Reviewing: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

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 am completely aware that there are a ton of different opinions (both negative and positive) about this book and by sharing mine I will possibly be offending a lot of people. (Oops.) This is why I'm going to try to give a non-ranty (by this I mean no unreasonable venting) review while trying to say what I liked about the book.

Leggo.

Okay, so about Nora. Nora, in my opinion, was mediocre for a main character. She needed to stand up for herself more and take control of what was happening to her. I understand that it was difficult-- these are angels and Nephilim, after all-- but in all fairness the angels in this book were not the toughest angels. She also was guessing around to much. She was letting Patch get into her head and control her actions and her thoughts-- which is absolutely not good, in case you were wondering-- and never actually takes action to make him stop harassing her, sexually or otherwise. So, yeah. I thought she was pretty weak.

Her best friend, Vee, sucked at being a best friend. She was constantly shoving Nora into situations that made Nora uncomfortable, scared, or downright terrified. At first I sort of enjoyed her quirky loudness, but then it just got on my nerves as it became more and more obvious that Vee cared more about hanging out with hot guys than the safety of her best friend. I don't know about you, but if someone was harassing my best friend and making her feel threatened to the point that Nora was, I would get her as far away from them as I could. I wouldn't even want to share the same airspace as him, let alone push her to spend time with him.

Patch was a stalker. He followed her everywhere, made mental notes on her likes and dislikes, friends and possible boyfriends, etc. Harassing her and embarrassing her were just added bonuses. He tried to make literally every conversation have a sexual element, and he knew that made Nora uncomfortable. 

Here are some examples:

"You smell good, too," said Patch

"It’s called a shower." I was staring straight ahead. When he didn’t answer, I turned sideways. "Soap. Shampoo. Hot water."

"Naked. I know the drill."

-

"Say 'provoking' again. Your mouth looks provocative when you do."

I understand that Patch was the villain. Because of this, he was actually one of my favorite characters in the book, because he made a very good villain. I just thought his reason for becoming a hero was shakey. 

Nora's teacher was terrible. No teacher should force two students to be together in a class when one of them has already stated how uncomfortable the other has made her felt, unless he's secretly a shipper at heart. And when he said "no way," to Nora's request, she should have gone straight to the principal and continued to try and get Patch the heck away, not just submitted and gone to her next class.

But that's not even my biggest issue. My biggest issue are the angels. Now, in my opinion, angels are pretty powerful. And by pretty powerful, I mean a human could never stand a chance against one in battle, okay? Some angels are warriors, some are messengers, etc., etc, The warriors are called what they are for a reason. It bothered me that out of the two angels that became important, Patch was the only one that was described as powerful and there was actually supporting evidence that he was. I couldn't really get the angels in this book. Not only were they totally not pure at heart (not even the ones who weren't fallen), they couldn't kill Nora. Nora, who was not armed and was totally panicking, and just hiding while the angel (I forgot her name sorry) ransacked the room looking for her. 

Two stars, because even though I didn't really enjoy this book, it managed to make me read it until the end. I was intrigued.

Also, quick tip if you haven't read it but want to: Read this book as though Patch is the villain, because until the nearing-end of this book, he absolutely is.

The Fault in Our Book-Buying

That title sounded a lot better in my head.

So I was tossing around ideas in my brain, and I came up with this: How do you know if you're buying a good book? Um, yeah. It's not a good idea, but it can be answered, which is more than I can say for my other questions, like: "Would it be possible that humans came from water creatures?" or "Would it be possible to attach wings to said humans and be capable of flight?"

Anyways, the answer to how you know you're buying a good book or not is simple. You don't know. It's horrible.

One of the great and terrible deeds in reading (other than dog-earing pages and judging only by covers) is skimming. But why? I mean, skimming is... is okay. (This is my way of saying that I do it a lot.) It helps you get an idea of what the book is about. And often times, I read the first chapter before buying a book that I like the look of. I'm poor, therefore, I am picky. Skimming helps when you can't decided whether or not to pick a book, okay? Just don't skim to close to the ending of the book. That's... that's just bad.

Another thing: Do I believe my friends' recommendation or not? 

This is big for me, because my sister is constantly shoving books in my face and a lot of what I get around to reading are books that she has recommended. Do I always love them? Um, absolutely not. I hate some of them. This has resulted in many attempts at ending my life by said sister. But I do love lots. 

Which basically means that none of my questions are getting answered and this is pointless.

But, oh, the dreaded question of: This book has a ton of hype but it doesn't sound like something I'd love. Should I get it?

I have read many books because of hype. Legend by Marie Lu, Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Angelfall by Susan Ee, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, the Mara Dyer books... the list goes on. Most of them I have loved, but only because I was staying in a genre I was comfortable with. The only book I read that had a ton of hype and wasn't dystopian or something similar, is The Fault in Our Stars. (Which I watched last night. It was sad. *sniffles at the memory*) Some have been awesome, and some have been not-awesome, which here means: terrible-- at least, in my opinion.

So the answer to my question is still that books cannot be judged merely by skimming or covers or friends' recommendations. But I'm totally open to yours.

Since I am on my fall break, I have a ton of free time now. Free time I would love to spend reading-- except that I don't know what to read. So, if you have any books that you have read recently and fell in love with, tell me about them. Only if you want to, of course. It's not like I'm forcing you. *wiggles eyebrows*

The Book Gif Tag

Um so I got tagged.

*internal screaming*

HUGE thank you to Aneta@The Graffiti On The Wall. You are awesome. I offer chocolate and brownies as thanks.

Onwards!

Peter Pan:

GIF says it all. I have never read Peter Pan-- mainly because I'm terrified of classics and all their formal descriptions and general large-ness. Classics do smell fabulously, though. 

The Help:

I don't know and I am so sorry. I really, really want to read this book because my sis said it's awesome, and also because I loved the movie. BUT IT'S SO HUGE I'M SCARED.

Throne of Glass:

You said it Hades. But I did love Throne of Glass. I just found it hard to like the main character because she felt so much like a villain. But, hey. I dig that. Villainous heroes should be a thing.

Divergent:

Um, yeah. Divergent confused me. Mainly because the first 50% I absolutely loved, and then the rest just sort of... was there. I liked it, but it didn't have that POW POW that the beginning had.

Twilight:

I have never read Twilight, and I'm not sure I want to. I've heard it's torturous. I saw the first movie. That was torturous.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones:

I liked it. I liked it lots. More Jace sarcasm please. He's 70% of why I liked the book. Simon was the other 30%. CLARY JUST NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN DRAW RUNES EVERY 1/3 OF THE BOOK. Ahem. Sorry.

The Mediator: 

Never heard of it. But it sounds interesting. 

Legend:

Um, yeah. I LOVED LEGEND. LOVED IT. There were little bits that I would've changed, but hey, I'm just super negative about everything.

13 Reasons Why:

I... have never read this book. But I really, really want to. 

Pride and Prejudice:

I have read Pride and Prejudice. I liked the movie more. When it comes right down to it, I just have trouble finding what is so enjoyable about classics. Some of them are interesting, but I have the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel, and "interesting" usually doesn't cut it.

Alas, I am also a lonely caffeinated squirrel and so, um, I don't know anyone who hasn't already been tagged. (I really should get out more. And by get out more I mean stay on my computer and explore more blogs while indoors.) Outdoors are scary, peoples. Take it from someone who feels personally victimized by mosquitoes.

Whoever else wants to join in, please do so! I really, really would love to see your reactions. Just post the link in a comment below and I'll check it out-- pinky swear.

Here are the books:

1. Angelfall by Susan Ee

2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3. Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

5. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

6. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

7. Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

8. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

9. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

10. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

So, thanks again to Aneta for tagging me! And also I probably won't be on my blog very often, so if it takes me a while to reply to your comments or put up any new posts, you'll know that it's because of school. 

Community Service Day 5

(Sorry for being a day late.)

Okay, so, I showed up a little before 8, as per usual, and got busy doing the exact same thing. I said "Good morning," to the lady who sits at the desk, then dry-mopped the basketball court. Pink-Ponytail-In-Overalls asked me how I could tell where I'd been, and I told him I followed the lines. It requires a lot of focus, actually. 

After I was done dry-mopping (the old lady who uses the track every Saturday wasn't there for some reason), I cleaned the windows by the exit and entrance. 

Then I took a small break and cleaned the track windows. No one came in until a red-haired dude who was dribbling a basketball and staring at his phone while wearing headphones.

It turns out you can do a lot of people watching through the track windows. Call me a creeper, but nothing gets me bored like cleaning windows for one hour.

Welcome to my hometown, where every guy over the age of eighteen wears a baseball cap and grown men race their golf carts.

It's very amusing.

I ate chocolate while waiting for my mom to pick me up. It was delicious. 

When I got home, I danced in my room for a while (around 30 minutes, which is pretty short compared to how much I've been dancing recently) then ate. And then I watched Youtube for a few hours. And then I danced some more. And then I wrote for one of my WIPs for a little while. And then I danced. And then I ate and watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier with my dad and sister. 

IT WAS PERFECTION. I swear, Marvel keeps getting better.

Before I end this post, I want to apologize for not talking about books in a really, really, really long time. I've been super busy with school and such. My only free time is on the weekend, and those are usually spent chilling with the fam. I'll try to put up something book-related soon, but I make no promises.

Community Service Day 4

So I've already been drowning in regular school and now I have to take a college course while participating in group projects and doing community service and ASDFGHJKL.

But that's okay because I can do this.

Maybe.

Ahem. So, today went fairly well, except for the part where I got blisters on the backs of both of my feet and I could barely walk. 

I did the exact same thing today as I did for the past two weeks. CLEANING CLEANING WALKING CLEANING WALKING SWEATING.

It's getting very tiresome, but it could be worse.

I'm getting pretty comfortable with minimal socializing now, so that's good. A weird thing I noticed about myself is my voice just goes like an octave lower when I talk with strangers.

Good news is I listened to music while cleaning today so it wasn't as boring. 

I hate my alarm.

It's all high and screechy and SUPER DUPER loud even though my volume was turned way down and I was worried I wouldn't hear it.

My mom burst in the room and was all like "WHY IS YOUR ALARM SO LOUD"

And I was trying to open my eyes but they were refusing so I kinda just turned my face towards her with my eyes 1/3 opened and groaned bewilderedly (that is a word now), which, translated, means: why are yoU SO LOUD.

My brother was super happy to see me when I got home so I was all like YAY and did a dramatic hug and spin thing the movies. 

Yes these are k-pop gifs. I have no regrets.

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I was nominated by the lovely Skylar@Life of a Random. Thanks, Sky! You're the best. :)

Apparently I'm inspiring. Very inspiring. Who knew? 

Rules

1. Thank and link back to the amazing person(s) who nominated you.

2. List the rules and display the award. 

3. Share seven facts about yourself.

4. Nominate some other amazing blogs and comment on their posts to let them know they have been nominated.

Okay, I dunno about you, but I've been listing too many facts about myself recently. I may be very inspiring, but I'm not very interesting.

7 Facts About Mwuah

1. I've been going through a stage where I listen to tons of k-pop. 

Not this kind.

Or this kind.

The awesome thing is that k-pop is all the genres of music, just in Korean, with a couple English phrases here and there. 

I happen to like listening to bad boy groups in k-pop, which basically means that they don't emotionally grab their faces or cup their faces with their hands or wear lots of pink. The starting group for my sister and I was BEAST. Or, y'know, B2ST. Their fans are called Beauties, which is cool whether or not you think so.

WHY YOU LEAVE ME ALONE, BABY???!!!!!

Also, Teen Top can dance, okay? Watch "Rocking". They can dance. So can BTS. And GOT7. Another awesome thing about k-pop: ALMOST ALL OF THEM CAN DANCE.

2. I can't catch a ball for the life of me (I'm terrified that I'll get hit in the face), or hardly throw any, but for some reason I'm fairly good at throwing a football. (the American kind, for those of who don't live here) This proves that not all traits are passed down from generation to generation, because my dad is good at every sport he tries. It's maddeningly unfair.

3. It takes at least two nights for me to adjust to a new bed. I've always been super jealous of my dad, who can practically fall asleep on command. 

4. I can't eat very spicey food well, even though I'm half Asian. Sometimes, peoples, stereotypes lie.

5. Apparently, I have a scary angry face. Which I take full advantage of. RUN, little children, RUN.

6. I like glasses better than contacts. 

 

There. You can't say no to the Doctor.

7. I once told my sister that swag was for losers and guys with real swag didn't have swag, they had a sort of lean, and she hasn't stopped teasing me about that since. I regret that statement very, very much.

Nominees

I feel bad because I do this every time but I literally know NO ONE in the blogosphere. Except, y'know, my sister, and she's the one that nominated me, so...

But I'd love to get to know you guys, so please join in if you want! Post the link in the comments and I'll read your post and comment on your overflowing awesome-ness. 

Community Service Day 3

At first I was going to skip. I mean, c'mon, I have a cold and a my sister is just coming back from college for the weekend. I don't want to wake up at seven and go walk until the back of my feet get blisters. No.

Just no.

Anywho, I went and did the exact same thing as last time. I dry-mopped the basketball court, cleaned windows, and then cleaned more windows. I have six hours of community service now, which doesn't feel like a lot. I have so much more to do. Ugh.

I got there at around eight. I walked in and got started. There were five people in the basketball court/indoor arena at one time. It was distracting. 

They were all quite old (over sixty, atleast), and one old guy came in with over-alls and a baseball cap and a pink ponytail.

There was one couple that had walked the track yesterday that was there again today. (read: guy of said couple was the one who said all I needed was to be taller while I was cleaning windows last week) 

Anyways, he's all jokey and jolly, and the lady snorts and makes some dry comment to everything, and he just chuckles and grins and she sort of smiles and they keep on walking.

I make up stories sometimes because it can get really boring. It's usually some twisted version of High School Musical. What team? WILDCATS.

Pink-Hair-Man said that my purse was gonna weigh me down. I said "yeah, I'll probably set it down soon." 

I didn't. 

It's getting easier to converse. Instead of just standing awkwardly until someone takes notice of me, I've worked up the nerve to get the conversation rolling. 

(Making noise works, too. Just set something down near them as hard as possible and act innocent when they jump in surprise.)

I really wanted to listen to music, but sound carries like everything in that building. One lady had earphones on later on in the morning and every time she walked past me while I was cleaning the track windows, I could hear rock/jazz music blasting from her earphones. One time, I heard a really malicious laugh and was worried.

A guy that looked 12/13 came in to the basketball right after she left.

I was super hungry so I ate half of one of my granola bars. 

The bathrooms creep me out because they make weird noises. (for example: I'll think I hear someone walking super quietly but there's no one there. there are occasional clicking noises.)

I watch too many creepy shows.

My sister picked me up and brought my little brother.

I went home and ate lots because I was starving.

Quick Note: I might not be posting next week (except for Saturday) as I am going to be extremely busy with school. I really don't like my English teacher.