Virtuosity [Hardcover]

Jessica Martinez (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 18, 2011

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....

Editorial Reviews

Review

“An intoxicating blend of passion,vulnerability, and the desire to have it all, no matter the cost. A mesmerizingread.” —Lauren Myracle, bestselling author of Shine and ttyl

“Passionate and true, Virtuosity singsfrom first page to last.” —Sarah Ockler, author of Fixing Delilah and TwentyBoy Summer

“Beautiful writing, a swoon-worthyromance, and tension that will keep you turning the pages. Virtuosity ispitch-perfect.” —Lauren Barnholdt, author of Sometimes It Happens and Two-wayStreet

"Heartfelt, gripping, and unflinchingly authentic.VIRTUOSITY will change the way you think about music." --Antony John,author of Five Flavors of Dumb

"Martinez brings this overwrought world totense, quivering life and guides readers through it confidently. A brilliantdebut." - Kirkus STARRED REVIEW

“Riveting... A beautifully written story….The portrayal of Carmen’s world, in which every performance is terrifying and even one stumble could end her career, is unique and convincing. The novel builds to a satisfying finish as the competition arrives and Carmen discovers a terrible secret. Even readers without much interest in music will enjoy this exceptional novel.” -- School Library Journal

“This story of violin prodigies will elevate readers, lifting them above the standard YA romance offerings and delivering a wise yet endearing love story….Well-developed, with flawed but likeable characters. Any teen who has felt pressured to succeed will easily identify with Carmen and Jeremy, and romantics will find themselves cheering for the star-crossed lovers.” - Library Media Connection

“Martinez has a gift for making classical violinaccessible and understandable to even the most tone-deaf reader. The twists inthe pair’s love affair, combined with the turns in their careers, catapult thisnovel from sweet romance to tour de force. Decisions are never easy, but willthe cost of winning—or losing—be too high?” —Booklist

About the Author

Jessica Martinez lives in Orlando, Florida, with her husband, her two children, and her violin. She spends her days writing, running, and teaching her children to be music lovers. She is the author of Virtuosity, The Space Between Us, and The Vow. Visit her at JessicaMartinez.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (October 18, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9781442420526
• ISBN-13: 978-1442420526
• ASIN: 1442420529
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for a Heartwarming Romance? July 11, 2012

By anaavu

Format:Hardcover

Originally posted on my blog: [...])

"That's so British," I countered.
"What is?"
"Making sweeping generalizations about Americans because that makes you feel better about having a national inferiority complex the size of the Atlantic Ocean. I was just trying to be helpful, but if folding your pizza threatens you sense of patriotism, you probably shouldn't do it."

Review: This is going to be a quick review today because *blush* I'm not done reading (or rather listening to) the second book today. And, well, I kinda want to do something with the fam for New Year's Eve, yo ;)

Well, what can I say? I loved Virtuosity. I adored it. It is SO CUTE! I rarely fall for the romancy books, but this one? Oh goodness, it is amazing.

I picked up Virtuosity because one of my best friends has the same name as the author. It's such a little thing but something as insignificant like that can just capture my attention and before you know it, I was falling head over heels for Carmen and Jeremy and their rocky relationship.

Plot: The plot was so good - sweet and simple - something that could just make you smile. I have to admit, it is very predictable. But aren't all romance novels? It contains a bit too much detail too, but I'm not going into that.

Characters: Carmen may seem different from the typical teenager: she's passionate, driven and engrossed in her violin (that's not to say teens aren't driven, but come on, she won a Grammy at age 9). Despite all that, she's just the same as any of us. She has differences with her parents, she goes through the same first romance, and she learns to be independent. So maybe you can't totally relate to the child prodigy or the ultimate musician that is Carmen. It doesn't matter. I can't sing and dance for the life of me, but I loved her all the same. Martinez just gets how to make solid, realistic, well-developed characters that you would die to meet. Okay, maybe it's just me.

Within two pages, you just know Jeremy is going to be a great "bad boy". And that's how he is on the outside. But the more you get to know him, the more you peel back the layers...Jeremy is no Edward, I can promise you that. (I know, Twilight reference again, sorry). He's way way better. He is caring and funny, but he's also unwilling to let go of everything he ever worked for just for a girl he just met. Talk about realistic. And omg, he's British.

Romanciness: If you've read many of my reviews, you know that I usually don't have something great to say about the romance. Be it over the top, underdone, or just plain annoying and unneeded, romance is present in almost every YA book I've ever read, but it's also very hard to write. Or rather, it's difficult to make the romance relevant and believable. Not so here. It's slow and sweet, and I found myself cheering for the two of them. One thing I'd like to say is that there's NO LOVE TRIANGLE! Woohoo! I don't know how you escaped recycling the overused love triangle, but you did it, Martinez. Here's a pat on the back. Aw shucks, gimme a big hug!

Cover: Oh my gosh, isn't it awesome?! It's not that ornate or anything, pretty simple and perfect! Check out some of the alternate covers below. I like the title too. Virtuosity-A perfect title for a perfect book.
Virtuosity Virtuosity - Liebe um jeden Preis
The left one's the UK cover and the right one's German. Which one do you like best? Let me know in the comments!

Well, the review didn't turn out as short as I thought, but I got everything out, so it's all good. Now I'm off to finish the last book for Review Mania! Can you believe it? It's almost already over. '

Recommended for: Anyone looking for a light cutsie read!

I received a complimentary ebook from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Angieville: VIRTUOSITY October 19, 2011

By Angela Thompson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I wasn't really planning on reading VIRTUOSITY. I'm not sure why, because I'm actually often drawn to stories featuring prodigies or people with highly regimented lifestyles due to their skills/abilities/life choices. Also, I like the title. But, the cover doesn't do a whole lot for me (it looks more paranormal than contemporary). Nothing wrong with it, but I will say that it would help if she was at least holding a violin. Then a galley floated my way, and so I went on the hunt for a few reliable reviews. And wouldn't you know, I found them. Enough of them to prod me to see for myself. I actually started VIRTUOSITY right after finishing another book, somewhere in the vicinity of midnight, and I was absorbed quickly and deeply enough that I just read it straight through. I kind of feel like it's one of the ones best read that way, one of the ones that benefits largely from a quantity of undivided attention and a lack of breaks throughout.

Carmen Bianchi is a virtuoso. Her mother sang with the New York Metropolitan Opera at an unprecedentedly young age. All set to ride her stardom high, her career was cut short by an unexpected operation and an unexpected pregnancy. And so she transferred all of her drive, all her expectation, all her determination onto her daughter. And so Carmen eats, drinks, and breathes the violin. Her days are regimented to within an inch of her life, and her activities are sharply curtailed by her demanding schedule. With the most important competition of her life just a few short weeks away, she decides to scope out the competition. But it turns out Jeremy King isn't exactly the way she pictured him. And yet while his manner (both onstage and off) is about as far from her own as possible, he does share an unmatched understanding of what her life is like. Both that overwhelmingly innate love of music and the unparalleled isolation the lifestyle engenders. And so an alarmingly inconvenient friendship is struck up just at the moment when she needs to be the most focused and cutthroat she's ever been in her life.

I have never come anywhere even remotely in the vicinity of the kind of talent and dedication Carmen (and Jeremy) possess in this story. But I did grow up surrounded by music, and I played one instrument or another (or a few) nearly every day of my life from the time that I was four years old on. My mother taught me two of them. I was one of her many students, and so there was always the sound of music, the talk of music, and the practice and performance of music in the house. As a result, I was immediately drawn to Carmen's focus and love of everything that goes into the composition, the discipline, the appreciation, and the skill involved in her vocation. Unlike Carmen, however, I was always given the choice. Given options. And so my heart went out to her in sympathy for having none of those. I wanted her to explore the world outside. I wanted her to stand up to her mother and her horrible, horrible destructive influence. And at the same time I was fearful of the repercussions, fearful of what might be unintentionally but inevitably lost in the process. Beauty and fear make up the primary emotions of this novel, and I think the strength of it lies in those emotions and in the incredibly authentic way Jessica Martinez portrayed Carmen's life. I liked her. I liked Jeremy. Both of them so painfully solitary in their ways. And I really liked her mother, her stepfather, her tutor Helen, and her trollish instructor Yuri. I mean, I hated some of them, but I hated them right, you know? In fact, my heart was wrung several times throughout VIRTUOSITY, and I was in the dark all the way up to the very end as to how things were going to turn out. I, for one, was very pleased with the "ending" Carmen got, and I'm definitely looking forward to Jessica Martinez's next offering.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A fast-paced teen read! February 8, 2012

By Literary Meanderings

Format:Hardcover

Seventeen year old Carmen Bianchi is an award winning violinist. She is on the verge of competing in the prestigious Guarneri competition against Jeremy King; one of Europe's most talented young violinists.

After a not-so-chance encounter with Jeremy, Carmen is infuriated. Jeremy seems like nothing more than an ostentatious, arrogant jerk. After a few email interactions, Carmen finds herself at one of Jeremy's shows. As she watches him from her box seat, things begin to change. After the show, the two young musicians share a pizza and as they talk, Carmen comes to the realization that somewhere along the way, music has changed for her. Playing the violin has become something she does for others - such as her mother (who is also her manager), her strict violin teacher, and everyone else around her. At some point she stopped feeling it. She stopped doing it for the joy it made her feel; she stopped doing it for herself.

Carmen's mother warns her against Jeremy, and even forbids her to see him. In a rare act of rebellion, Carmen does the opposite. She sees him more. Then, just as Carmen begins to trust that Jeremy isn't out to sabotage her... he tells her why he's really been spending time with her.

That's when things begin to fall apart for Carmen.

- - -

Okay, to quote the synopsis - "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."

This is very misleading. Carmen didn't need the pills, nor was it her idea to take them. Carmen's mother is domineering and quite frankly, terrible. She pretty much forces Inderal (an anxiety drug, which I had to Google to find out since the author never actually tells us what it is for) on her daughter so she doesn't get nervous during performances. She is making her daughter become dependent on a drug. Disgusting. Carmen decides on her own to stop taking it (and her mother acts like she has committed a murder over it) and merely craves it a few times after going cold-turkey. Really? No. While this is but one element in this story, it's not a necessary one. It was like the author forced it into the storyline just for the sake of it. It could have been completely left out and been just as good - if not better. Instead, there it was, being pointless and irritating. I kept waiting for there to be a point to it, and there just wasn't one.

Likes:

The characters were extremely well written! Each personality was clear and precise. They seemed like real people to me. I would assume that's difficult when writing about a child `prodigy' or `celebrity'. Jessica Martinez didn't create characters who seemed older than they actually were (which is something I feared going into this book). Carmen and Jeremy both had moments of immaturity and teen angst to go along with their musical genius.

The big issue that kept me from adding this to my to-read list for so long was that I wasn't quite sure I would like or understand a book about a violinist. I don't listen to classical music and I know absolutely nothing about it. Something made me give in though. I saw it at the library and decided on a whim to just try it out. I'm glad I did, because the musical aspect was written in a way that anyone could understand and feel connected to. I didn't feel bored or confused by any of the terms or lingo used. I would imagine as someone who has played the violin herself since age 3, Jessica Martinez could have written a novel that average folks like me would stare blankly at while a huge question mark hovered above our heads. Not the case, and I applaud her for that.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this book! It was a pleasant surprise for me. The flow of the story was beautiful. I enjoyed the writing and the pace. There weren't any lulls in the plot. It was light and fun, but intense and emotional at the same time. I think the characters are easy to connect with. The romance wasn't overly done. This was an insanely fast read. 5 hours and I was finished. There is a message in this story, and it's a good one. I would recommend this to readers of all types. It's clean; age appropriate. Definitely worth your time!