Category Archives: Reviews

REVIEW: Game. Set. Match. by Jennifer Iacopelli, or in which I find an excuse to talk about tennis

When her mother died, rising junior star Indiana Gaffney stopped playing tennis. But even she couldn’t stay away from the game completely. After watching up-and-coming American player Penny Harrison win the Madrid Open, Indy decides to accept the invitation from coach Dom Kingston to train at the Outer Banks Academy (OBX), an elite, world-renowned tennis facility in North Carolina. Soon enough she’s outranking more experienced players, gaining enemies, and catching the eye of Penny’s older brother, agent Jack Harrison.

Penny Harrison is on cloud nine. She just beat the number one player in the world at the Madrid Open. Now it’s time to gear up for Paris and the French Open. Everything is going smoothly until her coach teams her up to train with bad boy Alex Russell, the first British man to win Wimbledon since 1936, and someone with whom she had a recent fling. Can she handle the tension between them without letting it undo her?

Jasmine Randazzo is the child of two former Grand Slam champions and Olympic gold medalists. With her parent’s beach front estate only a walk down from Outer Banks, Jas has practically grown up at the academy. Her budding tennis career looks promising until Indy arrives and takes over as the new junior tour ‘it’ girl. To complicate the already intense expectations she shoulders, Jasmine’s in love with her best friend, Penny’s twin Teddy, who’s also a player on the pro tour. Neither Indy, Penny, or Jasmine can win both on and off the court, but they sure won’t want for drama, or romance, at OBX.

I had never heard of this new adult ebook until I received a review request from someone at its publisher, Coliloquy. If I hadn’t already fallen for the instantly recognizable tennis title and the neon and black-and-white cover, all I needed to hear was the word ‘tennis’ and I was in. I started playing tennis in elementary school and played throughout grade school at the local club as well as on the high school tennis team. (To indulge me more on this see the note below.) With a few exceptions, I find sports movies boring, and I’d never read fiction that features a sport prominently, let alone my favorite sport, so I couldn’t help myself. But I never worried about how Game. Set. Match. and I would get on. I wasn’t expecting a deep, character-driven novel, though Indy, Penny, and Jasmine are well-rounded characters. I wanted tennis matches and rivalry and a little romance and that is exactly what Jennifer Iacopelli’s debut novel delivers.

Game. Set. Match. strikes the perfect chord between fun and light but not overly light. There is substance in the characterization, the relationships, and the tennis action scenes. The first thing I didn’t anticipate was the prominence of the romances in Game. Set. Match. With the current trends in ebook new adult publishing, I think of it being tamer contemporary romance for the older YA or college-aged reader. The romances take more of a back seat to the tennis in Iacopelli’s novel, which I liked. There is some drinking and a few steamy moments, though not more graphic than some of the mature YA contemps I’ve read (i.e. Jennifer Echols and John Green) that are often placed in the adult fiction collections of public libraries rather than the young adult section. So smexy readers, don’t fret! But as this is the first book in the Outer Banks Academy series, beware of some unresolved relationships and tournaments.

The second aspect of Game. Set. Match. which caught me off guard was its strengths. There are a handful of important tennis matches played by each of the girls that had unpredictable outcomes. My biggest complaint with sports films is the predictability in your team winning the decisive game at the end of the film. It was thrilling to read about matches in which either opponent could end up winning . Even better, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed in the outcome because the tennis was always written with suspense and with each girl’s individual technique and mental game in mind. I was also pleased by the unexpected nuance in the mean girl style rivalry between Indy and Jasmine. I love when the initially one-note mean girl defies stereotype in YA contemps (see Courtney Summers). Jasmine and Indy’s hate relationship develops into a complicated friendship by the conclusion, and I enjoyed how they came to support each other in each other’s love life and tennis career. As can be expected with rotating perspectives, you’ll have character(s) you prefer. While it took the longest for me to genuinely sympathize with Jasmine’s character and I would’ve loved to be closer to the male leads, I’m happy that this is a series and Iacopelli can give Indy, Penny, and Jasmine the further attention and development they deserve in future installments. It can be a fine line for me between preferring a debut novel to be a stand alone or the first of a series but in this case I’m delighted at the thought of spending more time with Indy, Penny, and Jasmine at OBX in the near future.

Note: I’m not naturally athletic (just look at any picture of me!) so I worked harder than most players around me to keep up, and I was always proud of that. I don’t play very often now, but I hope to pick up the sport again in the future. In lieu of playing I’ve become a hard core fan of professional tennis and particularly the Grand Slam tournaments, which I’ve been watching with my mother since I was a little girl, when Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi were still playing. I was even able to attend a women’s semifinal Wimbledon match between Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams when I was living in London in 2005, which was a dream come true. Also, I was the lucky viewer of all of the nearly five hour epic Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer at Wimbledon in 2008, which has been lauded as the greatest match ever played. Besides Nadal, I have a soft spot for Brit Andy Murray, who was the only celebrity I spotted while living in London. Nadal and Andy FTW!

And finally, a picture of a few items I dug out from high school tennis:

Second Opinions
Mostly YA Lit – “I thought Jennifer Iacopelli balanced the romance, the multiple stories, and the connections between them nicely.”
My Guilty Obsession – “Overall I really enjoyed this read and will definitely be continuing with the series.”
The Autumn Review – “I don’t feel like you have to understand or even like tennis to appreciate this book.”
The Bookish Babe – “Game. Set. Match. was such a fantastic read.”
Xpresso Reads – “I found it to be a perfectly balanced feel-good book.”

The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr

4 Replies

Sixteen-year-old Lucy Beck-Moreau isn’t concerned … yet. It is true that her ten-year-old brother Gus has taken over as the budding concert pianist in the family, but he doesn’t seem to be practicing his life away. He hasn’t even had a messy boy phase, so she figures hers may be enough for the both of them. As far as she knows, as soon as she quit the stage at the prestigious piano festival in Prague – which only accepts fifteen pianists from her age group in the world each year – her life was over. Lucy and her family will not overcome the massive let down of her certain future being crushed so suddenly. Lucy would’ve been happy to coast along, continue to be late to school everyday and never see another note or piece of music again until she meets Will, Gus’s new teacher. As he questions her resignation from music, Lucy begins to lower her guard. Maybe what her family and the elite music world thinks of her doesn’t matter? Maybe Lucy can find enough love within herself to rekindle her passion for the piano and life again after all.

I’m a relatively new fan of Sara Zarr, who won me over with her last novel, How to Save a Life. It’s raw, nuanced portrayal of pregnant teenager Mandy and grief-stricken Jill coming to terms with their lives stamped a lasting impression on me. Regardless of the subject matter, I was set on reading her next book, but when I learned it would be about a teenage piano virtuoso, nothing would stop me. Lucy’s story sounded like Jessica Martinez’s Virtuosity but for the piano. And while Martinez’s Carmen can’t imagine leaving music behind, she experiences the same intense pressure of competing, finds small ways to defy her mother, and eventually lets the cracks in her armor show. I like how Zarr shows a possible next chapter for the child prodigy who chooses to quit in a conscious defiance of her family and her peers. Beyond the guts of starting out a novel with a character in that position, Zarr certainly has the chops to dig Lucy out of that situation, and I think she accomplished that with aplomb.

What I think I love most about The Lucy Variations as that I didn’t realize how flawed Lucy is until after I was done reading. That says something about the complexity of her emotions, the realism of her interactions with others and how deep the reader is able to delve into her shoes. I related strongly to an over-pushed passion becoming a dreaded task – in my case it was also playing the piano, but on a much smaller scale. I was also completely surprised by Lucy’s complicated relationship with Will, who becomes not only a mentor but a friend, and how true to life it was. In this respect it felt like Sara wrote The Lucy Variations just for me. The author walks a dangerous line between Lucy and the reader’s affections that she never crossed. Is Lucy privileged and self-centered? Yes. Doe she make some bad decisions? Yes. But she has also been robbed of her childhood and her grandmother, the only person in her family who loved her for her and not her music. And I saw all of Lucy clearly enough that I could never hate her, even in her most questionable moments. Instead I both sympathized and empathized with her, wishing her happiness in her life as she knows it now, without the attention, the acclaim, and the pleased family. Along the way the reader is rewarded with philosophical gems like this one, spurred on the joy Lucy feels when she listens to the allegro of Vivaldi’s “Winter” concerto:

The world was full of beauty.

She wanted to grab hold of it and take it down into her bones. Yet always it seemed beyond her grasp. Sometimes only by a little, like now. The thinnest membrane.

Usually, though, by miles.

She couldn’t expect to be that kind of happy all the time. She knew that.

But sometimes you could. Sometimes you should be allowed a tiny bit of joy that should stay with you for more than five minutes. That wasn’t too much to ask. To have a moment like this, and be able to hold on to it.

To cross that membrane, and feel alive.

While Lucy’s family may be the stereotypical high-strung concert pianist family and it becomes difficult to forgive Will’s actions, Lucy’s painful and freeing journey to discover what she loves and do it made me feel more alive. The Lucy Variations is a thoughtful and unexpected character-driven novel that will resonate with not only musicians but anyone who has aspired to be great in anything. Recommended for fans of Virtuosity and This Gorgeous Game.

The Lucy Variations is due out on May 7.

Second Opinions
Bibliophilic Monologues – “Apart from the problematic romance and Lucy’s less than appetizing character, the novel is easy to read and the pacing fluid enough.”
Jen Robinson’s Book Page – “Beautifully written, with complex characters and realistic interactions.”
Rather Be Reading – “The Lucy Variations is another strong representation of her amazing talent.”
The Readventurer – “All in all, The Lucy Variations is just an average read.”

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

6 Replies

It’s the Twelfth Dynasty, and fifteen year old Ren Daiyan swings his bamboo sword and dreams of winning back the lost rivers and mountains of the Kitan empire. But even he knows that becoming a soldier, a profession for drafted peasant farmers, is a disgrace to his family. So he attends the only academy in his prefecture, where he reads poetry, memorizes the classics, and studies history in the hope he might eventually pass the jinshi examinations and enter civil service in the capital. Little did he know that joining the guard of the sub-prefect into the forest one day would alter the entire course of his life. Years later he emerges from the outlaws of the Marsh with the opportunity to become the glorious war leader he always dreamed of.

Two and a half years after Daiyan became an outlaw, sixteen-year-old Lin Shan is excited to visit Yenling, home of the Peony Festival. Her father, court gentleman Lin Kuo, passed the jinshi examinations years ago and has just completed a book on Kitai gardens. He’s raised her daughter as if she were a boy, educating her in the classics, poetry, calligraphy, composing, and even briefly, in archery. He’s taken care in arranging her betrothal to a man who will accept her the way she is. Shan lives a mostly quiet life with her husband, Qi Wao, aiding him in his collection of ancient artifacts until the life of her father is threatened by the dog-eat-dog politics of the time, and she’s forced to act as no woman has. But it is when her fate becomes intertwined with Ren Daiyan’s that her life is truly altered.

Guy Gavriel Kay’s latest installment in his Under Heaven series about China’s Song Dynasty was another review request I accepted last month. Some of his earlier fantasy novels, such as the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy and Tigana, are loved among my blogging friends and as a fan of epic historical fantasy myself I planned on reading something by Kay at some point. I hate to admit that the doorstopping length of many of his novels hindered my willingness, as well as other common ailments like shiny new book syndrome. But when Kay’s publisher contacted me, I felt like it was the perfect time to stop making excuses and start reading, even if it was his newest work, which is more historical than fantasy. I’m happy to report that any hesitation I felt was unfounded.

Of course that isn’t to say that River of Stars isn’t long, nor is it to be devoured quickly, but it nonetheless captivated me from the very beginning with it’s masterful storytelling. It’s obvious that Kay is a writer, and not the kind who turn out a book every year. He has written, researched, and crafted River of Stars down to each minor and major character and every foreshadowing word, and I am in awe. The world of Kitai (based on ancient China) - with its court politics, battles, poetry, outlaws, women, peasants, and emperors – is fully imagined. The point-of-view changes often and there are many minor characters introduced whom the reader will never meet again, but each viewpoint matters in the overall portrait of an empire vividly and comprehensively drawn. The influential yet flawed characters of Ren Daiyan and Lin Shan fit strongly on this canvas. Separate they are powerful but together they are unstoppable players in the future of Kitai as it continues to decline under a decadent, out-of-touch emperor and the invading Altai (based on the Mongols). Their attraction to one another is unexpected and lovely and a little bit heartbreaking. Daiyan’s complete devotion and commitment to Shan in particular is striking on several occasions. I wouldn’t change any of the lovely words his uses to express his feelings for Shan. They are restrained, minimal and absolutely perfect, and I dare you not to swoon. There are many themes at work here, most notably distinguishing legend from history, the profound effect one life or one choice can have on a nation, and the power of self-belief. When the Altai begin to invade northern Kitai, the effects of war on the civilian are explored as well as the definition of honor, whether it be through fulfilling duty or following dreams. At the end of this grand and ambitious novel, Kitai, an ancient empire that almost becomes a character in and of itself, is left in an unexpected, real and life-affirming place that readers will be happy with regardless of how it differs from Daiyan’s dreams. In a class of its own, River of Stars is strong, engaging, and compelling historical fiction that has guaranteed I will be reading more by Guy Gavriel Kay in the future. Recommended for fans of Patricia McKillip and Juliet Marillier.

Second Opinions
Beauty in Ruins – “…unimaginable that an author could manage to capture such lyrical magic twice in a row, but Kay has done just that.”
Fantasy Book Critic – “I’m still reveling in the post-read trance, but I think even with time this will prove to be among my favorites of his works.”
Novelnaut – “…a wonderful story that’s a pleasure to read.”
The Bibliosanctum – “Everything is woven together to form a whole in a very impressive way, cementing the idea in my mind of Guy Gavriel Kay as a true artist.”

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

12 Replies

Whether by choice or not, Nick Davenant is a member of the Guild, an organization that controls time travel. Anyone who jumps forward in time becomes a member by default. And Nick did, quite unintentionally, jump forward two hundred years from the middle of a Napoleonic battle to the year 2003. If he thought facing the incomprehensible modern world was enough, Nick is told that he cannot return to his former life, which includes keeping his name or living in his native country. That the Guild pays its time travelers a generous income is a weak compensation at best. But over a decade Nick gradually settles into his new life as a Vermont dairy farm owner, never completely fitting in but happy enough. However, then he receives a seemingly impossible request from the Guild – to return to 1815 and help the Guild bring down a secret society seeking to usurp the Guild and control both the past and the future. In his journey back in time, Nick meets his old neighbor Julia Percy, a fellow aristocrat from his childhood currently mourning the loss of her grandfather, who could also control time. As Nick and Julia grow closer and learn more about the Guild and its opposing faction they are faced with a decision that may alter the river of time itself.

I first heard about The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway from the author herself when she sent me an especially personal and thoughtful review pitch. After reading the plot summary I fell for this historical/time travel mash-up immediately and couldn’t wait to read it. I have a soft spot for time travel novels (Jumper and The Time Traveler’s Wife) as it is. After downloading the ARC to my ereader, I snuck in a few chapters here in there in between the other books I was supposed to be reading. Since Ridgway is a professor of history at Bryn Mawr College I expected meticulously researched Regency England (which is delivered), but what I didn’t foresee was a swoon-worthy romance playing a strong role. I’ll take an addition like that any day.

After mulling over The River of No Return, I concluded that while the romance was gratifying and I enjoyed the time travel aspect, the real highlight of the novel was how deftly Ridgway characterizes Nick, a man who is required to move between two hundred years of social mores seamlessly, and at the drop of a hat. It is obvious why Nick will never completely fit in the twenty-first century. After his one year of orientation with the Guild and his ten years living in the US, he still has an antiquated taste in food, still catches himself singing the Merrie Olde tunes of his childhood, and most awkward of all, Nick still cannot find a plausible explanation for his ugly battle scars for the many women who exit his life just as quickly as they enter it. Yet, when Nick is summoned to return to spy on the splinter time travel organization called the Ofan, he’s hesitant to return, and when he does, he finds himself a changed Lord. Most glaringly, Nick is now accustomed to women’s freedom from a patriarchal society and he no longer holds the same respect for his class, title and estate. He takes anachronistic missteps in his relationships with Julia, his sisters and his position that are realistic and understandable. In the end he’s forced to act in his old life more than he anticipated and the sad realization that he doesn’t completely belong in any time period is only lessened by his developing romantic relationship with Julia. The history they share before he jumped is scant, but the image of her dark eyes after the death of his father comforts and anchors him to his fate as a Guild member. When Nick and Julia finally meet again, sparks fly, and their chemistry cannot be denied. The sexual tension is palpable and the nineteenth versus twenty-first century moral dilemmas are compelling. I loved watching both Nick and Julia alternately advance and retreat from acceptable Regency behavior until I was left contented by the status of their relationship at the conclusion of the novel. While the identity of the real villains in this story was predictable, I couldn’t predict the details of the mystery nor how the future of time travel and the flow of the river itself will be resolved. Indeed, the bigger conflict of the effects of controlling the future isn’t resolved, and a sequel is in the works. But The River of No Return is a strong debut on its own, with an interesting time travel concept, a satisfying romance, and a thoughtful and unique view of Regency England. I’m crossing my fingers that it will garner the attention – and the readers – it deserves. The River of No Return is recommended for fans of Susanna Kearsley and Deborah Harkness.

The River of No Return is out today.

Second Opinions
Bookshelf Fantasies – “I love The River of No Return… [it] has so many elements that really make a book sing for me.”
Lovely Books Blog – “I wholeheartedly recommend The River of No Return to fans of Regency era romance and time travel.”
That’s What She Read – “There is something about The River of No Return that makes it highly enjoyable in spite of its flaws.”

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

7 Replies

When a mute faerie named Tink first saw the disheveled, stoic Tiger Lily, she was a goner. Wild but poised, quiet but determined, Tiger Lily stood out among the Sky Eaters tribe. Her fierce difference permits her devoted followers and no friends, but Tiger Lily doesn’t mind. At 15 years old, all she needs is the love of her adopted father, shaman Tik Tok, who, donning dresses and sitting with the graceful posture of any refined woman, also walks to the beat of his own drum. So as a sort of lost cause herself to the other villagers, who feel threatened by her difference, Tiger Lily saves her inner rage for lost causes. But after diligently striving to save the island outsider, her father, and even the lost boys, can she save herself from a bad arranged marriage and her own shattered heart?

Jodi Lynn Anderson’s Tiger Lily would’ve flown completely under my radar if it wasn’t for Angie’s lovely review. After that, I doubt I’d ever read it if it hadn’t been voted as the YAckers read for March. I’ve never been a huge fan of the story of Peter Pan as depicted in its many film adaptations. (I’ve never read the book.) There’s something both enticingly magical and dark about Peter Pan and Neverland, but I never connect with Wendy and her brothers beyond their wish to fly from their London home and the anticipation of the unknown awaiting them. The responsible adult questions I always ask myself are “Who would never want to grow up?” or “Why is everyone drawn, for better or worse, to Peter?” I wonder if I’d feel differently about the original story or if I’d read it as a child. It was with hesitance that I trusted the promise of beauty within Tiger Lily, and reader, I wasn’t betrayed.

It’s been weeks since I closed Tiger Lily with one of the most content sighs I’ve had all year, and yet I’m still struggling to find the words to describe something so beautiful in its story, characters, and words. Some readers were put off by Tinker Bell’s removed narration, but her unique perspective drew me in from the first captivating paragraph. She can’t speak but she can perceive emotion and observe events from the air or the ground, which makes her a rather accurate narrator. More than reporting what she sees, Tink passes astute judgment on the characters and their actions. Right along with her, I befriended Tiger Lily and fell in love with Peter, whose free-spirited, almost callous nature is humanized by glimpses of childlike vulnerability as well as the sinister schemes of a grown man. While the focus of Tiger Lily is the all-consuming and all-too-fragile nature of first love, the supporting characters are distinctly drawn and play weighty roles in the plot. Anderson’s confident, colorful rendering of all the characters convinced me that she could’ve written an equally riveting retelling from anyone’s viewpoint. Pine Sap, Tiger Lily’s unapologetic admirer; Hook and Smee, disturbing and sympathetic pirates; Tik Tok, a troubled tribal leader – each had the nuance to carry the story. But as is only natural, Tiger Lily stole my heart with her quiet, courageous way of enduring the pain of her present and accepting love in its many forms that came along the way. An apt description of Tiger Lily (through Tink’s eyes):

Still, the longer I was around her, the more I could see the colors of her mind and the recesses of her heart. There was a beast in there. But there was also a girl afraid of being a beast, and who wondered if other people had beasts in their hearts too. There was strength, and there was also the determination to look strong. She guarded herself like a secret.

As you can see, Anderson’s prose alone is arresting. Except perhaps for Tik Tok, I wouldn’t change a thing about these characters or how their story unfolds. I loved every bittersweet moment of Tiger Lily and I hope you will too.

Second Opinions
Angieville – “I choked back tears more than once and … the ending is fragile and aching and right.”
Book Nut – “I didn’t think I wanted to read this one, but in the end, I’m so glad I did.”
Books Take You Places – “I found the book to be so brilliant.”
Bunbury in the Stacks – “It is a story that is as bold as it is bittersweet … in the end, it is perfect.”
Emily’s Reading Room – Though the pace of Tiger Lily is slow … each word was so very carefully placed.”
Good Books and Good Wine – “It will also surprise you in a heartbreaking and … heart mending way, too.”