Muted

Author: Tami Charles

Publisher: Scholastic (2022)

For ages 12–16

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.

"Muted blends the music of beautiful poetry with a powerful and relevant message. A stunning book."

–Margarita Engle

"A captivating and unflinching view into the dark corners of the music industry where souls are crushed in the silence between songs."

–Lamar Giles

"An intense ride that unfolds lyrically, Muted is thrumming with emotion, tension and, most of all, heart. A heart-pounding page-turner, from start to finish."

–Debbie Rigaud

"Mesmerizing! Raw and honest, Charles captures the voice of a bright young star trapped between a dream and a nightmare in this devastatingly beautiful novel-in-verse—a page-turning lyrical journey!"

–Kim Johnson