Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Crescendo is the sequel to Hush Hush from Becca Fitzpatrick. I was really excited for this book after loving Hush Hush. Becca really delivered a great second book. The continuation of Patch and Nora's story has a lot of twists, turns and a fair bit of mystery. Patch and Nora both go through a lot in this book but they make it out at the end- together. Basically, Crescendo picks up shortly after Hush Hush with Nora and Patch as together as they can be while he is her guardian angel. They fight and Patch distances himself from Nora leaving her to wonder why he's pulling away and if he is even still her guardian angel. We see a good amount of Patch behaving badly- but to be fair, Nora is not innocently sitting at home pining for him either. She is off doing plenty of things that she probably shouldn't. We also see a different side of Nora's mom in this book. Mrs. Gray is actively pushing Nora away from Patch and toward their old family friend, Scott, who has recently moved to town. Eventually, Mrs. Gray agrees with Nora that Scott is no better than Patch and is in fact probably embroiled in something far worse than whatever Patch has been up to. Nora acts out a lot in Crescendo and it's all very teenage angst-y but that doesn't make it any more palatable. I really wanted to smack her multiple times in this book but I do remember enough of being a teenager to remember that girls in high school are not exactly ruled by their brains. Teens tend to do things that they later look back on and regret. It's a time of emotions, snap decisions and living a little recklessly and Nora does all three. Nora also just can not deal with Patch spending time with her nemesis from school. That one thing drives her the most over the edge. Eventually, everything is sorted out as we learn more about Nora's dad, his death and why her mom is rarely home. The revelation regarding her parents is hard for Nora to take and thank goodness that when she finds out the truth, Patch is there for her.

The ending for Crescendo has to be the worst nail biting ending that I have read in a while. It is a SERIOUS cliff hanger that is going to try anyone's patience until the third book comes out. Just as Patch and Nora run off to be together, come what may, they are surrounded by people wanting to kill them and we don't know how they will escape! I know I'll be waiting on pins and needles for the third book to come out. All in all, Crescendo was an awesome book with more mystery than romance but there is a lot of back story to catch up on that we need to know to move forward from this point. I highly recommend these books and I gave a set of them to my sister in law for Christmas. I encourage you to give them a try, I think you'll fall hard for Patch the Bad Boy Angel, too!!

Crescendo earns 4 Fairies for a gripping story with a killer ending!