Hush, Hush

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Hush, Hush is a Paranormal Romance by Becca Fitzpatrick. It tells the story of Nora Grey, a perfectly normal high schooler who dreams of getting a scholarship to Harvard or Yale and is not interested in dating. All this is forgotten when Patch enters the picture. As is to be expected, they end up in a relationship together. This is accompanied by various frightening events happening to Nora, including a person in a ski mask attacking her several times, someone peeking in her bedroom window, and someone ransacking her bedroom, and it looks like it's the work of Patch. Or is it?

The series currently consists of three books (Hush, Hush, Crescendo and Silence) with a fourth book scheduled for release sometime 2012. There is also a graphic novel in the works.

Tropes used in Hush, Hush include:
  • Archnemesis Dad: Hank Millar.
  • Aerith and Bob: Angel names range from Patch/Jev to Rixon to Dabria.
  • Alpha Bitch: Marcie Millar.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Nora and Patch
  • All Women Are Lustful: Nora bemoans how she can't keep control of herself whenever Patch is around. Vee complains about how she's still a virgin. And it's taken Up to Eleven with Marcie Millar in Crescendo.
  • Author Avatar: The way Nora is described bears similarities to how Becca Fitzpatrick looks in terms of hair and body build.
  • Bastard Boyfriend: Patch.
  • Beta Couple: Vee/Jules in Hush, Hush, and Vee/Rixon in Crescendo.
  • Blonde Guys Are Evil: Hank Millar.
  • Brainy Brunette: Nora is a straight-A student who is shooting for a prestigious college.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: Nora shows signs of this in Silence when she realizes how much her mother has changed things in their household.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Patch's feather.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Dabria. Nora gets her turn in Crescendo.
  • Contrived Coincidence: The entire sequence of events that gets Patch and Nora stuck in the motel room together, with no means of communication or way to get home.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Being a fallen angel means that you don't feel pain, are insanely strong, and can mind control others. All fallen angels still hate what they are.
  • Dating What Mommy Hates: Nora is well aware that her mother doesn't like or trust Patch.
  • Disappeared Dad: Nora's father was murdered shortly before the first book begins.
  • Damsel in Distress: Nora has no less than three different parties who want her dead in the first book alone, and at least two others in the sequel. While she does avert being a Neutral Female, she still relies on Patch more or less for all her rescuing.
  • Does Not Like Men: Vee in Silence, due to what happened to Nora.
  • Double Standard: It's perfectly fine for Vee to gold dig by dating Jules, Patch to use a G-rated seduction on his ex-girlfriend to get what he wants, and for Nora to all but have sex with Patch in a public restroom. Everyone decries Marcie Millar as a shallow, materialistic harlot though.
  • The Dragon: Marcie Millar, to Hank.
  • Fallen Angel
  • Female Gaze: Nora often has trouble not staring at how ripped Patch is.
  • Follow the Leader: For Twilight
  • Happily Married: Nora's parents were this, before her father died.
  • Informed Ability: For all we hear about how intelligent Nora is, she proves herself to be pretty dumb sometimes.
  • It's Not Sexual Assault If You Enjoyed It: Happens to Nora with Patch.
  • It Was Here, I Swear: "You are not safe."
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The first and second books become this.
  • Kill It with Fire: Attempted by Dabria.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Nora, in Silence. Also Vee to a lesser extent.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Hank Millar is the father of both Marcie and Nora. He's also a nephilim.
  • Mind Control:
    • Jules
    • Also Patch.
  • Mind Rape: Patch employs this on Chauncy, as well as Nora. Jules also performs it on Nora.
  • Moral Myopia: When Patch stalks Nora with the intent to murder her, it's excusable, but when Dabria attempts to murder her, it's an offense bad enough to tear her wings off.
  • Near-Rape Experience: Nora is physically threatened several times by Patch and Elliot in ways that read really similar to attempted rape.
  • One Head Taller: Patch is six inches taller than Nora.
  • Parent with New Paramour: Nora's mom with Hank Millar.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality:
    • Patch walks around threatening, mindraping and torturing nephilim, but seeing as he’s doing it for Nora, it’s okay. It's treated as evil when someone else does it.
    • Nora does a good few cruel things to Marcie for revenge purposes (for example, breaking into her bedroom and stealing her diary and anything Patch gave her), but all of them are excused as being justified. The few Kick the Dog moments Marcie gets are treated like she horrifically tortured Nora.
  • Really Gets Around: Marcie Millar, according to rumors.
  • Redheaded Hero: Nora's hair color fluctuates between red and brown.
  • Sadist Teacher: Coach.
  • She's Got Legs: Nora is described as having "bar stool legs".
  • Smug Snake: Patch, occasionally.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Patch.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Nora and Patch.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Vee fits this trope as she goes to break into the school with Jules and Elliot, despite the fact that Elliot physically threatened Nora earlier in the novel.
    • Nora also proves herself to fit this trope. A prime example would be when she is stranded in Portland and accepts a ride home from Patch, even though he chased her through a parking lot and scared her not so long ago. She then just stands there while he arranges for them to spend the night in a motel together, and apparently thinks she can hold off Patch (who has repeatedly proven to be stronger than her) if he tries anything.