Book Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Virtuosity
Author: Jessica Martinez
Pages: 304 Hardcover
Reading Level: YA
Published: October 18th 2011
Review Source: Simon Pulse
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) Now is not the time for Carmen to fall in love. And Jeremy is hands-down the wrong guy for her to fall for. He is infuriating, arrogant, and the only person who can stand in the way of Carmen getting the one thing she wants most: to win the prestigious Guarneri competition. Carmen's whole life is violin, and until she met Jeremy, her whole focus was winning. But what if Jeremy isn't just hot...what if Jeremy is better?

Carmen knows that kissing Jeremy can't end well, but she just can't stay away. Nobody else understands her--and riles her up--like he does. Still, she can't trust him with her biggest secret: She is so desperate to win she takes anti-anxiety drugs to perform, and what started as an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what's expected.

Sometimes, being on top just means you have a long way to fall....

As a music lover myself, I was ecstatic to read this story because it’s about two great musicians (violinist) who are competing for the prestigious Guarneri award. The Guarneri award is the ultimate prize that a musician can receive, including contracts, recognition, fame and fortune. Being a child prodigy, at 17 Carmen has already won Grammy’s and is an exceptional Violinist. But her faith and love will be tested when she meets her arrogant but great looking competition Jeremy King.

The plot was about music and how these two characters same as any other musician struggle in the music industry to gain one memento; recognition, which leads to fame, which leads to fortune and winning the Guarneri will give you all of this and much more. But when Carmen see’s who her competition is, and begins to fall for him, she begins to question his integrity. Her mother and agent Diana quickly makes a plan of action and begins planting doubt in Carmen’s mind on Jeremy King’s true intentions. Which is when the plot really begins to thicken. With betrayal, passion and love, these characters begin to come to terms with who they really are. This book is a great introduction to the world of musicians and how they struggle to make it in the industry. With a little twist of love, who wouldn’t love this story!!! It makes you want to grab an instrument, a violin perhaps and begin playing, just for the fun of it. Jessica Martinez does an amazing job with the writing of these characters, making you feel as if you already know them or have known them for your entire life. Her writing runs smoothly making it easy and pleasurable to read. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.