欧宝娱乐

This book is simply appalling.

I won't lie, my expectations going in about this book were pretty low. But even so, "Hush, Hush" managed to disappoint me.

First, there are many similarities with "Twilight" - you have a regular average girl here, absent parents, a love affair with a dangerous supernatural boyfriend, a final showdown with a villain of his own kind. The mythology, while somewhat unusual (I haven't read anything about fallen angels in YA so far), is paper thin. The characters are shallow and undeveloped (BTW, Vee is the dumbest character I've read about maybe ever).

But this is not even what makes this book a barely tolerable read. This book is just plain silly, and silly not in a cute-and-funny way, but more in it's-pretty-dumb-and-dangerous-to-fall-for-this-crap way. Many things are just so contrived about the story, I got a headache rolling my eyes while reading it. For instance: a bomb threat to steal an empty personal file that nobody investigates later? a biology class which is centered on discussing one uncomfortable and almost harassed student's sexual attractiveness? why would a mother whose husband was murdered leave her 16-year old daughter alone in a remote house for weeks at a time? why would parents of another teenage girl let her go out NEXT DAY after she had surgery following a violent attack on her? dressing up like a hooker to get some dirt on a guy you are investigating? why would an angel fall for loving a human and then get his wings back while loving another human?

And finally, why exactly Patch and Nora are in love? They know nothing about each other. Even more, Nora spends most of the book calling Patch creepy, being scared of him, being roughly pinned by him to various walls in dark places or being at his knife's point, and yet she is full of desire for him? It just makes no sense. As for Patch, I don't know one thing about him or why he loves Nora. My list can go on and on...

But surely enough, teenage girls will eat this story up. You have everything for success here: a fabulous cover and font, and pages and pages of flirtatious banter filled with sexual innuendos (very often bordering on sexual harassment) fit for 30-year olds and not 10-graders.

I am rarely for any kind of censorship of books, but reading nonsense like "Hush, Hush" makes me wonder: what are these writers thinking? In my opinion, YA writers should be held to a higher standard than your usual writers of adults fiction. Why would they want to promote such outright disturbing relationships as normal to impressionable and silly teenage girls? In my book, the relationship between Patch and Nora is not simply shallow, but dangerous. I wish some of the authors exercised better judgment writing their books, otherwise they are setting up many-many girls for a lot of disappointment, because whatever is presented in this book as romantic is disturbing at best in real life.

Well, to sum this tirade up, "Hush, Hush" is pretty much a book that gives YA literature a bad name. Naturally, the sequel is in works, but surely enough, I won't be reading it. I'd rather dedicate my time to something better written and less contrived and misguided.

Reading challenge: #1 - F