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A review by meginlove
Hush Darling by Avery Kingston
3.0
I'm pissed. And let me tell you why. This book had the potential to EASILY be a 5 star read for me. I was so intrigued by the plot and really felt like it was going to be a new favorite. This book is about Tanner and Gia. Gia is on the run from her abusive husband after finding out she is pregnant. She'll stop at nothing to protect her unborn child. She ends up in a small mountainous Vermont town where she meets Tanner after breaking into one of his cabin rentals during a snowstorm. Tanner is a reclusive man hiding out in the mountains after the tragic death of his wife. Tanner is also Deaf so there is a language barrier between him and Gia.
I want to start this off by talking about Tanner's character. Coming from a hearing person, I really appreciated the way that Tanner and his deafness was portrayed in this book. It is made very apparent that he does NOT have a disability. He just speaks a different language. Obviously being a hearing person I cannot say with 100% certainty that the representation is accurate/good, but I truly feel that it was shone in a positive light and I really appreciated it.
Okay, now let's talk about why I'm salty. As I mentioned above, I found the premise of the book so. dang. intriguing. It was like a recipe for success trope-wise for me! But the pacing of the book is what really threw things off. I'm like 95% sure the entirety of this book spans a week. ONE WEEK. I know for certain at the 50% mark we were only 2 days in... When I saw "pregnancy" I was assuming we were going to get a slow burn book were the grumpy mountain man and the broken woman on the run heal together and slowly fall in love as the pregnancy progresses. We get to see the baby kick for the first time and omg its such a beautiful moment because Tanner is right there to experience it. See? I clearly had expectations going in lol.
What we ended up getting was an insta-lust story with barely any "pregnancy"(she's legit like 6 weeks pregnant, and like I said, the book happens in a week) I WANTED AN EMOTIONAL BIRTH SCENE OKAY. Insta-lust is very much not my vibe so I was disappointed.
Although I wasn't a fan the insta-love, I was definitely intrigued by the overall story and I couldn't put it down. I didn't hate this book by any means, contrary to what you may think based on this long ass review lol. I'm just upset because this seriously could've been a 5 star read for me. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind a fast-paced/insta-love dynamic. Honestly, it read pretty similar to a novella in terms of relationship progression so maybe pretend its a novella because I typically am more forgiving pacing-wise in novellas lol.
I want to start this off by talking about Tanner's character. Coming from a hearing person, I really appreciated the way that Tanner and his deafness was portrayed in this book. It is made very apparent that he does NOT have a disability. He just speaks a different language. Obviously being a hearing person I cannot say with 100% certainty that the representation is accurate/good, but I truly feel that it was shone in a positive light and I really appreciated it.
Okay, now let's talk about why I'm salty. As I mentioned above, I found the premise of the book so. dang. intriguing. It was like a recipe for success trope-wise for me! But the pacing of the book is what really threw things off. I'm like 95% sure the entirety of this book spans a week. ONE WEEK. I know for certain at the 50% mark we were only 2 days in... When I saw "pregnancy" I was assuming we were going to get a slow burn book were the grumpy mountain man and the broken woman on the run heal together and slowly fall in love as the pregnancy progresses. We get to see the baby kick for the first time and omg its such a beautiful moment because Tanner is right there to experience it. See? I clearly had expectations going in lol.
What we ended up getting was an insta-lust story with barely any "pregnancy"(she's legit like 6 weeks pregnant, and like I said, the book happens in a week) I WANTED AN EMOTIONAL BIRTH SCENE OKAY. Insta-lust is very much not my vibe so I was disappointed.
Although I wasn't a fan the insta-love, I was definitely intrigued by the overall story and I couldn't put it down. I didn't hate this book by any means, contrary to what you may think based on this long ass review lol. I'm just upset because this seriously could've been a 5 star read for me. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind a fast-paced/insta-love dynamic. Honestly, it read pretty similar to a novella in terms of relationship progression so maybe pretend its a novella because I typically am more forgiving pacing-wise in novellas lol.