Author: Tara Kelly
Publisher: Henry Holt
Pages: 304
Read Time: 3 Days
Tag Words: Music books, guitarists, bands, rise to fame, sex in the music industry, strained family
My Summary:
When Jasmine Kiss leaves her home to pursue her dreams she is armed with her guitars, her amp and a hunk of junk car which proceeds to break down fifteen minutes into freedom.
Her lucks takes a turn for the worst when she is invited to join an up-and-coming band. Why worse? They accepted her because she has skills and stage experience, but only one of those is true. With a live show coming up that could make or break her career, Jasmine only has once chance to prove to her dad, and to herself, that she has made the right choice.
Too bad about her performance anxiety.
My Review:
It is a mark of high regard for Tara Kelly that I utter the following sentence. It is rare that I ever do what I am about to, but here it is:
Amplified was not as good as Harmonic Feedback.
I never compare an authors books unless they write within the same lines, and they are good enough that I know they should be pulling off high levels of literary difficulty with every book. The List looks something like this:
Sarah Dessen
Ann Brashares
Lauren Oliver
Stephanie Perkins
Tara Kelly
And that's it.
So due to the tiny list I had expectations. Is that fair? No. Is it how it has to be? Oh, yeah, have you bloody read Harmonic Feedback?! Just go read my review, then buy the book. You're welcome.
Amplified started off well enough, but I lost my interest in all the characters once Veta came on the scene. She blew all the other characters, and their development out of the water. She was real, and raw and belonged in Harmonic Feedback, not with these people! She was too good for these characters, who were slightly unlikable, and pretty plain.
The loose ends didn't get all wrapped up in Amplified... unlike Harmonic Feedback, where nothing ended perfect, but it all ended perfectly.
These are complaints, but let's get back to that list, shall we?
The List shows my favorite authors, and anything they do sub-par is still miles above most others best. Therefor I like Amplified like I enjoy any other moderately awesome book, but I wanted another Harmonic Feedback, and Amplified did not deliver.
Still, true fans need apply, you won't want to miss Kelly's second book.
Notes on the Names:
Veta and Sean, the Spanish/Irish twins. That's awesome.
Thoughts on the Cover:
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.
This is exactly what I want in every cover.
Something that makes sense in terms of the story, something that catches your eye, but still doesn't distract you with a myriad of pointless elements.
The spine rocks, as well.
Parental Book Review *spoilers*
Sexual Content:
Heavy.
Heavy make-out sessions with clothing removal.
Jasmine shares a wall with a "man-whore" who has an endless supply of groupies at his disposal. Need I say more?
Sean's ex-GF poses for a spread which is basically a goth Playboy.
Sexual innuendo.
Language:
Very Heavy
Newton's Whore is the name of one of the bands, so that accounts for much of that word.
Coc*blocked- 1
Pu*sy- 1
S- 34
F- 17
A- 21
H- 33
D- 11
Pr*cks- 2
D*ck- 10
B- 6
Bast*rd- 2
Whore- 13
Slut- 2
Jesus- 2
Violence:
None.
Other Notables:
Jasmine gets very drunk with a random guy at a party who does not have good intentions.
3 comments:
I really like how honest you are with your review.
I like it. I haven't read any of Tara Kelly's books but I do want to. Both kinda appeal to me from what I've understood from the summaries.
Okay so, I haven't read her first book so I don't have any expectations from her as an author. I just like the book's summary. And the cover. Do you think not having read her debut that Amplified will have a positive effect on others or it just really wasn't that good? Let me know? :)
Mary, I would start with Amplified and move onto Harmonic Feedback, if you want to read them both! : )
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