The Book Addict Reviews: Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

Genre:  Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal
Order Online: Amazon.com  
Author Info: Goodreads | Website
Rating: 2 stars for most of it--but the ending pushed it up to 3 stars  

Borrowed this book from the library.  

In A Nutshell:  
After Nora survives the attempt on her life, she thinks that it is time to return to normal, but with one wonderful exception: she has a boyfriend that she loves.  But almost as quickly as her life started looking up, turmoil starts again.  Patch starts to pull away--and then starts to pursue Marcie Millar.  As Patch withdraws, Nora starts to hang out more with Scott Parnell, the boy she knew growing up who recently returned to Coldwater, Maine.  But Scott seems to have secrets of his own--could they end up threatening Nora's life again?

Review:  
Second books in series have become a road block for me.  After the intrigue and suspense of book one, book two always feels like a let down.  Crescendo followed this pattern for me.  For the majority of the book, I was bored.  Nora went from whining to wallowing in self-pity--and her mood seemed to completely depend on Patch.  If he is ignoring her--Nora is whiny.  If he is spending time with Marcie--Nora is wallowing in self-pity.  And watching Nora swing between these two emotions is boring.  

It also started to remind me of the things about Bella from Twilight that I did not like.  The relationship between Nora and Patch does not seem healthy.  Nora seems to be so devoted to Patch that when the relationship starts to sour she cannot cope.  She keeps putting herself in dangerous positions and risking her life--either to test Patch's status as her guardian angel or his commitment to her?  I am not always sure.  Whatever her ultimate motivativation, I found myself getting frustrated with Nora more often than not.  

However, my feelings about the book changed completely after the last quarter of the book.  At that point, the flow of the story seemed to change almost instantaneously (almost like a switch had been flipped).  The action of the book sped up.  We started to learn so much about the characters, the history, and some of the reasons why.  I could not turn the pages fast enough--and could not wait to get into the next book.  I wanted more.  

On a side note,  I do want to know what was up with the science teachers in this town.  In Hush, Hush, the biology teacher forces Nora to work with Patch. In Crescendo, the chemistry teacher partners Nora with her archenemy, Marcie Millar.  What is the physics teacher going to do to Nora?

Recommendations:
I am lucky--the next book was immediately available at the library: