Becca Fitzpatrick Archive

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Posted April 6, 2012 By dorolerium

Title: Silence
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Paranormal
Pages: 438
How I Read It: Hard cover purchased by me.

Synopsis: When silence is all that’s left, can the truth finally be heard?

Nora Grey can’t remember the past five months of her life.  After the initial shock of waking up in a cemetery and being told that she has been missing for weeks – with no one knowing where she was or who she was with – she tries to get her life back on track.  Go to school, hang out with her best friend, Vee, and dodge her mom’s creepy new boyfriend.

But there is this voice in the back of her head, an idea that she can almost reach out and touch.  Visions of angel wings and unearthly creatures that have nothing to do with the life she knows.

And this unshakable feeling that a part of her is missing.

Then Nora crosses paths with a very sexy stranger, whom she feels a mesmerizing connection to.  He seems to hold all the answers…and her heart.  Every minute she spends with him grows more and more intense until she realizes she could be falling in love.  Again.

My Review: After reading the first book in this series, I really enjoyed it and was looking forward to the sequel.  My opinion of Crescendo was not a good one, and the only thing that was keeping me reading the series was my insane need to know what’s going to happen next.  Consequently, my expectations for Silence were not that high.

However, I’m happy to say that this book was a huge improvement over the previous two.  Nora has to relearn everything she found out in the first two books, because someone erases the past five months from her memory.  Perhaps it’s because she’s a bit older now, so maybe she’s wiser, but I felt like she handled things a lot better this time around.  She’s not nearly as jealous, in fact she feels feelings of jealousy at times and pushes them away, realizing there’s a lot more going on than the fact that she doesn’t entirely know where Patch stands with her.

As the reader, we know more about Nora’s past than she does, for much of the book anyway.  It makes for an interesting twist, because she meet characters we’re already familiar with – we can see what kind of potential drama they might bring, but Nora has her new perspective and handles them in different ways.  I liked this, because even though Nora makes a point to say she wants to find her way back to the old Nora, she is changed and there really isn’t anything she can do about that.

I was surprised by some of the events that happened in this book, and curious to see what the ramifications are for the next book in the series.  Nora’s destiny takes a turn for the more interesting, and I definitely want to know what it all ultimately means for her life.  Which means I’ll absolutely be picking up the next book when it’s out.  Fortunately, this one has given me enough faith that I’ll be willing to buy the book instead of go to the library for it.

I don’t want to spoil any of this book for other readers, but I think fans of this series will enjoy this one.  If you liked Crescendo, you’ll probably like this even more, since I thought that one sucked.

Read this book if: Definitely continue reading the series if you started it and managed to get through the second book.  If you haven’t picked it up yet, I think there are better YA series out there that you should start with first.

My Rating: 3.5/5 – Two thumbs up, fine holiday fun!

Filed in 2012, Becca Fitzpatrick | Tagged:

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Posted February 28, 2011 By dorolerium

Synopsis: Nora Grey should have known her life was far from perfect.  Even though her boyfriend, Patch, also happens to be her literal guardian angel (who, despite the title, is far from angelic), things are not looking up.  First there is summer school and facing the nightmare of her enemy Marcie Millar as her lab partner.  Then Patch starts to pull away with no explanation.  And finally, she is having nightmares and visions about her father’s murder.

As Nora chooses to ignore her better instincts and delves deeper into the mystery of her father’s death, she also begins to question whether her Nephilim bloodline had something to do with it, which casts more doubt on her relationship (or lack thereof) with Patch.  Does he know more than he lets on?  Why does he always seem to be standing in front of the answers she is looking for?  And if he really is her guardian angel, why is her life always in danger?

My Review: Oh Nora…what are we going to do with you?  I really liked Nora in the first book.  She was relatively smart, interesting, had some bad luck for sure, but overall I liked her.  But it’s like somewhere along the way between the end of Hush Hush and the beginning of Crescendo, Nora read the Twilight series and she said to herself, “Wow, that Bella Swan is amazing!  I want to be like her!”

So basically, Nora felt to me like a slightly less irritating version of Bella Swan.  Like, when did her life become all about Patch and what he’s doing, what he’s thinking, why he doesn’t say he loves her?  I hated how she was all “Oh I don’t care about what Patch is doing…wait, I want to be where Patch is going to be, how can I get there!”

And at the same time, she doesn’t trust Patch for pretty much this whole book, and I kept asking “Why on earth do you not trust him now?”  I mean, maybe it’s just that I’m not a 16 year old girl, but in the scheme of bad things Patch has done, this book had pretty much nothing!  Is he trying to kill Nora?  No.  Sounds like an improvement to me!

Because Nora doesn’t trust Patch these days, she is going into all of these definitely bad situations without mentioning anything to him.  I don’t know about you, but even if I was pissed at my guardian angel for something, I’d probably tell him if something bad happened.  Like, I dunno, if I knew that someone was messing with my brain?  I’d say something.

My Nora bashing aside, I did like the plot in this one, although I feel like this raised a lot of questions for me.  I will be the first to say that I probably don’t remember the mythology as well as I should, but there are some things that I have been thinking about and keep saying “That just doesn’t make sense!”  I should probably look at the Wikipedia page for this series to get the cliffsnotes version of it all to see if it’ll make more sense to me.

Anyway, on the whole, it was a good continuation of the series and I am definitely looking forward to the next book, Silence, which is due out October.  It’s supposed to be the last book in the series, so it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that Nora doesn’t drive me nuts next time around.

Read this book if: You read the first book, or like these fallen angel books.  It was a fun ride!

My Rating: 3/5 – Two thumbs up, fine holiday fun!

Full Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.  This has not affected my review in any way.  I was likewise not compensated for this review.

Filed in 2011, ARC, Becca Fitzpatrick | Tagged:

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Posted October 6, 2009 By dorolerium

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this book, and since I knew nothing about it at first, I was pleasantly surprised from the moment I opened it.  To say I really enjoyed this book would be an understatement.  And I hate to sound like other reviews out there by drawing similarities to Twilight, but to me it seems a little apparent that this author used similar plot devices.  But for me, it was like a much better version of Twilight…something I simply did not want to put down because it was almost like I was worried it would get away from me.

Imagine you go to class one day and the teacher makes you sit next to the new guy – mister tall, dark, and mysterious.  Do you do your best to avoid him, or do you go against your better judgment and let yourself get to know him?  Welcome to the world Nora Grey just entered.

Nora is smart, pretty, confident, and certainly has a bright future ahead of her.  Patch is absolutely trouble, from head to toe.  Picture Edward Cullen, except with no effort whatsoever to be good in the slightest.  He’s bad for her, he knows it, and he doesn’t take that into consideration with his pursuit of her.

I fell in love with Patch, Nora, and the dynamic between them.  I loved feeling like Nora did, knowing how bad he is, yet wanting to get closer to him and experience more.  Watching her change her mind constantly was really a struggle I felt like I would have too – always a chance to go back, but letting your desire get the better of you.

You never really know what you’re going to get when you become involved with a guy like Patch, but you can be sure your life won’t be boring.  And sometimes, you just can’t control your actions, so it’s better to just go with the flow instead of fighting.  Nora manages to do quite well in the face of truly frightening situations, and I loved her reliance on herself instead of just turning to the guy she likes at every corner.  I feel she stays true to herself throughout, a refreshing change from stories where the man instantly becomes the perfect protector.

This book was full of surprises, leaving you wondering who you can really trust and if you can even believe what’s before your very eyes.  It’s great mystery and suspense, and is the kind of story I dare you to put down.  I finished this in less than a day, neglecting as much as possible to stay with it and continue to experience the story.  It’s one of those books that I wish I could erase and experience anew, but since I can’t, I will anxiously await the sequel instead.

Read this book if: You liked Twilight.  I really think you’ll love it if you did.  It’s also just great YA fiction, so I say pick it up from your library or local book store!

*Original review published at Royal Reviews

Filed in 2009, ARC, Becca Fitzpatrick | Tagged: , ,