4E1 English Blog

Hush, Hush

by Becca Fitzpatrick

♥Main character:

Nora Grey

Nora is an intelligent sixteen year old high school student who dreams of going to an Ivy League college. Her best friend is Vee Sky and even states that she is her “un-twin”. She and her mother live in a drafty 18^th century farmhouse on the outskirts of Coldwater. They have a housekeeper called Dorothea. Nora's mother works for the Hugo Renaldi Auction Company and her job requires a lot of travel so she hired Dorothea to not only cook and clean but to keep a watchful, parental eye on her daughter. Nora suffers from anemia so she has to take iron pills regularly. After her father's tragic death, she has been going for counselling sessions.

♥Other characters:

Patch Cipriano

He is a mysterious transfer student with a smouldering gaze and a penchant for the color black. His clothes reek of cigars, but that’s the least of Nora’s worries.

Patch is Nora's new partner at Biology class. Nora has to work with Patch for a “get to know” assignment. Through this, Nora finds out that Patch has never really gone to school and he claims that their school was his first school. Patch is very comfortable with being partnered with Nora, actually, he is quite glad to be her partner. On the contrary, Nora feels “threatened” and has such a dislike for their partnership to the extent that she requested the Coach to make her seat with Vee again, stating that “By law, no student should feel threatened on school property”. Patch’s relaxed and flirtatious manner makes her blush as often as she becomes frustrated.

Vee Sky

Vee is “green-eyes, minky blond, and a few pounds over curvy” as described by Nora, her best friend. She shows some interest for Patch at first (just to push Nora) and she likes teasing Nora by claiming that Patch is her stalker at one point in the story. Vee has a car , the 1995 purple Dodge Neon.

♥Content:

At Biology class, Nora is partnered with “Patch”, the new transfer. Coach McCoaugny, the varsity basketball coach, who is also the tenth-grade Biology professor gives them an assignment – find as much as you can about your new partner. Since Nora's worst subject is Biology, she has to do a good write-up about Patch in order to get at least an A grade. Patch shows some reluctance at giving personal information to Nora and on the other hand, it seems that Patch knows a lot of things about Nora. By the end of the class, Nora only knows his name... Nora calls him up and meets him at Bo's Arcade where he is playing pool. Their meeting gives Nora little information about Patch. The next day, she requests the Coach to let her seat with Vee and even proposes that she will tutor any student from his Biology classes. The Coach does not directly decline and just advises Nora to adjust to the new seating arrangement. Nora borrows Vee's car to drive home. Unexpectedly, she is attacked by a ski-masked man. He smashes the car window and causes it to shatter. Strangely, this ski-masked man has the same black eyes that Patch possesses. Nora escapes and drives back to Vee's house, traumatized. Vee inspects the car , only to find a small crack on the hood........

♥Evaluation of the book:

Hush, Hush is a well-written book with characters that one can relate to.

Becca Fitzpatrick wrote a great debut novel.

I particularly like Nora's character mainly because she is not a weakling most of the time and she can stand up for herself. Moreover, she has her own well-defined strengths, weaknesses and interests, and her voice as the narrator was pleasant to read. (The book is in 1^st person) I actually like Vee and I think she is hilarious although sometimes I found her annoying. The chemistry between Nora and Patch grew as the story progressed although at first, I thought that Patch was merely treating Nora like his play thing.

I fell in love with the cover at the bookstore <3>

It is not until 294^th page (of the 391 pages) that Fitzpatrick dives into the Nephilim myth, which is actually rather interesting. I love the twists and revelations after the 294th page or so. I never expected the revelations. I wrongly guessed who was stalking Nora and who was trying to kill her....

Hush, Hush is a dark, rich romance which also revolves around a heart-pounding mystery..... (someone repeatedly tries to kill Nora)

Can't wait to read the sequel!

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My favourite quotes:

"Hang on, did you just call me Angel?" I asked.
"If I did?"
"I don't like it."
He grinned. "It stays, Angel."
— Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush)

"All this time I've hated myself for it. I thought I'd given it up for nothing. But if I hadn't fallen, I wouldn't have met you."
— Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush)

I have the novel so feel free to ask me if you want to read it :)