Review: An awesome book for all tennis & non-tennis lovers out there!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 1, 2013
Game. Set. Match. by Jennifer Iacopelli was so much more than the fun, light read I first thought it would be for a number of reasons. This book was about three girls who lived for the sport of tennis. While all three of these girls had such varying personalities, different strengths and weaknesses, as well as their own slew of personal problems, it was their passion for the sport as well as their place of training that really drew them all together. I had moments of love, pride, and dislike (sometimes borderline hatred) for all three characters throughout the story. I loved following each of their stories, watching them learn and grow, and seeing how each of their stories interconnected.The set-up of this book deserves its own freaking paragraph people! I don't usually spend a whole lot of time on the more technical parts of the book like it's layout but I feel like this book deserves a shout out because Jennifer did an incredible job. Basing a story on three different characters can be a challenge. Authors face the issue of featuring one character more so than the others, not fully developing one or more of the characters, and making it a potential all-out confusing journey for the reader but that is not the case with this book. Jennifer divided the book into almost perfectly even sections for each character. The story flip-flopped between each of the three main characters several times over the course of the book but never once did I feel like a character's section was too long or too short. I was able to get a good grasp of who each character really was and they were so worth "meeting"!This book follows three tennis super stars, Penny, Indy, and Jasmine. Each of these girls brought something different to the sport of tennis and the same can be said about this story: Penny, hot off a MAJOR win, is all the tennis world can seem to talk about; Indy, after being away from the sport due to a family issue, is just getting back into it and is already making a huge splash; and then there's Jasmine, who just so happens to be the daughter to a tennis playing super star duo.Penny was a sweet character! Despite her fame and obvious talent, she was a down to earth girl and I found myself really enjoying her character. She has some insane natural talent but she also more dedication for a sport than I have ever seen in a person. She struggles to balance her personal life and her tennis life when an old flame suddenly shows up. Feeling like you have to choose between love or your dreams is a very real thing and while Penny didn't always handle it with ease, she handled it realistically and I feel like a lot of people would be able to relate to that. Even though her dedication and drive to become the best was admirable, it was watching her learn to give a part of herself away to love and her true feelings that really stole the show for me. Also, I am a sucker for a hot guy with an even hotter accent and it seems Penny and I have this in common. *wink, wink*Indy was perhaps my favorite character. After being away from the sport for quite some time, she joins on at the Outerbanks Tennis Academy hoping to prove to herself and to others just how good she is at the sport. Indy was funny, had her spunky moments (especially where snotty girls were concerned), and she held her head high despite all the crap she took when first arriving at the academy. It was mentioned a few times in the book just how much people love an underdog and that couldn't be truer! Indy started as the odd girl out at not only Outerbanks but also in the competitive world of tennis and I found myself rooting for her time and time again. Things were certainly not easy for Indy but her determination made her an awesome character to read about.Jasmine was a character I flat-out disliked for a major portion of the book. I could understand the pressure she felt with both of her parents being tennis super stars, but her actions made it hard for me to really feel sorry for her. She felt entitled to winning, to the top spot, to being the best regardless of if she truly was. The pressure she placed on herself to become the absolute best, doubled with the fact that her best friend saw her as a friend and nothing more, made Jasmine down-right miserable for a lot of the book. Even though she was really hard to like at first, she proved to be a pretty great character by the end of the book. Her bad attitude at the beginning made it so she had the most potential to grow over the course of the story. Becoming that better, kinder, nicer person wasn't exactly the easiest for Jasmine but I found myself actually liking her by the end of the book.The secondary characters in this book like Coach Dom, Jack, Alex, and Teddy made this story enjoyable (and as with the case of Jack and Alex, it added a bit of romance!), but I really appreciated that this book focused more on the three girls. Sure there was romance included, tensions between minor characters, etc. but for the most part it was about Penny, Indy, and Jasmine overcoming difficulties in both their personal and sports lives.Before I wrap up this review, I feel like I must mention one other super important detail that really just made this book all sorts of awesome to me and that is the TENNIS! I loved it hardcore people. I played tennis my senior year of high school, quite horribly actually (side note: the one and only time I was EVER winning, I stepped wrong and dislocated my knee thus ending my rather pathetic tennis career) so I know enough about the sport to tell you guys that Jennifer really knows her stuff! Tennis was so important to all the characters in this book, their love and adoration towards the sport shining through on every page, and there was just something so inspiring about it. Despite this book being so heavily influenced by tennis, Jennifer made it so the non-tennis people will be able to enjoy the tennis scenes as well.Game. Set. Match. by Jennifer Iacopelli was a fun book but more than that it was also a book that featured strong, determined, smart, and talented main characters who just so happen to love the sport of tennis. This book is approved for all tennis and non-tennis lovers out there!