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Turn It Up!
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The Nightingales are in a serious funk. Bradley Academy's all-girl a cappella group used to be the pride and joy of the sunshine state, but the Nightingales have fallen out of harmony. Best friends and co-captains Lidia Sato and Sydney Marino aren't speaking. A boy has come between them -- none other than Griffin Mancini, the obnoxious lead singer of Bradley's smug all-boy
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TRENA KALLINEN
yes but at a book fair !
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Very bad Pitch Perfect rip off
DNF ~ 37%
This was one of the books I was really looking forward to in 2018, this month specifically. Music, a Capella stuff, multiple POVs, a cute cover, boys, competitions, what more could I want. Well, what I wanted was less effing drama.
Because within those 37% there is so much drama that I was just rolling my eyes so much they popped out of my eye sockets and I had to put them back again. Yes, if this book can do over drama, I can as well. :P I am not sure who of the two bickering girls I di ...more
This was one of the books I was really looking forward to in 2018, this month specifically. Music, a Capella stuff, multiple POVs, a cute cover, boys, competitions, what more could I want. Well, what I wanted was less effing drama.
Because within those 37% there is so much drama that I was just rolling my eyes so much they popped out of my eye sockets and I had to put them back again. Yes, if this book can do over drama, I can as well. :P I am not sure who of the two bickering girls I di ...more
Turn It Up! was a totally random pick I chose from my library's OverDrive catalog because they didn't have the book I so desperately wanted in my hands right at the very moment. Come on, American Panda. Come to meeee.
Or maybe they did but I didn't feel like reading any fantasy. I've been wanting more and more cute contemporary romances lately. Give me all the cute contemporaries, bookwyrms. I need to feed my latest addiction until I'm tired of it and go back to my usual fantasy groove.
Anyways... ...more
Had some much fun reading this Middle grade/YA book. The main characters, girls at a boarding school are best friends and have planned to revive the a cappella singing group that has fizzled out over the years. The two captains, best friends, cannot wait to implement their plans to make their leadership what turns things around. BUT, as so often is the case, when there is a complete misunderstanding,the girls trust what they think they know instead of honestly talking and that leads to a cascade
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This was so boring. I couldn't get into it. I didn't really care what happened to them. And there was a lot of running away from situations. Not metaphoric running away; actual running away. *eye roll*
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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What does it remind me of? The movie Pitch Perfect.
What is it about? Dueling acapella groups and lots of teenage angsty drama.
What did I love? The fact that one of the MCs finds love via nonpareil candy shopping - a.k.a. a dream meet cute! Also, I am digging this cover. I like how, even though its through lots of angsty drama, it really has a good message of girls coming together to build each other up, not tear each other down.
What I didn't love? The angst - seriously. I nearly DNF'd this one, ...more
What is it about? Dueling acapella groups and lots of teenage angsty drama.
What did I love? The fact that one of the MCs finds love via nonpareil candy shopping - a.k.a. a dream meet cute! Also, I am digging this cover. I like how, even though its through lots of angsty drama, it really has a good message of girls coming together to build each other up, not tear each other down.
What I didn't love? The angst - seriously. I nearly DNF'd this one, ...more
dnf @ 19%
I was really excited about this because it's about an a capella group but this was... very bad. I don't care about childish drama that can easily be resolved with a simple conversation. Also the main character doesn't even like a capella that much which was too painful for my lil choir nerd heart to read about. ...more
I was really excited about this because it's about an a capella group but this was... very bad. I don't care about childish drama that can easily be resolved with a simple conversation. Also the main character doesn't even like a capella that much which was too painful for my lil choir nerd heart to read about. ...more
This was...pretty much what I expected. Cute, predictable, lots of girl friendship. Nothing particularly great, but a fun read.
Very much a one-sitting, adorable read from one of my most trusted authors! It was just really, really cute. Made me one to jam out to some a capella!
Basically a junior high version of pitch perfect, but I did especially like Lidia and Jack.
Was looking through my Hoopla and found this. I saw it had to do with a cappella and singing so I decided to give this book a try. Of course this book reminded me of Pitch Perfect! but there was a different story going on besides the competition. I did like concept but it just didn't do it for me.
Lidia and Sydney are best friends. Lidia goes to meet Sydney and finds her kissing her crush. Lidia then leaves and doesn't let Sydney know that she saw it. Lidia then decides to quit the a capella gro ...more
Lidia and Sydney are best friends. Lidia goes to meet Sydney and finds her kissing her crush. Lidia then leaves and doesn't let Sydney know that she saw it. Lidia then decides to quit the a capella gro ...more
The plot of ‘Turn It Up’ is one of your standard love stories. The surprising thing about it is that there is tons of drama, and I don’t mean drama in literature, I mean drama as in immature middle school drama, even though the main characters are in high school. I really enjoyed the a capella sense of the novel, and the fact that the setting, a singing group in a private school, in Florida, is relatable to me, even though I don’t live in Florida. The time period of ‘Turn It Up’ is very modern, ...more
I'm a long-time fan of Jen Calonita and this was another book to add to my list of her books that I loved. It was funny, dramatic, and had just enough romance to keep me smiling. Even though it very much felt like a 10th-grade retelling of Pitch Perfect, there was enough to make it feel a little different as well. This book has rivaling a capella groups, a girl group on the brink of self-destruction, and a legacy that was difficult to follow.
I loved that we got to experience this story through t ...more
I loved that we got to experience this story through t ...more
I'm going to be completely honest, I've never seen Pitch Perfect, I've seen Glee but that's it as far acapella movies/shows. I really likes this book, was it cliché? Yes, yes it was and had the drama, romance and friend backstabbing, but it also had an amazing sisterhood of songs and singing. The passion these girls had for the arts was so special and overall, I thought it was really good for your classic cliché novel.
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I got this book for two dollars and it’s probably the worst spent two dollars of my life. Lidia is the most annoying character I’ve ever read about.
Pet (conspiracy?) theory for this book: It was originally written as pure Middle Grade, and the characters were supposed to be 12 or 13...but the editor or literary agent thought it would sell better as YA, so someone find-and-replaced things like ages and grades and mentions of middle school so that the characters were ~15 and in high school, and added a smidge more kissing, and said 'that should do it!'
I actually really love Calonita's books, which I find fun and usually on-point (even if I'm ...more
I actually really love Calonita's books, which I find fun and usually on-point (even if I'm ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Mar 29, 2018
Cindy Mitchell *Kiss the Book*
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
middle-school,
advisable
Calonita, Jen Turn It Up: Practice Makes Pitch Perfect , 272 pages. Point (Scholastic), 2018. $18. Content: Language: PG (2 swears); Mature Content: PG (kissing); Violence: G.
High school sophomores, Sydney and Lidia are co-captains of the Nightingales, an a capella group at Bradley Academy. They are best friends and have been looking forward to getting the Nightingales out of their past slump and building a successful group. Right before the season starts, Lidia sees Sydney kissing her long tim ...more
High school sophomores, Sydney and Lidia are co-captains of the Nightingales, an a capella group at Bradley Academy. They are best friends and have been looking forward to getting the Nightingales out of their past slump and building a successful group. Right before the season starts, Lidia sees Sydney kissing her long tim ...more
While reading the novel, I felt Jen Calonita doesn’t talk much about the characteristics and the personality of the main characters. Although the author shows that the three characters are very smart and hardworking. The characters are immature and are very insecure about themselves. The character development is very weak. This book has written in all the three characters perspective by alternating. The fights between Lidia and Sydney were really childish and felt very boring. Their transition b
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Once, the Nightingales a cappella group was the pride of Bradley Academy, but in recent years the group has fallen on hard times. Co-captains Lidia and Sydney are determined to bring the group back to its former glory, until they have a falling out over a boy. And not just any boy - the lead singer of smug, rival a capella group the Kingfishers. New girl Julianna is the Nightingale's saving grace, if she can get over her serious stage fright. Can the Nightingales get it together in time for thei
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Sep 30, 2019
Jenna
added it
Jenna Boardman
Book Plug 4
8B
September 30, 2019
The second book that I finished for the month of September is Turn It Up by Jen Calonita. I would rate this book a 8 out of 10. Turn It Up is about an all girl a cappella group at Bradley Academy in Florida. Everything is going great until Lidia Sato sees her best friend Sydney Marino and lifetime crush Griffin Mancini kiss. When it's Sydney and Lidia's turn to be captains of the a cappella group Lidia's feelings about Sydney and Griffin kissing get i ...more
Book Plug 4
8B
September 30, 2019
The second book that I finished for the month of September is Turn It Up by Jen Calonita. I would rate this book a 8 out of 10. Turn It Up is about an all girl a cappella group at Bradley Academy in Florida. Everything is going great until Lidia Sato sees her best friend Sydney Marino and lifetime crush Griffin Mancini kiss. When it's Sydney and Lidia's turn to be captains of the a cappella group Lidia's feelings about Sydney and Griffin kissing get i ...more
Have you ever felt that your best friend in the world has stabbed you in the back? That's exactly how Lidia felt when she discovered Sydney, aka her best friend, betrayed her by kissing the man of her dreams. but, for the Nightingales- all-girl Cappella, to win, they need to sort out their priorities and co-captain together for the betterment of Nightingales. Meanwhile, the new girl Julianne is a formidable singer, alas she has a terrible nerve of stage fright.
I liked how the author has present ...more
I liked how the author has present ...more
As a huge fan of Pitch Perfect I couldn't pass up this book and I have to say it was Acadorable (forgive the pun but I couldn't pass up the opportunity there)
Turn It Up centers around The Nightingales, a struggling female a cappella group at Bradley Academy in Naples, FL. (I have family in naples so it was an added bonus that I recognized places that were talked about) We follow the team as they try to reclaim their former glory and fend off sabotage from their campus rivals, the all male group ...more
Turn It Up centers around The Nightingales, a struggling female a cappella group at Bradley Academy in Naples, FL. (I have family in naples so it was an added bonus that I recognized places that were talked about) We follow the team as they try to reclaim their former glory and fend off sabotage from their campus rivals, the all male group ...more
Ugh, this book was so super predictable, from about the third paragraph I'd figured out the entire plot, but that isn't nesicarily bad if the characters we spend the time with are interesting and full. These weren't. I may be above the generally reccomended age for these books but I've fully enjoyed this authors other books as fun, light reads. This one I rolled my eyes at the entire way through, not a single character seemed developed beyond a series of traits, a charactor likes Sailor Moon bec
...more
This all started with the singing group Nightingales. Bradley Academy's (all-girl school) a cappella group used to be everyone's favorite. But what happens when the Nightingales start to have issues with each other.. Best friends (Lidia Sato) and co-captains (Sydney Marino) get into a fight and aren't speaking. A boy has come between them (Griffin Mancini) the lead singer of Bradley's (all-boy) a capella group, the signing group Kingfishers. The Nightingales have no chance of winning the big sta
...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
My 13 year old daughter picked out this book at a middle school book fair and it popped up with the "mature content" warning, so she asked me to read it first to make sure it was good for her. (She's very picky about what she will read, which is fine with me!)
It was fun and I liked a lot of it. The drama and challenges weren't all that challenging really, but it will probably be something my daughter enjoys. It didn't seem to me like it dealt with mature themes other than a bit of girl and boy c ...more
It was fun and I liked a lot of it. The drama and challenges weren't all that challenging really, but it will probably be something my daughter enjoys. It didn't seem to me like it dealt with mature themes other than a bit of girl and boy c ...more
I realized I enjoy a story in the background while I’m working. I usually listen to cozy mysteries and thought I’d try a YA Romance for a switch up!
2.5 ⭐️: Story was centered around an a cappella singing group and their rivals. It was certainly Pitch Perfect adjacent in good, fun and also predictable ways. I enjoyed the story but found the overly predictable nature of the story to be less fun than I would like. Yes I know that this genre is often predictable, but this story does more so to me.
2.5 ⭐️: Story was centered around an a cappella singing group and their rivals. It was certainly Pitch Perfect adjacent in good, fun and also predictable ways. I enjoyed the story but found the overly predictable nature of the story to be less fun than I would like. Yes I know that this genre is often predictable, but this story does more so to me.
Turn It Up is a Pitch Perfect retread for the middle school set. For the record, I loved the first two Pitch Perfect movies and the third one should never have been made. I wanted to like this novel more than I actually did. The plot was weak and the characters were not well-defined. It started slow and it was hard to stay interested. The whole thing felt very fake and manufactured. It will appeal to younger fans of Pitch Perfect and those who love Disney Channel shows with happy endings.
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Turn It Up- Kareena Saxena | 1 | 2 | Dec 05, 2018 04:37PM |
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Hi Goodreads!
I'm Jen Calonita, a MG and YA author who loves what I do because it lets me connect with all of you (and no, I wasn't intending for that to rhyme!).
I've been writing ever since I can remember, but it was fourth grade when I put my "three wishes" for a genie down on paper. They were:
#1. Buy all the Cabbage Patch Kids in the world and give them away for free (because apparently that wa ...more
I'm Jen Calonita, a MG and YA author who loves what I do because it lets me connect with all of you (and no, I wasn't intending for that to rhyme!).
I've been writing ever since I can remember, but it was fourth grade when I put my "three wishes" for a genie down on paper. They were:
#1. Buy all the Cabbage Patch Kids in the world and give them away for free (because apparently that wa ...more
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