Episode Details

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If you've been sleeping on sports romance, this episode is your wake-up call. Tennis romance is officially having its moment in publishing — and the author who was writing it a decade before anyone else is finally getting her flowers.

In this episode, Laura chats with Jennifer Iacopelli, author of Game Set Match and its sequel Wild Card — new adult tennis romances newly re-released through Little Brown's Requited imprint after Jennifer's YA novel Finding Her Edge was adapted into a Netflix series. They dig into Jennifer's 15-year publishing journey, the ensemble cast storytelling structure of the Game Set Match series, the road from canceled Olympics to Netflix, and why tennis provides the perfect natural force-proximity setup for romance. Plus, Jennifer shares her top sports romance recs (including a few you can grab right now) and a YA F1 romance that's coming in 2027 that you'll want to add to your TBR immediately.

Perfect for fans of Challengers, sports romance, and anyone who loves a resilience arc — in fiction and in real life.

📚 Books Mentioned

Game Set Match by Jennifer Iacopelli — Buy on Amazon | New Adult Romance / Sports Romance / Tennis | KU ✅ (backlist) | Audio ✅ (check availability)

Wild Card by Jennifer Iacopelli — Buy on Amazon | New Adult Romance / Sports Romance / Tennis | (sequel to Game Set Match; releasing June 2026)

Finding Her Edge by Jennifer Iacopelli — Buy on Amazon | YA Romance / Sports Fiction / Olympic Figure Skating | Now a Netflix series ✅

Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli — Buy on Amazon | YA Romance / Sports Fiction / Olympic Gymnastics | Audio ✅ (check availability)

Thirty Love by Tom Vellner — Buy on Amazon | Adult Romance / Sports Romance / Tennis | MM Romance | (recently released)

The Open Era by Edward Schmit — Buy on Amazon | Adult Romance / Sports Romance / Tennis | (recently released)

The Fast Track by Angelica Chang — Buy on Amazon | YA Romance / Sports Fiction / F1 Racing | (releases summer 2026 — add to your TBR now!)

The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston — Buy on Amazon | Adult Romance | Secret Garden vibes | (upcoming — release date June 2026)

⏱️ Timestamps

[00:00] Welcome & intro — Jennifer Iacopelli joins the show

[00:45] Jennifer's background: YA and new adult sports romance author

[01:30] Game Set Match debut in 2013 — the pre-BookTok era of publishing

[02:30] How the 2008 financial crisis led Jennifer to write her debut novel

[04:30] Publishing journey: aging the book down, small digital publishers, and a closed imprint

[06:00] Break the Fall — writing in response to the USA Gymnastics scandal

[07:30] The COVID Olympics cancellation and its impact on her publishing career

[08:30] Finding Her Edge and the road to Netflix

[10:00