Review: Kiss Kill Vanish by Jessica Martinez

Title: Kiss Kill Vanish
Author: Jessica Martinez
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Release date: October 7th 2014
Pages: 432
Genre: Young Adult contemporary/mystery
Source: Edelweiss - I received a free eGalley of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
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Valentina Cruz no longer exists.
One moment, she was wrapped in Emilio’s arms, melting into his kiss. The next, she was witnessing the unthinkable: a murder in cold blood, ordered by her father and carried out by her boyfriend. When Emilio pulled the trigger, Valentina disappeared. She made a split-second decision to shed her identity and flee her life of privilege, leaving the glittering parties and sultry nightlife of Miami far behind.
She doesn’t know how to explain to herself what she saw. All she knows now is that nothing she believed about her family, her heart, or Emilio’s love, was real.
She can change her name and deny her past, but Valentina can’t run from the truth. The lines between right and wrong, and trust and betrayal, will be blurred beyond recognition as she untangles the deceptions of the two men she once loved and races to find her own truth.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

This is a hard book to review without spoilers. The description is really vague (it might not seem vague, but there is so much more to the story than you could tell from the description), and I think the mystery of not knowing is really important to enjoy this novel. So I'm going to try to not give anything away, but this means I might have to be pretty vague about some parts, so I apologize in advance.

The mystery had a lot of potential. There is tons of intrigue and secrets, and this whole world is fascinating to read about. Sadly, though, the pacing made it hard to really love the mystery: there are parts that dragged and could have been made a lot shorter, and then there are parts where there is just way too much going on. There are a ton of plot twists, which could have been really good, but because they're one right after the other, I kind of just lost track of what was going on. Especially in the last 100ish pages, things got kind of far-fetched and unrealistic, and Valentina became kind of irrational. This is really unfortunate because I loved all of the ideas - I just wish they had been spread out a little more to make the beginning more fast-paced and the later parts more plausible.

The characters are okay. I don't know I'd say I liked Valentina, but I did like reading about her. In the beginning, at least, it's great to see her figure out how to live by herself, without the wealth and privilege she's always known. Later on, though, she becomes a lot less independent and kind of irrational, like I said, so I didn't like reading about her quite as much anymore. There's also a romance storyline, and I'm not sure what to make of that: I really liked the banter between Valentina and the love interest, but I always just saw them as friends, so it seemed kind of weird to me when they randomly got together at the end.

I know this review doesn't really tell you anything, but that's how I feel about this book - my thoughts are kind of all-over-the-place. The mystery had a lot of potential, but I wish it had been fleshed out a bit more to make for a more plausible, realistic story. I'm not going to go around recommending this to everyone, but I'm not going to discourage you from Kiss Kill Vanish a try, either. It was just kind flat for me.

Review: Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Title: Virtuosity
Author: Jessica Martinez
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 294
Release date: October 18th 2011
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought

Find out more: Amazon / Goodreads

Goodreads description:

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? Carmen knows that kissing 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 an easy fix has become a hungry addiction. Carmen is sick of not feeling anything on stage and even more sick of always doing what she’s told, doing what's expected.

Goodreads description:

The balcony felt cold under my cheek.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I love the unique premise of Virtuosity. There are so many interesting storylines - the violin-playing, the anti-anxiety drugs and the forbidden romance. And while the execution isn't perfect, Virtuosity is a really fun read!

Usually, I'm pulled in by characters or writing, but the plot is what I liked best about Virtuosity. Carmen's violin-playing is really interesting to read about - I know nothing about the topic, but I loved reading about that whole world, the pressure and everything, especially since the author knows what she's talking about. I also loved reading about Carmen's problem with Inderal, but I wish that issue would have been elaborated on more - I don't think the reader gets to know enough about Carmen's struggle with anti-anxiety drugs.

Carmen is a pretty good character - she's easy to relate to, and you can't help but feel for her. But I still didn't love her - I can't even explain why, but she isn't my favorite character ever.

The secondary characters are really well-developed. Diana, the mom - wow. At the beginning I could still sort of understand her - her career as an opera-singer failed, so she wants Carmen to succeed in the music industry. No, that's not great parenting, but you can see where she's coming from, and it seems like she still wants what's best for her daughter. What she does later on, though... How can anyone be that cruel? I hated Diana with a passion. Clark, Carmen's stepdad, on the other hand, is so sweet. I love all scenes that include him, and I would have liked to know more about him and how he deals with, well, what happens.

I'm split on what to make of Jeremy and Carmen's relationship. I loved Jeremy as a character, but I think his relationship with Carmen developed too quickly, and I still don't get why they started hanging out in the first place. Carmen's obsession with Jeremy in the beginning is strange, too. Later on, though, I loved the two of them together - it's really well-done how they go back and forth between wanting to be together but both wanting to win, and that part seems more realistic.

The ending is perfect - it's not happy or sad; it's hopeful, and just right. Yes, I would have liked to know some more about what happens to all of the characters, but the ending works really well with the story.

The romance is a little too insta-love and there are some topics I would have liked to know more about, but all in all, this is a fun read with an intriguing plot and great secondary characters. I definitely recommend it, unless you cannot stand insta-love at all.