Amplified by Tara Kelly

Summary:
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. (from GoodReads)

Review:
I really enjoyed Amplified and I am so glad I got a chance to read it. Like Virtuosity, it's about a music, so it already had me hooked there, but it was so different (in a good way!).

The plot centers around Jasmine, an aspiring musician of industrial rock. I've never heard of industrial rock, so it was interesting to learn more about this musical subgenre. Unfortunately for Jasmine, her father wants her attend Stanford and kicks her out when she refuses. I thought it was a bit of an overreaction on both Jasmine's and her father's parts. Stanford is an excellent school and a great opportunity, and the fact that her father said she could even major in music made it hard for me to see why Jasmine would give that up. But I admire her spunk because there is no way I'd leave home with only a thousand dollars and nowhere to stay.

Even though I thought that part was a little unrealistic, I still loved Amplified. My favorite aspect was the characters. There were many and they all offered something different to the plot. Veta was the most interesting, since she was sort-of psychic (if you believe in that) and really was a true friend to Jasmine. And the love interest Sean was another favorite. He starts out a little rude to Jasmine, but you warm up to him quickly.

I read Amplified very quickly because the plot moved fast and I wanted to see if Jasmine would have what it takes to make the band. I especially like the ending: it was open-ended and left me wanting a sequel! So I would definitely recommend Amplified for fans of YA.

Rating: 8 out of 10.
FTC: from the publisher.
Release Date: October 25, 2011

2011/Henry Holt/304 pages.