Joint Review: "Crescendo"

Hello dear readers!

If you´re wondering while I didn´t blog yesterday: I was reading "Crescendo". The whole evening and the most part of last night! :)
So today, Anna and I are back with the second part of our Joint Review!





Title: "Crescendo" (Hush, Hush
Author: Becca Fitzpatrick

Published: October 19th 2010 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Genre: Paranormal YA

Blurb:
Feisty teen Nora Grey somehow survived the crises of Hush, Hush!, but dangers just as frightening loom in this standalone sequel. Patch, her guardian angel and love interest, appears to have a dark side and a wandering eye. Worse yet, he seems intent on obstructing Nora as she hunts for the truth behind her father's mysterious death. Even better than the first.


And here´s what we thought about Becca Fitzpatrick´s latest book:


Characters

Anna:
Before saying anything else i must ask.... "What happened to Nora????"In Hush, Hush Nora was an ok character,strong,pretty much independent and definitely not anyone's tail or shadow.Nora of Crescendo is like being introduced to a completely new character...She's jealous,whinny,reckless and no matter what happens to her,her priority is where and what and with whom Patch is...Terrible things might happen,in fear she may live,Patch is whom her thoughts are totally consumed with!And ok,i can understand being so in love and acting like a total stranger,but in Nora's case she was acting more like possesed rather than in love...

Patch on the other hand is as good as in Hush, Hush...I only kind of missed him here cause his role is significantly smaller than in the first instalment but at least when he entered a scene in the book,the scene just got more... well better!

What i liked in Crescendo was that more characters got to be better explored and developed,like Vee, Rixon and Marcie. I really liked that, i thought that Fitzpatrick's world got more interesting and complete with the addiction of those characters.Scott,on the other hand (a new character introduced here) has completely confused me...I just can't make my mind about him or find a logical way to explain some of his actions,especially towards the end.

Christine:

There were a few scenes in Crescendo where I thought I dodn´t recognize Nora anymore. To be honest, I expected their relationship to be all "crazy in love", so I was beyond stunned after their first fight only a few pages into the book. Nora´s behavior seem a little irrational at times, and beyond reckless at others. I wouldn´t have imagined that the same Nora from "Hush, Hush" would oull of things like she did this time. It is somewhat understandable, cnsidering how Patch acts, but still.
Speaking of Patch... I still love him. His bad boy attitude hasn´t changes a single bit and he´s just as sexy as in Hush, Hush. Unfortunatly, he also just as mysterious and evasive. Combine that with Nora behavior, and I felt like shouting "JUST TALK TO EACH OTHER ALREADY AND TELL THE F... TRUTH" at them. You could say this book affected me quite a bit.
The two most interesting "new" characters in the book were Scott and Marcie. Scott is close to Patch in the bad boy scale, but for me, he gave off more of a creepy vibe.
Marcie is just plain mean which would have annoyed me, had me not learned the reason for her behavior.
Vee and Rixon we already knew from the last book, but I have to say, both of them were a surprise for me in this book, one a positive, one a negative ( Don´t want to give away more to avoid spoilers!)



Plot

Anna:
The plot was once more, engaging. The writing style remains simple and effective and the story turns to a complete new level. The atmosphere was creepy at times and claustrophobic and in general i think i liked the story even more than in Hush, Hush.The angelic world is more explored and we get to know more about how it functions,something that i've been expecting since the end of the first book.

Nora and Patch's relationship remains a bit static for me,something that doesn't really bother me but i'm not that glad either.Maybe if the reason those two kept fighting was something other than jealousness and stubborness from Nora's part i wouldn't mind it at all,but seeing Nora acting that way just made me wanna scream to her to open her eyes and she how she was behaving.She may had reasons to be jealous but still,she could had tried and listen to Patch,or totally erase him.The forth-back was never my favorite approach of things.

Christine:

Story:
After finishing "Crescendo", I had to take a few deep breaths. First, because the story left me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was so fast paced action filly, mysterious and full of twists that I didnßt feel one second like I was reading a YA book. Becca Fitzpatrick also succeeds in adding a subtly creepyness to the story by how she describes Nora being stalked and other supernatural incidences Nora comes across in this book.
The second thing that made me take a deep breath was the ending of Crenscendo. One moment I was like crazy happy, the next like WTH??? The Cliffhanger Becca Fitzpatrick leaves us with is really really cruel. Especially since I have a very strong love/hate relationship with cliffhangers. I like them, when I know I don´t have to wait too long before I know what happens next.
I always complain when the relationship between two characters goes too smooth and thus being unrealistic in my opinion. Well, the relationship between our dear guardian angel and Nora is far from smooth, which was not a bad thing.
The Story of Crescendo delves deeper into the mythology of Angels, Fallen Angels and Nephilim and we are introduced to a new force that is to be reckoned with. Also, Becca Fitzpatrick sheds light on Nora´s past and the death of her father and answers some questions only to make the whole story even more full of suspense.



Favorite scene

Anna:

The scene where Patch gives Nora a ride home and they're standing in the rain...I have a thing for romantic scenes in the rain,what can i say!

Christine:

Okay, once again, I can´t decide. Instead, I choose several scenes from different categories. DANGER: includes spoilers!!!
favorite romantic/hot scene: either Patch´s first appearance in her dream r the scen at the end... Hmmm
favorite creepy scene: when she hears/sees her dead father at the ausement park
favorite action scene: Nora vs Marcy. ´nough said.
favorite WTH scene: again, the end.



Final Verdict

Anna:

4 stars again.As i said,in some aspects Crescendo was really better than Hush,Hush but Nora's behavior was a bit annoying.I couldn't enjoy enough this book when i spent half the time wondering why she would act that way.

Christine:

4 stars. I loved it, was quite obsessiv about reading it (just ask my roommates) and it was a really intense read, but Nora´s behavior was somewhat of a drawback for me.

Once again, thanks Anna! You make reading and reviewing books even more fun! Can´t wait for our next joint review! xoxo!!!
Make sure to check out Anna´s Blog, she does some fantastic reviews and posts!