Reviews with content warning for War - Crush

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Crush by Tracy Wolff

10 reviews

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).

Mir war relativ früh klar, dass Hudson nicht das ist, als was er dargestellt wird und habe irgendwann angefangen für ihn zu fiebern, während ich Jaxon immer nerviger und machohafter fand.
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

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thegazillionthreader's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

Non spoiler Review

This was fun, a little bit of cringe at times but all fun. It also got a little slow at times for me but it often picked right back up and had me shocked and fangirling. I really liked it, maybe even more than the first.

Spoilers Version Review

Spoilers below, you have been warned

This was fun, really enjoyed it, maybe even more than the first book. The first one had more of a mystery action aspect to it, and this one was more action/adventure aspect with some amnesia trope in there. At times it did get a little slow especially with the Ludares game and stuff, but then it would pick right back up and have me jaw dropping and fan girling. I also did not think I would like Hudson… but to my surprise, I do think I ship him and Grace more! Sorry to Jaxon 🥺💔
The bonus chapters of Hudson POV in my copy were really interesting to see more of his side as well.
Definitely looking forward to reading the next book, as well as the book that focuses on the time Hudson and Grace were “trapped” together.

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sunnymushroom's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny 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? N/A

5.0

A huge step up from Crave and a really great read. It's like Harry Potter and twilight had a beautiful YA baby

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michelleub's review against another edition

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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

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cady_sass's review against another edition

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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.

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haleybre's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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brindolyn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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ashleyvharris's review

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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.

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rinku's review against another edition

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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.

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determinationss's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i cant even come back to my body after the end of this book but it’s one of the best things i’ve ever read

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