Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick (Book Series)

Hush Hush

WARNING: Contains Spoiler - Plot synopsis taken from various sites to help me write. Sorry if they look familiar!



Release Date: 2009
Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 391
Rating: 5/5

Written through the perspective of Nora Grey, a sophomore living in Coldwater, Maine. Her mother forever away from home working as a sort of estate agent. Vee, Nora's best friend and always with her are split up as biology partners and Nora is forced to sit next to Patch Cipriano, a mysterious boy who Nora finds intolerable but is drawn to his misbehaviour. Nora believes that Patch is stalking her as she sees him everywhere she goes.
Elliot and Jules are two boys that Nora and Vee meet, Elliot invites the girls along to Delphic Amusement Park, clearly interested in Nora, and Vee with Jules. However Vee plays up the idea that Nora and Patch have a connection to which Nora denies. She sees Patch at the amusement park and he persuades her to ride the Archangel with her. Nora being afraid of heights but not wanting Patch to know goes on the ride; after the ride Nora claims that she fell out of the ride, Patch ignores her. Nora realises she can't find Vee, Elliot or Jules (who's been missing for most of the night) and has no choice but to get a lift home from Patch. Back at home they make taco's and nearly kiss but a ringtone disrupts the moment.
Nora becomes more connected with Patch, in which she spends time with Patch in Bo's Arcade and meets Rixon, his close friend. During this time a mysterious man wearing a ski mask keeps interfering with Nora's life, he makes her believe that Vee's car is ruined after running him over and other occurrences play out which I'll let you read. Nora notes that Elliot was involved in a murder/suicide case in which she tries to solve by scooping out his previous town. Whilst there, an elderly lady robs Nora of her coat, with her phone being in the coat, she heads back to the street but finds the lady dead on the floor. Nora calls Patch to come find her, he picks her up and they head home but not long before Patch's car breaks down, a storm breaks out and they end up spending a night soaking wet in a shady motel. In the motel, with no electricity they live by candlelight where Nora notices two great swooping scars in Patch's back, she touches them and falls into a memory. Patch brings her out of the memory demanding to know what she has seen, Patch's original intention was to kill her, but now has changed his mind. After arguing Patch informs Nora that he is a fallen angel, planning to become human like the stories in the Book of Enoch by killing his Nephilim vessel and a sacrifice, Nora. Meanwhile an unknown figure is already trying to get rid of Nora, as they go shopping Vee pretends to be Nora and is attacked and sent to hospital. Also Dabria, the new school psychologist suggests Nora stays away from Patch, Dabria wants him to be a guardian angel once again but Patch has fallen in love with Nora.
Dabria then finds Nora at her home stating that if she loves Patch then Nora needs to be sacrificed. Dabria begins to burn down Nora's house where Nora stays hidden in the chimney breast. Patch comes and saves Nora who escapes and plans to rendezvous with Vee at the cinema whilst Patch kills Dabria. However at the cinema Patch finds Nora and admits to her that he doesn't want to sacrifice her body anymore in which they passionately kiss in the locked womens toilets.
Although Nora suspects that Elliot is the person who has been stalking her, she gets a call from Vee telling her to come play with her, Elliot and Jules at the school, the call is then interrupted by Elliot stating that if Nora doesn't come and play then bad things will happen to Vee.
Patch drives to the school and heads in looking for Vee, Elliot and Jules. Nora, disobeying Patch's orders heads in too, she finds Elliot injured and realises that he was not the killer after all. The guy in the ski mask was Jules from the beginning and his original name is Chauncey Langeais, Patch's nephilim vessel. Jules tells Nora how he plans to kill her because of Patch, a fight breaks out as Patch enters the sports hall and Nora climbs the school gym. Jules chasing after her she sees only one way out of it, she sacrifices her body and falls off the rafter to the school gym below.
Nora wakes up and realises that Patch has saved her and is now her guardian angel, Jules is dead. Back at her home Patch tells Nora's mother that he's a security operator and the book ends with them sharing a passionate kiss.

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I was hooked on this book, it was something completely different to the typical vampire genre of the time when I first read it. I was entranced by this mysterious man in the ski mask and who doesn't love the description of Patch (who sounds totally hot!). I've recommended it to many of my friend who have given the book a chance and read it. Overall totally worth a read if your interested in hot bad guy angels, the book has a bit of mystery, a bit of action, a bit of romance, a bit of everything really.



Crescendo
Release Date: 2010
Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 427
Rating: 5/5

Nora is finally going out with Patch, who is now her guardian angel. However after a day they spend together Nora tells Patch she loves him, but Patch does not respond. Nora gets worried that she spoke too soon as Patch hasn't called or contacted her in anyway since that night. And to ruin things even more Marcie tells Nora that Patch was standing outside her house that night. Patch finally explains that since being a Guardian Angel he has been kept on a short leash and the Arch Angels will send him to Hell if he declares his love for Nora. Scared that Nora will lose him ends the relationship. Meanwhile Scott Parnell, an old family friend, and his Mum arrive back in Coldwater and Nora notices something strange about him. Although Nora's mother tells her to steer clear of Scott, Nora follows him to see what he gets up too. Nora believes Scott is Nephilim and when he invites her to a pool hall, she can not resist. However at the pool hall she spots Patch and Marcie, who is clearly flirting with Patch, a fight breaks out in which Patch gets Nora to take his car whilst he goes back in for Marcie.
Scott then invites Nora to a 'Battle of the Bands' style concert where she accepts as long as Vee comes too. Upon waiting for Vee, Nora hears her (dead) father's voice coming from a disused house. She finds the voice to not be her fathers and notices that someone is trying to kill her. Inside the concert Vee and Nora are confronted by Marcie where they get into a heated argument leading into a cat fight that ends in a black eye and "clipped" jaw. Later that night Nora dreams of Patch, to which he is actually in her dreams where things get heated, accidentally she touches his wing scars and goes back in time to see Patch and Marcie kissing. Fuming, Nora throws Patch's necklace at him demanding he give back her ring. He doesn't and leaves with his necklace.
At the library the next day Nora is drugged and left alone in the library after closing hours, someone is planning to attack her as they barricaded each door, luckily Nora gets away although has a speeding ticket after driving to quickly home from her eventful night. Scott invites her to a beach party, which then ends up as a house party at his. Scott being drunk tries to take advantage of Nora but not before she notices Patch. Nora lets Scott kiss her, but Patch disrupts the event before anything else got out of hand.
Nora and Vee are invited to Marcie's house party, where they aim to scoop out Marcie's room in aid for some juicy gossip to splash on the cover of their school paper the E-Zine. Nora finds Patch's hat, spare keys to his truck and Marcie's diary and is about to leave when confronted by Marcie's dog leaving her to exit out of the window, Patch helps Nora down and she flees giving back his hat. The next day Vee, Nora and Rixon go to the beach and are soon stranded when Vee's car gets clamped. Remembering Nora has the spare key they take Patch's car home. Patch confront her that night asking why she took the car and that he's adding it the her tab.
Nora feeling guilty that she has the diary and hasn't even looked at it goes to take the diary back, however as she goes up to the door Marcie comes out and sees. Marcie tells Nora that her Mum is having an affair and her car is always parked down the road. Nora completely upset plans to live with Vee before her Mum is home from work.
After learning a few things about Nephilim from Scott and how Scott's afraid of the 'Black Hand', Nora hides Scott's iron fist ring from him. Scott goes crazy, literally, and goes after Nora demanding it back. Nora also goes to what she believes is Patch's house, however she is set up and as she hides from an intruder who follows her a bomb goes off in the apartment. Nora knows she is being hunted.
After trying to hide from Scott and this mysterious killer Nora goes with Vee and Rixon to Delphic Amusement Park. However Scott has a gun and goes after Nora demanding the ring back. Rixon takes Nora into the underground tunnels, once again she hears her fathers voice and she touches Rixon's scars where she learns that he is the killer. Rixon shoots Scott, knowing he is Nephilim and Rixon shoots Nora just as Patch arrives.
After leaving the hospital Nora gets a message from Scott about hiding from the Black Hand for a while and shall contact her when need be. Knowing her mum won't be home, Nora goes with Patch (reunited at last) to Delphic Amusement Park where he is about to show her his home. But as they embrace the Black Hand (Hank), intrudes.

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I really love Crescendo, it's action packed, filled with more love drama, boy drama, rivalry from Marcie's character and dilemma with Patch and new boy Scott! I really enjoy how Fitzpatrick totally pulls off the plot twist at the end, just when you think it's one character BAM it's another. Brilliant story line. My personal opinion I liked it more than the first. What do you think? Definitely love the series and who doesn't love a happy ending. This series needs to be adapted to the big screen. Hint hint Becca Fitzpatrick!!!

Silence
Release Date: 2011
Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 437
Rating: 4/5

The story starts in a graveyard, Patch is trying to settle a deal to save Nora and in turn he'll spy on the Arch Angels for Hank and will let the Nephilim rip his wings off.
Nora wakes up in a graveyard, she can't remember anything. Her mind has been erased of the last five months of her life, including Patch. Nora is frustrated at how her life is turning out, Hank is dating her Mum, and she knows she hates Hank but doesn't know why. Plus Marcie is being nice to her whilst Vee and Nora's Mum are keeping information from her. Nora keeps bumping into the mysterious guy named Jev who she feels is familiar to her but she has never met him. He saves her life from fallen angels but Jev won't answer many questions. Nora meets Scott Parnell and he tells her the truth about what happened in the last five months. Hank is the Black Hand and slowly things begin to unravel in Nora's mind.
Nora touches Jev's back and is transported into his memories where she gets even clearer messages of her previous life, she learns Hank kidnapped her for three months when she had been missing and that the two other months were removed by Jev's permission so Nora would forget him. Marcie asks Nora for a necklace that Patch once gave her and Nora gets a memory of an archangel locked away in a warehouse. Scott and Nora try to find the warehouse but fail as they are interrupted by Nephilim. Nora goes back alone and stumbles across a second warehouse full of sleeping Nephilim and is saved once again by Jev. Jev reveals that after she was kidnapped he did everything he could to protect her but Hank would not give her up. The spark between Nora and Jev reignites.
Meanwhile Nora's Mum falls down the stairs; Nora believes this is Hank's doing but they drive to the hospital. On their way they get involved in a car crash, Nora hears Hank mention archangels before she falls unconscious.
In the end Nora learns it was Nephilim in the other car and Hank planned to do a blood transfusion between himself and Nora, which was successful, making her pure blood Nephilim. Patch takes Nora back to his home under Delphic Amusement Park and tells Nora to stay there whilst he sorts out Hank and his Nephilim army. Nora gets a call from Scott who is planning on running away but needs help in a disguise. Nora collects a few items together and goes to find Scott's hideout. No sooner do they meet they are spotted by Hank's men. Nora is brought to one of Hank's warehouses where her Mum is too. For their freedom Nora has to agree to lead the Nephilim army when Hank dies. She agrees and flees with her Mum, she finds Marcie and dumps Marcie and her Mum at Vee's with no explanation.
Nora drives back to Delphic finding Patch and goes to explain everything but Patch already knows. Patch has been given the go ahead to kill Hank by the archangels. Nora however decides to not kill him but let Hank live and leave him to his mind only. However as Patch and Nora kiss, Hank contemplates Patch's life with one of his feathers in one hand and devil craft in the other. Nora shoots Hank. They toss his body off the side of a cliff and head back to Nora's house. At Nora's they see Scott and two other Nephilim where they mention who is going to lead the Nephilim battle against Angels, Nora says no but the Nephilim have been trained and won't bow down without an uprising.

Patch's Perspective:
Patch and Rixon are in Enzo's every Thursday for the past 4 weeks. Patch finally makes eye contact with Nora as Nora and Vee enter Enzo's from their run. Rixon, completely clueless as to what is going on, starts a fight with Patch to which Nora and Vee see. Rixon has ruined Patch's opportunity. However Vee comes running over and tells Rixon she'll help his nose bleed, leaving Nora and Patch to converse in small talk. The very beginning of the connection between the two! When Rixon and Vee come back, Patch doesn't want the moment to end, however he knows that he has to sacrifice Nora to get a human body.

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Silence was captivating. As soon as you learn of Nora being kidnapped, which is from the end of Crescendo you know Patch is going to try everything to get her back. This book was amazing, if you're like me, I felt most emotions from Nora: hatred towards Hank and the way he has everyone wrapped around his little finger and fearing of him. You also get the sense of Nora's vulnerability as she tries to find the truth, through Marcie and Scott of all people instead of Vee and her Mum who keep things quiet to prevent the truth to Nora. I think I fell even more in love with Patch/Jev when the readers knew who he was and Nora didn't and how he was always there to protect her and the fact that they couldn't stay away from each other. And I'm sure everyone felt relieved when Patch showed Nora the truth through his memories! Overall I loved this book more than Hush Hush but not as good as Crescendo. These are amazing books, why haven't they been adapted to the screen! I could keep rambling about these all day!
My book contained an extract of Patch and Nora's first meeting from Patch's perspective, which I thought was interesting as we learn they had met before being in Biology together, and how Patch had to decide between sacrificing her and loving her.

Finale
Release Date: 2012
Publishers: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd.
Format: Hardback
Pages: 454
Rating: 4/5

Nora and Patch have come so far but they've got so far to go. After Nora killed Hank in the previous book, Silence, Nora Grey is now leader of the Black Hand's Army in which the inevitable battle against freedom from the Fallen Angels will arise. All Nora and Patch want to do is live a life together but due to Nora being leader of the Nephilim, who disagree with any contact with Angels, she hides their romance and pretends to date Dante. Soon Nora realises just how horrible it is to swear fealty to the fallen angels and agrees with the Nephilim that possession of the body needs to be stopped. Nora decides that she does not want to kill off each race but wants them to live in peace but as time ticks by it's getting harder for Nora and her relationship, especially with the mysterious Pepper Friberg who's being blackmailed and Dante using devilcraft to make himself stronger. Nora realises that things are not what they seem and devilcraft is poisoning her. As the battle creeps more and more closer every day Nora begins to reveal the truth, Dante is not who she thought he was, he is blackmailing Pepper and worst of all he wants to be leader of the Nephilim race. Nora Grey's world comes crashing down when she learns that every fallen angels' feather has been burned, sending the fallen angels to Hell, including Patch. With Vee, being a Nephil too, and Scott, Nora prepares to fight Dante to death, however at sunrise Dante brings back-up. Nephilim fight the Archangels, causing mass death and destruction leaving Nora to find Patch after all is resolved. Detective Basso informs Nora that he is helping her out and soon Patch can feel Nora.
Three years later and Patch and Nora are still going strong. Vee is married and although Blythe isn't too keen on Patch and Nora's relationship she welcomes them all with an open heart.

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I literally could not wait to read this book and see how it all ends and WOW the ending is shocking! The story line was really gripping, I kept wanting to read more, sometimes I had to force myself to stop reading as I had plans for the day. Sometimes at night when I'm half falling asleep whilst reading I say to myself "NO! DON'T FALL ASLEEP" and I force myself to stay awake to read to the end of the chapter. This book was a brilliant ending to the series, it really is a shame the series is over as you grow such a connection with Nora and Patch and Vee and Scott. I think I almost cried at the final battle and at how life played out after the loss of many. I also love how, it might be me or I don't know if any of you experienced it, you feel most of the emotions expressed from Nora as well as Patch, Scott, Vee and occasionally the fallen angels, archangels and Nephilim. Also what a shocker with Detective Basso! (Spoiler warning!) Never would have thought that he was an Archangel. I was beginning to believe he could possibly be Nephilim. However my only thought on Basso is when he told her to cut her birthmark, I was hoping it would bring Scott back to life!! Vee and Scott could have got married! This is truly a beautiful ending to a beautiful series (sounds cliched) but I absolutely love this series. Fitzpatrick is amazing and I agree with her, I can visualise what's happening whilst reading. If it is not made into a screen adaptation I will pursue to make it myself :p !Overall a brilliant series that I will forever keep recommending to people who haven't read it before. Watch out peeps!!!!

Enjoy x

Author's Website:  Becca Fitzpatrick
GoodReads: Hush Hush Saga 

Available in most book stores and online now.