Publication Date: May 1, 2013
Nestled along the coastline of North Carolina, the Outer Banks Tennis Academy is the best elite tennis training facility in the world. Head Coach, Dominic Kingston has assembled some of the finest talent in the sport. From the game’s biggest stars to athletes scraping and clawing to achieve their dreams, OBX is full of ego, drama and romance. Only the strong survive in this pressure cooker of competition, on and off the court.
Penny Harrison, the biggest rising star in tennis, is determined to win the French Open and beat her rival, the world’s number one player, Zina Lutrova. There’s just one problem, the only person who’s ever been able to shake her laser-like focus is her new training partner. Alex Russell, tennis’s resident bad boy, is at OBX recovering from a knee injury suffered after he crashed his motorcycle (with an Aussie supermodel on the back). He’s hoping to regain his former place at the top of men’s tennis and Penny’s heart, while he’s at it.
Tennis is all Jasmine Randazzo has ever known. Her parents have seven Grand Slam championships and she’s desperate to live up to their legacy. Her best friend is Teddy Harrison, Penny’s twin brother, and that’s all they’ve ever been, friends. Then one stupid, alcohol-laced kiss makes everything super awkward just as she as she starts prepping for the biggest junior tournament of the year, the Outer Banks Classic.
The Classic is what draws Indiana Gaffney out of the hole she crawled into after her mom’s death. Even though she’s new to OBX, a win at the Classic is definitely possible. She has a big serve and killer forehand, but the rest of her game isn’t quite up to scratch and it doesn’t help that Jasmine Randazzo and her little minions are stuck-up bitches or that Jack Harrison, Penny’s agent and oldest brother, is too hot for words, not to mention way too old for her.
Who will rise? Who will fall?
Told from rotating points of view, GAME. SET. MATCH. is a ‘new adult’ novel about three girls with one goal: to be the best tennis player in the world.
My Review:
Game. Set. Match. by Jennifer Iacopelli
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars!
I’m going to be straight with all of you out there… I don’t know a single thing about tennis… well, that’s not completely true, I mean… I used to watch it when Andre Agassi was around. Both pre and post haircut. But to be honest I wasn’t watching for the game if you know what I mean.
That confession aside, this book really is focused around tennis… not so much the game itself though, so if you’re not a big tennis watcher/player don’t let that worry you. Instead, you get the big picture… matches, practices, training – and of course the drama of it all.
Game. Set. Match. revolves around the lives of 3 different tennis pro’s, all at different stages in their game. Penny is the rising star, determined to win the big matches and have everyone know who she is. Jasmine is the daughter of two of the sports biggest stars and she struggles to make her own identity and then there is Indiana… the ‘new girl’ fighting her way into a world that she’s always wanted to be a part of.
Like I said, their lives revolve around tennis, but the story really focuses on the things happening in the girls lives and how that impacts their lives on the court. But be warned there is a lot of tennis talk. Not in a bad way, instead, it really shows the stress that these girls are putting on themselves to become this image they have in their heads.
Penny had one night with the tennis bad boy and she let it impact a tournament appearance and has sworn never again to let that happen. Jasmine, while a wonderful tennis player struggles to find her own identity aside from being the daughter of two famous players and Indiana is making a name for herself seemingly coming out of nowhere to make her mark on the tennis scene.
While I enjoyed the story and I enjoyed getting to know each of the girls, I struggled to stay immersed in the story jumping from story line to story line in this first book. Where we got three different intertwined stories, I would have liked to see this first book focus in on one story instead of jumping around. I found that once I would get my groove and start getting involved in one of the girls, we were jumping to another part of the story involving someone else. While I think we do get the most information about Penny and Alex here, I would have liked to see more focus on them or even another couple. I simply found myself not getting invested enough in each of the characters with all the back and forth.
I have to say though, that I’m most interested in Indy and Jack’s story. I’m not sure why that is because I found Indy a bit irritating at times, but Jack had me hooked from his first appearance. The build-up of the attraction between them was believable to me and I kinda want to play tennis with him. LOL
If you’re looking for something in the NA genre that is well-written with some great characters then you definitely will want to check out Game. Set. Match. I’m looking forward to the future books to see what Iacopelli does to expand these characters and their stories.
Thank you to the author and Coliloquy for the advance copy for an honest review!
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