Hush, Hush is a 2009 young adult paranormal romance novel written by Becca Fitzpatrick. It is the first book in the Hush, Hush series. The story follows Nora Grey, a teenager whose life becomes dangerous after she begins a relationship with Patch Cipriano, a new student who is a fallen angel and has a mysterious connection to her.

The book received positive reviews. The rights to publish Hush, Hush have been sold in more than 13 countries. LD Entertainment bought the rights to create a movie based on the novel.

Plot

Nora Grey is a sixteen-year-old student who lives in Coldwater, Maine. Her life is mostly normal, except for the sad event of her father's recent murder. Her life changes when she sits next to Patch Cipriano in biology class. Patch shows interest in her and knows personal details about her life, which makes her feel uneasy. Despite feeling a sense of danger around him, Nora feels a strong pull toward him.

Soon, Nora's life becomes more mysterious and dangerous. She believes she is being followed and is attacked while driving one night. When she shows her friend Vee the damage, the car looks normal again, making her question if she is losing her mind. A similar event happens at Delphic amusement park, where Nora strongly believes she falls off a roller coaster with Patch, but later realizes nothing happened and she had only imagined it. Over time, her feelings for Patch grow stronger, and they become more connected. At the same time, she becomes suspicious of her friend Elliot after learning Elliot was involved in a murder case at his previous school. Nora's old school psychologist is replaced by Miss Greene, who warns Nora to stay away from Patch, even though Nora had not told her about Patch before.

When Nora goes to Portland to investigate Elliot's murder, a woman who gives her directions is shot in front of her. Terrified, she calls Patch for a ride home. Nora later discovers that Patch has a V-shaped scar on his back, which she touches, causing her to experience memories of his past. The memories reveal that Patch is a fallen angel from Heaven who was trying to kill her to gain a human body, an idea he learned from the book of Enoch. Her death would kill his helper, Chauncey Langeais, and make Patch completely human. Nora also learns that her psychologist, Miss Greene, is an angel named Dabria and Patch's former lover. Dabria wants Patch to save Nora's life so he can become a guardian angel. Patch had first refused Dabria's plan because he wanted to become human, but the plan failed because he fell in love with Nora. Patch had originally wanted to become human after being drawn to an unnamed human woman, but she aged and died before he could meet her.

Later, Dabria breaks into Nora's room and tries to kill her to stop Patch from becoming human. Patch saves her just in time, taking away Dabria's wings, knowing the archangels would have done the same if Dabria had harmed Nora. It is later revealed that Nora's friend Jules is actually Chauncey, who seeks revenge on Patch for making him swear an oath that allows Patch to take over his body during a time called Cheshvan. Nora is invited to a game of hide-and-seek by Elliot, who hints that Vee will not survive the game unless Nora joins. During the game, Jules corners Nora and admits he caused the attacks on her life, driven by a desire for revenge on Patch, as Patch cannot feel physical pain, which makes Chauncey try to break him emotionally. The game continues, and Jules holds Nora at gunpoint in front of Patch.

Patch is forced to take control of Nora's body to fight Jules. Nora climbs to the rafters of the school gym to escape, but Jules tricks her into believing the ladders are breaking and she will fall to her death. Patch stops the trick by helping her focus on his voice in her mind. Nora then confronts Jules with the knowledge that if she sacrifices her life, Patch would become human and Jules would die. Nora throws herself from the rafters, killing Jules, as he had no soul to reanimate his body when her consciousness returned.

To her surprise, Nora wakes up alive and well. Patch explains that he did not take her sacrifice because there was no point in having a human body without her. In doing so, Patch saved Nora's life and is now her guardian angel. The two share a romantic moment, ending the story.

Development

Fitzpatrick said that Patch was the first character she knew would be in the story, and many early versions of Hush, Hush focused on him. She explained that she based Patch’s character on a boy she knew in high school. The boy was described as "cool, quiet, mysterious," and Fitzpatrick felt drawn to him, even though she did not know him well. Fitzpatrick also mentioned that the biggest challenge in getting Hush, Hush published was that the first drafts were not strong enough. She began sending drafts in 2002 and worked on revising the book for five years. In 2008, she finally received offers from publishers.

At first, Fitzpatrick did not plan for Patch to be a fallen angel. She knew she wanted him to be a "bad boy" type of character, but she decided he would be a fallen angel after several revisions and wanting to give him a backstory involving a downfall. She also said that in early drafts, Nora was a much more arrogant character, one she found too similar to Patch. It took many changes to develop Nora’s character to her satisfaction.

Sequels

The book Hush, Hush was followed by three more books: Crescendo, Silence, and Finale. These novels were released one after another every year, with Finale announced as the last book in the series. At first, the series was described as a trilogy, meaning three books. Later, it was said that the series would have four books, making it a tetralogy.

Adaptations

In December 2012, Entertainment Weekly reported that LD Entertainment, with Paramount Pictures as the producer and distributor, decided to make a movie series based on the Hush, Hush book series. LD Entertainment stated that the books would become a film series, and Patrick Sean Smith, the creator of Greek, would write the screenplay for the first movie.

In July 2014, Becca announced on her website that she had chosen not to continue with the Hush, Hush movie project at that time and did not renew the movie rights with LD Entertainment.

In July 2018, Becca shared an update saying that a Hush, Hush movie would begin production soon. Liana Liberato was cast as Nora, and Wolfgang Novogratz was cast as Patch. BCDF Pictures and Kalahari Film & Media announced that Kellie Cyrus would direct the film. Kellie Cyrus is known for directing The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, as well as an episode of You created by Greg Berlanti and Sera Gamble.

In July 2021, Becca announced that Hush, Hush had been approved for a film by SpringHill Company and Genius Entertainment Partner. No further updates have been shared since this announcement.

In 2011, Sea Lion Books published the first book in a planned three-volume graphic novel adaptation of Hush, Hush, the first book in the series. Artist Jennyson Rosero was chosen to draw the series. Fitzpatrick and Rosero used Fitzpatrick’s blog to gather feedback from readers about early sketches.