Giveaway + Review: Game. Set. Match by Jennifer Iacopelli [INT]

Author Bio:

Jennifer Iacopelli was born in New York and has no plans to leave…ever. Growing up, she read everything she could get her hands on, but her favorite authors were Laura Ingalls Wilder, L.M. Montgomery and Frances Hodgson Burnett all of whom wrote about kick-ass girls before it was cool for girls to be kick-ass. She got a Bachelor’s degree in Adolescence Education and English Literature quickly followed up by a Master’s in Library Science, which lets her frolic all day with her books and computers, leaving plenty of time in the evenings to write and yell at the Yankees, Giants and her favorite tennis players through the TV.

Review:

[Note: This is a New Adult book – there aren’t super explicit scenes, but there’s definitely some steaminess that’s more than PG-rated. I would call this a 16 & up book]

Game. Set. Match reminded me a lot of one of my favourite ABC Family shows, Make It Or Break It, which was about four elite women’s gymnasts who were really just teenagers trying to live with a massive amount of talent and pressure.

In GSM, there are three viewpoint characters, Indiana Gaffney, the newcomer with a killer serve; Jasmine Randazzo, a strong, steady player who struggles to live up to her parents’ legacy; and Penny Harrison, fresh juniors champion and rising star. All of them are dealing with the same kind of pressure as the MIOBI girls, but the difference is, these girls are a bit older, and there are a lot less rules about who or what they do with their time.

Who is the big question here. There are some seriously hot guys around, and Jennifer Iacopelli can write lust. This is a sexy book, guys. I definitely felt tingles.

This is the kind of book where you’re going to have favourites. Even though every girl character was definitely strong and sassy, I wouldn’t be surprised if Indy was everyone’s fave. She’s not afraid to stand up for herself, and she’s got a ton of potential. Jasmine, on the other hand, starts out a little bit snippy and mean-girl-ish. I predicted that she would soften, but I didn’t predict how, and I do like the way things turned out for her.

My personal favourite was Penny, who was a strong, kick-arse girl determined to do right by the world. It didn’t hurt that her romance was easily my favourite – Alex is SMOKIN’, guys, and it’s hard not to want to fall into his arms completely.


I really appreciated that the author didn’t always assume I knew everything about tennis, and explained most things, but also didn’t explain the basics of tennis. I liked that I had to dig into my own memory for how the game worked, but some of the intricacies were fine-tuned for me. That said, I also like that we didn’t go into every single detail of every match. The pace was really fast, and the focus was always on moving the characters and plot forward as opposed to just tennis.

While GSM was a bit predictable at times (tennis mean-girls? I knew that would happen), I thought Jennifer Iacopelli balanced the romance, the multiple stories, and the connections between them nicely. I really felt like she subscribed to the “always-leave-them-wanting-more” mantra when it came to moving between the storylines. There were a lot of mini-cliffhangers, and while there isn’t really one at the end, I’m invested enough that I’ll definitely be picking up OBX2 when it comes out!

Bonuses:

Sassy Female Characters: Check out these photosand tell me you don’t think those girls look sassy. On the page, they’re pretty cool ladies. Especially Indy. That girl has a mouth on her.

Had to put Arrow in – he’s so Alex!

Smokin’ Hot Guys: This is New Adult, so there are guys without anything on in this book. And let me just say that I am totally okay with that. More Alex, please! (Also, Jack sounds pretty hot, too).

Roland Garros, French Open

Gorgeous settings: I was surprised by how much I liked the tennis academy setting – with the heat and the beach and the clay…I could feel the oppressiveness of that heat, and the beauty of the Atlantic. And then there’s a little bit of description of Paris that made me want to go…but this time, to watch tennis at Roland Garros!