The only reason I gave this two stars is because the Jake character kind of reminds me of Chuck Bass from Gossip Girl. I don’t see myself investing any money in anymore of these books since I had to make myself finish this one. I don’t know if I want to even bother with the next one unless it’s simply sitting in Barnes and Noble reading the whole thing. I really wanted to like this book since I do love books about girls who are into sports but this was so disappointing. In fact the writing style reminded me of the ones in the earlier Sweet Valley High novels which made me wonder if that was the last time Monica picked up a YA novel. I’ve read some good books by famous people in fact Hillary Duff’s Elixir series is one of the best in its genre and some are pretty bad and it saddens me to say that Monica Seles book wasn’t that great at all. After all this isn’t a contemporary YA novel. Then Travis goes from nice guy to egotistical jerk at the drop of a hat then most of the characters seem to switch personalities once again! Sorry but all of that makes no sense to me at all! Yes, there are some unrealistic parts but I can get past that though. I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t! First of all, the relationships go so fast that they make no sense: One minute Nicole hates her and the next they are like best friends, one minute she meets Travis, who is the Academy owner’s son and the next she’s sort of dating him, they were together all of five seconds before he takes her to Brazil, seriously what girl goes to another country with some guy she barely knows? Also at first Maya hates Jake in fact throughout most of the book she does but then he gets in trouble and show some weakness and all of a certain she’s making out with him and is “in love” with him.

Then eventually she gets too wrapped up in the celebrity like lifestyle that comes with it and forgetting who she is. Then she gets in with a girl named Renee and eventually moves in and starts hanging out with her and her roommate, Nicole who is one of the best tennis players in the world, (or so we hear once again). At first she’s really excited and meets some new friends and really practices. Maya who is a really good tennis player, or so we hear, but there is no way to know for sure since she rarely plays, gets a scholarship to The Academy, which I assume is the name of the school, since that’s all the author calls it.

Monica seles the academy game on