Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Hardcover, 400 pages

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
October 2009
$17.99

Patch's eyes were black orbs. Taking in everything and giving away nothing. Not that I wanted to know more about Patch. Since I hadn't liked what I'd seen on the surface, I doubted I'd like what was lurking deep inside.

Only, this wasn't exactly true. I'd liked a lot of what I'd seen. Long, lean muscles down his arms, broad but relaxed shoulders, and a smile that was part playful, part seductive. I was in an uneasy alliance with myself, trying to ignore what had started feel irresistible.

A sacred oath.

A fallen angel.

A forbidden love.

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I heard a few of my friends talking about this book so I decided I wanted to read it. This book had me from the first page to last page. I was very intrigued by Patch, although he does come off as a jackass. Patch just has that bad boy attitude that attracts girls to him, and boy let me tell you I was drawn to him. I could not but help myself in feeling the feelings Nora felt. I have yet another fictional character to add to my list of characters I fell in love with.

Being told another book is going to be put out as well just intrigued me even more. I thought it was ended perfectly fine but another book of Patch is fine by me.

This book is about different kinds of angels. I decided after hearing about these "fallen angels" I wanted to do a google search on it. I found out the same exact information the book gives you. A fallen angel is an angel who has been banished from heaven and stripped of their wings. Everything in the book about fallen angels is 100% true, I wasn't doubting it I was just trying to find more information on it but I found only the information Becca provided in her book.

I will sleep tonight and dream that I have a HOT bad boy angel as my boyfriend :) I wish I would have taken my time with the book but with Patch it seems as those he wasn't just getting into Nora's mind he was getting into mine as well and telling me to read more.

I absolutely can not wait to see where Becca takes Patch and Nora next. For this being her first novel I have to say she did an absolutely fabulous job.

Hourglass by Claudia Gray.

Hourglass by Claudia Gray

Hardcover, 352 pages

HarperCollins Publishers

March 2010
$16.99

"My whole life, I've been in the Black Cross. I thought I would be a hunter forever. But now that's all over," said Lucas

"I know how that feels," I said, "I always thought I would turn into a vampire. Now I don't know what comes next. It's--it's scary."

Lucas took my hand. "As long as we've got each other," he said, "it's worth it."

"I know that. But I still wonder--Lucas what will we become?"

Bianca will risk everything to be with Lucas.

After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school where they met, Bianca and Lucas take refuge with Black Cross, a fanatical group of vampire hunters. Bianca must hide her supernatural heritage or risk certain death at its hands. But when Black Cross captures her--the vampire Balthazar--hiding is no longer an option.

Soon, Bianca and Luca are on the run again, pursued not only by Black Cross, but by the powerful leaders of Evernight. Yet no matter how far they travel, Bianca can't escape her destiny.

Bianca has always believed their love could survive anything...but can it survive what's to come?

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Where oh where do I begin? As always Claudia captivated my attention from beginning to end. When I first read Evernight (back in September) I had to keep going I wanted to know more about Bianca and Lucas. So then I bought Stargazer and read it in about a day or two. Once I finished I was so eager to read Hourglass. I ordered it as soon as I could.

I just could not wait to read it. Now that I finished reading it I am sad. I read it one day. I spent about 12 hours reading the book. Let me tell you, I wish one of my friends had read it before me because there were a ton of OMG! moments. I just wanted to text about to a friend. This book truly is the best out of all them so far. I hate the fact that there is a cliffhanger ending but at least it gives hope for the next book. I can not wait to see where Bianca and Lucas go from where they are.

*I am trying so hard to give out any spoilers but this next area is SPOILER ZONE*

To see how Lucas and Bianca pull through everything life throughs at them is just amazing. Finding out that Bianca didn't die was a good moment for me. Although I did not like finding out she became a wraith but it gives her the ability to still in a sense be with Lucas. I hated the cliffhanger ending. I have to wait so long to find out Lucas' reaction to becoming a vampire. I fully believe that even though Lucas is now something he hates and Bianca is something she fears they will work through it and still have their love prevail. I was happy that Balthazar was so willing to help them as well. Shows you how much of a real vampire "man" he is.

END SPOILER ZONE

Glad I got that.

NOW, I would like to say that if you are a fan of vampire novels like Twilight, Vampire Academy, Vampire Diaries or any teen forbidden love book you should definitely read the Evernight series. BUT read them in order.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Hardcover, 304 pages

Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
October 2007
$16.99

You can't stop the future

You can't rewind the past

The only way to learn the secret

...is to press play.

Clay Jensen doesn't want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead. Her secrets should be buried with her.

Then Hannah's voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes-and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death.

All through the night, Clay keeps listening. He follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his small town...

...and what he discovers changes his life forever.

Clay Jensen's first love records her last words. Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker-his classmate and crush- who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why.

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah's pain, and learns the truth about himself-a truth he never wanted to face.

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Like many good books this one brings you in with a prologue that takes place later on in the story. This book is different from all others being that it really doesn't have chapters, instead, each "chapter" is labeled as a cassette tape number and side A or B. Which means if you use that to decipher how many chapters are in this book then you would have roughly 15 chapters for 288 pages.

I have to say this book had me from page one. Although it take a bit for me to actually get to where I didn't want to put it down. It wasn't because the story just wasn't there yet it was because the writing style chose for this specific story, which will be discussed more in the Author section of this post. When you are reading this book you really get a feel for Hannah and Clay. I liked being able to become shocked about something that was just said to have happened when Clay became shocked. This is a story about a girl discussing why she committed suicide through tapes she recorded before hand. What I liked about it was the fact that during the course of the story Jay Asher has Hannah point out the warning signs that were there.

Suicide is a touchy topic but it happens out there in the world. I really loved how it was tackled in this book. How it showed the snowball effect leading up to the actually suicide. It wasn't just a cheesy book about a girl who didn't get what she wanted in life so she killed herself. It was more heartfelt than that; that is something I enjoyed. The story wasn't just depressing it had some happy times mentioned.

I probably won't say this on many of my post but I can say it honestly here and mean it, this is a story that I could see one day becoming part of a reading assignment in middle/high school. It may be fictional but it still grasps the concept of a real life situation and makes it seem more to be like you were the one hearing someone you know's recorded last words.

It's written in a dual viewpoint that I have never read before. You have Hannah's recorded voice written in italics and Clay's thoughts/actions/conversations written in regular print. As Hannah's voice is telling her stories it will switch to Clay's viewpoint. It is as if you were the person listening to the tapes what you think as you listening. To help make this clearly I will include a brief excerpt to show how the book is written. Remember Hannah is italics and Clay is not:

"As Hannah speaks through the dusty speakers, I feel the weight of my backpack pressing against my leg. Inside, crushed somewhere at that the bottom is her map.

Or maybe I will. I'm not actually sure how this whole dead thing works. Who knows, maybe I'm standing behind you right now.

I lean forward, propping my elbows on the workbench. I let my face fall into my hands and I slide my fingers back into my unexpectedly damp hair.

I'm sorry that wasn't fair.

Ready, Mr. Foley?"

I do look forward to reading more of Jay Asher's books that may come in the future. With how well he handled writing a fictional book on suicide I am truly interested to see him tackle other touchy topics.

Thirteen Reasons Why interactive website<-I would suggest not going to the website until you are either reading the book or have read it.