I didn’t love this as much as Crave. It was just too different for me. But as a general fantasy book, I thought this was an amazing read.
Rating: 4/5
Everything feels off—especially me. I’ve returned to Katmere Academy, but I’m haunted by fragments of days I have no recollection of living and struggling to understand who, or what, I really am.
Just when I start to feel safe again, Hudson is back with a vengeance. He insists there are secrets I don’t know about, threatening to drive a wedge between Jaxon and me forever. But far worse enemies are at our doorstep.
The Circle is caught in a power play and the Vampire Court is trying to drag me out of my world and into theirs. The only thing Hudson and Jaxon agree on is that leaving Katmere would mean my certain death.
And not only am I fighting for my life, but now everyone else’s is at stake—unless we can defeat an unspeakable evil. All I know is that saving the people I love is going to require sacrifice.
Maybe more than I’m able to give.
This was definitely an entertaining read. And I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. Personally, I didn’t enjoy this as much as Crave. Crush felt like an entirely different story. Where Crave was distinctly a Paranormal Romance, Crush was not. Crush was clearly more of a general fantasy book. There was very little romance involved within this story. And we lost all those tender moments that we had gotten in Crave. And honestly, I missed that.
Crush was clearly more of a general fantasy book. There was very little romance involved within this story. And we lost all those tender moments that we had gotten in Crave.
From the start, things felt off. Grace was disconnected from Jaxon. Jaxon was becoming a controlling boyfriend. We saw new faces and not all of them were great. One new face we meet in particular, I found just so infuriating practically all the way through. I really only started liking them at the end of the book.
I actually had to take a break from this about a third of the way through. I was just so frustrated with the direction the story was going, especially in terms of Grace and Jaxon’s relationship. It was obvious the way the story was going to me how the story was going to unfold and I wasn’t ready for it. I didn’t want to see it happen.
When I finally did pick it back up again, I continued through and found myself entranced by the story in a similar manner to how I was with Crave even though we had lost that tenderness. There were so many twists and turns that kept me captivated and wanting to keep reading. That being said, it was still a predictable book, as I mentioned I took a break because I wasn’t ready for the direction it was going. Nothing about this book truly shocked me and I was correct in the direction of the story went. However, I was never bored, even when I was frustrated in the beginning. It just wasn’t how I expected things to go.
I found myself entranced by the story in a similar manner to how I was with Crave even though we had lost that tenderness.
This sequel really reminded me a lot of Harry Potter in terms of the school setting and the type of events that we saw occur during this book. It was such an entertaining read. I especially enjoyed the last third of the book. It was so action packed and held me on the edge of my seat as I watched the events unfold.
Going off that, this book is a definite chonker being just under 700 pages. And honestly, I truly think the length could have been reduced considerably and it still would have been a great read. The flow is just as good as Crave. It’s filled with short chapters that are quick paced. Though, this book is filled with a lot of unnecessary fluff. Not to say I didn’t enjoy reading some of it. Just a lot of the fluff had absolutely no effect on the main storyline and it could have just not been there at all and the overall story wouldn’t have suffered. There were definitely some scenes that made me go, “okay, come on, let’s move on.”
The flow is just as good as Crave. It’s filled with short chapters that are quick paced.
One aspect I really enjoyed was we saw much more world-building than we did with Crave. Crave had introduced us to this paranormal world, but Crush really got deep into the details. We got to learn so much more about the school, the supernaturals’ history, and the politics around it too. I hope we continue to learn more about this world in the next books because there is obviously so much more that we don’t know yet.
I also loved how descriptive this book was. Just like Crave, Crush truly paints an image so I can clearly imagine what’s going on. From the descriptions of the supernaturals to the school setting to what the characters were doing. It was so easy to imagine.
Overall, I didn’t love this as much as Crave. It was just too different for me. But as a general fantasy book, I thought this was an amazing read. I can’t wait to see what happens next! And based on how it ended, hopefully, we get some of those tender moments back!
Keep reading for more of my thoughts on Crush!
Warning! Spoilers :)
I mentioned earlier, that Grace was disconnected from Jaxon. This bothered me a lot. It didn’t help that Grace had no memory of those months where she was locked inside her gargoyle with Hudson, Jaxon’s brother. So we don’t know the events that had unfolded there. And it’s not until the very end of the book that we get a glimpse of what did in fact happen as we see a chapter set in Hudson’s point of view. Though even without seeing that chapter, it was obvious to me that they did more than just talk during those months. Plus it really bothered me that Grace never truly tried to mend that disconnected feeling with Jaxon especially in the earlier parts of the book, she just let Hudson’s presence ruin it all.
Though it didn’t help how Jaxon was acting either. Jaxon was basically an entirely different person from how he was acting in Crave. I was so in love with Jaxon at the end of Crave, but that all disappeared as we went through Crush. I slowly started to dislike Jaxon as he became controlling and so unsupportive of Grace. It was so infuriating, I hated having to start disliking him, but it was also very obvious to me that the author wanted us to start hating him. I wish Jaxon wasn’t acting so immature, I was really rooting for him when I realized that Hudson was going to be a new love interest.
It was so infuriating, I hated having to start disliking him, but it was also very obvious to me that the author wanted us to start hating him.
Now I’m definitely on Team Hudson, but only because of how Hudson redeemed himself at the end of Crush and the glimpse we saw of his perspective on some of the earlier chapters. It no way justified his attitude for a majority of the book because I found him so annoying and rude. While I reading the book, I kept thinking “why does everyone like Hudson? He’s so obnoxious!” But now I see why, and I definitely agree.
As I said, it was obvious that the author wanted us to start hating Jaxon to lean more towards Hudson. I’m curious to see how the drama will play out between these two brothers. I’m not giving up on Jaxon though. I’m holding on to a sliver of hope that he will redeem himself. He was just so sweet in Crave! I don’t want to believe that’s the end for Grace and Jaxon. And I also don’t fully trust Hudson yet, plus he was way too annoying for me in the beginning.