Monday 13 May 2013

Game. Set. Match. Blog Tour: Review & Giveaway! #OBXers


Game. Set. Match. (Outer Banks Tennis Academy #1) by Jennifer Iacopelli
Source: Received an ebook to participate in the blog tour and give an honest review.
Publisher: Coliloquy, LLC
Release Date: Already Released.

Synopsis:

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.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Barnes & Noble

About Jennifer Iacopelli:

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.

Links: Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook


I don't play a lot of sports, but I do enjoy watching them sometimes (not always though :P), and I absolutely love sports romances. Game. Set. Match. isn't like the other sports books I've read though. It's a New Adult for one thing, and the girls happen to be athletes themselves...as are their love interests, but really, the tennis is pretty much all about the girls...and I absolutely loved that! So many romances involving sports focus on the male as the athlete, so it's really refreshing to get to have the female leads as athletes! :D

I guess a lot of readers have been declaring their "teams" based on their favourite characters and such in their reviews, but I have a hard time choosing! Game. Set. Match. features three lovely ladies: Indy, Jasmine and Penny...and I loved Indy and Penny right from the start ! Jas took a while to grow on me, but by the end, I loved her, too. :D They're all such vibrant characters, and they're so driven that it's hard not to admire them. I also adored their love interests...and was so relieved that their weren't any love triangles!!! It's really nice to get to see all three girls interested in different guys (I'm not going to name them because I think you'll enjoy getting to meet the girls' love interests more if I don't tell you)....plus, it would've been weird to read both their points of view if they did like the same one. :P

So, I loved the characters, and I loved the tennis, and I really enjoyed how the story was set up. At times you would get multiple characters' points of view on one day, but at others, it focused on just one, and I thought that Jennifer Iacopelli did a fantastic job at balancing out each girl's portion of the story. :D I loved the competition between the girls and the budding friendships. I also adored the developing romances, and the drama involved was definitely fitting to their situations...and left me just as frustrated as the characters themselves were. :P

Overall, I loved Game. Set. Match. and I can't wait to read the next book in this series! :D I'd recommend it to fans of stories with great characters, and I think that even if you aren't into sports, or tennis specifically, that you'll still enjoy this one. The characters are so real, and I think that each girl is appealing in their own way, and together they create one amazing story! I definitely can't wait for the sequel because I NEED more...more Indy, more Jasmine, more Penny, more boys...just more of this story because it was fantastic!! I always wanted to learn how to play tennis when I was younger...and after reading this, I may just have to actually try it out. ;) Seriously though, give this one a shot, I think it's one that a lot of readers will enjoy. :D


GIVEAWAY!
- AMAZING PRIZES! All international!
- Ends May 31st

During Game. Set. Match.'s blog tour, there is an amazing giveaway going on! I've shared it below, but please keep in mind, this giveaway is for the entire blog tour, so if you see it on multiple blogs, just remember, it's the same giveaway. :)

TO ENTER JUST FILL OUT THE RAFFLECOPTER BELOW:


You can find the schedule for the rest of the tour stops for the Game. Set. Match. blog tour here on Jennifer Iacopelli's blog. You can even find excerpts on some of the stops, so make sure to take a peek!



What do you think? Does Game. Set. Match. sound like a book you'd enjoy?
And if you've already read it, who was your favourite character? Or what did you think? :)

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