Hush, Hush Book Review

This past year has been rough for all of us, and being a full-time student during a global pandemic is finally catching up to me. In an effort to keep reading for fun while staying on top of my readings for school, I decided to pick up an old gem: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. I first read this book when I was in 5th grade, and I had so much fun reading and discussing it with my friends. So, in my ode to nostalgia, I book clubbed it with my roommate, who had never heard of the story before.

If you don't know, Hush, Hush is a paranormal romance that follows Nora Grey, a seemingly average teen who's life gets very complicated when she catches the attention of new-kid-slash-bad-boy Patch Cipriano, who she can't decide if she's scared of or attracted to. Bad things start happening to Nora at every twist and turn, things that she can't make sense of, or seem to prove to anyone else. As Nora realizes that nothing can be trusted—not even her own mind—one truth has never been more clear: Patch is keeping secrets, and whatever they are, they're putting Nora's life at risk.

My Rating

Disclaimer: While I've done my best to keep the review mostly spoiler free, there may be some mild spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk!

Impact: Initial gut reaction. Would you recommend it to others? Would you read it again? Did you not want it to end?

0.5/1

I really can't give this less than half a point, because I did recommend it to my friend, and I reread it; however, that doesn't mean I really enjoyed it. The book was fun for what it was, but it doesn't rank as one of my favorites. It falls into the same vein of Twilight as a YA paranormal romance that you love-to-hate. And so while it might not be the best book I've ever read, it was great for sparking conversation and for getting my mind off the dumpster-fire that is the global pandemic.

Theme: Was the theme clear, understandable, and intriguing? Did you walk away learning/thinking/feeling something?

0/1

I really can't tell you what the theme of this book was. Love, maybe? Redemption? Self-sacrifice, perhaps? Patch and Nora had to sacrifice themselves for one another in the climax of the book. These themes were all present, but none of them were truly intrinsic to the story, and this book certainly didn't make me think deeply about any of these things, either. (Which, I'll note, I knew going into this story that there wasn't a strong or deep theme, but that didn't make it less fun to read.)

Plot: Was the premise unique and entertaining? Good story arc? Satisfying conflict/resolution? Did the structure of the book suit the storytelling?

0/1

Oh boy, where to begin? There were too many things that were brought up in this book but never resolved, which was definitely setting up for other book, but made it frustrating to read as a stand alone. Her father's murder was a really big and confusing plot hole, that felt like it should've been more relevant to this story than it was (I know it comes back in the second book, but I think there should've been more breadcrumbs in this one). Speaking of parents, Nora's refusal to tell her mother anything was also a frustrating plot device, and it didn't make any sense. There's no way that if I was physically assaulted by a drunk boy from my school, I'd lie to my mom about it so that she didn't cancel her plans to comfort me. It was illogical and didn't check out, considering Nora was more than willing to involve her teacher or the police at the slightest hint of danger. I also wasn't crazy about how impractical her biology assignments were. I'm willing to concede that there probably are biology classes out there where you write up a list of what you look for in a "mate," but to single out Nora and allow Patch to essentially sexually harass her was completely inappropriate and I didn't appreciate it.

Structurally, I think the story's climax and denouement were a bit underwhelming. The climax was exciting and fast-paced, but was constantly interrupted by unnecessary villainous monologues or inappropriately timed romantic scenes (looking at you, Nora and Patch, who made out in a movie theater bathroom). I also thought that once we reached the denouement, I was bored and ready for the story to be over. The end of the climax was a bit of a cop-out that left me feeling disappointed and confused, and that certainly tainted my opinion of the very end.

Characters: Were the characters interesting? Well developed? Did they have clear motives? Did they avoid tropes/stereotypes?

0/1

Overall, the characters were probably the weakest part of the book. They were all inconsistent and played into too many stereotypes for me to get behind. Nora was all over the place, and could never make up her mind about who she trusted at what moment, and her constant oscillation between fear and attraction to Patch was off-putting and didn't lead me to believe that she loved him. Patch was the most consistent character throughout the story, which was frustrating because he should've been the most dynamic. We never saw a change in the way he treated Nora after he fell in love with her—there were no clues when he decided that he didn't want to kill her anymore, and it made him an unbelievable (and predatory!!) love interest. I'll be the first to admit that I love morally grey, often-kind-of-evil love interests, but Patch fell flat for me, and that was a big disappointment.

Vee was also a frustrating character because she started out strong and then gradually got worse as she negated Nora's feelings for no reason other than to add conflict, and it made her a really crappy friend. Miss Greene and Marcie Millar were also disappointing characters, because they played directly into the anti-feminist archetypes they'd been cast in. In fact, neither character was essential to the story, and probably could have been eliminated without altering the overarching plot much. Relatedly, there were too many villlains. Everyone was out to get Nora for no reason, and it made it hard to keep up with. It seemed like Becca Fitzpatrick wanted to make Nora (and consequentially the reader) suspicious of everyone, so everyone was seemed like a bad guy, but then everyone actually was a bad guy. In general, this story suffered from including too many characters that didn't matter (Marcie, Miss Greene, Rixon, Bo, the "bag lady," and Dorthea, to name a few) and the ones that did matter were too inconsistent to identify with.

Dialogue: Did the dialogue support the storytelling? Was it believable, natural, not awkward, non anachronistic, not cliché?

0.5/1

I'm tempted to take off a whole point for the use of "Anorexic pig" as an insult hurled at an actually anorexic character. But, there was enough dialogue that I thought was good, and for that, I'll keep it at a half. Overall, the dialogue was a pretty mixed bag. Some of it was really witty and fun, and some of it was cliché, or too angsty, or too much of an information dump (looking at you, Jules). I think Patch and Vee (pre-crappy friend) had some of my favorite dialogue, because it was clever and felt believable.

Prose: How was the writing? Did the author have a uniform vision that was executed well? Did the timing work? Were there no obvious flaws in any other elements? Could you feel the author’s touch and see their vision?

0.5/1

This was a debut novel, and I could tell. But that doesn't mean it was all bad. Fitzpatrick is good at writing creepy/suspenseful scenes. There were a number of scenes (especially when Jules broke into Nora's bedroom) that I found unsettling. The book probably would have been better had every suspect hadn't ended up being evil, and if Nora had been more consistent in her internal conflict (was she hallucinating things? was someone setting her up?) because she oscillated too much between theories for the follow through to match the energy of the thriller undertones. There were also some cringe-worthy YA hallmarks, such as referring to Patch's eyes as "orbs" and, perhaps my favorite line in the whole book (if only because it's so unexpectedly ridiculous): "He had an annoyingly confident walk, the kind you find paired with faded T-shirts and a cowboy hat." Fitzpatrick also fell into the rookie trap of having her villain (both of them!!) explaining their motive and how they completed their evil schemes in lengthy monologues, which was campy and interrupted the flow of the climax. Overall, though, the book was fine, and it catered nicely to the intended audience (more on that later).

Setting: Did the world add to or distract from the story? Was the world well-developed and immersive?

0/1

I almost gave setting a half, because I think that setting the story in Maine was fine and fit the tone of the story. However, there were some things that didn't fit with that—particularly the carnival/boardwalk amusement park at Delphic Beach. Maybe it's just me, but boardwalk amusement parks are a pretty Mid-Atlantic thing, and so it felt a bit out of place. I'm also super unclear why the school was requiring Nora to attend counseling services after her father's death; to my understanding, that's not something a school can do, so it clearly was an excuse to introduce Miss Greene (who, by the way, was the least qualified psychologist ever and somehow still got hired?). Nora's anemia was another worldbuilding element that was almost laughably absurd to me. As someone who's anemic and has had to take iron supplements, I can confirm that you're not supposed to pop several of them a day, whenever you're felling bad. It seemed like Fitzpatrick had such a misunderstanding of how anemia works (and how it's treated), and I couldn't get behind it—especially when there was no clear purpose for making Nora anemic. There were also a number of magical worldbuilding elements that never quite made sense to me. I don't think we got enough information about the Nephilim, or why none of their offspring are gifted with angelic powers. We also don't really know about why touching where an angel's wings were allows you to see the past, so it read like a plot device more than a cool magical element.

Representation: Was the book inclusive? What communities were being represented? Were they being represented well? Did they avoid stereotypes?

0/1

Patch was a person of color(?), which was pretty cool for a book published in 2009. But that's about as far as the positive representation goes. For starters, the representation of women in the book is horrible, and they're all fatphobic, catty, and jealous (especially Miss Greene, who is the definition of the "crazy ex-girlfriend"). Marcie has an eating disorder (anorexia, specifically), which was handled poorly and used as ammunition in a catfight at the library. The homeless woman in Portland was also tasteless and was completely unnecessary to the plot. With the exception of Patch (who was ~racially ambiguous~), the representation in this book played completely into stereotypes and did nothing to positively reflect the nuances of these communities.

Audience: Who was the audience for the book? Was it appropriate for that age group? Could other age ranges enjoy the story?

1/1

This is YA, through and through. It's got all of the hallmarks of a classic YA paranormal romance, and the subject matter fits right in with their target demographic. If you aren't a pre-teen/early teenager, this book probably isn't for you, but I think it's a super fun read for pre-teens (or for nostalgic rereaders). That being said, I think there are some troubling depictions of romance (stalking isn't sexy, y'all; neither is describing your love interest as "predatory") and girl-vs-girl rivalries, but thankfully, so much of the story is outlandish that I don't see it posing too much of a threat.

Design: Judge a book by its cover. Was the cover compelling or appropriate for the story? Did the blurb spoil anything it shouldn't have? Did the interior design add to or distract from the book?

1/1

I'll be honest, I don't think I'd want to be caught in public reading this book, because I personally hate books with shirtless dudes on them (looking at you, City of Bones). However, I think the cover encapsulates the story, and it's objectively compelling. The black, white, and red cover scheme is visually stunning, and I love the title font. The blurb doesn't spoil anything and does a pretty good job at hooking the reader, so I don't have any complaints there. The font was very YA, but I loved it, and I loved the interior feather motif. However, I didn't love the font used for the leading letter in the chapter headings, and I found it a bit distracting and harsh. Overall, I thought the design was great and very fitting for the story.

The Final Score: 3.5/10