A review by michalice
Love Match by Monica Seles

4.0

I stumbled across this series by accident when I won a copy on goodreads. From the minute I finished reading The Academy I wanted to read The Academy: Love Match straight away, unfortunately I had to wait six months before I could get my hand on it.
The minute I began reading The Academy: Love Match we find Maya in a tennis match against her tennis idol, and while it doesn't go as planned, she certainly has learnt a lot in the academy and you know she will give Nicole a run for her money. The aftermath of the match leaves the world talking about Maya, with blogs, websites wanting to know more, everyone wants a piece of her.

I love Maya's friends Cleo and Rene, and while we don't really get to see a lot of Rene, Cleo also finds herself in the spotlight with Maya, but for completely different reasons. I felt bad for Cleo, she is slated on blogs, her fashion sense is made a joke of, and she is bullied online. As the story progresses you can see how each jibe at her affects her belief in herself and her confidence. The parts that we do see Rene are short but sweet, and she has a new crush. Seeing how she reacts to her new crush was so sweet, she is so adorably hopeless.

Jake and Travis are just as sexy, and just as annoying, both fighting for Maya's attention in different ways, and both having to face the reality of the situation with their father. I wanted to poke them for being so silly, lock them in a cupboard to work out their differences, and tell them to finally decide what they really want instead of messing with Maya s feelings.
Maya is still torn between them both, but also has to deal with Nicole who is I still want to slap for being so arrogant, deal with her sudden rise in popularity, and help Cleo and Rene deal with their own issues. But it's during these tense times that we get to see Maya shine, and not only do we see how much of a talented player she is, but also how she is gaining confidence in herself and learning how to stand up for herself against Nicole.

The Academy: Love Match was even more enjoyable than it's predecessor, and I think this is my favourite out of them both so far. I really want there to be another book in this series so we can see what happens next for Maya, and I really want Nicole to get what she deserves.