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myahthebookfiend's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
no one gets this series like I do. NO ONE!
this book was infinitely better than the first (and the first was pretty decent). I adored it. I don't know what else to say. funny, sad, heartbreaking, exciting, adventurous. the banter between characters? amazing. the characters themselves? amazing. the pace? amazing. I literally never want this series to end if the next books are like this one.
this book was infinitely better than the first (and the first was pretty decent). I adored it. I don't know what else to say. funny, sad, heartbreaking, exciting, adventurous. the banter between characters? amazing. the characters themselves? amazing. the pace? amazing. I literally never want this series to end if the next books are like this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Blood
Minor: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Car accident, Murder, Abandonment, and War
hannalizzy's review against another edition
challenging
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
read this out of boredom because the first one was laughably horrible and this one was as well 100% however I have to know what happens with hudson lol I unfortunately love a stefan vs damon brother ark
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting
Minor: Genocide
lamianoctalis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Starten wir mal mit dem Cover: WOW
Es ist unbeschreiblich schön und sobald man weiß, was es zeigt, kann man es nur noch mehr wertschätzen.Und umso geschockter sein, wenn man weiß, was für Monster den Blutstein woraus geschaffen haben.
Was die Story betrifft:
Ich kann nur sagen, dass mich Band zwei der Katmere-Academy-Reihe gefesselt hat und ich auch diesen Band verschlungen habe. Die Geschichte ging stets voran und man wusste gar nicht, an welcher Stelle man das Buch zur Seite legen darf zum Schlafen, Zähne putzen, essen (das geht wunderbar parallel).
Es ist unbeschreiblich schön und sobald man weiß, was es zeigt, kann man es nur noch mehr wertschätzen.
Was die Story betrifft:
Ich kann nur sagen, dass mich Band zwei der Katmere-Academy-Reihe gefesselt hat und ich auch diesen Band verschlungen habe. Die Geschichte ging stets voran und man wusste gar nicht, an welcher Stelle man das Buch zur Seite legen darf zum Schlafen, Zähne putzen, essen (das geht wunderbar parallel).
Ich weiß bloß nicht, warum Xavier sterben musste :´(
Ich kann Tracy Wolff nur loben, wie sie die Leser auf den nächsten Bösewicht vorbereitet und immer wieder wissen für die Zukunft einfließen lässt.
Wie gut, dass ich den dritten Band schon bereitliegen habe
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Blood, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Grief, and War
Minor: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Outing
smartie_5748's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Torture
Minor: Genocide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder
littletiramisu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Torture, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Dementia, and Grief
michellebub's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was way longer than it needed to be. It wasn’t that bad but it wouldn’t been better if 200 pages shorter
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Violence, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, and War
cady_sass's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Twilight, but make it Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, but also make it the Harry Potter and the goblet of fire, but also make it gen z.
Not as good as good as the first but enjoyable. You can see the final page twist coming from 4000 miles away, but I don’t hate it. Just a little cliche.
Not as good as good as the first but enjoyable. You can see the final page twist coming from 4000 miles away, but I don’t hate it. Just a little cliche.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and War
ashleyvharris's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Crush is a disjointed follow up to Crave that unfortunately falls into the sophomore slump trap.
Although Crave was certainly not my favorite book, I enjoyed the campy—if not cringey—mashup of Twilight and Harry Potter. The second book of the series throws so many things at readers that it often feels like Wolff was trying to work in every YA fantasy/romance trope possible. This resulted in the story feeling almost like a parody of YA fantasy at times.
As a reader, I don’t mind plot twists or multiple character objectives, but I like to have a strong sense of where the story is headed. Crush never really settled on what it wanted to be; instead, it oscillated between half-hearted/suicidal Scavenger Hunt, knockoff Hunger Games, and Grace going insane. Choosing one plot element to ground the story would have made this a stronger book.
One major issue working against this sequel is the length. There’s simply not enough complexity to justify nearly 700 pages. I was expecting a lot more world-building and explanation of the magic systems/history/school/paranormal government. A good fantasy series is able to find the balance between the magical and reality. The magic in this series feels as though it’s decided on a whim based on what the author needs her characters to be capable of in any given moment. For example, Grace flys for the first time and days later is seemingly an expert at death-defying maneuvers. Hudson is conveniently able to leave his unbelievable powers with Grace? Many details like these are sprinkled throughout without any solid foundation or explanation.
One thing that Crush offers is an expanded cast of characters. Our little world of paranormals at Katmere expands past Jaxon’s friends to include new witches, dragons, and wolves—not all of whom are friendly. I enjoyed the less savory but definitely fascinating characters of Cyrus and Cole. While their backstories are severely lacking, I’m hopeful that we will understand them more in future installments.
Hudson was clearly the standout character here. Despite being exclusively in Grace’s head, Wolff managed to establish a dynamic new character with wit and complex emotions. A classic brooding misunderstood antihero… we love to see it. Getting those last few chapters and extra scene from Hudson’s perspective was *chef’s kiss* and I desperately want more from his POV.
The biggest struggle reading this book was the writing style. The characters’ dialogue and choices of phrasing felt like what a parent assumes their children talks like. I got a TON of secondhand embarrassment while reading. Wolff also recycles turns of phrase a lot. “If someone had told me 6 months ago that I’d be [strange paranormal experience], I’d tell them they’re crazy.”
Overall, Crush fell flat and lacked the focus needed for a solid second book, but successfully introduced new allies, villains, and love interests to carry the rest of the series forward.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Xenophobia and War
rinku's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
The Crave series is such a guilty pleasure for me, and I can’t help it but enjoy it so much. The second book, Crush, was no exception to this. Objectively, there’s so much to criticise but man, sometimes even I am just enjoying a book.
Grace awakes after the events of the first book, with no memory what has happened to her in the last month. We only know one thing: she has turned into a gargoyle and is the first one of those in centuries. After some time, she notices that she’s sharing her body with Hudson, the supposedly evil brother of Jaxon. To get him out of her head, her and her friends have to collect some MacGuffins – one of them includes some arbitrary sports event they have to win.
I’ll have to say that the plot is weird and just absurd in some parts which is probably one of the reasons why it’s so enjoyable for me. Especially the whole Hudson thing was just so weird. He’s apparently in Grace’s body but when he talks to her, she can also see him? Is he part of her mind or is he actually there? Can he interact with the world around him? And why is no one caring about the fact that Grace is talking to herself before they know about this? The random sports event I’ve mentioned is also kinda bizarre because it’s won after just one goal. Also, I’m pretty sure that the students never go to school, even though they are at a boarding school. Nevertheless, the setting is still amazing.
But the last 200 or so pages become randomly so great. The writing style got so much better, the plot more interesting, and there were many dramatic scenes that were written so well, like Xavier’s death or Grace’s apparent death. Talking about Grace, her going alone to the second Lundares is definitely her defining moment, it was so amazing . At other points, those things are lacking, especially the writing style that is so try-hard teenager-like that it’s funny again.
When it comes to the romance, I’m not a fan of love triangles with brothers. On the one side, Grace is crushing on someone who seemingly only exists in her mind. Hudson is such a cliché love interest aka he’s annoying and flirty. But he develops so much in the course of the story, and I actually started to like him. Jaxon is on the other side and suddenly, Grace has some problems with him. I think those are caused by her gargoyle side? I wasn’t a fan of this since I used to like them. It comes to the big drama when their fateful connection – not the biggest fan of this trope – is cut apart by a spell that the evil guys find . It was also interesting to get to know other people from the Vega’s family, like their father Cyrus. He’s such a cliché villain but I still love him.
Grace is still quite the stereotypical protagonist and now, she’s also the chosen one being the only gargoyle in existence. It’s also a bit annoying how she survives everything that should be deadly under normal circumstances – but I still like her. Besides Grace, the cast became quite big, especially with the team that trains together with Grace for the sport events. But I’ll have to admit that I liked them all and I also really started to like Flint. It’s furthermore nice that Grace’s old best friend is not forgotten.
Like I’ve said, Crush is such a guilty pleasure read. It abandons some YA clichés, while going along with other ones. Because of the absurdity of the plot, you’re never sure what will happen next – which makes the book so engaging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, and Blood
Minor: Body horror, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and War
roseamillerg's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Eating disorder, Incest, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, and Self harm