Book Review: HUSH HUSH

It's book review time! Today's review is on Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush. The book is nestled firmly into that vein of YA paranormal that everyone is tired of. Since it stirred up so much hype, I decided to start off my YA reading kick with it.

(I must admit, the cover is pretty.)

Here's the summary from Goodreads:

A SACRED OATH
A FALLEN ANGEL
A FORBIDDEN LOVE

Romance was not part of Nora Grey's plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how hard her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch comes along. With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Patch draws Nora 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 seems 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 way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.

For she 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 Nora her life.

I can't really think of much to say about this book. Except maybe, "What the hell?" But, let's try and make some sense of this, shall we?

First off all, the characters. I feel I should get this out up front: I want to slap Nora in the face. People will go on and on about how she's stupid for loving Patch (who is the book's resident bad boy). But you know what, I don't care. I don't really give a crap that she likes a boy who wants to kill her. Because I can get behind liking someone who's not good for you. What I can't get behind is plain stupidity. Nora doesn't think her actions through, she doesn't do research things before jumping to dangerous conclusions, in fact she doesn't do anything. I can't even try to sum up her character because she was that boring. Literally the only thing that stood out about her were her astonishingly stupid actions.

Next up is Patch. I am not going to talk about how Patch is horrible for young girls to read about or how he's a horrible love interest. Countless people have already talked about that. And honestly, I don't really care. He's a bad boy, he's supposed to be dangerous. That's the whole point of his character. And honestly, that's part of the problem. I didn't feel anything whatsoever for Patch. There was no character behind the dark-past-dark-jeans facade. I didn't care about his backstory, I didn't feel bad for his tortured soul (which really wasn't all that tortured, I mean suck it up, dude!) I just didn't care one bit. He tried so hard to be hot and dangerous and it just didn't work and I honestly wanted to laugh every time he showed up.

And now for the plot.

I legitimately have no idea what to say. It was so convoluted and confused that I don't know what happened. It was like Becca Fitzpatric forgot about important details only to remember them all IN THE LAST THIRTY PAGES and then she smushed them all together and pretended it was a plot.

Lastly, the writing. I would like to find something nice to say about this book, so here it is: The writing made me laugh. Rather unintentionally, but still, laughing is always fun. In the end, though, the writing was boring and melodramatic. If I have to read one more sentence about Patch's "dark levis" I will shank someone. JUST CALL THEM JEANS, FOR PETE'S SAKE.

 Also, she named a character Chauncey. This was an important character. One who was integral to the plot. And his name was Chauncey. I'm sorry, but I cannot take anything seriously when a character has that name and it's not supposed to be funny. I just can't.

But for all it's faults, the book did keep me reading. However, I'm not sure if that was me actually being hooked by the story or just the easy writing style. It took me over a week to read the last fifty pages. That's never a good sign.

So, overall, Hush Hush was a very boring, over-hyped book with flat characters and bad writing.  Maybe if you like angels you could give it a whirl?   (But then you could just go read Supernatural fanfiction and it's online for free, so nevermind).

Will I be picking up the sequels? Maybe, if I ever want to laugh at some hilariously bad writing again. But it sure as hell won't be because I care about the characters or the story.

Verdict: Two Stars! 

(It gets two instead of one because of all the unintentional laughter it induced.)

A Trip to the Wonderful World of Barnes & Noble

(Scroll to end of post for random crack-filled gifs of fun)

I'm procrastinating.  I'm just gonna come right out and say it: I don't want to do homework, so instead I'm going to pretend that blogging counts as productive.  Please be nice, and don't shatter my blissful state of denial.

I went to the bookstore today.  It was wonderful.  And, as usual, I came out with more books than I planned.  Originally I was just going to buy a copy of Girl of Nightmares, seeing as it just came out and I've been wanting to read it for AGES.  Then somehow I ended up with a copy of Hush Hush and the recently released Blackwood.  Goodbye, self-control.

I've heard some really great things about Gwenda Bond's Blackwood so I'm ridiculously hyper and excited to read it.  The cover art is gorgeous and everyone should go check it out on goodreads.  I've read the first couple of pages, and so far I really like the writing style.

And then there is Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush.  Dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?

I recently re-read Twilight, for no reason other than fun.  Cleolinda Jones's recaps are hilarious and made me want to read it again, so don't judge.  I've gotten to the point where I can read that book in a state of permanent hilarity.  Everything is funny to me; it's like bubblegum and sparkles are flowing through my veins and making me jump and scream and cry and I love it forever.  I expected Hush to be similar. I was wrong.

There are some similarities, of course.  Take the writing style, for instance-- it's that weirdly vague but overly descriptive and bland prose that I see in a lot of books lately *cough* Fifty Shades of Grey *cough*.  It starts out with the boring, and smart protagonist meeting the sexy and mysterious love interest in a biology class, blah blah blah.  But I don't see any sparkles yet.  Where is my twinkie made of rainbows?  Where is my snort-worthy ridiculousness?  WHERE ARE MY SPARKLES?????

It seems that Hush is going to be the kind of book where I have to lower my IQ to a previously undiscovered level to enjoy.  I think it's just below the level of craziness that Twilight was, so my mind subconsciously still expects it to be serious while the rest of me wants a bunch of sparkly vampires and pink fluff.  I'm going to have to suppress parts of my brain in order to be able to find this funny.  I hope I don't implode in the process.

Anyway, this is the longest I can stretch out this post.  I guess it's time to go read some more of dear-old St. Augustine.  Wish me luck.

Also, to prolong the blogging experience a little bit longer, have some gifs: