Hi there! Today I’m sharing a review for Jennifer Iacopelli’s new release: LOSING AT LOVE. This is a sequel to the (smash!) hit GAME. SET. MATCH. I haven’t read the first bookin this series, but ’tis okay…
Grass courts, tennis whites and the fiercest competition in the world. Wimbledon. After two crazy weeks in Paris, the girls of the Outer Banks Tennis Academy are headed to London with just one thing on their minds: winning.
Indiana Gaffney is fresh off a surprise win at the French Open junior tournament. Sponsors are clamoring for her attention, but what she wants more than anything—aside from a wild card to Wimbledon—is to be with Jack Harrison, but international fame and a secret relationship rarely mix well.
When Penny Harrison dreamed of playing at Wimbledon she never imagined agonizing pain shooting through her ankle with every step. With just a month until the tournament and the whole world expecting her to win, she’s determined to play, with or without the support of her coach or the love of her life, Alex Russell.
For the first time ever, no one expects anything from Jasmine Randazzo. After a crushing first-round defeat in the French Open juniors, the tennis world has given up on her, but worse than that, so have her parents, her best friend Teddy and maybe even her coach. With everyone writing her off, can she find it within herself to go after her dreams?
My Review:
This is the second book in a series. It can be read as a standalone.
This is a fast-paced sports romance featuring three MC’s all of whom are rising women’s juniors-level tennis stars. Penny Harrison, Indiana “Indy” Gaffney and Jasmine Randazzo are all linked by years of training at the Outer Banks Tennis Academy. They share coaches and living space, but they don’t always share secrets.
For example, Indy–who is a month shy of 18–is secretly dating Penny’s (adult) older brother Jack. Penny and Indy are both pro, but Jasmine is still deciding her future. She wants to go pro, but her coach and parents want her to go to college. Jas feels as if no one truly believes in her, and often she feels unwanted in comparison to her more highly-regarded friends. Her best friend, Penny’s twin brother Teddy, is someone Jasmine wants to date, but he continually pushes her off. Well, at least until she becomes the object of another man’s interest.
Penny, for her part, is coming off an ankle injury at the French Open, and is determined to play singles at Wimbledon. Doing so, however is a real challenge, and not only because she has to eliminate a friend first-round. She has the constant support of Alex, her boyfriend, who is mopping up in the Men’s singles–back in action after a knee injury. It seems as if Penny and Alex have found the right balance between love and tennis, by the end.
After winning the French Open (junior division) Indy starts out strong, but recognizes her few connections in the tennis world are more fragile than even she expected. Plus, keeping her (inappropriate) relationship with Jack on the down-low is a challenge she is not able to meet. And people she should be able to trust only prove themselves more and more untrustworthy. I was glad to see Indy take the high road, more than once, and really carve out her niche in this high-stakes game, even if the tennis isn’t going so spectacularly by the fortnight’s end.
As for putting this book into the New Adult genre, I’m going to disagree. The MC’s are barely 18, if that old. It’s close to innocent, smexytimes-wise. There are some heavy make-outs but the scene always fades-to-black before the sex hits the page. In fact, only one of these relationships breaches the point of penetration, (again, off the page) and that’s just fine. There is plenty of drama between these girls, their opponents, their men, and their parents to fill the pages. It’s a gritty, realistic look into the politics of tennis and passion of a three elite athletes and their drive to the top. I’d say it’s squarely in the mature YA category and suitable for any reader 14+.
Interested? You can find Losing at Love on Amazon, BN, iTunes, Kobo and Goodreads.
And the previous book in this series, Game. Set. Match. is also available on Amazon, BN, iTunes, Kobo and Goodreads.
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Thanks for popping in and keep reading my friends!
About the Author:
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.
Catch up with Jennifer online on her newsletter, twitter, Facebook, website, Goodreads, Instagram, and Amazon Author Page.