“Crescendo” by Becca Fitzpatrick

Crescendo triggers: consistent fat-phobic comments towards overweight teens, disordered eating habits, male-against-female violence

Oh, Becca…what have you done? 

“Crescendo” is the second book in Fitzpatrick’s “Hush, Hush,” series, and honestly, she completely butchered the first 90% of it. The fat-phobia was even more present, and I almost threw the book out of anger several times. I feel like at this point, the author just needs to come out and say that she hates fat people. A couple more fat-phobic quotes: 

1. “Bee and I had long ago given up educating small-minded people that “fat” and “curvy are not the same thing.” Nothing wrong with being fat, Becca, stop with these negative connotations. 
2. Vee says she wants to lose 20 pounds for the summer to look good for her boyfriend. Later in the book, she goes to get a donut and Nora says, “I thought you were trying to lose weight for swimsuit season. I thought you were big-boned and wanted to even things out with Rixon.” Gross. 

Patch’s character in “Hush, Hush,” was great, but for whatever reason he completely devolved in “Crescendo,” becoming toxic, controlling, and possessive. What is with these YA paranormal romance novels romanticizing abuse? Talk about anti-feminist! Let’s give a couple of examples: 

1. Patch, at this point having broken-up with Nora, follows her up the stairs while she’s kissing another guy. He runs into the room, breaks them apart, and then beats the guy up. 
2. A quote from Nora: “I wondered if I should tell [Vee] that being alone with Patch wasn’t always my choice. He moved like vapor. If he wanted alone time with me, he was going to get it.” 

Y I K E S. 

As aforementioned, this, of course, isn’t unique to this series. Controlling ex-boyfriends are a repetitive theme in YA romances. Regardless of the common theme, it still irks me every time; it normalizes this idea that possessive guys are the hot ‘bad-boys’ to date. 

Outside of all of this, the plot itself in this was just rushed and hard to follow. There were some good twists, like with Rixon, but they were also predictable. It was a disappointing follow up to what initially was a good series. I will say that Fitzpatrick has this annoying way to really save it all at the end - I mean, this whole book was basically shit, up until the last 10% where you’re totally hooked. Very few authors are able to accomplish this, and if this was a competition, she definitely took the platinum. 

I’m continuing the series despite my hesitations, and after having started the third book, I will say that it’s hooked me from the beginning. Hopefully in “Silence,” the author finds a way to save the rest of the series. 

I give Crescendo 2/5 stars. Think of it like The Goblet of Fire movie adaptation of Harry Potter - you’ve just gotta push through it to get to the real gold.