Review: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

When Nora and Patch are forced together as lab partners, Nora would rather fall to her death than put up with his elusive answers to her questions, his teasing, and his infuriatingly handsome face and hypnotizing eyes. It seems Patch was put on earth just to drive her crazy.

But before long, Nora's defenses start to break down as her curiosity about Patch heats up. Why does he always seem to be wherever she is and know exactly what she's thinking? How does he know what to say to both attract and repulse her? And what is up with those V-shaped scars on his chiseled back?

As their connection grows stronger, Nora's own life becomes increasingly fragile. Nora needs to decide: Is Patch the one who wants to do her harm or the one who will keep her safe? Has she fallen for one of the fallen? 


Hush, Hush has become a classic YA, some may even say classic trashy YA. So to say I felt like I needed to read it would be an understatement. Even though it is so well known, I actually wasn't sure what to expect and what I ended up getting from the story was much different from what I thought it would be.

The writing style flowed so easily that it sucked you right into the story immediately. It was super easy to read and get into. There were times, however, where the changes in scene were very abrupt which really took you out of the story just because of how choppy it felt. I think smoother transitions is definitely something that was missing from this book as it happened enough times that it started to bother me.

The way feelings were described made them feel almost tangible. It was just so satisfying to read and I think very few authors I have read have written that beautifully while staying simple. The mood was set perfectly as well that it was almost palpable - I felt the world be dreary, foggy and just at the brink of danger just the way it was meant to be conveyed. I could see the scenes so vividly - particularly the more suspenseful scenes - that I could see the visuals as a movie playing out before me.

Hush, Hush focuses heavily on the romance and the connection between the main characters Patch and Nora. I really liked Nora! She was a great, strong, main character. I didn't find her annoying at all which is so rare. It's so easy for a main character to get annoying to read about but I found Nora to be really entertaining and reasonable. Her best friend Vee....not so much. I didn't like her at all and I really hate reading the trope of having an annoying best friend that the main character allows to get away with anything, including being an awful friend. So it was kind of annoying having to go through that throughout the book.

As for Patch: I liked him so much! Let's just say I swooned...a lot. He was so mysterious which made him really alluring. His dialogue was the highlight of the book. I'll say I had a lot of mixed emotions about him in some scenes but there was something about him that was just so captivating and made me want to keep reading about him and know so much about him. We never really got to know his emotions very well but the hints of it through his talk and actions were more than enough. He is the perfect embodiment of what I think a YA love interest is. Maybe he would've been perfect if there was slightly more shown of him than just being flirty and mysterious - more sensitive, perhaps - but he was great as he was either way.

The chemistry between the characters was sizzling and really made this book good. The description during their interactions was amazing to read. The dialogue, the tug-and-pull was so heated and made me feel invested in the book and in our characters. I particularly liked that though their attraction was undeniable, it wasn't something that happened right away. And while there was hesitation, there wasn't so much hesitation that came off as hatred which happens in a lot of stories and really does a disservice to the romance and rooting for our couple.

The mystery of this novel was surprisingly very good. Usually, I'm pretty good at predicting the plot twists and that really destroys the notion of 'mystery' for the novel. However, for this book, the mystery was actually really interesting and I couldn't predict anything. The revelations and plot twists were so explosive and shocking because of that. I enjoyed that aspect of the book perhaps as much as I enjoyed the romance (which never happens).

However, one of the biggest issues came with the amount of mystery in this book. Nearly everything was a secret, which wouldn't be an issue, if not for the fact that since there were so many things to be uncovered, the gap between those secrets and uncovering some answers was very big. The mystery felt too spaced out (to the point where more than halfway through the book, nothing had been revealed at all). This caused a lot of the scenes in between this time frame to feel boring.

When everything was revealed, it felt too info dumpy because instead of revealing the secrets at a good pace which would keep interest high while simultaneously increasing anticipation for more answers, we got everything at once and it was almost too much. I also found that a lot of smaller comments in the book which hinted at secrets were never mentioned again even though they were clearly meant to foreshadow something. Along with that, one of the big plot lines uncovered at the end, I found to be very unnecessary and wasted a lot of time since the resolution happened quickly and off page.

Overall, I really liked the book! I didn't absolutely rave about it or feel an intense connection with the story or characters but I enjoyed myself reading it. It had so many good points, even through the bad ones, that I had no issues reading more than 100 pages a day without even feeling it. So 4 stars is a very obvious choice for this book's rating for me.