Finale

Can I just say "THIS BOOK WAS FREAKING AWESOME. GO BUY IT. NOW." and be done with this review? No? Fine. But I must warn you that I'm writing this with all my feels.

Finale immediately followed the events in Silence. Nora, literally without getting a break, was thrust into the business of leading the Nephilim out of bondage with the fallen angels who possessed them during Cheshvan. At first, her only plan was to fulfill the oath she'd sworn to Hank so she and her mom wouldn't drop dead, but like the blurb said, the best-laid plans often go awry.

And awry their plan went, alright. With old insecurities, new enemies, unforeseen betrayals, and shocking revelations, all I could imagine was a bleak ending. Let's just say it wasn't totally show more bleak, but not blinding bright, either.

Still, the ending's just one part of it. Finale had the best pace out of all the books in this series, methinks. Never a dull moment, just constant action all around. And when I say action, it's not just the myriad of events happening all at once, but also physical action, especially for Nora as she trained her human body to adapt to the capabilities that her new Nephilim identity offered. She ran miles, sweat rivers, and honed her mind-tricking skills - which she got so good at, she even tricked... *evil grin* Yeah, you really should just read this book.

One thing I didn't like was how Nora was still blinded by her hate for Dabria, which, as always, put her in some very sticky situations. Also, Patch became overprotective at times, but I think I'd have done the same if I were him. Or maybe I just love him too much to dislike anything he did.

I also loved the interaction between the secondary characters, namely Marcie, Scott, Vee, and even Nora's mom. And if you've missed some characters from the previous books, don't worry because Becca wrote a roundup reunion in here.

One surprise and plot twist after another, Finale had me in its grip until the last page. (I did put it down after 300 pages, though, because I didn't want it to end yet.) Even if it's the last book, the mystery and suspense were still there. And yes, I cried tears of joy and relief. I might've hugged the book for a minute or two. Kissed it, even. So this is what it's like to finish a beloved series, huh ♥

MY FAVORITE PART was the one that made me cry. Would saying it's 'Detective Basso's gift to Nora' be too much of a spoiler? I hope not. show less

This isn't the review I wanted to be writing. Given the extent to which I liked the first one (twilight ripoff and all), I thought I would only become more enamoured with the world as time went on. Turns out, I just got tired of it.

So, on goodreads, three stars means "I like it", which I guess I did, so three stars it is. But relative to my expectations for this conclusion, it's a 2.5 at best.

Nora just annoys me. I don't recommend that women remain in the backseat on issues pertaining to their own safety, but given Nora's weakness comparable to freakin' Nephilim....it just felt unreasonable that she would barge in trying to kick everyone's ass when she could barely protect her own.

Patch just got weak. He gave in to Nora way more than show more he would have previously. I just didn't care much, honestly.

I think what warranted my annoyance mostly is the conflict. Like, wow there's a major war going on and the only resolution you can think of is to make people think you're not dating? How fucking sad and arbitrary. I mean, /really/?
The fact that Fitzpatrick managed to swing it so that the dating conflict actually became a life or death situation borderline infuriated me.
Yeah so she's fraternising with the enemy, big whoop, how about her complete inability to strategise, fight, I don't know...lead an army?!!

Yup, because who she's dating is really important here.


I don't know how I feel about epilogues. They can be very hit or miss, cheesy or just the right amount of resolution. Given the utter predictability of the ending of the saga (trilogy just wasn't good enough, huh?), I'm inclined to say the inclusion of an epilogue was overkill here.

Final thought on the book?
Good for a cheap thrill, pretty uninspiring otherwise. show less

And just like that… it’s over. Finale was a wild ride from start to finish, and honestly, I’m still trying to process it. This book had so much going on.. Action, emotion, tension, high stakes, you name it. The pacing was fast, and I felt like every time I thought things were calming down, something else came out of nowhere. It kept me on edge the whole time, but in a good way.

Nora really steps into her own in this one. She’s been through it all by now, and you can feel her growing, making harder choices, and trying to hold it all together. It’s not easy, and she messes up sometimes (as we all do), but I loved seeing her fight back instead of just reacting. And Patch… yeah, he’s still got that broody protective energy, but show more you also see how deep his loyalty runs. Their connection in this book felt more grounded, more real, and definitely earned after everything they’ve been through.

The ending gave me so many feelings!! Closure, sadness, a little bit of hope. It was emotional but satisfying, and it wrapped up the series in a way that felt right. It’s messy, intense, romantic, and full of those “omg no way” moments. Definitely worth the ride. I read this series over 10 years ago and forgot all the little details, i'm happy I read it again. show less

The finale, and it's titled... Finale. We're off to a great start! We've got a nephilim army being described to us, for the first time in this book series might I add. And there's some black cloaked ones that are forming a mysterious council, I'm sure that can't be anything weird.

Nora has signed a blood oath to lead this army and the day that she stops leading this army, she will die. Very weird. I feel like I'm making up brand new sentences every time I talk about this series. None of these senses need to exist, and none of them makes sense.

The entirety of these four books have happened over the course of a year. With the first two books taking up two months time, book three taking up a greater length of time, and this book finally show more ending on a year. One year has passed and all of these books have occurred within that year. There have been multiple wars, murders, lost, and death within a year. But we're just fine and continuing on into this series. It hasn't even been that long.

The possession and body stealing part of the first book makes a return for no reason other than it's a Halloween release book and we need something ookie spooky so I guess this will do. And this one we get the rules bent a little bit more and now basically anyone can possess anyone, for some reason. And of course this is going to lead to some bad things because possession can never just be casual or consensual.

It's not a new thing, it was one of the very first established things in the book series but it really doesn't feel like it belongs here anymore. Especially since it's basically bullying someone into giving their body over for possession and then ignoring their consent and playing with their body. Pretty gross stuff. But it lets them feel pleasure and experience fun so why not be terrifying and bully nephilim and fallen angels for kicks.

And even the characters in the book don't know how it works despite being immortal Angel beings who have been around forever. So that's a thing.

Two physical bodies sloughing together, whee!

At some point she drinks a Gatorade tainted with devil craft. Nora drinks the Kool-Aid, and the Kool-Aid is devil craft. It's actually Gatorade as far as I remember, but it's still basically the drink the Kool-Aid joke. I'm so unamused with Satan infused Kool-Aid.

Devil craft is a... New new thing introduced in this book. Our main villain carries around 20 bottles with him at any time because it can be weaponized. Cool? Why? That's a very weirdly specific number to carry around for one thing.

Oh, and the devil craft is very addictive so it's a drug, and a Kool-Aid joke. Lemon Sunflower Dandelion LSD joke when? It also turns their blood neon blue and florescent. Because black and red would be too on the nose.

It's book four and we get our first angel...

His name is Pepper.

He's described as ugly and sad. Man. What a build up. Such good character reveal.

There's like a million subplots in this book that go nowhere, and are instantly resolved or thrown around so that the book can meet some kind of page quota. I hate it. I hate the entire experience of this book.

Nora randomly pulls out a magic drug addiction cure from nowhere. And fixes everything that's been wrong in this book. It's been there the whole time, but she was just waiting until it was the best time to reveal this drug addiction cure. *Siiiighs*

I've left out a character, the best character in this whole series was Marcie, a character who was born with a serious medical/health problem and was shamed for her weight and treated terribly even when she redeemed herself. In this book she dies and the funeral procession only has five people attend besides her mother, they all shrug and make non-committal noises and everybody moves on. She is forgotten, not remembered by anyone deliberately, and not cared about. Even though in this book she spends it trying to form a bond with her mother and her sibling. It is a terrible mistreatment, because it was already said that she would be born sickly and frail and even though she was struggling with this the whole time she was kind of an eating disorder joke. I really hated that, I hated that she got this great character development only to be killed off. Nora did not deserve such a great sister.

Screw character development, amirite? Ugh.

Marcie had severe flaws but was trying to improve and grow which is more than anyone else in this book.

Also wrist spotting blood pact happened. Patch and Nora, with Patch using a ring to cut himself and Nora all slitting her wrist up and down repeatedly. Blood pact made! I'm disgusted but not surprised.

"Do you think there's an afterlife?"

I rarely get this mad in a review. I'm able to handle a lot of really stupid things. Hush, Hush is a breakthrough of stupid.

I don't like anything about this book and nothing in this series is original or logical. It's been an inconsistent heap.

0 stars. I'm so glad it's finally over. Sweet sweet release! show less

I may or may not have been emotionally distraught upon finishing this book. Not only does it conclude the time I get to spend with Patch (in my head, mind you), but it also concludes a series I've grown quite attached to.

I think it's important to point out I have an incredibly biased opinion of this book because not only am I a fan of Becca Fitzpatrick, but I'm a fan of the Hush, Hush saga in general. I rated this book a 5/5, but that doesn't mean it was perfect and I see no issues with it. It simply means I'm struggling to find things to point out that I didn't like.


This book picks up less than twenty-four hours after the end of Silence, which is refreshing since we don't miss a beat, and since I picked them up one after the other it show more was like reading a continuous book. We see the aftermath of Nora killing Hank, and how the Nephilim army is reacting to the sudden disappearance--as they do not know Nora killed Hank--of their leader. No one likes Nora at all in the army, save for Scott and Dante *shudder*, but she swore an oath to Hank that she would lead his army, or die, taking her mom along with her.

I found that this book contained the same tasteful plot twist that Hush, Hush did that we lacked in Silence. Nora is kept in the dark and confused about quite a few things throughout the book, unsure of how she's going to go about dealing with the war looming on the horizon. When the plot twist finally hits, close to 150 pages or so before the end of the book, it's literally a moment where I basically looked like this:


I would like to pat Fitzpatrick on the back for feeding her readers such lovely plot twists. Really. I didn't suspect anything--I could even guess until it was pushed in my face--until the twist was revealed.

I hate to say it but I do not always like Nora. Actually sometimes I want to punch her in the face and shake her shoulders and maybe hit her with a baseball bat. There are many moments where I'm thinking WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, but I would like to say that she does eventually figure it out. For example: the devilcraft addiction. REALLY NORA?! You KNOW the devilcraft is bad juju, but here you are, drinking it on the side of the road because you can't handle not having it. And then not to mention the obvious lying she does to Patch, which breaks my heart because Patch is trying a lot in this novel to balance both her and the stressful things going on separate from her.

With that said, Nora's jealousy issues piss me off. Granted I hate Dabria just as much as she does because Dabria is a sniveling wench who's just trying to get Patch in bed, but Nora doesn't let Dabria and Dabria's past with Patch go. Ever. Despite the fact that Dabria is a fallen angel who has insides Patch doesn't, and has agreed to help Patch when she doesn't even have to, Nora is downright positive Patch is going to leave her for Dabria. Of course, there's some physical evidence, but Patch doesn't bat an eyelash and is honest with Nora about the situation (while Nora is lying about "drug" abuse).

After reading quite a few reviews on the Hush, Hush saga, I've found more than enough people ranting about Patch having all the symptoms and signs of a rapist. I, however, would like to kick half of you straight in the face. PATCH IS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER WHO IS NOT A REAL HUMAN BEING, NOR IS HE HUMAN IN THE STORY. Patch is a fallen angel, the baddest of the bad boys, and you want him to be as angelic as you want every Prince Charming to be? Jesus Christ, wake the hell up. Fitzpatrick wrote Patch as the kind of bad boy that's seen in media everywhere today. He pokes, he prods, he taunts, he makes fun, he says innuendos. Not to mention it's clear Patch knows a lot about Nora before he has even met her, since he's been keeping an eye on her for some time. Another issue quite a few people seem to have with him: he's a "stalker." No, no he is not. Patch and Nora happen to be at the same library at the same time in the same town that they both live in? Goodness, throw Fitzpatrick in jail for not making Patch go to a library three towns over so he can avoid be slapped with a stalker label. Yes, Patch does show up in places he likely shouldn't, but let's remember the reason why Patch is interested in Nora at all: he wants a human body, and he needs to kill her to do it. IT'S ALL RIGHT THERE. If his behavior triggers you, and makes you feel uncomfortable, DON'T READ THE GOD DAMN BOOK. Fitzpatrick did a fantastic job making Patch both likable to the readers, and uncomfortable to Nora. He isn't supposed to be everything you want him to be. If you want Prince Charming who searches far and wide for the girl who dropped a slipper, this isn't the book for you, and you'll hate Patch. /end rant

Anyway, I quite like Vee and Scott. I hate Dante. Marcie makes me want to start a cat fight. Dabria is a whore. Pepper is cute in an annoying way, but I end up disliking him too.

Fitzpatrick is a great writer. She isn't perfect--is any writer?--but I enjoy reading her work and don't cringe at strange sentence structures, grow bored with excessive descriptions, or want to rip my hair out at plot holes. She ties everything together in a nice, well-wrapped package that I will likely read again.

I will admit that there are things about this book I didn't like, but that happens with all books, really. I can't like every single book without flaw. Nora bothers me a lot sometimes, but I think she's characterized well. You shouldn't like the heroine all the time; you should want to wring her neck when she's doing something stupid.

I will always wish we knew more about Patch's past, but I understand Fitzpatrick when she says that maybe Patch doesn't want us to know. I suppose it allows the readers to be curious, and maybe make up their own stories. That's always fun.

Overall, this was a fantastic read. It took me less than a week to finish, and I was sad to put it down. Highly recommended. show less

Either I'm this megamind prodigy of nature, or Finale was written for an intended audience of complete idiots. I'm sorry but reading this book literally insulted me. Come on, all you need to do is take a single look at the cover to understand what exactly is going to happen in the end. One look, guys--that's not like skimming through 400+ pages.

Not only that, but to my humble opinion the author did not even remotely try to make this interesting for us. I mean...It was so transparent and boring, that at some point I could hear my brain snore. Everything in this story was so obvious, it hurt my eyes. It really did.

I don't want this to be one of those reviews that are full of spoilers. But on second thought, there is nothing I can further show more spoil for you. The biggest spoiler is that Becca Fitzpatrick has not written a single word in this book that could even remotely surprise and intrigue you. Not even one, period .

The only reason behind my 1.5 star rating is the fact that Nora finally cut back on her whining a little (even though it was a little, it's still something, right? Oh, thank you, Lord!). Apart from that, I think the book failed pretty hard. show less

THIS WAS TOO MUCH FOR MY EMOTIONS OKAY? I CAN'T.
I don't care what people say about Becca's writing or whatever. I will never love a book series more than this one. I've been through such a journey with all the characters. The end was just... beautiful.
If you're a hardcore fan of the series like myself, you will suffer through most of the book like I did. I experienced so many different emotions during the book. As usual, there was a point in the story where you really want to punch Nora in the face if you could. But later in the book it's like it doesn't matter because there are bigger things to worry about.
This book will play with your emotions. Especially at the end. It was very painful knowing I have no more Patch to look forward show more to... ever.
If you're a huge fan of the series, you will be both devastated and happy when you finish reading this book. show less