First off I want to thank NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for giving me a ebook copy of All-Star Love by Stephanie J. Scott like a day before it was released. Even with my review it was still a good book, and I definitely would’ve bought it/checked it out from the library.

I think I have to give this book a four out of five stars rating. I’m honestly surprised with myself that it isn’t a three, but I think it has something to do with my current obsession about reading about reality shows and the corruption behind them. Much like the show they were going to air in the book, the story lines didn’t all make sense. The entire plot line about the Uncle who ran away with the money could have been completely cut, and the book would stay almost the exact same. Also Sveta?? Really confused on why she was brought in if she was barely in the book. It came across as she was supposed to be a bigger character, but again, like The Academy her story line seemed like it was cut out? I’m not really sure, but she seems nice enough. I feel like you can look away from all of that, but one thing I can’t ignore is the almost lack of trials. Okay, I know I sound crazy but hear me out, I know Paige was supposed to be a villain, and she kind of was, but she didn’t really seem to have any power till the very end. There was animosity between students, but after a little tiff they got along again. I’m not sure what exactly made it feel this way, maybe there needed to be a more developed B-Roll or something.
I promise I have good stuff too though!! I absolutely LOVE Maisie and Nia’s friendship, wish I could say I had something similar, but much like Shane I’ve moved around a bit. I definitely see a lot of myself in Nia. I can be pretty stubborn, and I too try to absolutely ignore an injury so it doesn’t affect any practices. I like how Stephanie wrote a book about a tennis boarding school. My brother plays tennis and you never really see other books talk about it, so it made for a really interesting read by combining that and reality TV.

Overall I would like to say that, yes, maybe I was being a bit too critical in the first half of my review, but that is just my opinion and I encourage you to read it for yourself to not only be able to construct your own opinion, but to also support this lovely author.

[This review is posted on Goodreads, Netgalley, and will be referenced with instagram (it is having issues right now and will be up by 5/16/22 at the latest)]

All Star Love was a quick and enjoyable read, I really enjoyed the sports aspect of it especially since it was tennis and you don’t hear that often. I think if you like a lighthearted sports romance you’ll definitely enjoy this. Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for a review!

A book that consists of fake dating and sports romance in a reality tv show is just what I needed. It was such a good and sweet read. I was just expecting of having them to be more enemies but instead, they got together like 26% mark I believe? since based on the description that there would be like enemies/rivals to lovers vibe. I still enjoyed it nonetheless since I do be smiling from time to time by Maisie and Shane.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the author for the ARC !!

3.75/5

Um romance leve, divertido, com muita confusão e drama adolescente à mistura.

O motivo que me fez ler este livro foi falar de ténis que é um desporto que adoro 🎾 Na realidade, o tema não é muito abordado e gostava mais de ter lido mais sobre.

Todo o drama adolescente fez-me alguma confusão, alguns momentos foram demasiado exagerados.

É uma leitura rápida com tropes muito famosas e bem deliciosas. Temos um suave enemies-to-lovers, com fake dating e o drama de um reality show.

Tem os ingredientes ideais e acho que irá agradar a todos os amantes de romance YA.

DNF @ 24% The premise of this book was very interesting however the execution did not do it justice. The characters were just SO incredibly boring. Nothing about them was interesting. If you asked me to I wouldnt be able to name one characteristic about any of the characters. Also the pacing was super weird it was slow but also too fast at times. It’s sad because this seemed like it had potential.

** This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review**

Didn’t work for me.

Maisie, working to overcome her uncle’s scandal, is featured along with the other tennis pros at her school, for a reality show, with the all around current tennis champ, Shane Wagner.

I just didn’t seem to care what happened in the story or with the characters.

The story revolves around Maisie Maxwell, Shane Wagner, and tennis. The two meet after Maisie's tennis academy gets into a scandal after her uncle, who is also a co-founder of the academy, leaves with the student funds, and it left the school <s>desperate</s> for press and to earn back the money the uncle stole.

I want to first get this off my chest: this is not an enemies-to-lovers story like it's being advertised, it's more rivals-to-lovers at best. Aside from their first encounter, they were basically almost-friends since the beginning. So, if you want to read this book because of the enemies-to-lovers mark, sorry to disappoint.

I consider myself a fast reader, so I want to say it took me almost two weeks to finish this because I was very occupied with school, which is true, but it was also mostly because the beginning wasn't as enticing as I want it to be. It took a while for me to really find it interesting but we got there, and it took me 2-3 days to finish.

Overall, I liked the story and it's a 3.5 stars for me. It's a cute romance between Maisie and Shane and the whole reality show drama was very interesting too.

Thank you to NetGalley for an arc of this book!

I enjoyed the book. The plot overall was very fun and cute to read.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of the YA novel, "All=Star Love" by Stephanie J. Scott, slated to release on May 24th, 2022.

This novel tells the story of Margaret (Maisie) Maxwell, who returns for her senior year at a prestigious tennis training academy called Six Lakes. She is nervous to return, because her uncle Corbin Maxwell, a former coach and important tennis player, was charged with taking funds from the school. He is on the run to avoid getting caught. Some of the other students in the program treat Maisie with distaste because they automatically associate her with her criminal of an uncle.

A reality show swoops in, determined more to save their failing show than Six Lakes Tennis Academy (as originally promised) Though the student body has been dwindling in numbers due to Maisie's uncle's unfortunate choices, they band together and expose the producer for who she truly is - and it is not a pretty picture that gets painted.

Overall, I would rate this novel a 3,5/5 stars. I'm sure if I was still in high school and not 32 years old, I probably would have rated it even higher. :)

❤️❤️❤️
💋

This one wasn’t to my personal taste as much as I had hoped.
It felt like it could have been great and the blurb intrigued me.
Once I got into reading it felt to young for me.

The story was lighthearted and I found myself giggling in a few places.
In general I would recommend it to those who are looking for a lighthearted read.
It was definitely enjoyable.

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of "All-Star Love" by Stephanie J. Scott.

Masie is in her senior year at Six Lakes Academy for tennis but it's not how she planned. Her uncle, who was a coach, is on the run after stealing money from the school and Masie thinks of herself as outcast #1. This changes when it is announced the Six Lakes is going to be the feature school on a reality TV series and they are bringing in pro-level tennis players to fill out the dwindling population at the school. With new outsiders and a push to make lives more interesting Masie and her friends find themselves making decisions that they wouldn't have considered before.

This was thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable. While, yes, there are only so many plot lines for teenagers being on a reality show (we all make bad decisions and then band together in the end) the tennis aspect kept this enjoyable. The different goals for characters made them memorable and real problems of growing apart are discussed. I thought this was a little back and forth on the romance side for me but overall it was enjoyable and had a fun friendship aspect as well as a twist at the end.

Four stars.

genre: YA
rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5/5
spice rating: 0/5

This was a really quick and easy read for me and I thought it was so cute about tennis and also teen romance, but mostly with maturing and focusing on the right things and your passions. I thought the storyline was good and I loved how it encourages chasing after your passions and respecting others and their boundaries. I loved what Maisie stood for but I didn’t like that her character would give in so easily to her doubts, kind of in an unrealistic way. Someone with such strong beliefs confidence wouldn’t suddenly question and distrust the intentions of those around her. The romance timing didn’t bother me actually. I like how they went from enemies at first but then to Maisie accepting Shane and crushing on him, even if it was quick for something to happen(and she really couldn’t admit it to herself), because she’s being a genuinely good person and not excluding him like her peers pressured her to do. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a romance though, so the title was a little bit misleading. A little romance, a lot of reality TV drama & an amazing show of camaraderie, it turned out to be really charming and hold some good messages. Overall I give this 3.5 stars and I would suggest you read this if you like teen romance, tennis, coming of age, and reality tv.

This YA novel is based at a private tennis school for high school students, where the MC's uncle was a coach but absconded with the school's money and is no where to be found. Maisie returns for her senior year with her best friend despite the scandal and finds out that two top players from their age group, American top ranked Shane and a superstar from the Ukraine, are coming to their school and the school has agreed to be featured on a reality show called The Academy. They soon find that the producers are making them lie, turn on one another, etc. so the original students team up against the outsiders. One problem: Maisie has gotten to know Shane since the show pushed them together and not only does she think he isn't a bad guy, she actually has a crush on him.

The story was fine. As someone in my 30s, some YA stories grab my attention and others make me feel old and aren't paced well. For me, this was unfortunately one of the latter.

My review for this book will live in a story highlight called ARCReviews on my Instagram.

3.75/5

netgalley
"I kissed him like nothing mattered. No, I kissed him like he mattered. Like we mattered."
•
This was such a fun and cute read. The plot was super fun and kept my interest from the very first page. The Swoon chefs kiss🤌🏻. The drama chefs kiss 🤌🏻. The sports romance chefs kiss🤌🏻
•
This book takes place at six lakes tennis academy, following Maisie as she tries and recovers hers and the schools reputation.
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I was very pleasantly surprised by just how much tennis was a part of the plot and how romance wasn’t at the forefront of the story but a side story.
•
The chemistry between maisie and Shane was so so good. Although there first encounter wasn’t perfect the were literally the cutest once they gave each other a chance
•
Thank you so much netgalley for the ears in exchange for an honest review

If you love fake dating and reality tv wrapped up in a sports romance, then this book is for you! This was a super fun read! I love tennis, and I don't feel like we see this enough in stories. When a reality tv show comes to Six Lakes Tennis Academy to film for their show, just after the school's founder and tennis coach runs off with school's money, Maisie finds herself thrown into the scandal and is worried as to how it will affect her future. This book was a relatively quick read and it's one you should definitely pick up!

I enjoyed this book. It was a nice palette cleanser from some of the other stuff I was reading. It felt like a light and fluffy rom-com and I was having a good time reading it.
The characters were a mixed bag I liked some of them. I wasn't crazy connected but I didn't hate Maisie she was a fine main character and as far as the love interest (Shane) goes he did his job and had some depth and purpose. I really wish we had more time with Nina, I know her and Maisie were fighting for most of the book which drove me up the wall but I can see why it was done to drive the plot further. It just seemed that Nina and her family would have added a interesting few members to the cast it felt like a missed opportunity .
The one main flaw in this book was the pace. It felt off to fast in the beginning and middle and too slow in the end part. Another issue is it was advertised as enemies to lovers with fake dating and it's not really like that. First, it was rivals to lovers they never hated each other for any reason other that they were competing for the same thing, hence rivals. They never really fake dated just fake kissed? I see where the author was going with this and the idea has potential to be a really good book it just fell a little flat. An additional thought, they never really hated each other so it was a little bit false advertised but I liked the book nonetheless.
To close this up I like this book nothing ground shattering but a very cute book to read between more intense fantasy series.

*I received a ARC from NetGalley. Thank you Stephanie J. Scott!!

I was so excited to read this book because of what I read at the description and it did disappoint a little bit, is sold as an enemies to lovers when they kiss in the first few chapters, the main character was a bit annoying at times but overall it was a cute romance sports, the relationship between Shane and Maisie was cute, what I liked the most was the behind the scenes of the reality tv show that are shown to the reader.

Thank you NetGalley for the eArc!

I love anything that has some form of reality tv focus to it!
Also, it was so interesting to see how different people can be when there’s a chance for fame on reality tv. It just shows the lengths people will go for what they want!
Wasn’t a fan of the ending as I didn’t think it was super realistic. I would love to see when things don’t work out for the MC, even at the end. That would catch me off guard and be less predictable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Stephanie J. Scott for the chance to read this ARC.

Overall this book is very YA and almost middle grade, and I believe I would have eaten this up if I were younger or specifically in middle school. The main character was very juvenile and came across as having a superiority complex among her "friends" for not wanting to drink, break the rules, or even dress in a revealing way. While this example might be necessary for some readers, to me, this came across as over the top. I often found myself getting annoyed with a few of the characters or frustrated by how much the main lead shamed her friends.

This book did have its cute moments and I did think Shane was my favorite character. I was also pleasantly surprised by how much tennis was actually in the book since many sports romances can throw this to the side in favor of romance. However, it should also be noted that I was a bit disappointed that the book was marketed as enemies to lovers despite the main couple getting together rather quickly. Fake dating was also advertised and occurred to a degree, but it wasn't at all what I expected.

Essentially, I feel this book was a really quick read and would fair well with a younger crowd than myself looking for something lighthearted and juvenile. The book isn't necessarily bad, but it was not my style in the end.


https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/c21b132b-fd1a-44aa-b701-61bffea13906

Thanks to the author and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a cute YA Romance set in a Tennis Academy in Michigan where a reality TV Show is being shot for a season. Tensions are high and friendships are tested and there's a romance between the main character, Maisie, and the new boy in school, Shane.

Shane happens to be a hot-shot transfer from Florida and there are suspicions around his real motivations. Maisie is already getting some heat at school as her uncle embezzled funds from the school and her classmates are blaming her. So, the two are thrown together as they are both feeling isolated.

Though the story moves slowly and the peripheral characters are a little two-dimensional, overall this is a nice story in an interesting setting.

The style of writing also may have been a bit young for me, but I can see teenagers enjoying it.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.