Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick ****/*****

OK, this is supposed to be a young adult's book and it was supposed to be for my daughter to read, BUT having read it and been so engrossed by it, it didn't seem fair to not include it here.

I found it took a little while to get past the classroom "setting the scene" stage, but once it did, I find this to be an incredibly compelling read. The heroine, Nora, is caught between a growing attraction for her new class partner and a disturbing feeling that he is playing with her mind. If someone IS stalking her, who is it? her new class-mate, the new student from a posher school with a murky past or even one of the teachers? or is she imagining it all? There's a good mix of menace and romance as a series of bizarrely scary incidents build in intensity to a nail-biting climax.

As I said, this was a book I enjoyed immensely. I'm not a fan of graphic violence in novels and, as a teens book, this manages to maintain the atmosphere of danger and threat without it.

Two different star ratings for this; 5 as teenagers read, 4 as adults. Only given it 4 stars as at times it seemed a little lacking in depth of characterization and it is based on what is effectively a well- worn story - girl is attracted to boy who might not be all he seems, is he the good guy or the bad? but I enjoyed it and would recommend it.