The deal: Carmen is a 17 year old violin prodigy, already accepted to Julliard, already winner of a classical music Grammy. She is pushed to achieve increasing greater success by her mother Diana, a former opera singer who lost her promising career due to a medical condition. As the story opens, Carmen is preparing for a prestigious violin competition that takes place only once every four years. If Carmen wins, she’ll tour the world. Losing is not an option. Her main competition is Jeremy - a handsome Brit who takes a romantic interest in her.
Despite her fame and talent, Carmen comes off as a very relatable teen. She’s sheltered by her controlling mother, which makes her naïve. The tension between Carmen and Jeremy (and between Carmen and her mother for that matter) is palpable and is the driving force behind the narrative – is Jeremy using Carmen or does he really care about her? Does Carmen’s mother have her best interests at heart or is she merely using Carmen as vehicle to restore her own broken dreams?
The narrative also affords the reader a fascinating inside look at the competitive world of classical music and what it takes to be world-class. I loved it!
Add this to your wishlist if: You're a fan of classical music, Glee and/or Sara Bennett Wealer's RIVAL. You like a romance with a twist. Add at GoodReads.
VIRTUOSITY comes out October 18, 2011. Find out more about it at the author's website.
Posts
10 comments:
Wow - that looks awesome! Thanks for putting it on my radar, Lenore!!
This is on my To Read list and I cannot wait to read it! Thanks for the review.
I can't wait to read this one. I loved Rival, but I think I might like this one even better because I was a pianist for many years and love classical music. I am not that familiar with classical opera so Rival was a tad hard for me to follow at times. I'm sure I'll be much more familiar with the composers and musicians mentioned in this book.
This book looks freaking awesome. Cannot wait for this one!
It sounds amazing. I can't wait to read it.
- Aaron
Sounds good and different, which is nice. :)
Okay so I hate Glee but I LOVED Rival so i am defintely going to give this one a try. Love these advance review things! get me excited for books that wouldn't have usually been on my radar.
I like advance buzz a whole lot!
Also, yay for this being on Galley Grab!
I'm happy to hear that Virtuousity is awesome and goes into classical music, for some odd reason I like books that have music as an underlying theme.
Don't need to sing it's praises any more than that. I've added it to my wishlist!
Ooh, as a big Glee and theatre fan, I'm definitely interested in this. And what a gorgeous cover!
Post a Comment