The Reading Date

I don't play tennis, or follow sports in general, but I think sport themed romance books are lots of fun, and there's a lot to love about GSM.GSM follows 3 aspiring tennis stars: Penny, the pro with the bright future, Jasmine, the daughter of tennis royalty who wants it all now, and Indiana (Indy), the newcomer who could surprise them all.In GSM we see all the hard work behind the scenes that goes into training for pro tennis. There’s competition not only in the competitive matches, but also for the spots to compete in the first place. The veterans at the OBX aren’t too thrilled with the new kid Indy. Since we follow girls in three different levels at the academy we get to see all sides of the story.All the three girls have their ups and downs and personality quirks. At times each of them got under my skin, but particularly the resident mean girl Jasmine. The one that was the easiest to relate to was Indy, the new girl. She’s coming into the tennis academy fresh, just like the reader. And I think she was the most three dimensional of the trio. Even though there were three different girls to keep track of, the author differentiated them enough to follow along, no sweat.Each girl has some boy trouble that distracts from the game. All three guys were pleasant enough but appropriately were not the focus of the book. The story is more focused on the girls themselves and their personal development. I did find the tennis scenes and team interactions more compelling personally. And if you’re wondering, even though GSM definitely fits the NA category, the love scenes are not explicit.Jennifer Iacopelli wrote an entertaining story. The tennis scenes seemed well researched and the terminology accurate as far as I could tell. I read the book quickly and it was a fun read overall. There is not any big cliffhanger at the end of the book, though there is the set up for future stories at the tennis academy. If you like tennis or sports romances I think you’ll find a lot to offer in GSM, though don’t get too scared off by the sports aspect. If I can follow along, so can you!