Introduction
Crush was written by Tracy Wolff as the sequel to Crave, making it the second in the series. Crush was published by Entangled Publishing company on September 29th, 2020, a short four and a half months after its predecessor. I have been sitting on this review for months not because it was particularly difficult to analyze and write but because I have been incredibly busy at college. However, I am hoping that despite several past promises to have more regular posts, that I can at least catch up on the ones I have fallen behind on, as this is one of many waiting to be posted. This book really expanded on the world we were just beginning to know in the first installment, and I was happy to find that it was even better than Crave. For those who have not read this book yet, the Spoiler-Free Thoughts contains my general overview, though here is your fair warning that events from the first book will be spoiled for the purpose of clarity. For those who have read the first two books in this series, the Thoughts section is open and awaiting discussion, which can be had in any of my comment sections or DMs.
If you want to keep up with Tracy Wolff and the rest of her work, visit her website https://tracywolffauthor.com and follow her on Instagram @tracywolffbooks.
Plot
Grace has discovered what she truly is just in time for the most dangerous leaders of the paranormal world to come to Katmere investigating. With them comes Hudson’s return, reigniting his feud with Jaxon and throwing Grace in the center of it all.
Spoiler-Free Thoughts
Something that I wonder a lot about in fantasy books that incorporate the idea of a mating bond is this: is it less romantic that they don’t really get a choice in fate? That they were drawn together by the cosmos, not some fantastical coincidence. Is it something they would choose for themselves without a bond in place? This book actually addresses that, which is refreshing. I do personally think that Grace was naturally drawn to Jaxon in the first book because she was unaware of the bond, but the question is a valid one nonetheless, especially regarding Jaxon’s feelings.
Hudson’s return was incredibly interesting in that the vast majority of his interactions in this book were with Grace. While the circumstances surrounding that were entertaining most of the time, I found that the conflict he inherently created between her and Jaxon got old after a while, even if it did give them the opportunity to look deeper at their relationship. It got to the point where I just really wanted the “normal” Jaxon and Grace interactions back, though normal is subjective. What I was really itching to see was how Hudson interacted with others himself and how he further influenced character interactions going forward in the series. He seems to cause a lot of conflict and apparently always has if the first book is any indication. There were several ideas planted in this book that I really want to see explored more in the next installments because I feel that a lot of things have still been left unsaid.
The ending was unexpected, though in some regard, it shouldn’t have been. A point to Wolff, she is not afraid to harm her protagonists. Yes, there are several characters that have plot armor, but other than that, everyone else seems to be fair game. She also uses the ending to touch on the consequences of the vast wells of magic these kids can use. Hudson is the oldest of them, and even he is somewhat young by the standards set in these books. They all have impressive power, but that comes with consequences that I feel Wolff has just scratched the surface of.
I felt that this book introduced a lot of new dynamics between Hudson and the rest of the characters, but it also reshaped their relationships with one another. The plot was interesting and has definitely begun to take a life of its own beyond the first book, which is nice. It’s still early in the series, and I didn’t find it to be leagues better than Crave, so I give this book an 8/10.
Thoughts
I was very worried going into this book that it would center around finding a way to get Grace back to her human form, and I was incredibly relieved when it not only picked up with her perspective but introduced a new mystery of what happened in her head during the months she was gone. I did love seeing Hudson in her head both as comedic relief and as someone who did seem to have her best interests in mind, if only because they aligned with his at the time. I found it especially telling that while he warned her away from people and situations he deemed dangerous and unnecessarily life threatening, he never warned her away from Jaxon, sticking to complaining about their relationship at every opportunity.
Hudson was a complicated character from the start. He had a seemingly terrible relationship with Jaxon, but both of them hate their father enough that Hudson was genuinely angry and offended at being compared to him, which made me wonder what the story was there. He also had me wondering eventually if thinking Jaxon and Grace would be end-game was too much to hope for in the first installment of a six-book series. Having some separation between Grace and Jaxon allowed for her to be more observant of other character relationships, such as the one between Flint and Jaxon, which I am very interested to see develop in later books. Several of Grace’s comments about Flint had me wondering if there was more there, or if there ever could be.
The ending was wild. I was not expecting Xavier to die, though I really should expect things like that at this point. While I also anticipated the Jaxon and Grace break-up was coming, I did not think that their mating bond would be broken or that Cole of all people would be the one to do it. Though, again, expecting the unexpected should be par for the course for me at this point. My current theory is that when the mating bond between Jaxon and Grace broke, it re-chose Grace and Hudson when he came back. I suppose the correctness of that theory is to be determined in the next few books, but regardless, the ending was very sad and had me itching to pick up the next book.
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