Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick | Book Review

(Hush, Hush #1)

Published: October 13th 2009

 Synopsis (from Goodreads):

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.

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My Rating: 4/5 (Really Good)

Book Information

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Genre(s): Young-adult Paranormal Romance

Page Count: 391

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 1416989412

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Hi there everyone! I’m back (finally) from the Land of Dead Book Reviews with a review on Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I’ve been MIA for book reviews these days, so I’m glad to finally have finished a decent review. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!

Hush, Hush first called to me because of its mysterious and chilling cover, as well as a recommendation by a friend. I read the summary, got an idea of the genre and everything, and overall had expectations varying between reasonable and high. I wouldn’t say my expectations hadn’t been reached, but they weren’t sky-high above them either. However, overall, Hush Hush was really good. 🙂

Nora Grey is the typical, average high school ‘good girl’ who plans to have a simple future going to Yale, achieve good grades, yadi yadi yada. She isn’t interested in the things her best friend Vee is obsessed with-boys, shopping, drama, and is independant, especially with a mom who works overtime to get enough money to support them both since Nora’s father died. When Nora finds herself partners with mysterious and dark Patch Cipriano, she’s immediately annoyed and angered by his arrogant and all-knowing attitude, yet strangely attracted to him at the same time. Nora soon gets uneasy, and later scared of Patch when shortly after making his acquaintance, terrifying events and attacks seem to happen to her, and she seems to be seeing Patch everywhere. Question is, can she trust him, or is he the reason for the attacks?

Starting with the characters, or, the protagonist specifically: Nora Grey. The first step, to me anyway, is connecting and liking the main character. After all, you’re gonna be sticking with them for a while, if you don’t like them, how would you enjoy the overall experience? That being said, I did enjoy Nora, however there is a couple of things I have against her.

The main thing is that Nora changes her emotions and ideas about Patch very quickly. One second she’s terrified and certain that Patch is about to kill her, or even rape her, then in the next she’s talking about how hot he is and how he would never hurt her. Basically for the whole first half of the novel, Nora goes back in forth from annoyed to terrified, to lusty, etc. when it comes to Patch.

The second problem I had is that Nora doesn’t make very good decisions. One or two times, I get that. I mean, no

Hush Hush: Nora & Patch. Totally loving the people here. 🙂

one’s perfect, right? But when she keeps making the same type of mistake when it comes to the same person, it gets bothersome sometimes. I would give examples, but I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll leave it at that. However I will say that Nora does seem to be growing, and after reading the book, I was looking forward to seeing if there is more character development in the next books.

Next, we have Patch Cipriano. Right off the bat I have to say that I really enjoyed his flirty comments to Nora. He’s our typical ‘bad boy’, dark and mysterious, picking on our shy little Nora. What I really liked about him was that he remained that mysterious, questionable person throughout, and how his actions, his words, everything, just made us try to guess if he was really behind the attacks on Nora, among other things. He knew exactly how to get under someone’s skin, and he’s not too bad in the looks department either. I can see how Nora started to fall for him, however that still didn’t wash away her constantly changing mind, sadly. But Patch was an interesting character, and if Nora’s emotions were handled better, I think the romance/lust between them would’ve been more stronger and appealing.

Overall, Patch was a mysterious character I really enjoyed! His witty and sarcastic remarks made me smile, and his flirty comments just brought me along with Nora for the ride. 😉

A character I did not really like was Vee, Nora’s best friend. I sort of liked the friendship between her and Nora, since the dialogue and everything between them seemed natural, and not too forced, but judging her character and personality, I wasn’t her biggest fan. She seemed like those shallow, partying girls that I would stay away from in school, and I don’t know. I could see how Nora would be friends with her, even though they’re complete opposites, but I just don’t like Vee in general.

Now for the plot. I have to say it went kind of slowly in the first half of the novel, but it was worth it for the second half, where the tension had been built up, and kind of exploded in the end. Although the first half had went slowly, that isn’t to say it wasn’t well-done. Author Becca Fitzpatrick had an impressive ability to create a dark and threatening mood of the most simplest scenes. Intrigue and a sense of terror followed so many different characters and events in the story, making us question everything. Speaking of, the plot twist at the end was truly something! I hadn’t even thought of or considered that person!

Overall, most of the story ideas and scenes flowed smoothly, and the moods were very well-done. 🙂

Taking all points into consideration, I have to say this book overall was really good. My rating had first started off as Amazing (4.5 stars), then went to Bit over Average (3.5 stars), but finally I decided on middle ground of 4 stars. Of course, I have to mention that I recommend this book mostly to people who aren’t Twilight haters. There are several similarities I can note, and if Twilight is something that really bothers you, some events in this book might not appeal to you. Of course, if you’re indifferent to  or like Twilight, and enjoy stories with angels and them, I definitely recommend this book. It is relatively fast paced, or at least has many suspenseful moments, and when it finally reaches the climax, all hell breaks loose. All the pent-up tension and slow rise that went on through out the book came out near the end, and it was definitely something.

Hope you enjoyed this review! Make sure to check out the book trailer below:

What are you waiting for? Go eat!

-A

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