CRESCENDO by Becca Fitzpatrick Book Review
Series: Hush, Hush, #2
Publication Date: October 19th 2010 by Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Rating: 
Summary: Nora Grey’s life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn’t pleasant, but atleast 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 Path hadn’t 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 desperatly searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything – and everyone – she trusts.
Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick Book Review Overview:
- Nora was a bit irritating but Patch was such a jerk
- Surprises along the way
- Raised a lot of questions about the whole angel / Nephilim conflict but manages to resolve most of my questions
- Ended in a big cliffhanger that ruined the novel’s resolution; disappointing end
- Still exceeded expectations
I was a bit hesitant even before I started reading this book. While there were a lot of great reviews for CRESCENDO, I have a bad experience with sequels, especially when they fall under the paranormal genre. But I wanted to make a decision for myself whether or not I liked the book, and I tried my best to read without any opinions clouding my judgment.
Others, including my sister, complained about Nora’s character being whiny. She was ambivalent almost throughout the whole book – she thought one thing but did the other especially when it came down to Patch. The whole drama between them can be blamed on her, but I found myself relating to Nora’s indecision and overactive imagination about Marcie. If I was in her shoes, I would be feeling the same self-pity and loathing, but I probably would not go as far doing some of the things that Nora had the guts to do.
Honestly, it was Patch that really annoyed me in this book. Was I blind entirely like Nora when I read the first book? Because I don’t remember his character being such a huge jerk. Like Nora, I felt torn because I wanted to like Patch but his actions were forcing me the other direction. I just kept waiting throughout the whole book for him to redeem himself.
Despite my irritation about the characters, the mystery behind Patch, the Nephilim, and Scott drew me in. I wanted to uncover the secrets behind them all. There were definitely a lot of surprises along the way and Becca Fitzpatrick was able to keep me guessing.
The book did pull itself together at the end. A lot of the questions that popped into my head while reading were answered. However, I was completely dissatisfied with the ending. I don’t want to give it away but I will say this: I felt like Fitzpatrick was trying too hard to leave the readers hanging. Just when I felt that everything was going to be resolved, a new conflict popped up ruining everything that the book was working towards. My curiosity has been peaked, but I feel a little cheated out of a good, solid ending. Was this ending supposed to be a shocker like Catching Fire? It worked but instead of being intrigued, I just felt irritated.
Though I vowed to quit reading paranormal books, I think I’ll stick around longer for the next (but hopefully last) installment of the series. CRESCENDO definitely exceeded my expectations – especially considering it is a sequel. I have a few qualms with the book, but it should not be enough to discourage you from reading it yourself. Overall, it was still a solid sequel.
I have yet to start this series so I skimmed through the review. But I’ve gathered from the reviews that Nora is not very likable haha
I haven’t read this series at all. But I read through your entire review. No spoilers at all, really, Cialina? How do you manage it?
I end up messing something up or letting something slip whenever I review sequels. Anywhoo.
I’m wary of sequels, as well. Especially in the paranormal genre, as you are. I’ve heard so many bad things about Crescendo, but also a lot of good things. I’m sort of on the fence about starting this series because of it. It sucks that the ending ended up ruining all of the things that led up to it.
Good review! And you’re blog layout is so cute I love it ^_^. I was actually pretty disappointed in Crescendo and wouldn’t even consider reading the third book if that cliffhanger hadn’t popped up. The only person I liked in the sequel was Vee which is funny cause I did not like her for most of Hush, Hush.
That ending was horrible. I read the ARC version a while ago, and if I remember, I actually contemplated chucking it because I was so mad. >D
But, it only made it so that I have to read the next one, because I need to feel some sort of closure. Maybe that was the author’s intent? But she could have found a less irritating way to do it.
Oi, I have a feeling I’m not going to like the ending either when I get around to reading this series… then again, if I can time it so that I read books 1 and 2 right before 3 comes out, then I maybe won’t be as frustrated because I won’t have to wait!
I’ve read half of this book and it’s good, ok I guess. But I enjoyed hush, hush more.
I haven’t even read Hush, Hush yet. Its one of those books that I’m sort of hesitant to pick up because, like you, I’m really not a fan of paranormal books. But if the sequel is a solid read, then I’ll bump it up on my TBR list and give it a shot.
Thanks for the great review, Cialina! How you manage to review without spoiling stuff is awesome. 
I loved Hush Hush I have Crescendo scheduled to read this week