The fact that the series is actually made up of 4 books rather than the initial 2 I mistook it for explains a lot of my concerns towards the pacing of the story. The book’s protagonist Nora asks a lot of questions and lot of new mysteries kept cropping up and we weren’t really getting enough answers, so when I was closing in on the end of book 2 and still most of those questions remained unanswered I figured I was either in for a very rushed ending or I’d missed a book somewhere, my bad.
So we have Nora, 16 going on 17, who lost her dad roughly a year ago, he was shot in a mugging, who now has to contend with a new lab partner in bio. Replacing curvacious and vivacious best-friend Vee is Patch whose tall, dark, all muscle and all mouth. At least when he gets seated next to Nora, up till then class participation had been at 0 for Patch now suddenly he’s getting very close very quickly. Hush Hush focuses on Nora (and Vee) from Nora’s POV trying to unravel the mystery that is Patch.
Patch on the other hand seems to be determined to light a fire under Nora, who yo-yos between thinking Patch is all trouble and burning for him. But Patch isn’t the only man on the scene, Elliot transfers into her school after losing the scholarship at his previous school. Elliot comes with wingman Jules and they take a shine to Nora and Vee respectively.
What I found with Hush Hush was it threw up a lot of questions about Nora, her past and the danger she’s in without really giving a lot of answers. A handful of explanations came bubbling up in the last quarter or so of the book. This stayed true for Crescendo. Having fallen for Patch and lived through more than one attempt on her life Nora spends Crescendo haunted by her father or is it a Nephilim (the progeny of a fallen angel and a human) trying to get into her mind again?
Turns out, being the female descendant of a Nephilim makes her an elligable sacrifice once she turns 16 for fallen angels to turn themselves human and end the torment of being unable to physically feel. With Elliot and Jules left behind in Hush Hush, Nora’s childhood playmate Scotty-the-potty turned Scottie-the-hottie returns to town and he’s got secrets to hide.
Graduating to Nora’s guardian angel as a result of Hush Hush has put Patch in an awkward position. With the archangels (who for the record already didn’t like him) breathing down his neck about being too close to his charge the pressure gets between him and Nora. To top it off, Nora’s rival (apparently they’re keeping score cards) Marcie Millar starts moving in on her man. About 75% of Crescendo is then handed over to Nora throwing insecure tantrums at Patch and choking on her own tears and bouncing between villains like an amateur game of ping pong.
By the time we get to the last quater of the book and one or two answers start to crop up and you’re utterly confused about who to root for you’re almost begging for answers. And not in the, this book excites me so much I wonder what mystery is around the next corner, way but in the, I might as well skip most of book 3 as the trend seems to be that plot comes in at the end. But then maybe I’m being too condemning as I had my fill of teenage drama and reading pages of clothing descriptions and silent tears isn’t really for me.
The series seems to make good use of Fallen Angels and Nephilim, it doesn’t go into too much description about heaven or hell or show any requirement of belief. The ‘magic system’ for lack of a better word or ‘fantasy element’ is sound with all the bases seemingly covered. Yes mysteries are still to unfold but there don’t seem to be any gaping holes in the concept.
The romance element is rather traditional and poor Vee seems to have drawn the short straw compared to Nora. Not really a fan of the leads getting together at the end of book 1 in a series because it just means they’re going to break up for one stupid reason or a another only to get back together because it seems rare that the heroine genuinely has more than one love interest where she is seen to genuinely move on in a series. But then maybe it’s not wise in books to spend a book building up one man only to have to subsequently build up another.
Fight and action scenes are good, even though Nora isn’t the one throwing the punches she does show resourcefulness. She also shows independence since her mother’s new job keeps her away from home three to four nights a week and a solid enough work ethic as she seems to do a lot of home work in her down time. Suspense was also well handled, Nora spent a lot of time jumping at shadows, admittedly shadows that took on the corporal forms of enemies that meant her harm so it wasn’t without good reason.
Personally, I would have liked the books to be faster paced, or at least to get a better balance of questions raised to answers given. Being in the first person pov I kind of got bored of following Nora around and would have preferred to see what Patch or Vee or even Marcie was up to at times, what was going through their heads, as at times they seemed to have the more interesting viewpoint but for the most part it worked. Still, there are still two books left in the series and the issue of timing might yet pick up.
If you like a heavy focus on the ups and downs of teenage romance with you fantasy then this could be the book for you.
Loved the cover art, especially for Hush Hush, that pose is just so dynamic and eye catching. I can’t say no to that cover.
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