Review: Crescendo

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick 
Genre: YA
ISBN: 9781416989431
Publication date: October 19th 2010 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Rating: 5

(No summary, to keep spoilers out!)

Ok. Crescendo definitely wasn’t what I expected. I definitely liked it—maybe loved it. But I can’t say I enjoyed reading it. I won’t spoil it, but we’ll just say there were times when I wanted to wring the characters necks. It was wonderful, and it was miserable.

And Patch. Oh Patch.

Ok. Can’t say anything else about Patch.

I admire a book that surprises the crap out of me. Crescendo did that. I had absolutely no idea of who was the bad guy until the very last page, and it was nothing but wishful thinking that kept the hero in his position. Although the tension, both romantic and emotional, made it difficult to read at times, I tore through it and couldn't put it down.

So here are the things that made it wonderful:

1. The plot was woven perfectly, intricately, and complexly, and it surprised me. There was so much to it, that it might take a while for me to completely wrap my head around it. It did not have plot overkill, thank goodness, but it would have if it hadn’t been organized and written so well.

2. The emotional turmoil was very real… reading it was almost depressing… if I hadn’t had so much faith in Patch… Wow. Having faith in Patch isn’t a good thing, is it?

3. Not only was the plot complicated, but it was fast paced the entire time. There was no down-time, there was nothing simple.

As far as the writing, I have nothing great to say about it. It was every-day satisfyingly mediocre writing style and vocabulary, but it wasn’t bad.

And of course, the characters… well they don’t have that many redeeming qualities, do they? I mean, really. Name five things about Patch that make him a worth-while guy, besides being sexy and smelling delicious. And yes, sometimes I wanted to yell at Nora to forget about her pride and just “do it!” (no not that! you’ll understand when you read it!)

Now for my favorite part: The end. It was good and bad: Good because I got the end that I wanted in the first place (!!!) and bad because at the very end, the last paragraph, I read it and freaked out… SERIOUSLY? BECCA, THAT’S NOT AN ENDING! It was worse than Catching Fire. But the rest was wonderful! *swoons*

So. I absolutely recommend Crescendo. I recommend reading it when you have all day to devote to it, because you won’t want to stop and leave yourself feeling angry and depressed. Because really, the whole mood of this book is angry, sad, and depressing. But it was ok that way.

Then again… you may want to wait to read it until book 3 comes out. Because there will definitely be a book 3. And I definitely want it right now.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Content/recommendation: Ages 16+ for some sensuality. And you have to read Hush, Hush first or none of it will make any sense.

By the way, I got my ARC of Hush Hush at ARC swap. So head over there to see if there are any goodies you’d like to swap for. Last I checked, there was an ARC of Fallout, Tyger Tyger, Party, Perchance to Dream, and quite a few more.