Book Review: Hush, Hush

By Becca Fitzpatrick


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...until Patch comes 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 whom 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 far 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.

Why I read it: I had heard a fair bit about these books, ranging from ‘This is as dumb as Twilight’ to people who didn’t like Twilight but loved these. Then I accidentally won a SIGNED copy of Crescendo, so I kinda had to read them.

(NOTE: I’m going to do my ‘What I liked’ and ‘What I disliked’ sections backwards today, since everything I liked was at the end of the book, and what I disliked was at the beginning.)

What I disliked: For the first two thirds of the book, I completely understood the Twilight comparison. Patch is just as dangerous, just as stalkerish and just as stupidly in love with a normal human as Edward is. In fact, Patch is ten times worse. Everything he does is just to antagonize Nora. From the very first day it’s clear that he’s going after her; when the Science teacher asks for the qualities of his ideal mate, Patch lists Nora’s attributes. He’s constantly trying to embarrass her. He makes sexual innuendos way too often, and several times he corners Nora in sketchy situations. Once he traps her in a dark alley and she’s (rightly) scared of him, but a minute later she’s accepting his offer to drive her home. I seriously considered putting this book down halfway through because I couldn’t stand Patch, and Nora’s reactions to him drove me nuts.

The other main problem with most of the book is that nothing happens. This reminded me of Twilight, where Bella takes 300 pages to figure out that Edward’s a vampire. Anyone reading Hush, Hush probably has a good idea that Patch is a fallen angel, so when it took Nora two thirds of the book to figure that out, I was just bored.

What I liked: However, once she does figure out he’s a fallen angel, things get interesting fast. The action heats up, the creepiness faction increases (but in a good way, not in a Patch-is-such-a-bad-boy-but-I-can’t-stop-being-attracted-to-him way) and the revelations come fast and furious. Things that I thought were just stupid earlier on actually ended up making sense. Some people have called the ending anticlimactic, but I thought it was perfect.

From a Christian Perspective: There’s just a little bit of questionable content (three kisses, Patch’s constant sexual innuendos, and a tiny dash of swearing) but the bigger issue is with the main content of the book, the Fallen Angels. The book supposes that angels can still fall, that they can lust and hate, but when that happens they are thrown out of heaven. It’s also a major plot point that they can be forgiven and become Guardian angels, or, by receiving a human sacrifice, become human themselves. The idea that long ago angels slept with men and created a new race, the Nephilim, becomes fairly important later on. While the book does begin with a biblical quote, the only religious material that’s actually referenced is the Book of Enoch, and apocryphal book that Enoch supposedly wrote. I’m not sure God was ever actually mentioned, so I don’t know if any of this could be considered to be blasphemy, but it’s certainly unscriptural.

To buy or not to buy: I already own Crescendo, but I don’t think I liked Hush, Hush enough to buy it, even to complete the series. Because of this, I may well have a SIGNED copy of Crescendo to give away soon….