Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1)

When I first read this book in 2010 I hated it. I thought it was overrated and boring. It also felt like most of the books that time, a Twilight feel. Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way. Now though, five years later when I'm missing books that have that Twilight feel, I enjoyed it. It had action and romance and a somewhat strong female lead. I didn't like how quickly Nora seemed to fall for Patch, even though she told herself to stay away she still let him be around her. He seemed so dark and yet she gave him a chance, that wasn't very smart of her. After all, he came with the intent to kill Nora. I can say that I did not connect with Nora at all and I really wanted to.

I also think the side characters could've been fleshed out more, to me they just felt flat and like they were only there to help further the plot. I like it in books when every character feels real. Like, most of Jennifer L Armentrout books. She knows how to truly make them feel real. I'd like to hope that as the series went on the side characters get there chance to grow as well. I do really miss books about Fallen Angels/Demons, there used to be a lot more now I feel they are fading away.

Now, this book isn't the best around, there are far better ones out there but it was enjoyable, I found it hard to put down even though it was very predictable and nothing really seemed original. If you haven't read this book yet and are looking for a quick read. I'd say give this a shot.

Received free e-copy from Simon and Schuster Inc for reviewing purposes.

Hush, Hush the story of a fallen angel who wants to be human, but it may come at a great cost for him and the people he cares about(which are so few). Nora is a average teen girl with average problem, Marcie Millar, and with an average best friend Vee. But her world turns upside down when a bad boy, Patch, comes to town and stumbles on her life, first as her biology partner, later, much more.

I was interesting in reading this book since I saw the cover, gorgeous. But for some reason didn't pick it up until this opportunity (free e-copy) presented itself. It stared a bit slow for me, with not much going on, but as it progressed it started getting better.

The characters and the story are really well written. There were times in the story when I was surprised but mostly it was a bit predictable.

There is so much sexual tension between Nora and Patch, it practically jumping out of the pages. Nora wasn't really jumping for me as a tough heroine or something like it, but she seems real which is good too. In the contrary, Patch is totally out there. He amuses me.

I loved the fictionalized biblical features on this book, The Book Of Enoch, Adan and Eve, and the Nephilim. Thou, the best feature on this book is Patch. He is a mysterious character that after finishing reading Hush, Hush, I still feel like I don't know him much; but what I know about him, makes me really like him and want more. I feel like this book has a bit of a Twilight vibe to it and some phrasing seems similar. But, whatever, I enjoyed it. It was a good read. 4 Stars

This book was good, but towards the end I figured out everything that happened. I read it in one day and enjoyed it.

I thought the characters were predictable and forced. It wasn't the worst book i've read, but it certainly wasn't one of the best. It was enjoyable and a decent read.

I haven't heard positive things about the rest of the series, but I will have to give them a try one day.

Hush, Hush was a book I was very curious to read not only because Carla really liked it but also because there were mixed reviews around the net and I wanted to have my own opinion of it.

Truth is, I don’t know what I feel about this book. This was my newest attempt at reading a angel-related book and, despite having enjoyed it enough to want to continue the series, there were things I didn’t particularly liked.

This book tells the story of Nora Grey, an ordinary girl whose only error was falling in love with the wrong person: a fallen angel. Though the first half of the book is Nora being hunted and developing her feelings for Patch, I found it too slow and without any sort of string to pull me into it. However, I admit that after she finds out the truth about her dear fallen angel, Patch, I was more interested in the book.

Patch, the fallen angel, was one of the most infuriating characters I’ve ever met. He was conceited, mysterious, arrogant, too self-centred and so damn irritating I couldn’t even begin to understand why Nora was even interested in him. But then, I don’t recall when, he just caught my attention and, even though he’s still too cocky for my taste, I began seeing him with different eyes. I think I owe that to Carla because she won’t like a character that was a brainless and dull so, when she told me she actually liked him, I think I began to analyse him in another way.

As for Nora, I still need to read another book to have a full opinion of her. I felt like she kept shifting, changing her opinion about Patch – or she enjoyed his company or she was scared of him – but I admired her friendship with Vee. She always felt a hard attraction/chemistry towards Patch but at the same time she kept pushing him away. She was just… weird!

There is something that kept nagging me during the whole book: Patch’s behaviour! Sure he’s a fallen angel and he’s got a bad side to him but he was literally hunting Nora and scaring the living hell out of her. Was that even necessary? If I were Nora, I would have asked for a restriction order instead of being all love-and-rainbows-plus-sex about him. But then again, something about him would have an opposite effect on us. Maybe it’s his angelic side *sarcasm*

Okay, this book was really hard, extremely hard, to rate and this review was the most painful one for me to write. I did enjoy the book, and consequently Patch, and wish to continue reading the series, but I have so many things against it. I don’t know… I need to read more of this saga to be certain of my feelings about it.

Maybe Crescendo will help me unveil these weird uncertainties about Patch and Nora’s relationship and the whole story. But, for a book about angels, I was thoroughly surprised. I did enjoyed the whole angelic part of it specially the end and Patch’s decision to… okay, I’m not telling you but those who read it know what I’m talking about.

I will definitely rate this book 3 stars and continue the series despite my dubious feelings about it.

Either love it or going to hate it.

** SPOILER ALERT **

First off, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I know. You're looking at what I just wrote and then the rating I gave it while thinking, "Mistake?" No. It's not a mistake. I did enjoy the overall book--the bad-boy Patch Cipriano, the class, the innuendos--however, there were a lot of things that I thought needed some touching up.

** What I liked:

1.) Biology class. I found the class funny as a whole with their groans and laughter on certain things Coach said. It reminded me of back when I was in school, and specific people were always making comments moments after a teacher says a certain something. And the whole Barbie and Ken doll thing? I could totally see a few of my past teachers pulling a stunt like that.

2.) At first I was going to write Patch Cipriano, but decided against it. Indeed, I love his character, but I felt I should expand a bit more rather than put himself in the spotlight. Instead, I'm going to say that I loved the conflict of emotions on Nora's part to whether she should truly fear this boy or give in to her feelings for him.

A lot of people think Nora is stupid for liking a person who seems so dangerous and constantly speaks in sexual innuendos to her--not to mention he knows more about her than he should. However, if you think about it, there are a lot of people who are drawn to the dark side of a person. I can easily admit that I fell bait for someone's darker nature. They scared me, and I was fascinated by that fact so I went out with them to try and figure it all out.

As for the sexual innuendos, they can easily be taken as a flirtatious method.

The knowledge he has when it comes to Nora is unsettling, yes, but it's not enough to make someone flee. Curiosity didn't just kill the cat; curiosity is a major flaw in humans as well. Curiosity constantly makes us want to come back, craving more knowledge on a certain subject. Nora's mind works the same, I believe. She doesn't truly want to run away, because she's astonished as to how he knows so much.

I also think Patch realizes this, and thus uses it as a bait to reel her in.

3.) Bah, I should've stated this one first, probably, but oh well. I loved the book cover. I'm one of those people that don't really read that first part of a book to see if I like it or not. I'm attracted by the cover, the title, and then the blurb. Once I'm hooked on those, I take the book and meander off for a read. The cover is simplistic and tells us the main part, but not all that happens at the same time. Know what I mean? (Does that even make any sense to anyone?)

4.) Characterization. Okay . . . half and half on this one. We all have stupid friends, such as Vee. There are people who constantly talk about sex or think about it, such as Vee . . . and almost all my friends. There's always going to be a girl falling for the dark, dangerous boy. There's also always going to be that dark dangerous boy somewhere. I've known a few . . . from a distance. Another I knew up close, but anyway. There's always the pawn in a scheme--Elliot--and the player behind the pawn's moves--Jules.

No, we don't have to like what the character's do, but sometimes we have to learn to accept them. In real life and in novels.

5.) The ending. It takes a lot to want to use self-sacrifice as a last resort. Granted, yes, she pretty much only had two choices in the end: be shot or jump. But the fact is, she chose to sacrifice herself for Patch to become human. That right there--that's love. I'm not going to say it didn't matter that he'd tried to kill her at different times for his own achievement at becoming human, because it did matter.

The fact that she stayed alive even though how many times she could've been dead already by Patch's means, especially after she saw what his plans were, tells us Patch does care for her, and he couldn't go through with it.


** What I disliked:

1.) Vee.

I know a lot of people have complained about this one. I don't really care that she's a girl that talks about sex and looks at every guy in a mouth-watering way. I've got friends like that as well. Yeah, they bother me to a certain extent, but I'm not going to do anything about it.

The thing I don't like about Vee is the fact that she seems like a horrible best friend. When Nora supposedly hit something with the car, Vee wasn't too concerned about Nora, but rather her baby car. God forbid there be deer parts on it, you know? If it were one of my friends, and I was frantic about what happened, they'd tell me to stay where I was and calm down. They'd find a way to come to me. Nope, not Vee.

When Elliot had threatened Nora, Vee reminded Nora that he was drunk, therefore not entirely himself. He's had a lot of things going on in his life and stress had caught up to him finally. Totally not his fault he threatened Nora, right?

I want to punch her so bad.

Every time I cried at school and it had something to do with a certain guy, each one of my friends wanted to beat the crap out of him. Vee makes me sneer because of her stupidity when it comes to knowing how best friends work.

2.) Where Elliot and Jules enter the scene.

Now, to me, Jules is perfect. The guy just oozes boredom around Nora and Vee and barely ever talks as if he wants nothing more to do than just leave. Which he does, on multiple occasions. He's the perfect bad guy, because nobody suspects him due to his demeanor.

Elliot . . . well, at first he was so nice and Nora was warming up to him and everything, but then she looks up information and sees he was involved in a murder case. After that point, Elliot starts becoming aggressive. It simply clicks in the reader's head that Elliot is a bad guy, and Jules just seems to follow him around (for the heck of it, I guess?).

In the end, Elliot is merely a pawn . . . and I don't like that. I understand that Jules had to come into the picture somehow, and what better way than two students from another school meeting up with Nora and Vee at a small . . . diner, I suppose--one transferring and one not.

This just didn't seem like a good way to bring in the villain. The part or Kjirsten's death still confuses me. Jules bought Elliot off, but I still can't understand which one really killed Kjirsten.

3.) The constant reminder of Patch's eye color.

- He sat slouched one table back, cool black eyes holding a steady gaze forward.
- His black eyes sliced into me,
- Patch’s eyes were black orbs.
- And those black eyes were getting to me.
- He eased back in his seat, eyes gleaming obsidian.
- His eyes were opaque and inaccessible as he watched me,

Augh! The last one was at chapter 6, so we have plenty more chapters to see what colors his eyes are (in case we've forgotten).

Once again, I did enjoy the book as a whole. However, there are things that can be changed for the better. As with almost every book out there.

Review complete.

400 pages of predatory stalking that apparently equals romance. Basically, the plot is such: girl falls in love with her stalker\would-be-murderer, to the point where she’s willing to sacrifice herself for him so he can become a human instead of a fallen angel. Nora Grey, the main character, however, shows nothing leading up to this point to make the reader think this is at all realistic. Not that she should have attempted to sacrifice herself for him, but if she’s going to do so, it should at least be believable.

That’s just the beginning of my grumbles with this book. I have a theory that good writing is like good acting. I don’t know if this is just me, but I’m much better at spotting really bad actors than I am at spotting really good actors. That’s because a good actor draws you into the story and the character, and the actor just completely vanishes. I mean, the hallmark of good acting is kind of that you forget someone’s acting. Bad acting, on the other hand, puts a barrier between you and the story, because you’re constantly reminding that someone is trying, and failing, to act. I think writing is the same way.

This book felt like writing. I could see the author trying to plot out each course of action, which normally was, “What is the dumbest thing Nora could do, even though I’ve told readers she’s a smart character?” Then there are also the lines like “his eyes looked like they didn’t play by the rules”. You kind of get what she’s getting at there, but it still feels clearly like writing. I think the worst example of this is the fact that there’s a rollercoaster ride named “The Archangel”. It’s not exactly symbolism if it hits you over the head, and I don’t know why an amusement park would call a ride something like that in the first place.

There are too many problems to list within the actual plot of the book, so I’ll give a quick rundown of some of the biggest issues without details: Nora and Vee call in a bomb threat and there’s not a huge search for the caller/we never hear about it again? Biology does not equal sex education, you’re thinking of health. Predatory stalking and what almost plays out as attempted rape does not equal romance. Police are not going to question a minor without a guardian present unless absolutely necessary, and if they do, said guardians will be informed immediately.

Why I Loved It: I used that last quote to give an example of the humor to be found in the series. They are have this whole sarcasm kind of thing going on incorporated into Nora and Patch's flirting that I adored. I mean it was fabulous. Just saying. Anyways, moving on. I was not expecting to love this book. The reviews are good, true, but I had never read a fallen angel type of book. Really I had never read anything about angels. Until now. Hush, Hush took me completely by surprise, and it was all pleasant feelings and happy thoughts.

Ok so the run-down on the book? Nora is living this average life, spending loads of time with her best friend Vee *who is seriously the tits*, and studying and spending lots of time home alone with her mom out of town. Then Patch comes to town and changes her world forever. He is confusing and mind-blowingly cute, and he seems like he can't decide if he wants to kiss or kill her. *That's a bit of a conundrum there.* Anyways, Nora is swept away into this world of fallen angels and their vassals and other such things. Really, there is no way to come out of such experiences the same.

The book is full of action, stupid decisions on Nora's part, and lots of Patch saving the day with his hot self. You may want to yell at Nora at times, but such urges will pass. Vee is also pretty hysterical and incredibly enduring. All in all, I thought the book was pretty awesome.

Who Should Read It: Fans of paranormal, angel books, and people willing to try something new. Here you go. I know the series is older, and I am seriously behind getting around to reading it.

So when I got done reading Becca Fitzpatrick’s "Hush, Hush" I was left with one overriding question: Why in the heck is this thing called "Hush, Hush?" Nobody was quiet in this thing or ever shushed for that matter. I just really think this is a misnomer. To the book’s credit, however, the cover is fascinating, and any questions I was left with from the title were answered by the stunning graphics.

This book kept me hooked. You just know all along that something spiritual is about to happen eventually, and with that knowledge you just can’t put the book down. When the spiritual-ness does reveal itself, I was finally satisfied. The book definitely does deliver, but it just teaches the reader a lesson in patience. I need to learn to slow my roll every now and then and just have faith that the storyline will deliver, as it absolutely does in "Hush, Hush." Now I’m heading for the sequel.

This book started out really slow for me and I was finding it difficult to get into it. I've heard all the hype so I was expecting something fantastic and I felt like I was being let down. And then I made it to the middle. It was about that time when it really hooked me and pulled me in.

Everything seemed...forced in the beginning. It felt like Patch and Nora were just two random people that got thrown together simply so they could make a story. Obviously, that's kind of what a book is about, but the reader isn't supposed to be able to feel it. Finally, I got to the good stuff and things were explained a little better which made the story flow A LOT better.

The heat between Nora and Patch was crazy. Normally, I'm pretty good with the cutesy relationship stuff, but Hush, Hush got me hungry for something more. I want the next book right now just so I can see how Nora and Patch get, ahem, closer.

I also really enjoyed the take on angels here. It was quite a bit darker than your typical angel book, but it also had a few new things thrown in to spice up the mix.

Final thoughts: If for some reason you haven't read this yet, go out and pick it up. Though the beginning may be slow, confusing, and seem like things are just thrown in to create a story, you MUST stick with it