Book Review: Crescendo

Author: Becca Fitzpatrick
Series: Hush, Hush #2
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release date: October 19, 2010
Pages: 427
Read it in: 5 days

Summary: Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it: a mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever and even worse, he's started spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.

Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadnt been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.

Haunted by images of her murdered father, and questioning whether her nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death, Nora puts herself increasingly in dangerous situations as she desperately searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

LC's Take:

Let me start off by saying that I loved Hush, Hush. Like I couldn't even believe how much I enjoyed it, because it isn't the typical kind of book that I fall in love with. I was definitely hooked by the end, so I had to read the second. But Crescendo? Well, I was not quite as big a fan.

The main reason that Crescendo was sort of (really) difficult to get through was because I didn't like the characters nearly as much as I had in the first book-- especially Patch. Also, I didn't think that the plot was paced well at all. About 90% of the action and explanation for what was going on took place within the last 2-3 chapters of the book, and the other 300 pages were basically a bunch of angsty, drama-filled fluff, full of Nora running around aimlessly in circles and making stupid decisions. By the end, I was left more confused as to what was going on than I was at the beginning!

Crescendo basically picks up where Hush, Hush left off. Nora now has a super-sexy personal guardian angel who also happens to be her boyfriend and things are going great until Nora's arch-nemesis Marcie Millar steps into the picture. Around this time, Nora also realizes that someone is possibly trying to kill her, but she's not sure who. Soon she has no idea whom she can and can't trust anymore, while the story behind her dad's death comes back to haunt her.

As I said, I really couldn't stand any of the characters in this book-- and Patch was at the top of my poop list. First, he starts hanging around with Marcie, completely ignoring Nora and treating her like she's five years old. I mean granted, half the time she does act like she's five years old, but still! He remains cold and aloof, keeping her in the dark about pretty much everything and acting like an ass the rest of the time for no apparent reason-- jeez, no wonder the girl was going crazy running around in circles for 400 pages! But then Nora also drove me insane-- it's like she was destined to do everything in the very dumbest way possible. Like, give her the pick of what to do next, and guaranteed she picked the very worst option every freaking time. This got to be extremely annoying.

Then, enter the new character, Scott Parnell. I wasn't much a fan of Scott either, as he was kind of a jerk and definitely a creeper. By the end of the book we do have some important information revealed about Scott, which sort of redeems him, but he still wasn't a very likable character in my opinion. Which is too bad, because with all the annoying behavior coming from Patch and Nora, it would have been refreshing to have a likable new character enter the scene.

And man oh man, then there was the ending. Really? I mean, really?? Here are just a few things that I couldn't stand about the ending, without giving too much away:

• At a certain point, a certain someone is physically grabbing Nora and dragging her away with him. Now, both of them are out in public in the middle of an amusement park. Nora is screaming for someone to help her. They are in a CROWD of people. And no one does anything! Like, the whole time they're arguing and Nora is telling him repeatedly to leave her alone, and she's crying out for help and NO ONE moves. Somebody actually laughs. What?! The girl is being physically assaulted!! And no one does anything?? I'm sorry, but this is so freaking unrealistic. In real life somebody would have come to her rescue! I'm sorry, but you can't conveniently leave a big plot hole like that just to move on to the next part of the story and expect me to overlook it or forget about it.
• After about 300 pages of aimless and unexplained plot, we have the classic case of the Big Bad Guy standing around with a long-winded, point by point explanation of who did what and how it was all done. In like, 2 pages, we get a blow-by-blow that gives you a freaking headache by the time it's done. I HATE when books end like this-- it's so cheesy and not at all believable, not to mention it makes my brain feel like it's about to explode from the information overload. Also, the villain ceases to be remotely scary or intimidating when he's sitting there explaining in excessive detail all his genius plans-- especially when his success or failure hinges on bumping off the main character as soon as possible! He's not going to spend 20 minutes explaining how he did everything! ARGH!!
• Going back to that last point, I have to reiterate just how much I dislike having to read through an entire book, aimlessly following the main character who uselessly runs around trying to figure things out with hardly any explanation for what is going on, and then having a ton of information dumped on me in the last 30 pages. I was royally confused. I still don't completely understand the connection between the Archangels, the Fallen Angels and the Nephilim, or who is good or bad, or what exactly happened between Nora's dad and Hank Millar, or what the heck was going on between Patch and Marcie (WHY didn't Nora read the dang diary?!), or what exactly the Black Hand's motive is... The plot holes and loose ends had me positively reeling.
• What reward do we get after slogging our way through over 400 agonizing pages of drama, angst, stupid choices, unanswered questions and confusing plot? A freaking cliff-hanger. Thank you, Becca. Thank you oh so much.
• The fallen angels built the amusement park. HUH??? Why people? Just why??

So anyways, overall I guess you could say I didn't like this sequel nearly as much as I liked Hush, Hush. The reason that I ended up giving it three stars instead of less is because overall I still like the story-- if Cresendo was a stand alone book however, it would not have gotten such a generous rating. I am still planning on reading Silence, since I've heard from other readers that the third book is much better than the second. I really want to see this series get better. And even though Crescendo was pretty much a flop for me, I still feel invested enough in the story at this point to continue with it. My fingers are crossed!

~Cover Talk~

I really like the cover for Crescendo, although not quite as much as I like the one for Hush, Hush. I think that this is a great portrait of Nora, very romantic. Once again, I really like the black and white with the touches of red, I think it creates some pretty intense drama!

LC's Rating:

I didn't like this one as much as I liked Hush, Hush. First of all, the characters were not nearly as likable, and also, I didn't like how all the action and plot was shoved into the last 20 pages of the book! Definitely hoping that the next in this series is better...