Man oh Man, the excitement that I had when I got my hands on this book was like no other. Taylor Jenkins Reid comes back with a new novel surrounding Carrie Soto, the girl you love to hate and still find yourself rooting for her. She made her first appearance in Malibu Rising and has come back with a story of her own.

The story starts with Carrie Soto a retired tennis legend, known as the greatest of all time and carrying the record for the most grand slam titles won. As Carrie watches her record being broken by the new up and coming tennis star Nicki Chan, she decides she needs to come out of retirement and defend her record. Carrie looks to her side where her dad, Javier Soto, former tennis champion and coach smiles in agreement for the ultimate comeback. Carrie Soto aka the "battle axe" is back at the age of thirty seven, making her the oldest female tennis player competing. In order to beat the best, she finds herself training with an old fling, Bowe Huntley, from her past. Similar to Carrie he's one of the oldest male tennis players still in the game and feels the need to prove himself. The two come together with the help of her dad and develop their skills to a level they haven't reached before. This is Carrie's last season and she has everything to prove and is willing to give it her all to get there.

Throughout the novel, TJR gets the reader hyped with her description of the game and the dedication to the sport. She has great character development that helps you to understand why Carrie is the way she is and highlights the softer sides of her as she faces challenges on her journey. This book had me hooked and I found myself getting lost in the story. Overall 4/5 stars and would recommend to anyone that fell in love with her previous stories following Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, and Nina Riva....For those that loved those characters keep your eyes open for some characters that make a guest appearance.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for selecting me to read this book.

Even though Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my all time favorite authors, I was pretty hesitant about this book because I’m usually not a big fan of anything sports related. But if anyone could convert me it’s for sure going to be Ms Taylor.

Carrie Soto is an incredible tennis player and is completely unashamed of her talents. I love that she is blunt in honest about her own skills and abilities. She is so determined to win and be the best and it’s so refreshing reading about a strong competitive female character.. especially one in her late 30s! I was rooting for her the whole time.

I really loved how Carrie’s relationship with her father/coach, Bowe (training partner), and fellow competitors shifted as the story went on. I also thought the Transcripts added a lot of depth to the story.

Also it wouldn’t be a Taylor Jenkins Reid book without a little Mick Riva. 😌

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re a fan of sports and/or “unlikeable” female characters, this is the book for you!!

If you don’t know, I’m a huge lover of TJR’s writing style. I’ve read Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, and Malibu Rising by her and thoroughly enjoyed all of them! Out of all of them though, I’d probably place Carrie Soto at the bottom of the chart, just because I didn’t really feel connected to the story or characters. For me, it’s definitely not as memorable as TJR’s other books and I didn’t form an attachment to the characters as much as I usually do to the ones in her novels. However, I fully believe it’s just because I am not a sports person and not for any other reason. I never played sports growing up and competitions have never been a big deal to me, which is kind of the whole point of the story and probably why I wasn’t very interested throughout.

But, I do find Carrie Soto such an interesting character and I really enjoyed seeing how she changed and adapted over the course of the book (and also how she stayed the strong, determined woman with a no-fucks-given attitude we love her for). I especially enjoyed the ending, that was probably the part that I connected with the most and brought a lot of emotion out for me (I actually cried a little). Also her and Bowe- adorable. They’re absolutely perfect together and I love their relationship dynamic so so much!

I adore Taylor Jenkins Reid books and this one doesn't disappoint. Carrie Soto, a retired tennis player, decides to give it one last go after her record gets shattered by a younger player. I know absolutely nothing about tennis, I've never played, never really watched it on TV so I was worried this would be heavy on tennis. It is but Taylor Jenkins Reid writes in a way that both explains the game and you can visualize this character and world. Loved it.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5! I absolutely devoured this story about Carrie Soto. It was extremely addicting and so easy to read. I love how fierce and determined carrie was and didn’t care what anyone else thought about her. Also if you are a tennis player this is a MUST READ. This is def going in my top 3 fav TJR reads alongside One True Loves and Daisy Jones.

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it didn't disappoint for a single page!

As a huge Taylor Jenkins Reid fan, and having read all of her previous titles, I was thrilled to receive this ARC from NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine in exchange for my honest review. I have devoured every TJR book and loved each of her heroines, their stories, and each dose of TJR's heartfelt, lovely writing. Carrie Soto, TJR's latest heroine, is no exception. In fact, I'll remember her as one of my favorite, if not my favorite, characters in TJR"s world.

CARRIE SOTO IS BACK chronicles the story of Carrie Soto, tennis star, who appeared briefly in TJR's most recent novel, MALIBU RISING. I loved the opportunity to hear Soto's side of the story and dive more deeply into her world. CARRIE SOTO IS BACK is a love story to tennis, to father-daughter bonds, to comebacks and perseverance, and to women who rebel against society's limited definitions for them. I loved Carrie, her father, her game play. As a tennis player and fan myself, I found this aspect of the novel especially enjoyable - and while I would highly recommend this for other fans of tennis, I do think non-fans could still be swept away by TJR's writing and the world she creates for Carrie.

I highly recommend this novel, which has heart and soul, tennis and love and redemption and loss. I will certainly read it again and remember Carrie, and her story, for a long time.

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a worthy follow-up to 2021’s Malibu Rising, though fans of the glitz and glamor seen in Reid’s Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones, and Evelyn Hugo might not take this story of a woman’s quest to reclaim her former glory on the tennis court. This reads for a audience with other interests, but still readers will enjoy the story and narrator.

I'll say straight off the bat that I could care less about tennis, I've seen the game a few times on TV and while I get the excitement, it's not my thing. However, ultimately the game is a stand in for any type of a passion that a person dedicates their whole being to. Carrie Soto is mentioned briefly in the author's prior novel that I also really enjoyed so in a way it was entertaining to see this tiny thread going back. But this book and its main character is an entirely independent and fee standing story which I enjoyed very much despite all the tennis talk :) Whether you like Carrie Soto, that's up to you, but I found the story interesting, well developed and fully engaging,

As always, TJR’s writing is unmatched. She creates characters that are so specific and I love the timeline of this one. I don’t know much about tennis, but I’m kind of obsessed now and this book captured my attention the entire time. I honestly loved Carrie as a main character - her relationship with her dad, with success, with her place in history really made this book for me. Highly recommend.

I am a huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid. I loved Daisy Jones, and I loved Evelyn Hugo even more. But Carrie Soto? Ugh.

We met Carrie in Malibu Rising when she broke up Nina Riva's marriage. Now she's back with her own book, and I wish she'd remained a bit character in someone else's life.

The book follows the career of a young tennis phenom who comes out of retirement to defend her record as holder of most Grand Slam titles. TJR excels at writing about the interior lives of famous people, and I was looking forward to Carrie getting the Evelyn Hugo treatment -- learning about how different her real life is from the tabloids, learning about her as a person and not a collection of sports stats. But that didn't happen, and I can't decide if it's because Carrie is a dull character, or if sports characters are just inherently less interesting than movie stars or rock stars. But whatever the reason, Carrie's life bored me to tears.

To begin with, Carrie is a 37-year-old brat. Self-centered, immature, and with no discernible personality beyond a devotion to tennis. It's hard to write about someone's interior life when they don't have one. Carrie lost her mom at a young age and is close to her dad, but that's all the background we get. Every other thought in her head seems to be about tennis, and just as a person like that would be dull company, a character like that is dull company, too. It's like talking to that sports-obsessed boyfriend you had in high school -- "OMG can we PLEASE talk about something else?!" Carrie is obsessed with winning, to the point that she thinks anything and anyone else is worthless, including the people who love her. Carrie throws temper tantrums, pouts, gives people the silent treatment -- all things my toddler did back in the day. I lost patience with her by about the 20% mark. What kind of person COMES OUT OF RETIREMENT for the express purpose of keeping someone else from holding a record? A record that, I might add, is going to fall the following year if not this one anyway. What's she going to do? Keep playing til she's 50 in an effort to be the best? There's just nothing about the story that makes sense.

This book is all tennis, all the time. Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones lived in their unique worlds, too, but they were written as PEOPLE, so I was able to find common ground with them, even when their life experience differed drastically from mine. In Carrie's case, there is no common ground. I'm not a tennis fan, but even if I was, I doubt I'd care about every nuance of every stroke. At first I thought Reid was giving us a tennis primer so we could follow along better throughout the book, but that level of detail NEVER. LETS. UP. I honestly could not possibly care less about Carrie's serve beyond the point that it affects her story. But there's so much tennis detail here that there IS no story.

Carrie's love interest doesn't have much personality either, but to the extent that he does, it's hard to understand what he sees in Carrie (see also: selfish, immature brat). She treats him -- and her father -- like dirt while claiming to love them both. TJR is so talented, and I know she's capable of making a character like Carrie sympathetic. Why she didn't in this case is completely beyond me.

I would have given up on this book before the halfway point, except that I'd been given an eARC by the publisher and Netgalley, and I don't think it's fair to review a book I haven't finished. The only thing the end of the book showed me was that I wish the story had been about Nicki Chan, Carrie's nemesis, who turns out to be a much more interesting character than Carrie. Give me a book about Nicki, with less tennis detail and more heart, and I'll read it.

This won't stop me from reading TJR's next offering, whatever that is. But this one is a serious miss. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to get a sneak peek.

Synopsis:
Carrie Soto is the best tennis player in the world, winning twenty grand slams before she retires. Carrie, coached by her father Javier, is unlike other players. She doesn’t make friends in the locker room and doesn’t buy into how the media wants her to act. She deserves her titles, and she’s not afraid to say it.

Six years after her retirement, Carrie’s record is about to be threatened by a new player, Nicki Chan. Carrie is thirty-seven, and doesn’t have the stamina she used to. Despite her age, she decides to come out of retirement to defend her record with her father once again by her side. Carrie decides to play 4 more slams, and must beat Nicki if she’s going to remain the best tennis player in history. Carrie Soto is back, and determined to break a new record.

Thoughts:
This story was exactly what I hoped for. I found this one to be different from other TJR books because there are less characters, so you get to know Carrie, Javier, and Bowe so well. But you still get the subtle mentions of other characters like Daisy Jones and Nina Rivas. I love that all these characters’ stories are intertwined somehow and I hope there’s more books where they are all connected. As expected, the writing is unmatched. TJR is such a talented storyteller and you get so invested in her characters’ lives. Although tennis was a huge plot point, I didn’t find that you needed to know a ton about it to follow. It helps to know the basic rules and how to keep score going into it, but still not necessary. I played college tennis, which made me love this story even more

Carrie Soto is a cutthroat tennis player with one goal in mind: to be the best tennis player the world has ever seen. She strives toward that goal her entire childhood with the help of her father and coach, Javier. Ultimately, she acheieves everything she set out to do, breaking records and never smiling just because the men dominating the sport encourage it. She retires after an injury in her early 30's. Five years down the road, Nikki Chan is on the verge of beating he record for most Grand Slam wins. Her competetive nature compells her to make the comeback of all comebacks to defend her record.

What I Enjoyed:
-Carrie Soto is very much a feminist icon with her take no shit attitude and I love that she never tries to fit into a mold.
-The relationship between her and her dad and how it changes over the course of her life.
- All the great character development and wonderful writing you would expect from a Taylor Jenkins Reid book,

What Was Only Okay:
-I love Reids' writing style but a lot of her settings are just not interesting to me and I suspect other fans. I don't know anything about tennis and I really never cared to....So it was a slow start for me because of this and I ultimatlety almost quit reading after the first 50 or so pages. However, I stuck with it and by the end I enjoyed it despite lack of interest in the general topic.

Even if you don't know anything about tennis (like me) you will want to learn to play after reading this book! Carrie Soto (who we briefly heard about in Malibu Rising) is coming back from retirement to defend her tennis record. Through the year we follow her to the biggest matches and her quest to win more Slams than any other female player after Nikki Chan ties her record the year before. Throughout the book we get insight on Carrie's drive, her special relationship with her father and how her go her nickname The Battle Axe.

4.5 stars.
Carrie Soto didn’t disappoint but it wasn’t like TJR’s other books, in my opinion. It’s mostly the story of an epic tennis player and her relationship with her father, who is also her coach. The story progresses from her present day, childhood leading into her tennis career to her comeback. I really enjoyed the radio/sportscaster transcripts between the chapters. If you’ve read TJR’s other books, you’ll notice nods to other characters in her universe.

You need to like, or at the least - appreciate tennis to enjoy this book. Even if you don’t understand the scoring or terminology, you can probably still keep pace. The story is very much women’s fiction as it barely has any romance in it (I think why I find it different from the others). It’s told in a more linear timeline than the other books too. There’s also a lot of Spanish phrases between Carrie and her dad, which I had to look up to understand and fully get the conversation. I think I took off half a star because j really did find Carrie to almost be too intense and unlikable but I realize that’s probably fairly common for very serious, career athletes.

The writing is really strong and I do not think TJR fans will be disappointed but probably accordingly surprised in its difference. Carrie Soto Is Back was one of my highest anticipated books for 2022 and I’m not disappointed!!

Thank you very much to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

TJR does it again, writes another smash hit.

Honestly, I was halfway through this book thinking, this may only be a four star for me. While the writing was great like always, I just did not feel as attached as I normally feel while reading a TJR book. Then, the pace picked up, the main character showed massive growth. Needless to say, I became hooked.

Carrie Soto is a badass. Bottom line. I loved that she was a strong powerful woman. Especially a woman in the world of sports, which is regularly dominated by men. This subject is touched on in the book, as it should be.

I also loved the relationships in the book. Carries relationship with her father is so special. And I loved how supportive Bowe and Gwen both are.

Also, I knew absolutely nothing about tennis going into this book, and now I feel I could follow a match and slightly understand.

This was another great book by TJR, reminding me why she is one of my all time favorite authors.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Giving life to a character that briefly shows up in Malibu - I can't tell you how much I love that! TJR has done it again & written a great book!

Another OUTSTANDING showing for Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is the kind of book that you start and can't put down! Carrie Soto is one heck of a protagonist-- she's strong, talented, ambitious, and unapologetic. The tennis scenes are so well done, and the relationships in this story (Carrie/Javier, Carrie/Bowe, etc.) never take a back seat to everything else going on. Read it in one sitting and I'm still thinking about it. It almost feels there was a real Carrie Soto in tennis history, and oh, what a wonderful thing that would be.

TJR-- game, set, match. You've won this one by a mile. No contest.

If you read Malibu Rising, you KNOW Carrie Soto. You know she’s tough, she’s ruthless, and she’s the best.

This engrossing story catapults you into the world of tennis and how Carrie mastered it. After proving she’s the best of the best, she proudly retires. Once when her record is broken, she comes out of retirement to prove that she deserves that title. She doesn’t just need to prove it to the spectators, but to herself too.

Her conflict is internal and external, and Carrie struggles with her values on her warpath to #1. If she can’t prove she’s the greatest of all time, what’s the point? And if she is… is that all she has?

TJR has done it again! My favorite book at the start of the year was Daisy Jones and the Six and now this may be just as good if not better! I loved the references to other books including Daisy and the family from Malibu Rising. I loved that I couldn't stand Carrie Soto but also admired her and she grew on me with each page. I loved how I scolded her out loud while reading like I would scold myself after not saying something I should have said and realizing how in her head I was. I did play tennis in high school and know the rules etc so that helped with the tennis lingo but some may struggle or find it tedious. I thought it was well done with the story and aligned with it being her entire world she couldn't get past to have a personal life. Beautifully done!!!

I absolutely LOVED this story. First, I know NOTHING about tennis, so I didn't know if I would be truly engaged in the book. I WAS WRONG. Taylor Jenkins Reid just knows how to write amazing characters. I felt as if I was watching true story documentary on the best tennis player in the world. I was enraptured by each match and I was literally on the edge of my seat. The character development was beautifully executed. I cannot believe how much I cared about these characters. Books like this are why I love to read. Even if you know nothing about tennis, don't let that dissuade you from reading this. Carrie Soto is definitely one of TJR's best written characters.