Right off the bat, I have to say that my thoughts on the second book in Tracy Wolff’s Crave series, Crush, are rather complicated, because in some ways I liked it more than I liked Crave, but at the same time, I also thought that at times this book somehow managed to lack even more originality than the first book did. Crush also has a variety of other aspects to it that I definitely think could have been better. However, despite its flaws, Crush is definitely a really fun guilty pleasure book, much like the first book in the series was. That being said, here are my thoughts on Crush.
I thought that it was pretty interesting that a major plot point in Crush was Grace finding out that she’s a gargoyle and learning how to use the abilities that come along with being a gargoyle; because I honestly can’t think of any other YA books where the premise involves gargoyles. Grace discovering in this book that she’s a gargoyle is definitely something that I think helps set Tracy Wolff’s Crave series apart from other YA fantasy series. Grace finding out in this book that she’s a gargoyle definitely came as quite a surprise to me, because in Crave (The book) I really thought that Wolff was setting things up for Grace to become a vampire later on in the series.
However, I definitely think that there are a lot of missed opportunities on Wolff’s part when it comes to how she handled the reveal that Grace is a gargoyle. It seemed really weird to me that Grace pretty much didn’t seem upset or say anything at all about the fact that her parents had never told her that she was a gargoyle while they were still alive. She was simply initially in shock when everybody told her that she was a gargoyle, which is something I can completely understand. The other thing that frustrated me about Wolff’s execution of Grace discovering that she’s a gargoyle and how to use the magical abilities that she has as a gargoyle is how quickly she always learned how to do something. Instead of struggling to get the hang of her abilities for at least a couple of chapters and experiencing some genuine frustration, which could have led to some potentially compelling storytelling, Grace basically always figured out how to successfully use her abilities within a matter of a few pages; which typically led to lovey dovey moments between Jaxon and Grace that ultimately proved to be incredibly repetitive almost immediately.
Grace finding out in this book that she’s bonded to Jaxon as his mate and the way Wolff handled it is definitely one aspect of Crush that caused me to feel like this book was lacking even more originality than Crave; because it reminded me a lot of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and how a mating bond can exist between some of the magical characters in that series. That being said, I definitely have to give Wolff credit for not making it so that if the reader were to make a drinking game out of every time a reference to transferring power/strength through Jaxon and Grace’s mating bond, you’re a lot less likely to die of alcohol poisoning than you would be if you made a drinking game out of all the references to mating bonds in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series; which is just beyond ridiculous, as far as I’m concerned.
While I thought that the whole thing with the Ludares tournament, which was basically a fantasy version of playing hot potato, was a lot of fun; it also made me feel like Wolff was trying to rip off the Harry Potter series and Quidditch as a sport, so it’s definitely yet another aspect of the book that made Crush come across to me as lacking even more originality than Crave did. Plus, it ultimately just proved to be an aspect of the book that contributed to me thinking that Crush is longer than it needed to be. In the grand scheme of things, I don’t think that the whole thing with the Ludares tournament really added anything truly worthwhile to the plot of the book as a whole.
On a more positive note, I would definitely say that Crush made me Team Hudson in terms of who I think Grace should be with. The interaction between Grace and Hudson throughout the course of the book was a major highlight of Crush for me personally. I definitely feel like there’s much more of a spark between Grace and Hudson than there is between Grace and Jaxon. Plus, I honestly don’t find the writing for Grace and Jaxon’s relationship as compelling as I found the dynamic between Grace and Hudson in this book.
Crave had really left me wanting to see more of the character Flint in future books of the series; and this book it’s not only revealed that he’s gay when he comes out to Grace, it’s also revealed that he secretly has feelings for Jaxon. I have to say that I definitely have mixed feelings about this aspect of the book. For starters, I felt like it kind of came out left field, because I thought that the scene between Grace and Flint in the library in the first book where they were having fun together using Flint’s dragon fire abilities to roast marshmallows was Wolff’s way at briefly hinting at the possibility of Flint being interested in Grace romantically. While I thought that it was nice that Grace was instantly supportive of Flint coming out to her, I also thought that the writing for Grace’s reaction to Flint telling her that he’s gay was slightly cringe worthy. I also think it would have made more sense if Grace had been at least kind of freaked out and upset when she found that Flint has a crush on Jaxon. That being said, being bisexual myself, I can definitely relate to Flint and the fact that he has feelings for Jaxon to a certain extent; because I’ve definitely been in similar situations before where I’ve had crushes on people that I knew I couldn’t be with due to the fact that they’re straight, but I digress.
Crush is definitely full of action in terms of Grace, Jaxon, and all of the other characters working to free Hudson from Grace’s body and destroy him; and while I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire book, I ultimately don’t think that Crush needs to be as long of a book as it is. I especially feel this way since Wolff seemed to foreshadow certain events or ideas throughout the book; only to not provide any actual payoff. For example, when Jaxon took Grace to the Bloodletter to build a mental wall inside Grace’s mind, the Bloodletter said all this stuff about Hudson being able to have a great deal of power over Grace, both mentally and emotionally, while he was trapped inside of her body, and yet we only saw a couple of examples of Hudson being able to make Grace do things against her own will, and start having sympathy for him.
When it comes to my thoughts on the cliffhanger ending of Crush, I was really shocked, excited, and definitely rather confused when it was revealed at the end of the book that Grace and Hudson are now bonded together as mates. The moment where the mating bond between Grace and Jaxon was broken was pretty clear in the book, so I really hope that Wolff provides the readers with an explanation for how Grace and Hudson have now become bonded to each other as mates in the next book in the Crave series, Covet.
All things considered, despite the fact that Crush has its fair share of weaknesses, lacks even more originality than the first book in the series did, and is longer than it needs to be, I still had a ton of fun reading this book. Despite this book’s shortcomings, it still held my interest the entire time; which I definitely think is worth noting given how long all of the books in the Crave series are. The Crave series has quickly become a major guilty pleasure read for me, so I’m definitely very excited to read the third book in the series, Covet.
That being said, my final score for Crush is 7 out of 10.
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