literature

Book review: Hush Hush

Deviation Actions

vampirekiki's avatar
By
Published:
1.3K Views

Literature Text

Review: Hush, Hush, a book review by a misfortune reader

Before I start, I want to mention a few books I'd love to recommend to you first. These are very good books, but sadly I just lack the strength to write in depth reviews on them.

My recommend list:

1.) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
: A must read! Very creative ideas, endearing characters and capturing plot!

2.)Mistress of Spices and Queen of Dream by Chitra Divakaruni: Miss Divakaruni is a very creative author who's able to weave fantasy with family drama and journey of women's self-discovery.

3.) Little, Big by John Crowley : A highly imaginative book, even though it might be a bit difficult to get into. Still I admire the author for respecting readers' intelligence. He didn't tell you who is supposed to be who, what is supposed to be what straight away as if he thinks we readers are all idiots who have to be told 1+1=2 other than figuring things out on our own.


Now, to the actual review of Hush, Hush:

edited: 15/02/2012, from my past review on Hush, Hush:


The Story:
Nora Grey is a girl who lives with her widowed mother. Her ordinary, peaceful life meets an unexpected twist when she is paired up with Patch, a mysterious student, as biology partners. Nora instantly senses Patch is trouble despite of his charm and good look, but her attempt to avoid Patch keeps on backing-fire while dark mysterious force starts preying on her......

My Comment:
Hush, Hush opens with a prologue which is.......unluckily quite forgettable. I guess the author wanted said prologue to be a good start of her book with a mysterious character making his first appearance, planting a sense of suspense. However, it doesn't work out quite well.

Enter Nora Grey and her best friend Vee Sky in their biology class, we are introduced to a biology teacher who orders his students to pair up and study reproduction and sex...not there's anything wrong with educating teenagers about sex......but the way said teacher 'guides' his students to explore the subject of sex.......would very well be considered too provoking to a point that the teacher might end up losing his job, his license and/or going to jail for sexual harassment. I mean, if I were a girl student and my male teacher is 'educating' us about sex the way the teacher in Nora's class does, I would feel highly uncomfortable and insulted. Therefore it's a wonder no one in Nora's class make a complain. It really is a wonder.

The questionable biology class is not even our biggest problem, no it doesn't even come close. Vee Sky, Nora's supposed best friend; is so shallow a person that I have to wonder why and how she can be considered a best friend. I mean, who on earth would want to befriend someone who only cares about the love affairs among students and does stupid, awkward match-making stunt on you all the time, even when you hate it? Furthermore, when Nora phoned Vee to inform her that she had just had a car accident, Vee doesn't even bother to ask 'Oh dear! Nora are you hurt!?' like any sensible person would, all she seems to care about is whether her precious car (which she borrowed to Nora shortly before of the accident) suffers any damage! Ah, that's just outrageous!

Beside an unbelievable 'best friend' such as Vee, the 'hero' Patch also makes me feel downright uncomfortable. Patch is being painted as the bad boy and I had nothing against bad boys. However, his attitude and treatment to Nora is just.........as undesirable and hateful as it can get. If I were treated by a guy the same way Patch treats Nora, I'd tell the guy to go fuck himself or even punch him in the face right on, no matter how hot or handsome he might be. Patch is so big a jerk, no kidding.

Let's do a simple Jerk-Check List on Patch:

(a) As a biology partner Patch is far from cooperative.
(b) He says suggestive things to Nora every time they met, making her feel embarrassed and uncomfortable.
(c) On top of it all, he stalks Nora and makes her uneasy.
(d) He refuses to change his way even after Nora told him she doesn't enjoy his treatment.

Oh, wait! So Patch is supposed to be the hero!? How come? Many of the anti-heroes I'd encountered in other novels and mangas have more agreeable behaviors than what Patch has to offer!!!  

Now let's talk about the 'heroine' Nora, the story is narrated by her but she is so flat and vague a character that she's not much better than Bella Swan. Just like Bella, readers-- young dreamy romance-seeking girls in particular, can easily slip into Nora's shoes and imagine themselves to be Nora. Who wouldn't love to imagine themselves 'attractive, intelligent and vulnerable', being pinned after by a mysterious, good looking bad boy, like a deer falling prey to the hypnotizing gaze of a predator? It's so rape fantasy typical.

Undeveloped character aside, I'm shocked to find Nora follows Vee's suggestion of breaking into school office and peering into Patch's student record so very easily. *sighs* I think there's no need to remind you that peering into someone else's record is a violation of privacy, and it would very well land Nora into serious trouble if she is caught red-handed. Nora, where's your good sense?

I really hate it when the main characters can get away with their wrong doing without any consequence, just because they were the hero or the heroine of the book and we readers are supposed to like them. ARGH!

And yes Vee, good job for encourage your best friend's wrong doing. What a good friend you are.

Unconvincing and unlikable characters aside, the writing is also a problem. I don't know why  but the author's writing just isn't enough to keep me interested. The scenes she wrote are so utterly boring and dull, I found that I had to drag myself through one page to the next just to make thing through. It's an unpleasant experience very similar with the struggle I had when I read those Twilight books.

Well......I think I'll still read the rest of the book when I have the chance to borrow it again, just to see how things will turn out. But I'll suggest you not to buy this book. From what I'd read it doesn't seem to worth your good money, or mine.


Last year, I borrowed Hush, Hush but unfortunately failed to finish reading it. Still, I wrote a few remarks based on the parts that I read back then. If you're interested, please see my post here: (vampirekiki.deviantart.com/art…)

During the New Year Holiday, I came across Hush, Hush again in the library, therefore I picked up the book and gave it another try. Here's my full review on Becca Fitzpatrick's book.

After picking up the book again, I found myself once again stuck with uninteresting conversations among characters and dim school drama which seemed to last forever. It doesn't make the book anymore enjoyable than before. Nora was still in the dark about many things: Patch's true identity and his motivation, the mysterious attacker in ski mask, the breaking-and-entering which took place in her room but left no evident behind seconds later, etc. And these are about the most supernatural events we have for most of the entire book. In other words: not much, isn't it?

There're so many things in Nora's actions that fail to add up: she thought Patch meant bad news but she obviously was in serious lust with him all the time. May I ask: why? What she'd ever seen in him beside his good look? Or is it simply because a psychopath is still desirable as long as he's a masculine and handsome to look at? So lust and stupidity can be sugarcoated as 'love' even when reason and common sense should come in handy?

The author tells us that Nora was suspicious of Patch, he also made her uncomfortable; but I notice that whenever Nora was in his presence, Nora became extremely weak-willed and was basically doing whatever Patch told her to do. Oh my goodness, no wonder Patch thought he could have his way with her, because Nora had made it so very easy for him. To a point that she even let Patch into her house in the middle of the night, when nobody else was home. Oh my! If I didn't trust a guy to the 100 degree, I would never, never let him step one foot into my house, especially when said house is so remote that no one is near enough to hear me scream.

The so-called 'love' between Nora and Patch also gives me a headache, for at least ⅔ of the book, there's hardly any normal conversations, a.k.a conversations which don't end with Patch saying suggestive or threatening things and Nora ending up feeling uncomfortable, between them. I mean, 'I'm admiring your legs from afar' , 'My past is so dark it'll scare you' as  pick-up lines and Patch calling Nora  'Angel' all the time just don't work for me. Plus I can't see them spending time sharing their like and dislike to better understand each other. So, would anyone tell me what's the base of their 'love'; aside from physical attraction and look?

Nora also put herself into dangerous situation (going into dark alley and tunnel, all alone, continue to stay with a guy  even when she doesn't know a thing about him; etc) for too many times to count. Some reviewers from amazon.com commented that Nora is "too stupid to live"; so far I still am not 100% agree with this remark, but Nora's stupidity had steadily driven me to the wall as I read further.

By the way, Vee surely is becoming 'too stupid, inconsiderate, selfish, airhead and vain not to have her skull smashed-in'. God help me, how can anyone stay friends with such a horrible person?

In order to solve the mysteries of Patch and the masked attacker, in the middle of the story Nora started playing detective to get to the bottom of it, but the methods she used to gather information is just so...laughable, especially in the eyes of a detective novels fan like me. I mean, that girl didn't even know the basics!

*plot spoiler warning*

After at least 250 pages of boring high school drama and poorly built suspense, Nora finally stumbled upon the idea that Patch might not be human because the guy had an upside-down V-shape scars on his back. The reason why 'having large V-shape scars' equals to 'being a fallen angel' is totally beyond me, I just don't know why Nora would come to this conclusion anyway, but I'm past caring because it isn't the first time the girl came up with weird and/or arbitrary conclusions. And then Nora finding out more clues about fallen angels and Nephilims by......guess what, googling it. Plus, just by looking up the first website which popped up at the top, Nora got all the information, isn't it a bit too convenient? Not to mention it's just as ridiculous as Bella finding out Edward is a vampire by doing research online in Twilight.

It's revealed that Patch wanted to kill Nora as a sacrifice in order to become human, okayyyyy...so his motive of getting near Nora is far from pure. But we're told that Patch later changed his mind because he fell in love with Nora...........OMG! When and how did it happen!? I never get what Patch ever saw in this girl, loved her enough to a point that he'd give up his very wish. That's totally not convincing.

Not to mention Patch brought Nora to a motel (which the guy would later confess, is basically a whorehouse) and pinned her against the wall while threatening her. But Nora was pretty much turned on by his action. Okayyyyy...hello, rape fantasy.

In the end Nora did sacrifice herself but DID NOT die as a result (Hello, Deus ex Machina.) and Patch ended up becoming her guardian angel. Whatever, I'm past caring anyway.

*end of plot spoiler wanring*

Hush, Hush is clearly not a well-planned book, what is hinted at in the prologue is never mentioned again till the last few chapters. The identity of the bad guy isn't difficult to figure out. Worse still, we know what Patch really is long before his identity is revealed (Look at the book's cover and you should know, seriously), whatever suspense the author might want to build simply doesn't work. That's it.

The Final Words: Don't buy the book, borrow it only when you have a lot and a lot of time to kill.
Other reviews:

Review of Hush, Hush, kind of [link]
Book review Crescendo (book 2) [link]
Review Silence (book 3) [link]

Book review: Nevermore [link]

Review: Prophecy of the Sisters [link]
Book Review: Guardian of the Gate, sequel to Prophecy of the Sisters [link]

Book Review Angelology [link]
An overall review: The Southern Vampires Mysteries / True Blood book 5 to book 9 by Charlaine Harris [link]
Blue Bloods book 1 review [link]
Fallen by Lauren Kate [link]
book review: Torment [link]
YA book review The Ashleys [link]

Wicked Lovely book 5 [link]
Wicked Lovely book 4 review [link]
Wicked Lovely book 2 and 3 reviews [link]
Wicked Lovely Book 1 review [link]

Twilight rant [link]
New Moon rant: [link]
Eclipse rant: [link]
Breaking Dawn rant: [link]
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner review [link]

Review: The Vampire Diaries [link]

Manga/Anime: Sekai ichi Hatsukoi review2 [link]

House of Night Book 4 review [link]
House of Night Book 1 Marked review [link]
House of Night Book 2 Betrayed [link]
House of Night Book 3 Chosen [link]

book review The Book with No Name [link]

Book review: Dream and Alice [link]
Evermore and Shadowland double reviews [link]
review: Fallen [link]

The Hunger Game Book 1 review [link]
Book 2 Catching Fire review [link]
Book 3 Mockingjay review part 1 [link]
Mockingjay review part 2 [link]

bookreview Beautiful Creatures [link]
Book Review: Selina Penaluana [link]
© 2012 - 2024 vampirekiki
Comments18
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
KalahariMeerkatfan's avatar
I actually spotted the title of Hush, Hush on the bookshelf at my local library, but I made no move to get it as I was looking for something else. I suppose I could get it just to entertain myself...but first I am finishing this Death Note novel that I am in total love with :heart:.

Um...a series that I would love your read and reviews. Not sure what it is called series wise, but the books are: The Jewel, The White Rose, and then The Black Key. I...uh...may have read the second book first...oops. But it seems kind of good...of course maybe there is something in it that I am missing. 

On another note (no pun intended), there is a series of Disney novels that I would love to see your thoughts. The books are; Fairest of All, The Beast, Poor Unfortunate Souls, and Maleficent. The first book was quite nice, but the newer books are making me kind of uncomfortable.