Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Pages: 306
Format: ARC-paperback

A special Thank You to Simon & Schuster for sending me this book to review.

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 than her? 
Carmen knows that dating 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 a quick fix has become a hungry addiction. But now Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she's told, doing what's expected. 
And, as Carmen starts to open up to Jeremy, she realises that sometimes being on top just means you have a long way to fall....


Review:
I've just finished this book.  I don't even think I was planning on getting to it for some time, but I saw some reviews popping up for it and I thought maybe I should move this up on my review pile.  I'm glad I did.  It is beautifully written. It reminded me of when I played the flute.  My senior year of high school and first yr of University I played the professional circuit (basically just getting paid to do gigs, nothing really big).  I had a love of music, still do actually.  I just enjoy it from another point of view now.

I can not even imagine the stress Carmen was under.  No way, no how. I liked Jeremy from the first moment.  There was something about him.  I'm a sucker for forbidden love.  I actually gasped when a certain question was asked from Jeremy to Carmen.  WHAT?! So so so wrong.  HOW could he ask her that? But then Carmen's family is wrong beyond repair!! The drama!!!

There had better be a sequel.  The ending wasn't necessarily a cliffhanger, but I do want more of the story.  I wanted more of Carmen and Jeremy's story. I need more romance!  I enjoyed it.  A bit slow in places, but not in a bad way.  It was slow in a ,"I'm thinking about all these feelings going on," way.  Liked it.

Quote:
"That's to 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."