Crescendo

And Fitzpatrick delivers another extraordinary story, to be read after you read the first novel in the Hush, Hush series. After loving the first book, my expectations for the second were pretty high and she didn't disappoint. I love that her books are filled with both action and romance, even adventure. There's a little for everyone and for this reason all different kind of people would enjoy this book.

While the first book focused on Nora and her budding, yet slightly messed up relationship with Patch, the second one introduced a few more important characters. Although none of them captured my attention quite like Patch, they definitely added more tensions and conflicts to the story, another layer if you will.

After the first book, Nora and Patch's happily-ever-after is short lived because Patch starts acting really cold and withdrawn towards Nora. My heart ached because of that and even though I realized quickly that he was doing it because he loved her, it still did bad things to my emotions. Nora, on the other hand, I was able to relate to her and I felt her hopelessness and uncertainty as she struggled to understand and make sense of someone she loves pushing her out of his life. I've been in a situation like that before but gladly, for Nora, Patch was doing it out of his undying and unwavering love for her so it made me a little calmer.

But Scott, well “Scotty-the-hottie” I had mixed feelings about. Although I did like that she managed to tie him permanently into the story, even with everything else going on, because even though he did kind of become like a third wheel, I can see how she would draw herself closer to Scott as Patch pulled himself away from her. She would have been confused and upset, hell I've been there, I know how it is. Sometimes, you can't help but hope that you'll be able to find comfort someplace else, even when your insides are aching and you want nothing but to crawl into a hole and die.

And then there's Marcie. Yes, that shit with her is twisted. I loved how Marcie provided another obstacle for Nora, it was nice that we weren't only overwhelmed with Nora's problems with Patch breaking her heart and what not.

And it definitely made me happy that even when Patch said he'd stay away from her, he couldn't really follow through and he ended up appearing everywhere in the book where she was, regardless. I loved that he didn't disappear from her life because, as a reader, it would have been very hard to take.

I think Fitzpatrick's greatest strength as a writer comes from her skill of characterization. All of the characters were individuals and they all had their own little quirks and “hooks” that made them unforgettable. I can still recount Patch as the mysterious, edgy one, while Scott was the least confident one, who drank his sorrows. There are more of course, but I will only mention those for now. The characters were all just extremely memorable.

All in all, I loved this installment in the series and it made me want to keep reading the next one, without taking a break with another book. I hope Fitzpatrick writes many more books in the future, I'd like to read more of her stories.