You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
I received a copy from Gemelli Press LLC and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review - thank you!
Hush is a book that had a lot of promise, and while there were some things that worked well, there were too many things that were problematic.
The concept itself was interesting: a lost princess is adopted by a loving family and it's not until after the royal family dies, that the lost princess is discovered. Sounds pretty cool, right? Plus, it took place at a boarding school that is comparable to Hogwarts (maybe that's just a Canadian thing, but it was still pretty sweet).
While it was very quick-paced, the switching point of views were hard to follow. At times there were only line breaks separating the change, so I had to read multiple sentences to figure out who was narrating which became frustrating. Separate chapters or clearer changes in the point of view would have been more effective. I did however appreciate how Campbell incorporated text messaging and e-mails into the narrative.
There were some pretty solid friendships in Hush that I always like to see because friendships are so underappreciated. As the novel progressed, some negative attributes of Blakely's surfaced. Blakely slut-shames, openly. On multiple occasions she calls a fellow female classmate a slut and whore. One can argue that girls will be girls or what have you, but it's something I can't stand seeing in literature, specifically literature aimed at younger audiences. I unfortunately found Max, the male lead, problematic as well. While he was described as an Alex Pettyfer lookalike with so much charm that nobody resisted him, I found him to be pretty creepy and not at all charming. There's a specific instant that I couldn't get over and that is when he hopes that Blakely's swimming suit falls off while they're tubing. Ummm...what? Not only that but he tells himself multiple times that guys aren't supposed to have emotions and he plays mind games with Blakely. I found the supporting characters a lot more charming and interesting than the main characters, which took away from the story for me.
I was so excited to read this book because it sounded so different from anything that I had previously read, but I didn't feel a connection with the characters and the narrative was too inconsistent to remain immersed in the story. Hush left me feeling indifferent and unfortunately, a little disappointed.
Hush is a book that had a lot of promise, and while there were some things that worked well, there were too many things that were problematic.
The concept itself was interesting: a lost princess is adopted by a loving family and it's not until after the royal family dies, that the lost princess is discovered. Sounds pretty cool, right? Plus, it took place at a boarding school that is comparable to Hogwarts (maybe that's just a Canadian thing, but it was still pretty sweet).
While it was very quick-paced, the switching point of views were hard to follow. At times there were only line breaks separating the change, so I had to read multiple sentences to figure out who was narrating which became frustrating. Separate chapters or clearer changes in the point of view would have been more effective. I did however appreciate how Campbell incorporated text messaging and e-mails into the narrative.
There were some pretty solid friendships in Hush that I always like to see because friendships are so underappreciated. As the novel progressed, some negative attributes of Blakely's surfaced. Blakely slut-shames, openly. On multiple occasions she calls a fellow female classmate a slut and whore. One can argue that girls will be girls or what have you, but it's something I can't stand seeing in literature, specifically literature aimed at younger audiences. I unfortunately found Max, the male lead, problematic as well. While he was described as an Alex Pettyfer lookalike with so much charm that nobody resisted him, I found him to be pretty creepy and not at all charming. There's a specific instant that I couldn't get over and that is when he hopes that Blakely's swimming suit falls off while they're tubing. Ummm...what? Not only that but he tells himself multiple times that guys aren't supposed to have emotions and he plays mind games with Blakely. I found the supporting characters a lot more charming and interesting than the main characters, which took away from the story for me.
I was so excited to read this book because it sounded so different from anything that I had previously read, but I didn't feel a connection with the characters and the narrative was too inconsistent to remain immersed in the story. Hush left me feeling indifferent and unfortunately, a little disappointed.
I HAVE RECEIVED THIS BOOK FOR REVIEW FROM NETGALLEY IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST OPINION. I STATE THAT THIS IS MY FULL ON HONEST OPINION OF THE BOOK AND IN NO WAY WAS IT INFLUENCED BY GETTING IT FOR REVIEW.
Hush is about Blakely Henry, a girl that goes to boarding school in Canada. There's a boy named Max who thinks he might know something about her and then decides to do some research and join her at the boarding school. Soon he realizes his idea was horrible and he starts to fall in love with her, but can that still stop him from letting her know what he knows?
So, my thoughts on this book are a bit jumbled. I enjoyed it but didn't enjoy it at the same time. Many things about the book just really bothered me, but then there were some things about the book that I really liked. With that being said, I don't know if I'm going to pick up the second book or not yet.
Let's talk about the dislikes first so we can get the bad things out of the way first. With this book, one of my main problems were the characters. Not the fact that there wasn't any character development, because there was. It was how the characters were portrayed, mostly through the author's writing. The author tried too hard to make these characters seem like normal teenagers, but half the time it came out to seem like Blakely was a brat and that all Max thought about was sex. I mean, I know that teenagers have hormones, but constantly having Max think sexually was rather annoying. Along with that, there was a so much unneeded sexual tension between Max and Blakely that it was rather annoying. They went straight from friends to "I want to make out with your face and have sex with you." Also, the character of Marley was rather annoying as well. She was too overly sexualized, and seemed like one of those bottle blonde bimbos. It seemed like the author knew nothing about being a teenager, and it's kind of sad because she said she wrote this book based off of her daughter, I really hope her daughter does NOT act like that. It seemed like it was a valley girl mixed with a girl who tries too hard to be a tomboy mixed with a spy type story. That was one of my main dislikes of the story. The characters didn't seem to be real in any way.
Another dislike of mine was the fact that the story was so slow moving but also so fast paced. Most of the story things unfolding slowly but also in a fast way. If that makes sense then good, but it probably won't. There was little to no action until the end of the story and when things did play out it wasn't played out in a way that seemed real and attainable in real life.
Onto some likes about the book. I really liked how the characters had their own way of acting. That was something I truly enjoyed, it wasn't like there was anything fully similar in all of them. They all had their own little quirks and their own ways of acting and that was refreshing. Another thing I liked about the book was that it was multiple perspectives. There was a 360 degree view of the whole story. It didn't leave anyone's side out, which I really enjoyed. The chapters were also relatively short which made me feel like I was reading it faster.
Overall, I would give this book a 3/5 star rating, and I would recommend it to people who seem to be interested in it. I am still iffy on if I will pick up the second book, though. I kind of want to see how the story unfolds now after the ending.
Hush is about Blakely Henry, a girl that goes to boarding school in Canada. There's a boy named Max who thinks he might know something about her and then decides to do some research and join her at the boarding school. Soon he realizes his idea was horrible and he starts to fall in love with her, but can that still stop him from letting her know what he knows?
So, my thoughts on this book are a bit jumbled. I enjoyed it but didn't enjoy it at the same time. Many things about the book just really bothered me, but then there were some things about the book that I really liked. With that being said, I don't know if I'm going to pick up the second book or not yet.
Let's talk about the dislikes first so we can get the bad things out of the way first. With this book, one of my main problems were the characters. Not the fact that there wasn't any character development, because there was. It was how the characters were portrayed, mostly through the author's writing. The author tried too hard to make these characters seem like normal teenagers, but half the time it came out to seem like Blakely was a brat and that all Max thought about was sex. I mean, I know that teenagers have hormones, but constantly having Max think sexually was rather annoying. Along with that, there was a so much unneeded sexual tension between Max and Blakely that it was rather annoying. They went straight from friends to "I want to make out with your face and have sex with you." Also, the character of Marley was rather annoying as well. She was too overly sexualized, and seemed like one of those bottle blonde bimbos. It seemed like the author knew nothing about being a teenager, and it's kind of sad because she said she wrote this book based off of her daughter, I really hope her daughter does NOT act like that. It seemed like it was a valley girl mixed with a girl who tries too hard to be a tomboy mixed with a spy type story. That was one of my main dislikes of the story. The characters didn't seem to be real in any way.
Another dislike of mine was the fact that the story was so slow moving but also so fast paced. Most of the story things unfolding slowly but also in a fast way. If that makes sense then good, but it probably won't. There was little to no action until the end of the story and when things did play out it wasn't played out in a way that seemed real and attainable in real life.
Onto some likes about the book. I really liked how the characters had their own way of acting. That was something I truly enjoyed, it wasn't like there was anything fully similar in all of them. They all had their own little quirks and their own ways of acting and that was refreshing. Another thing I liked about the book was that it was multiple perspectives. There was a 360 degree view of the whole story. It didn't leave anyone's side out, which I really enjoyed. The chapters were also relatively short which made me feel like I was reading it faster.
Overall, I would give this book a 3/5 star rating, and I would recommend it to people who seem to be interested in it. I am still iffy on if I will pick up the second book, though. I kind of want to see how the story unfolds now after the ending.
READ IN ENGLISH
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Hush is the first book in the Lakeview series.
Tamura is a small European country that's hopelessly old-fashioned because it's still completely ruled by a monarch. And after an attack on the complete royal family, the country seems to lack a monarch. Enter Blakely, the secret natural daughter of Tamura's crown princess. And this year she's 'not interested in anything with a penis' unless of course they are hot British exchange students that stare at her all the time. Truth be told, I don't know if Max has a secret tragic backstory were he got castrated that hasn't been mentioned in the series yet, in which case Blakely would keep her promise...
It was a fast read. But I found it very hard to accept certain of the plot points. I knew it was going to be difficult to convincingly portray a non-existing world in the otherwise completely normal world. Tamura never came to life for me. It looks like it's somewhat similar to Liechenstein or Monaco, but more old-fashioned in it's ruling. And from the story I got the idea the country is supposed to be larger than those mentioned earlier. Also Tamura doesn't really sound like a name for an European country.
The story felt a little bit too easy at times. Max gets his assignment really easy and I doubt it would count as a serious school project. There are signs of insta-love which I couldn't really appreciate. But besides, it was a nice read. I kept reading it, I wanted to know what happens next. Which is good as I also got an ARC for the second book, Whisper. I'll try to read that book sometime soon.
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, thank you!
Hush is the first book in the Lakeview series.
Tamura is a small European country that's hopelessly old-fashioned because it's still completely ruled by a monarch. And after an attack on the complete royal family, the country seems to lack a monarch. Enter Blakely, the secret natural daughter of Tamura's crown princess. And this year she's 'not interested in anything with a penis' unless of course they are hot British exchange students that stare at her all the time. Truth be told, I don't know if Max has a secret tragic backstory were he got castrated that hasn't been mentioned in the series yet, in which case Blakely would keep her promise...
It was a fast read. But I found it very hard to accept certain of the plot points. I knew it was going to be difficult to convincingly portray a non-existing world in the otherwise completely normal world. Tamura never came to life for me. It looks like it's somewhat similar to Liechenstein or Monaco, but more old-fashioned in it's ruling. And from the story I got the idea the country is supposed to be larger than those mentioned earlier. Also Tamura doesn't really sound like a name for an European country.
The story felt a little bit too easy at times. Max gets his assignment really easy and I doubt it would count as a serious school project. There are signs of insta-love which I couldn't really appreciate. But besides, it was a nice read. I kept reading it, I wanted to know what happens next. Which is good as I also got an ARC for the second book, Whisper. I'll try to read that book sometime soon.
I received this book free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Hush is, at its core, the story all little girls imagine: what if I'm secretly a princess? This plot could have been very interesting, and parts of it were, but for me, it fell flat. All of the magic and excitement were missing, and what we got instead was a teen romance and some inept villains.
The writing was a bit unpolished for me, and it read like a first draft. There was a lot of useless dialogue and not much in terms of plot or character development. We had Blakely (just the name signaled to me that I wasn't going to like her), who was unaware of her royal heritage right up until the end, and who wasn't a particularly likable teenager, either; Max, who was a high school (I think?) student whose teacher bizarrely sent him to another country to investigate a story that more properly should have been given to an adult who would do the job right the first time, or maybe to the government authorities in the country that Blakely is the supposed princess of; and a cast of shallow friends and teachers, none of whom are particularly interesting. On top of that, we had two assassins who couldn't manage to assassinate their target. These guys were terrible. They got caught and warded off by teenagers at every turn. I can't see how they're meant to be believable characters.
While the story idea intrigued me at the start, I was turned off almost immediately by the absolutely ridiculous names the characters had. Blakely, North, Tyson... come on. I understand that fictional characters can have more unique names than real people, and I also understand that some people think a point on a compass is a name, but you just can't fill a book with characters with totally absurd names and expect anyone to believe this might be able to happen, even with the obligatory suspension of disbelief.
The good things about this book: I thought the pacing was decent, and while I wasn't enjoying it all that much, I did keep reading (most of the time); the incorporation of modern communications, like e-mails and text messages -- but only sometimes (some of the exchanges were good, others pointless); the concept. I also enjoyed the Q&A with the author at the end.
I rated this book two stars because I felt that the idea was there and could have been very good, but the execution left something to be desired. I may not be the target audience for this; high schoolers might enjoy it much more. If I were marketing it, I would definitely target 13-17 year olds, though it would be more popular with the younger end of the spectrum.
Hush is, at its core, the story all little girls imagine: what if I'm secretly a princess? This plot could have been very interesting, and parts of it were, but for me, it fell flat. All of the magic and excitement were missing, and what we got instead was a teen romance and some inept villains.
The writing was a bit unpolished for me, and it read like a first draft. There was a lot of useless dialogue and not much in terms of plot or character development. We had Blakely (just the name signaled to me that I wasn't going to like her), who was unaware of her royal heritage right up until the end, and who wasn't a particularly likable teenager, either; Max, who was a high school (I think?) student whose teacher bizarrely sent him to another country to investigate a story that more properly should have been given to an adult who would do the job right the first time, or maybe to the government authorities in the country that Blakely is the supposed princess of; and a cast of shallow friends and teachers, none of whom are particularly interesting. On top of that, we had two assassins who couldn't manage to assassinate their target. These guys were terrible. They got caught and warded off by teenagers at every turn. I can't see how they're meant to be believable characters.
While the story idea intrigued me at the start, I was turned off almost immediately by the absolutely ridiculous names the characters had. Blakely, North, Tyson... come on. I understand that fictional characters can have more unique names than real people, and I also understand that some people think a point on a compass is a name, but you just can't fill a book with characters with totally absurd names and expect anyone to believe this might be able to happen, even with the obligatory suspension of disbelief.
The good things about this book: I thought the pacing was decent, and while I wasn't enjoying it all that much, I did keep reading (most of the time); the incorporation of modern communications, like e-mails and text messages -- but only sometimes (some of the exchanges were good, others pointless); the concept. I also enjoyed the Q&A with the author at the end.
I rated this book two stars because I felt that the idea was there and could have been very good, but the execution left something to be desired. I may not be the target audience for this; high schoolers might enjoy it much more. If I were marketing it, I would definitely target 13-17 year olds, though it would be more popular with the younger end of the spectrum.
This book was originally reviewed on Sara's Books and Things
I read this series a bit out of order. I received the sequel from NetGalley to read and review and I fell in love with the series. Both book were extremely well written. The story ebbs and flows in a way that always keeps you interested.
You switch between several POV's, from Blakely's, to Max, to the villains of the story. Helping you to understand absolutely everything that's going on. And making you want to warn the character because you know that something's coming.
This is a sweet novel that's good for all ages. It's smartly written, with humor and wit. This is a wonderful author that I can't wait to read more from her.
I read this series a bit out of order. I received the sequel from NetGalley to read and review and I fell in love with the series. Both book were extremely well written. The story ebbs and flows in a way that always keeps you interested.
You switch between several POV's, from Blakely's, to Max, to the villains of the story. Helping you to understand absolutely everything that's going on. And making you want to warn the character because you know that something's coming.
This is a sweet novel that's good for all ages. It's smartly written, with humor and wit. This is a wonderful author that I can't wait to read more from her.
I was approved from NetGalley for a honest review.
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
There isn’t much that I can say about this book; just that I did not enjoyed it. It was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. For the most part, it had a good start, which made it promising, and then it stated to fall. There wasn’t any character development, climax, and any excitement for me. Not to harass fanfiction, but this ebook did seem like it was written as an fanfic. I don’t know what it was, my only conclusion was that this books wasn’t for me. For this purpose, I was thinking in rating it 2/5 stars, but because it did had a dissent beginning I give it an extra star. I'm sure there people that might have enjoyed it, but it was just not for me.
My Rating: 3/5 Stars
There isn’t much that I can say about this book; just that I did not enjoyed it. It was completely different from what I thought it was going to be. For the most part, it had a good start, which made it promising, and then it stated to fall. There wasn’t any character development, climax, and any excitement for me. Not to harass fanfiction, but this ebook did seem like it was written as an fanfic. I don’t know what it was, my only conclusion was that this books wasn’t for me. For this purpose, I was thinking in rating it 2/5 stars, but because it did had a dissent beginning I give it an extra star. I'm sure there people that might have enjoyed it, but it was just not for me.
In ‘Hush’ we meet Blakely Henry, a seventeen year old who is in her last year on Lakeview Academy, a boarding school in Canada. Blakely has always known that she was adopted. But who her real parents are, are a big mystery. Blakely has given up her search and now only wants to focus on school. That also means no boys.
Max Ryder is a student of the University of Saint Andrews. One day he finds some pictures that suggest that there is a unknown royal heir to the throne of Tamura. A throne, people are fighting over because every heir was supposedly dead. Now Max is an exchange student on Lakeview Academy, on a guest to finding out the truth. But unfortunately Max isn’t the only one who’s trying to find out who Blakely really is.
I was really excited to start reading this book and I must say it didn’t disappoint. This book is easy to read and definitely a feel-good book. You easily get pulled into this story and I was really interested in the characters and what was going on. The characters are easy to love and most of all I loved the whole lost-princess part. The romance was also very adorable and definitely made me want to keep on reading.
This book made me think a little of the Princess Diaries, and it definitely is just as good if you ask me. The one thing that bothered me at times was the way this book went very fast. For example when Max tried to catch Blakely’s interest. One page of the book would be about three different days. Time went by really fast at times. It just felt a little rushed. But fortunately this didn’t bother me too much.
What I also really enjoyed about this book was that it was written through different Point of Views. I loved reading what Blakely and Max where thinking separately.
Overall this book was a very nice relaxing read and it definitely made me interested in reading the next books in this series. I would especially recommend this book to the younger YA reading crowd. I would have adored this book in my teens!!
Max Ryder is a student of the University of Saint Andrews. One day he finds some pictures that suggest that there is a unknown royal heir to the throne of Tamura. A throne, people are fighting over because every heir was supposedly dead. Now Max is an exchange student on Lakeview Academy, on a guest to finding out the truth. But unfortunately Max isn’t the only one who’s trying to find out who Blakely really is.
I was really excited to start reading this book and I must say it didn’t disappoint. This book is easy to read and definitely a feel-good book. You easily get pulled into this story and I was really interested in the characters and what was going on. The characters are easy to love and most of all I loved the whole lost-princess part. The romance was also very adorable and definitely made me want to keep on reading.
This book made me think a little of the Princess Diaries, and it definitely is just as good if you ask me. The one thing that bothered me at times was the way this book went very fast. For example when Max tried to catch Blakely’s interest. One page of the book would be about three different days. Time went by really fast at times. It just felt a little rushed. But fortunately this didn’t bother me too much.
What I also really enjoyed about this book was that it was written through different Point of Views. I loved reading what Blakely and Max where thinking separately.
Overall this book was a very nice relaxing read and it definitely made me interested in reading the next books in this series. I would especially recommend this book to the younger YA reading crowd. I would have adored this book in my teens!!
Disclaimer: I was given a free e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Extended review on The Redhead Reads! :)
So much fluff. Oh so much fluff.
I skimmed a couple Q&As with the author and I understand that was her intension--fluff--because she was writing a cute beach read for her daughter. So basically, the book meets expectations for its designated category and maturity level. However, I've read a good deal of other "fluff" books that were much more mature and just overall written better.
Obviously, this book wasn't intended to be very deep or complicated, so it won't come as too much of a surprise to hear that the characters were flat and not too believable (or even likable, really), the plot was simple and predictable, and the writing lacked style and creativity.
There's even some mature content that would keep me from telling younger readers to go for it.
So no, I wouldn't recommend this one.
Extended review on The Redhead Reads! :)
So much fluff. Oh so much fluff.
I skimmed a couple Q&As with the author and I understand that was her intension--fluff--because she was writing a cute beach read for her daughter. So basically, the book meets expectations for its designated category and maturity level. However, I've read a good deal of other "fluff" books that were much more mature and just overall written better.
Obviously, this book wasn't intended to be very deep or complicated, so it won't come as too much of a surprise to hear that the characters were flat and not too believable (or even likable, really), the plot was simple and predictable, and the writing lacked style and creativity.
There's even some mature content that would keep me from telling younger readers to go for it.
So no, I wouldn't recommend this one.
I thought this book was ... OK. I am a firm believer that books for young adults don't have to read like books for young adults. I know I'm not the intended audience for the book but I still felt like the book was talking down to me in places. That being said, I quite enjoyed the mystery and the plot of the book.