Bookanistas: VIRTUOSITY by Jessica Martinez

It's been wild times here since Audition pubbed this past Thursday. I've been bopping round the blogosphere, including this stop at The Well-Read Wife.  And today, I'm signing books at Mrs. Nelson's in LaVerne, CA. BUT FIRST, I want to encourage you to read this gorgeous debut novel.  The review below does not do it justice but (sorry for the bad pun), it is a virtuosic work of contemporary YA.

Plot without spoilers...Carmen is a celebrated violin prodigy with a recording contract and a place at Juilliard waiting for her in the fall. Then, weeks before the most important competition of her life, she meets a boy who might change everything.

Of literary interest...Like a complex symphony, Jessica Martinez has created a novel with many layers.  It is at once coming-of-age-story, romance, and even has a bit of music insider intrigue. At its core, though, is the story of her wonderful main character: the anguished, lovely, wanting-to-grow-up Carmen.

Finally, just gotta say...The author lays bare the quest for artistic mastery and the vulnerability of a girl experiencing her first romance in a novel that is once achingly raw and poignantly elegant.

What are the rest of the Bookanistas rhapsodizing over today?
LiLa Roecker hosts The White Assassin blog tour stop – with giveaway

Christine Fonseca celebrates How to Save a Life
Jessi Kirby twirls for Audition
Shana Silver shivers for Shatter Me
Veronica Rossi is ensnared by Girl of Fire and Thorns
Shelli Johannes-Wells delves into Ditched