from ‘decent enough’ to ‘good’ or ‘great.’  It’s one of those books that’s just mediocre, forgettable and generally undistinguished.

Nora is a decent enough heroine but she’s nothing special.  She gets assigned to have the mysterious Patch as a lab partner and they insult each other back and forth for a bit and then denies her attraction to him for most of the book.  Patch alternatively insults her and encourages her feelings before Nora finally asks him what he is and they begin to admit their feelings for each other.  No huge surprises there but it’s not a bad storyline.  It’s just predictable, much like the characters who are generally forgettable and occasionally act too stupid to live.  Nora just loves going into danger.

The plot isn’t really fast-paced.  It’s predictable with the whole Slap-Slap-Kiss sort of sexual tension that’s pretty much always present in YA these days.  The problem with the plot is that there are huge bursts of energy and then it grinds to a halt for what seems like days.  There are so many stop and starts that I really couldn’t buy into much suspense by the end.  Sure, there was suspense, but there wasn’t all that much.  Not enough for me to keep reading late into the night but it didn’t lack suspense so much that I wanted to give up on the book.

I liked the fallen angel part of this book.  It has the potential for Becca Fitzpatrick to do a lot more with it in the next few books.  I liked the glimpses we saw of Patch’s world and his downfall but it’s really not enough to judge whether or not the world-building is truly amazing or just good.  Really, this whole book felt like sort of a set up for the rest of the series.  First books should sort of be like that, but there should be a little more action going on and more information being given to the reader.

So overall? Meh.  If I see the next book in the used section of a bookstore I might pick it up but I’m not going out of my way to finish the series.

I give this book 3/5 stars.

Amazon     Barnes and Noble     Goodreads