This book follows Carrie Soto on her comeback as a thriving tennis star in order to hold her record.

The characterization of Carrie and her father were the highlights for me. Also I could visualize this entire novel to be a film or movie. It is impressive how completely I was drawn into tennis matches. I'm not against tennis, but I'm not the biggest fan, but man oh man, I wish I could have watched this all in real life. It felt completely real to me.

The theme of perfectionism and winning over everything else truly resonated with me. I will be thinking about this novel for quite a long time.

Wow! Carrie Soto is Back is the next installment from Taylor Jenkins Reid and it doesn’t disappoint. I am a huge TJR fan and was very excited to read this book. It’s the kind of book that you can’t put down but don’t want it to end. I had to make myself pause so I wouldn’t finish it too quickly. What I love about her books are the characters - and that she mentions characters from previous books. You might remember Carrie from Malibu Rising as the home wrecker…
Carrie Soto was told from a young age that she will not only be great at tennis but the greatest tennis player of all time. Carrie took this to heart and dedicated her life to tennis. With her father as her coach, she gave up all other aspects of her life in order to become number one with the most slam wins upon retiring. But what happens when that record -her identity and self-worth-gets challenged. Carrie laces up her tennis shoes and mounts a comeback is what.
I know nothing about tennis but couldn’t stop reading. I was cheering for Carrie during every match and hoping that not only would her comeback be successful but that she would come to terms that winning tournaments is not going to bring her happiness. I want to thank Netgalley, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Ballantine Books for giving me an advanced copy for this honest review.

Phenomenal! Want to read this again for the first time. Carrie Soto is such a flawed character - but comes into her own by the end. It was a pleasure to read her journey back into sports, as well as follow along on her personal journey and realization that sports are not everything.

Taylor Jenkins Reid does it again. Strong, brave, vulnerable, fierce, complicated, flawed protagonist rising to the challenge of her chosen career? It could be Evelyn Hugo, it might be Daisy Jones, but it’s not. Carrie Soto is one of, if not the best TJR characters (although, can you really dislike any of her leading ladies?) possibly because she is brash and abrasive and tells it like it is (the way we all want to). Chronicling Carrie’s rise and return to the international tennis stage, Carrie Soto Is Back is a phenomenal read.
Retired tennis pro Carrie Soto and her dad Javier watch a tennis match when she decides she wants to come back and prove, once and for all, that she is the GOAT of tennis—even at the age of 37. The book quickly pivots to the beginning of her career, and readers go for a ride with cameos from previous books sprinkled in. Now, I don’t know anything about tennis—I didn’t know why it’s “game set match” until reading this book, but you don’t need to know anything about tennis to feel the meteoric rise of Carrie Soto and triumph with her. You won’t like her all the time, you might get frustrated with her, but you will root for her throughout the book.
With Carrie Soto Is Back, TJR delves into the human psyche—what makes us great, what makes us tick, what’s important in life, what it means to love, the complications of relationships; TJR shows us how men act and how women are supposed to, and she shows us the strength of will it takes to succeed in elite circles when everyone bets against you. Carrie Soto is a heroine for the ages.

Great characters and narrative drive. Carrie Soto is a female tennis player in a sport dominated by men. Whether or not you like tennis, Taylor Jenkins Reid will suck you in and cause you to care about Carrie, and the father-daughter relationship alone was worth the read. This is as story about ambition, identity, and love. Highly recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Harlequin Junkie Top Pick!

Carrie Soto is Back was Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best. A stunningly epic novel about a female tennis player who was a force of nature–on and off the court–it was filled with larger than life character dynamics, personal struggles, and women breaking down gender barriers in a male-dominated sport.

Taylor Jenkins Reid's storytelling is always on point. I know that no matter if I like all of the characters or the subject matter, it will be a fascinating novel with insightful observations and deep, genuine emotions. And with Carrie's story (which TJR began back in Malibu Rising with her connection to Nina Riva's husband Brandon Randall) there was so much more to her than the public knew. Fiercely private and insanely talented, Carrie was a combination of lost little girl and unapologetic athlete. Dubbed the "Battle Axe" for her court domination as well as her icy cool, unyielding persona, none of her fans or critics would have believed that she did have moments of doubt–or how lonely she felt at the top of her career.

I think Carrie's relationship with her beloved Papa, Javier, will be one of the reasons readers' hearts will soften towards her. Their bond was incredible and so very beautiful. They had their ups and downs over the years but they were quite the solid duo overall. I just adored how much Javier cared for his daughter and how he did the best job he could raising her on his own. They communicated through tennis, basically: his coaching Carrie and in turn, her hard work. What they achieved together was nothing short of amazing. But it was their personal relationship, how much they cherished each other that made me smile.

The other part I think readers will love is watching Carrie figure out who she was outside of tennis. *And* also who she was in her late thirties as an athlete. It was quite a difficult road for her. She was pretty much fearless on the court but her personal life was a different story. While there were plenty of times I shook my head at her ego or how she pushed someone away, seeing Carrie finally put in the effort in her personal life, not just on the court, was a wonderful thing.

I think that Taylor Jenkins Reid doesn’t get enough hype for the quality of her writing. Her stories are phenomenal and her sales show that, but the actual writing of this book is so engaging it made me look into a sport and event I had previously called large scale ping pong.

Carrie Soto is Back is my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid book since Evelyn Hugo. This book has so much heart, love and family. While there is a lot of tennis in the story it is the same way there is a lot of football in the show Friday Night Lights - it is used as a mechanism on which to serve the story of drive, heart, perseverance - a story of both familial, friendship and romantic love. Absolutely devoured the book in one sitting.

When I first read the synopsis of this book I was like ugh a book about tennis seems super boring. But it’s about so much more. The character development in this book is so good. I really loved it. I cried. I laughed. I cringed. Taylor Jenkins Reid can really write a mesmerizing story.

I love Taylor Jenkins’s Reid and was so happy to get a copy of her new book. This book felt both the same and different from her other books. I really liked that the main focus was the relationship between a father and daughter although I could see the ending coming from far away. I still thought it was an interesting exploration of being a women and getting older and I really liked it.

Carrie Soto is Back! I have read and loved all of Taylor Jenkins Reid, but worried that I would have to be a tennis fan to enjoy Carrie Soto. That is not the case at all-although the book is based on a pro tennis player, her relationship with her father is what the story revolves around. After setting the tennis world on fire, Carrie retires. Now, a new up and coming player is smashing all of Carrie's records, so she makes the decision to come back to defend her titles. With her father as her coach, she makes her way back into the tennis world!

When I first heard about Carrie Soto is Back I was like Ugh a sports book, but we must trust Taylor Jenkins Reid because this is good. The prologue pulled me in immediately and I was on the edge of my seat during Carrie’s games. Carrie Soto is an icon and fierce athlete that everyone should read about.

I love all things TJR, so I was excited to dig into Carrie Soto is Back. I loved the focus on Carrie and believe this worked well to tell this story as opposed to her traditional ensemble pieces. Will recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars

You don’t have to be a tennis fan to enjoy this book. I loved this book and highlighted so many lines to go back and reread.


Carrie Soto was one of the top tennis players in the world in the 1970-80s winning twenty Slam titles. Six years later, in 1994 and at the age of 37, Carrie decides to come back for one more year to defend her records.

Carrie’s entire life was training with her single father who was her coach. While Carrie loves the game and competition, she missed out on a lot of the important parts of childhood, like making friends and being social. She is tough and focused which of course comes out as bitchy.

I know the novel is fiction and takes place thirty years ago but it is just exhausting that there were, and continues to be, such different rules for male athletes versus females.

I highly recommend reading Carrie Soto Is Back. I would have loved to have seen you play tennis.

I love Taylor Jenkins Reid and all of her books are amazing. Carrie Soto is Back is no exception. This is an easy read, in that you want to just keep turning the pages. Carrie Soto is briefly featured in Malibu Rising (the woman Nina's husband has an affair with), and that is mentioned in this book, although it's about a paragraph, maybe less. You absolutely DO NOT need to read any of her other books to enjoy this one.

However, be warned that this is very much a book about tennis. Carrie Soto is a professional tennis player and this book spans her early life and career and her relationship with her father, who is also her coach. She then, after five years of retirement, wants to come out of retirement and play the Slam circuit again. The majority of this book is talking about tennis, training for tennis and competing in tennis matches.

There are other aspects of this that make it more relatable, though. Carrie is not a truly likeable person. She is hyper-focused on tennis and winning. She is brash and doesn't care about the media or fans. Or love. Remember, love means nothing to a tennis player...

Throughout her comeback, Carrie does have to learn some other lessons. Like she will need to have a life after tennis. That just because love may end doesn't mean it isn't worth beginning. That even if you are the best in the world, you may still want more so you need to find what makes you happy. Because TJR is SUCH an amazing writer, these lessons come through despite all of the tennis talk.

You find yourself rooting for Carrie and while I wasn't surprised by the way anything turned out, that is okay. Carrie is a very well-developed character and this is actually a very character-driven story. The relationship between Carrie and her dad is very well developed. A romance is also very well done, and Carrie making friends with her competitors is a huge growth step for her throughout the book. The one complaint I have is that there are a lot of conversations between Carrie and her dad in Spanish, and most are not translated. I don't speak Spanish, so without going to Google translate, these were all lost on me.

Overall, a very enjoyable read from Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I barely have the words to tell you how much I loved CARRIE SOTO IS BACK.

This is plotting as it’s finest! I was glued to the page, my heart racing each time Carrie picked up her racket.

There’s a lot of tennis in this book, yes, but there’s even more heart. I loved Carrie so much. I probably loved her the way her father did: watching her from the sidelines, praying that things would go her way, not sure how to bear it if they didn’t. I was DESPERATE for her to win, to make her big comeback. She’s a complicated character, but so easy to love.

Fierce and fiery, this in an incredibly powerful novel about female ambition, about resilience and determination, about refusing to accept less than you deserve. I think this book is going to be an emotional gut punch for any woman who has ever felt competitive or dreamed of the being the best at something. It certainly was for me.

The father-daughter story, too, struck a deep emotional cord. There’s so much love in this story. I had an emotional hangover after reading this book, unable to do anything but sit the big feelings it stirred. I’m tearing up just writing this note.

Daisy Jones was so special because it was TJR’s breakout and an inventive format. Malibu was the ultimate summer read. Evelyn was an incredible surprise. But I think this TJR’s best yet. CARRIE SOTO proves her to be a master of character, plot, and prose.

My expectations for any book by Taylor Jenkins Reid are always high. Carrie Soto is Back was superb despite the fact I don’t like sports. Carrie and the other main characters felt like real people, not just characters in a novel.

Carrie Soto had a small part from Malibu Rising as the woman for whom Brandon left Nina Riva. Now Carrie is a retired tennis player that holds the record for the most grand slams until her record is in danger of being broken. Now Carrie is back determined to win more grand slams to hold onto her record. Tennis is and has always been her whole life to the exclusion of any love life. Will tennis always be enough for Carrie even when her father becomes gravely ill? I enjoyed the story of Carrie, but there is a lot of tennis jargon and time on the court. However, the story of Carrie kept me interested and entertained.

I have loved every book TJR has written and her streak continues with Carrie Soto Is Back! As the son of a coach and a former athlete, I understand the drive of an athlete and Carrie reflects that with her grit and determination. I have always said that TJR’s strength is the characters she writes and how lifelike they are and this book delivers several including the headstrong Carrie, her loving but firm father Javi and love interest Bowe. This book like the others shows another area of emotions and relationships and that is our relationship with ourselves and what lengths we go to understand how far we go. I throughly loved this book and know that it is in my top 10 of the year so far!!

I really don’t need to tell you that Taylor Jenkins Reid is an outstanding author. The first book I read by this author, “Maybe in Another Life,” captivated me so much that I quickly devoured everything she had written and have patiently waited for her upcoming books since then. One of the things that I love about her most recent books is her mention of characters from her previous books. I know it is small, but those items make her writing outstanding.

Tennis player Carrie Soto is a retired champion tennis player, one of the best, if not the best. With her record of Grand Slam wins on the brink of being broken, she decides to make a comeback and defend her record with the help of her father, who is also her coach. This book takes us through that final year and on a journey about competition, loyalty, and love.

“Carrie Soto is Back” is an outstanding book! While I don’t play much tennis, my older brother did, so I grew up with all the big matches on television and copies of tennis magazines strewn throughout the house. This was back in the glory days of Jimmy Conners and Bjorn Borg when tennis was a different game. So I do have some appreciation for the sport.

The detail in this book is spot on without sounding too technical. People who don’t play tennis will be comfortable reading this and not miss any points in the story. There is so much energy in the description of each tournament, practice, and training session. It felt so realistic that I thought Carrie Soto could be a real person who should be on the current circuit.