Review: Amplified by Tara Kelly

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Title: Amplified
Author: Tara Kelly
Publisher: Henry Holt
Genre: Young Adult: Contemporary Romance,
Format: Hardbound
Buy: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

When privileged 17-year-old Jasmine gets kicked out of her house, she takes what is left of her savings and flees to Santa Cruz to pursue her dream of becoming a musician. Jasmine finds the ideal room in an oceanfront house, but she needs to convince the three guys living there that she's the perfect roommate and lead guitarist for their band, C-Side. Too bad she has major stage fright and the cute bassist doesn't think a spoiled girl from over the hill can hack it. . .

In this fresh new novel by critically acclaimed author Tara Kelly, Jasmine finds out what happens when her life gets Amplified.

Page-turning, real and enthralling

Jasmine Kiss just graduated from high school and wants a break before College and instead of her Dad understanding, she ended up getting kicked out of the house with only her car, guitars, a few clothes and savings she'd saved up since forever. Jasmine drove out to Santa Cruz, her car broke down and she has no where to go. She's stuck walking around trying to find a place to stay before night comes.

Taking a break from paranormal books couldn't get any better. After starting Amplified, I couldn't put it down. I know reading is basically like watching a movie. But for me, only some books are movie material and this one is definitely one of them.

Reading about how Jasmine Kiss, who is only seventeen, struggled to find a place to live and a band to join on her own. It was admirable. I'm twenty and I don't think I can do anything without my family in the picture. The realism in this book had a huge presence that makes a reader connect to every character and scene in this book. It simply blew me away.

Jasmine is snarky, defensive, and guarded at all times. She's a character who doesn't want to show any type of feeling to anyone but the reader can't help notice that she's just a little girl struggling in a big bad world, so her facade doesn't fool anyone. The secondary characters on the other hand contributed so well into the story. Its hard to get secondary characters stick to the readers but this book nailed it. Congrats to Tara!

Music is a big factor in the entire book. And the descriptions of Jasmine's band on stage doing a few set lists is written very well. I'm thinking either, Tara Kelly did her homework or she has a hell lot of music experience to write about live performances like she's actually been up there on stage.

Overall, the only thing the book lacks is a good climax. The book was good but when it ended it felt abrupt and cut short like some pages were missing. Aside from that, the book was brilliantly written, with a unique concept and characters a reader could relate to. A definite unputdownable book for the teens!