From the Bookshelf of Bad Books, Good Times…

Crescendo (Hush, Hush, #2)

Becca Fitzpatrick

Why we're reading this: Because I'm sure we all miss the characters from Hush, Hush so much. …more
[close] Because I'm sure we all miss the characters from Hush, Hush so much.

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Sep 26, 2014 Carolyne rated it did not like it

I've more than implied that Hush, Hush didn't grab me it seems to have grabbed many others. So why continue trudging through the saga if it's first book was almost labeled as a 'Did Not Finish'.

There's plenty of series I've followed through that got better to varying degrees. House of Night got better but 8 books to late. The Witches War (Nightshade Trilogy) grew on me with it's prequel duology so why wouldn't Hush, Hush do the same for me. Crescendo can be summed up best as a mish mash between I've more than implied that Hush, Hush didn't grab me it seems to have grabbed many others. So why continue trudging through the saga if it's first book was almost labeled as a 'Did Not Finish'.

There's plenty of series I've followed through that got better to varying degrees. House of Night got better but 8 books to late. The Witches War (Nightshade Trilogy) grew on me with it's prequel duology so why wouldn't Hush, Hush do the same for me. Crescendo can be summed up best as a mish mash between Stephanie Meyer's New Moon and Alyson Noel's Blue Moon, oddly enough, both second books in their respective series as well. Crescendo was almost better, but missed it's mark for a variety of reasons. I knew in advance just 'how bad' this book got so there weren't many surprises. The real surprise is how much of it didn't seem so 'bad'.

Nora and Patch have been at it for close to two months and in a scene where Nora professes her love, Patch gets psychically uncomfortable and leaves. It's revealed that he went to Marcie's house and watched her through the window. The two have fight over this and Patch calls Nora out on her jealousy towards Marcie. In Crescendo, Patch is a dick, but I found he wasn't as bad as he was in Hush, Hush. He was mostly tolerable and mostly absent for the duration of the book. Even during the break up scene I felt he acted calmly and more reserved then normal, granted he should have been more upfront about the situation at Marcie's. It kind of felt like he was coming out as asexual. saying that he didn't love Nora on a psychical level but emotionally he cared about her deeply. It's a shame that a lot of YA won't play that card in their hetero-white-washed worlds where they stereotype their token gay guy or girl as nothing more then a flamboyant theater groupie or a butch experimenting faker. A little variety in regards to sexuality would be nice, is all I'm saying.

The side characters were all okay with me. Vee was a little too 'funny fat friend' for me but otherwise provided a good voice of reason. Her mom, after trying to set Nora up with her childhood friend, Scott, immediately regretted the decision when she heard about Scott's run in with the law, even going as far as telling Nora she can make up her own mind, but to be careful. Scott himself wasn't so bad, though there was a scene near the very end that I found unsettling that involved some heavy harassment from his part. Marcie had more screen time and while there isn't much to say about that screen time, I wasn't off put by her character all that much. My problem with Crescendo was Nora this time around. Her pettiness got the best of her in every situation. Every time she met up with Patch she brought up Marcie, one time even going as far as asking him what color Marcie's thong was. When he didn't reply, she touched him where his wings would be and was given a memory of the night he gave Marcie a ride home after having Cherry Coke spilled on her. He stayed rather reserved until Marcie kissed him and by that point, Nora had torn herself out of the memory and laid into Patch about how much of a horrible person he was... for kissing another person after Nora had broken up with him. At one point, Vee and Nora attend a party thrown by Marcie and the two decide to get invasive and steal Marcie's diary. While the two succeed, Nora has a change of heart later on and tries to secretly give Marcie her diary back but is found out and given some harsh secrets about life. There's a lot of stuff like this, but these two scenes are the ones that stand out for me in regards to Marcie. On top of this, Nora's 'go to move' seems to be breaking into people's rooms. She does it with Marcie, Scott and plans on doing this with Patch's apartment, for reasons leading back to the fact that Nora is petty.

The book climaxes a little too late for me with Rixon, Vee, and Nora heading to Delphic Amusement Park. Scott appears with a gun and Rixon rushes Nora to an underground tunnel to protect her. Nora hears her dad’s voice telling her to touch Rixon's wing scars which transports her into a vision showing that Rixon is the man who killed her dad. She tries escape and runs into Scott who attempts to save her. Rixon shoots him more than once and tries to sacrifice Nora but Patch comes in and saves her after she gets shot. After Nora is released from the hospital she finds that Scott has run away because the police think he is the one who tried to hurt Nora. Patch and Nora go to his safe haven in Delphic. This book ends with Hank Miller, Nora’s real dad coming in and surrounding Patch and Nora, ending in a massive cliffhanger.

It's a mild improvement over it's predecessor, chunky in some places and a little too purple for me in regards to descriptions. If it would be worth the read would be up to the person if they enjoyed Hush, Hush to follow through. ...more

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