hush, hush (graphic novel) by Becca Fitzpatrick

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and 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 Nora 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 her life!
This title also contains an exclusive, original story written especially for this book by the author. This bonus story tells what happens to the characters between Book 1 and Book 2 of this series and will only be available in this book.

My thoughts:
I read hush, hush when it was offered as a First Look Book Club through Barnes and Noble and really enjoyed it and I was interested to see how it would be as a graphic novel.  The graphic novel only covers the first half of the book as seems to be common with graphic novels.  I guess since so much of the story is told in pictures, even though there is less word wise to read, there is more space taken up with pictures.

The picture I had of Nora in my mind was not the way she was drawn on the page.  I am not a fan of how graphic novels make the female characters more exaggerated.  Bigger hips, bigger breasts and such.  Nora had a belly baring top on page after page which is not how I saw her at all.  I would have thought that the intended audience of the novel were female teenagers and young adults, I think having this depiction is actually a negative thing as very few girls actually look like that and it is another avenue like fashion magazines which are marketing a mostly unattainable image of beauty.  My dislike of how Nora was drawn led to less satisfaction with the story overall.  I think if I had picked this up before the novel I would have been unlikely to read the actual book.

The short story included at the end was good and much more in line with the series.  It takes place after book one and before book two and gives a hint at the politics that are to come into play in the storyline.

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780983613114
• Publisher: Sea Lion Books
• Publication date: 4/24/2012
• Edition description: Graphic Novel Edition
• Pages: 120
• Sales rank: 41,677
• Age range: 12 - 17 Years

Zane's Tale: A Succubus Diary Story by Jill Myles

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

A Succubus Diaries Short -- After Succubi Like It Hot, Zane has a few changes in his life...but is the vampire happy with his choices? Or does he regret the path he has chosen and the succubus he has left behind?

My thoughts:
This book comes in between books two and three of the Succubus Diaries and shows where Zane was when he stepped aside to let Jackie pursue her archaeological dreams with Noah by her side.  Since the other books are all told from Jackie's perspective, we don't get to see much about where Zane and Noah are when they are not a part of her life.  It brought a more human element to his character and brought forward more of his inner struggles.  This was a very quick read, good for one sitting.  While I've had a Kindle for a few months I haven't done as much with looking at what was available besides books for sale so finding free ebooks and ebook shorts by authors I enjoy has been a lot of fun!

Product Details

BN ID: 2940011127175
Publisher: Myles, Jill
Publication date: 10/26/2010
Sold by: SMASHWORDS - EBKS
Format: eBook
File size: 267 KB

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The noise between Patch and Nora is gone. They've overcome the secrets riddled in Patch's dark past...bridged two irreconcilable worlds...faced heart-wrenching tests of betrayal, loyalty and trust...and all for a love that will transcend the boundary between heaven and earth. Armed with nothing but their absolute faith in one another, Patch and Nora enter a desperate fight to stop a villain who holds the power to shatter everything they've worked for—and their love—forever.

My thoughts:
This book was a birthday present back in October, I got it right after it was published, but I just couldn't get into it.  I think I started it three times before I actually was really reading it.  The first hundred pages I know I read more than once.  I loved the first book, hush hush, but had a harder time getting into Crescendo and Silence, but I'm really not sure why.  Once I was in and was in, but it took some work for me.

Part of my problem with this book was I was frustrated by the amnesia.  Nora wakes up in a cemetery by her fathers grave and she can't remember the last five months of her life, three of which she has been missing.  Amnesia bothers me, the first half of the book is all Nora finding out about things she already knew but has lost.  That felt a bit like cheating to me, like a way to fill 200 hundred pages while Nora rediscovers Serum and Fallen Angels and the Black Hand.  I think that was why I was so able to put the book down over and over again, I already remembered that stuff from the first two books and I was just waiting for the real story to start, where it was going to go after she knew who she was and everyone else around her really is. 

Once the story got started on new territory I loved it.  I didn't want to put it down and stayed up too late reading to see how it was going to go.  The twists and turns it took were not things I would have expected and it will be interesting to see how things play out in book four.  It is set up well for another book so I have to think it will keep going, but I guess you never know.  I feel bad that I bought the book when it came out and then took this long to finish it.  Yes it was a birthday present, but my husband's theory is that if there is something I really want I should just buy it and he'll give it to me.  It does take away the surprise, but then I'm never disappointed by getting something I don't really want! 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781442426641
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date: 10/4/2011
Pages: 448
Age range: 14 - 17 Years
Series: Hush, Hush Saga Series, #3

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Overview

There's something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Mysterious and aloof, he captures Luce Price's attention from the moment she sees him on her first day at the Sword & Cross boarding school in sultry Savannah, Georgia. He's the one bright spot in a place where cell phones are forbidden, the other students are all screw-ups, and security cameras watch every move.

Even though Daniel wants nothing to do with Luce—and goes out of his way to make that very clear—she can't let it go. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, she has to find out what Daniel is so desperate to keep secret . . . even if it kills her.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

My thoughts:
Last fall I read so much about this book.  I added it to my TBR list and wish list but didn't get around to buying a copy until recently.  On my shelf already is book two, Torment, that I picked up at Border's when it was going out of business in our area last winter, but I didn't want to read it until I'd read Fallen.  Neither or our libraries had copies.  I used a gift card to buy this for myself last month.  Once I started reading it I couldn't put it down!  It is definitely a page turner!
 
I wasn't sure what to make of Luce and Daniel at the beginning.  Either I forgot what I read in the reviews last year or I skipped them, as I sometimes do when I want to be surprised by a book.  I'm big on surprises and not knowing things ahead of time with both books and movies, it just adds to the fun!  I kept thinking I knew what the secret was and I did turn out to be mostly right, but in the desire to not give spoilers I won't say what the secret was!
 
Luce was so driven that she started to seem almost a bit too interested at times in Daniel's past and his family.  While it turned out there was a reason she couldn't let it rest, her obsession did start to worry me at times.  I haven't taken it off the shelf yet, but I can't wait to dive into the second book to see where Luce and Daniel go from here!
 
 
Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780385739139
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Publication date: 9/28/2010
Pages: 496
Age range: 12 - 17 Years
Series title: Lauren Kate's Fallen Series

Succubi Like It Hot by Jill Myles (Succubus Diaries Book 2)

Synopsis from Paperbackswap.com:
NOBODY SAID SUCKING WAS EASY. — With a hot new figure, her dream job as an archaeologist, and "two" gorgeous boyfriends to scratch her seductive Itch -- an angel and a vampire -- Jackie Brighton is totally getting the hang of life as a succubus. Then she accidentally knocks the pizza guy unconscious with her touch. Great -- she's "cursed." After striking a deal to get the curse lifted by a crafty demon, Jackie and her best friend Remy take a road trip to deliver a cryptic message to the nation's oldest succubus. Unfortunately, neither of her jealous lovers is talking to Jackie right now, and due to the curse, she's desperate to get her Itch scratched very soon. Their journey gets weirder with every mile -- demonic possession, a charming stalker, a cryptic warning -- and when they get to New Orleans, Jackie discovers a dangerous catch to her supernatural bargain. Someone wants her dead -- again. Can a brainy vixen in a miniskirt outsmart the forces of evil?

My thoughts:
I read the first book in this series last year as a reviewer for Pocket Books and I found it to be a fun read. I've meant to read the second one for a while now, I borrowed it from my sister-in-law months ago but just got around to reading it now. I found the second book to be just as much fun. It is fast paced, with elements of both humor and danger. Jackie is still getting the hang of being an immortal succubus but has started to see things happen for her in the archeology career she has always craved. Then she is cursed and goes on a road trip to find a cure and help which meets with all sorts of roadblocks and detours along the way.

I like Jackie, a formerly mousy and overweight woman who found herself transformed in a matter of days to someone who is attractive to all men and draws attention just by being in the room. In the first book she was very excited about finally being beautiful and desirable, but in book two she is starting to see that being seen only for your beauty gets old quick. The draw she had to her two boyfriends, who are also her masters in that she would not have been made were it not for the two of them, is well done. It is hard to say who would be the better choice for her. They both have pros and cons, such as the forced 12 hour hibernation either during the day or at night depending on if it is Zane the vampire or Noah the serim. It is easy to see that she loves them both and they both love her. Her friend and fellow succubus Remy brings in a lot of the laughs until she is possessed again.

Product Details:
ISBN-13: 9781416572831
ISBN-10: 141657283X
Publication Date: 1/26/2010
Pages: 368
Publisher: Pocket
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback

Gentlemen Prefer Succubi by Jill Myles

From the back cover:
Jackie Brighton woke up in a Dumpster this morning, and her day has only gotten weirder. Her familiar B-cups have somehow become double Ds, her sex drive is insatiable, and apparently she had her fi rst one-night stand ever...with a fallen angel. All she remembers is gorgeous Noah's oddly hypnotic blue eyes...and then a dark stranger whose bite transformed her into an immortal siren with a sexy Itch. With help from Noah, Jackie begins to adapt to her new lifestyle -- until she accidentally sends Noah into the deadly clutches of the vampire queen and lands herself in a fi erce battle for an ancient halo with the queen's wickedly hot righthand man. Who just happens to be the vampire who originally bit her. How's a girl supposed to save the world when the enemy's so hard to resist?

My thoughts:
I received Gentlemen Prefer Succubi as part of Pocket Books Science Fiction Blog Tour. This is the first book by Jill Myles in a series about Jackie Brighton. Jackie is such a fun character and reminded me of other characters from series that I enjoy reading. She had some characteristics of Queen Betsey in MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series, some of Rachel Morgan from Kim Harrison’s witch series and even some of Stephanie Plum from Janet Evanovich’s number series. She was likeable, sarcastic, and a fish out of water who keeps ending up in situations beyond her understanding or control.

What attracted me to this book was the fallen angel idea. This fall I read Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick which also features a fallen angel and I was interested to see another authors take on the idea. I can’t recall ever reading about succubi before and wasn’t sure what that meant. The succubi part of the novel made it racier than what I usually read. This might not be a book for everyone, I know I have friends who don’t care for books with too much passion. I took it to read at my daughters ballet class and was actually embarrassed at one point hoping no one was looking over my shoulder at it. That said a lot of it was just sexual tension which really added to the novel. In the authors letter she thanks many people and then comments that she plans to go to her parents house and rip out all the sex scenes. A lot of them are clustered at the beginning of the book and part of me wondered what would be left if she removed them all, but then I saw that there was just a lot of it at the beginning but not so much later on.

Jackie meets a vampire when she is out at a bar who drains a lot of her blood and then leaves her where a fallen angel hangs out. The combination of the loss of blood and being intimate with the serim (or fallen angel) changes her into a succubi. As a succubi she has a very appealing figure, wonderful hair, and is beautiful and attractive to all men. She can eat whatever she wants and doesn’t need to sleep anymore. Plus she is now immortal. On the downside, she needs to have sex every other day. Especially in January when so many of us have made new year’s resolutions I am sure many people have wondered how much they would be willing to trade to be thin and beautiful, to have the perfect figure and live forever, and tempting as that train of thought is, I’m not sure we would trade it with some of the other factors involved.

I am used to thinking about angels as being all good, but can anyone, even someone who should be divine, be all good? Does desire to sin go to all beings or just humans?

While I found both of Jackie’s love interests to be alluring, I have to admit that I found a favorite and it wasn’t who I thought it would be. Zane grabbed my heart in this novel! I am so glad that I had an introduction to this author. The beginning of her next novel is included in the back and I have already added it to my TBR list!

"Hush, Hush" by Becca Fitzpatrick

Once I started this book I simply couldn't put it down. It hooked me right after the prologue and I raced through it.

Pros:
Story pulls you in
The main character's emotions are well portrayed
Excellent first novel by a YA author

Cons:
High school students are pegged by stereotypes
Ages for high school sophomores seem a bit off

Book Description
Nora Grey is a high school student who meets a new and mysterious classmate who she is both attracted to and scared by. At the same time she meets him strange and unexplainable events start to occur. She begins to question her sanity and wonders if it is possible that he is a fallen angel.

Plot
Nora's biology teacher has her class pair up with new lab partners. Patch is new to the school and mysterious. While she is attracted to him she is also uneasy around him, unsure of whether he can be trusted or not. When strange things start to happen but concrete proof disappears she wonders if she is crazy or if he is behind it. Nora's best friend Vee is at first encouraging of the friendship then starts to try to talk her out of spending time with Patch. Evidence starts to point to Patch being a fallen angel who has lost his wings.

Characters
Nora Grey seems like a real student at a high school and reminded me a lot of Bella from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Patch seems like a bad boy at times and at others is Nora's greatest protector. Vee, Nora's best friend, at times feels too superficial which Marcie the cheerleader fits all the stereotypes. Elliot seems like the nice guy until his veneer starts to crack and Jules stays to the background for a lot of the novel.

Dialogue
The dialogue between the characters felt real, not forced, and kept the story on track.NarrativeThe narrative of the book kept the pace moving while not being confusing the few times when memories of the past were used.

Excerpt
"Patch was saying as little as possible, keeping himself carefully showed in mystery. I wondered what his life was like when he wasn't around me. At the way back of my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about his frightening past. Up until now I'd fantasized about discovering his deep, dark secrets because I wanted to prove to myself and to Patch that I was capable of figuring him out. But now I wanted to know his secrets because they were a part of him."

About the Author
This is the first novel for Becca Fitzpatrick. She lives in Colorado with her family and has written a follow up to Hush, Hush that was recently submitted to her publisher. She grew up reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon. On her web site she keeps a regular blog.