Welcome to my tour stop for MUTED written by Tami Charles and hosted by Terminal Tours.
A ripped-from-the-headlines novel of ambition, music, and innocence
lost, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Jason Reynolds!
Be bold. Get seen. Be Heard.
For seventeen-year-old Denver, music is everything. Writing, performing, and
her ultimate goal: escaping her very small, very white hometown.
So Denver is more than ready on the day she and her best friends Dali and
Shak sing their way into the orbit of the biggest R&B star in the world, Sean
"Mercury" Ellis. Merc gives them everything: parties, perks, wild nights -- plus
hours and hours in the recording studio. Even the painful sacrifices and the
lies the girls have to tell are all worth it.
Until they're not.
Denver begins to realize that she's trapped in Merc's world, struggling to hold
on to her own voice. As the dream turns into a nightmare, she must make a
choice: lose her big break, or get broken.
Inspired by true events, Muted is a fearless exploration of the dark side of the
music industry, the business of exploitation, how a girl's dreams can be used
against her -- and what it takes to fight back.
My review and rating
✰✰✰✰✰
For 2021, I vowed to step outside of my comfort zone and experience new genres, new authors, and expand my literary prowess. I vow a lot of things that I never get around to doing. But I succeeded so far this year.
Told in verse, MUTED follows seventeen year-old Denver who wants nothing more than to make it big in the music industry. When she and her two friends take a chance in exposing themselves to a legendary R&B singer, they quickly find themselves drowning in promises of stardom, all at the hands of a man who may or may not have their best interests at heart.
We spiral down with Denver, down, down…
She’s stepping into the viper pit of drugs and parties and manipulative men. As the story progresses, we see hints of danger screaming at us from short bursts of narrative. But the glam and the pretty words only cover up a lethal reality that crescendos into one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read.
MUTED is based on true events, and one can make theories into what events, but most of us can make an educated guess.
Muted is the first novel I’ve ever read in verse, and I cannot express how floored I am. Are all novels in verse this astounding? Have I been sleeping on this style of narrative poetry? If I’ve been this closed off in my reading, what else am I missing? I digress…
In closing, I cannot say I loved this book for it stands as an example to the dark side of the music industry and it is not all happy endings and rainbows and butterflies, but I appreciated the message, and the beauty of its words.
Rating: *****
QUEER REP (Denver is a lesbian)
TRIGGER WARNING for rape, kidnapping, homophobia, drug use, forced weight loss, and violence.
Buy MUTED here
Add it to Goodreads
Tami Charles writes picture books, middle grade, young adult, and nonfiction. Her middle grade debut novel, LIKE VANESSA, was selected by the Junior Library Guild for its spring 2018 collection. The American Bookseller's Association also selected LIKE VANESSA for its Indies Introduce Kids List for 2018. ...Google Books
This tour is hosted by Terminal Tours. Find them on Twitter @Toursterminal.
The Blog Schedule.
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Tour Schedule - Bloggers
Feb 9th
What She Will Read - Welcome Post
forthennovellovers - Review
The Baroness of Books - Spotlight
Feb 10th
Metaphors and Miscellanea - Review
We Write at Dawn - Spotlight
Feb 11th
A Short Book Lover - Review
What She Will Read - Review
Feb 12th
Endless Pages - Review
Feb 13th
Allisa White’s Book Blog - Review
Feb 14th
Chloe Scully - Playlist
Geekiemind - Review
Feb 15th
Storme Reads A Lot - Playlist
Whimsicalblessingsblog - Review
Feb 16th
BooksDramas&More - Review
leosthetics - Review
Feb 17th
Oh! The Books You Can Read! - Review
The World of Celia McMahon - Review
Feb 18th
A Bronx Latina Reads - Review
Pop Reads Reviews - Review
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