Book Review: Crescendo

By Becca Fitzpatrick

Nora Grey's life is still far from perfect. Surviving an attempt on her life wasn't pleasant, but at least she got a guardian angel out of it: a mysterious, magnetic, gorgeous guardian angel. But, despite his role in her life, Patch has been acting anything but angelic. He's more elusive than ever and even worse, he's started spending time with Nora's arch-enemy, Marcie Millar.

Nora would have hardly noticed Scott Parnell, an old family friend who has moved back to town, if Patch hadnt been acting so distant. Even with Scott's totally infuriating attitude Nora finds herself drawn to him - despite her lingering feeling that he's hiding something.

Haunted by images of her murdered father, and questioning whether her nephilim bloodline has anything to do with his death, Nora puts herself increasingly in dangerous situations as she desperatly searches for answers. But maybe some things are better left buried, because the truth could destroy everything - and everyone - she trusts.

Why I read it: I ‘accidentally’ won this book in a contest (meaning I entered the contest because it was easy and I didn’t think I’d win) but then I did win the book, so I kinda had to read it…

What I liked: Just like for Hush, Hush, the ending was the only good part of this book. For most of the book I was bored and everything seemed so random, but then at the ending it all made sense perfectly. It actually worked out more like a detective story than a paranormal romance, which I thought was great. I loved who the bad guy was, I loved how the climax happened, I loved how everything worked together…

What I disliked: Unfortunately, the ‘ending’ started at about page 390 of a 425 page book, so I was left for most of the book bored, confused, and completely annoyed with the characters. The plot was completely all over the place, full of random attacks and Nora’s problems that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. She decides that she’s going to get a job (which her mother isn’t happy about… what mother wouldn’t want their 16 year old to FINALLY get a job?) and that’s talked about a lot but plays no role in the story. There were a lot of important things happening, but there was nothing actually holding it all together into a plot, so I had no sense of where it was going.

Nora and Patch made absolutely zero sense. Last book Patch was an annoying, egocentric, stalkerish, antagonist guy, in this story he’s actually super sweet and loving, only Nora decides to hate him for no reason whatsoever and he decides to go date Marcie Millar, Nora’s arch-enemy. Nora especially drove me nuts. She’s supposedly really smart, but she’s in summer school because she thinks it’ll be easier. She really likes Patch but she keeps telling herself she doesn’t like him because she knows she can’t be with him, and yet there are times she thinks she hates him… The problem with Nora was that she was switching emotions constantly so I never felt any connection to her.

From a Christian Perspective: This book was a little worse than Hush, Hush. There wasn’t much (if any) swearing, and actually less kissing, but there were a couple parties with drunk characters and Nora gets a little too close to having sex with some guy just to get back at Patch. The religious content with the fallen angels and Nephilim also got a bit worse, making it seem like the ‘good’ angels were actually really bad and were going to send Patch to Hell just because he loved Nora.

To buy or not to buy: I already own this, but since I really didn’t care for it that much I’ll probably be giving it away. It’s probably not actually such a crappy book—after all, it’s got 5600 five star reviews on Goodreads and an overall rating of 4.15, which isn’t bad—but it really isn’t my thing.

Book Review: Skinned

By Robin Wasserman


The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn't supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn.

And it wasn't supposed to ruin her life.

Lia knows she should be grateful she didn't die in the accident. The Download saved her--but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents' eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can't deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She's not the same person she used to be.

Maybe she's not even a person at all.

Why I read it: I was at the library and saw it on the shelf. The cover and pitch (girl dies, brain transplanted into a new body) seemed cool, so I took it.

 What I liked: The concept and setting were both very well executed. First off, the idea of a brain transplant is hardly new, but Wasserman put a unique twist on it by making Lia immortal. The whole idea of the Skinners being shunned created an interesting conflict (a little forced at times, though). This novel is supposedly about ‘finding out who we really are inside’ and it contains some fairly good philosophical reflections on that.

The Second book in the trilogy

Also, the futuristic society that Wasserman creates felt real. There’s a whole set of new slang, lots of new technology (including cool clothes) and a super cool version of the internet. On the whole it was a very well thought out world that felt close enough to our own to be recognizable, but far enough away so that it’s obviously futuristic.

What I disliked: When I picked this up from the library I thought it was going to be a Sci-fi action thriller. After all, it’s futuristic, a bit of a dystopia, talks about brain transplants… My main issue with this book is that it seems to promise action and a noble quest, and what it delivers is 200 pages of Lia trying to find out who she is, and then 100 pages of something resembling romance. Romance lovers may enjoy this book, but I don’t like romance stories at the best of times, and especially not when they come in Sci-fi packaging.

My other dislike was that there’s pretty much no plot. The first third of this book was just her sitting around in a hospital learning about what was wrong with her. It’s not until the last 50 pages that plot really kicks in. Throughout the whole story I was asking myself, ‘What does the protagonist want?’ The answer: ‘To be alive again.’ She can’t be alive again. Thus, the entire book is basically her coming to terms with her ‘death’. This just gets really frustrating, because, as the readers, we know that what Lia wants is impossible by page 50, but it takes her about 250 more pages for her to figure that out.

The third book in the trilogy

From a Christian Perspective: Here are some other major dislikes: There’s a fair bit of swearing, including frequent use of the F-word. There are no direct sex scenes, but it’s certainly discussed. The characters make out several times. This is not a clean book.

Also, this book directly talks about Christians as the ‘Faithers’, a group of religious extremists who hate Lia and think she’s some sort of abomination. Christianity is portrayed as something that went out of style a long time ago, but some weak people refuse to give it up. Near the end of the book Lia catches her father ‘praying’; proof of how desperate and broken he is.

To buy or not to buy: This book may interest some romance lovers or people who just completely like futuristic societies. To anyone else—especially Christian readers—I would never recommend it.