This was a great addition to the 'Riva'-dusted universe Taylor Jenkins Reid has created. Carrie Soto reached the top of her game and came back for more in her 30's when the world had deemed her too old to be of any competition. This was a great story - not many characters but the core of those really brought out the best storytelling. It was emotional and funny and had exactly the right ending which can often be tough for a comeback story. Recommend if you love Reid's other books.

Carrie Soto Is Back indeed. This novel follows the story of Carrie Soto, a tennis star, who, as the novel opens in the 1990s, is retired and watching her records be broken my the new kid on the block. Carrie decides that couldn't stand, and starts a journey to come back and defend her title.

The novel has wonderful insights into the world of highly competitive sports. You do not have to know much about or even like tennis for this book to grab your attention. It also explores the complicated relationship between parents and children in this atmosphere especially when those parents also happened to be the coach. I thought the relationship between Carrie and her dad was incredibly interesting and the very best part of the novel.

However, there was one thing about the book that was hard to get passed. Carrie Soto experiences thinnly veiled misogyny throughout the entire book not uncommon in competitive female sports. She has to deal with comparsions to male players, comments on her looks, and questions on whether or not she's a likeable person. None of that is unusual and many female athletes could speak to similar experiences. However, Carrie Soto is written is such a way that I did find her extremely unlikable. Her inner monologue and experiences did not present her as any better than what the outside world viewed her as, and I found her fairly hard to root for. Thankfully, she did experience some personal growth late in the book, but I would've liked to have seen that happen more throughout the entire story.

All in all, Taylor Jenkins Reid has given us another wonderful and unique story. I just don't think this was her best heroine.

I am a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid. I enjoyed this book, but I am not a big fan of tennis, so there were parts of this book that went over my head. Chloe Soto is a dominating tennis star, who returns to the game after years of retirement, to maintain her incredible winning record.

It’s an interesting journey with someone who is nicknamed “the battle-axe” but the reader soon sees how those edges have been softened. Along with her is her father, and another player on the comeback trail. All the characters are extremely likable. I did learn about tennis and the Grand Slam circuit. But honestly, too much tennis for me. I’m a reader who visualizes as I read and I found this was hard for me. I do think this novel will make an incredible miniseries. Selfishly, it will certainly bring it to life for those of us who are not tennis lovers.

Thank you Netgalley for this charming ARC.

With fears of losing her status has having the most Grand Slams, Carrie Soto is coming out of retirement. With her father as her coach and one-time lover as her practice partner, Carrie takes on an almost-seemingly impossible feat - winning a major tournament at the age of 37. Making a brief (and unflattering) appearance in Malibu Rising, I was thrilled to learn more about Carrie Soto. A must read for fans of Malibu Rising. I couldn't read this book fast enough.

Wow. I read Carrie Soto is Back in one sitting, and then sat in silence contemplating it for another hour so.

We start with Carrie Soto and her father/coach Javier watching the 1994 US Open. Carrie is a 37 year old retired tennis player. She currently holds the world record for most Grand Slam titles. When a powerhouse named Nicki Chan ties her record, she decides to come out of retirement and try to take it back. But not only does nobody think she can- nobody particularly wants her to.

Carrie’s mother died suddenly when she was very young and her father poured everything into making Carrie the greatest tennis player in the world, and she achieved that. But she is also viciously competitive and has a reputation for hostility that alienates from her fellow players and fans. No one, it seems, is glad Carrie Soto is back. But she is going to prove to all of them that she is still the greatest.

This was my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book, and I don’t know much about tennis, so I didn’t know what to expect. I was utterly blown away. Up to the last second I didn’t know what was going to happen. I didn’t know what I WANTED to happen. Should I be rooting for Carrie to take the record back? Or should I be hoping she realizes there’s more to life than tennis? Either way this is a book that stays with you. There’s much to unpack about grief and loneliness, the inevitability of change, and how acceptance can lead to transformation. Great for book discussions. Just stunning.

I absolutely loved this. Taylor Jenkins Reid is incredibly gifted at writing complicated characters, as well as storytelling through her usage of time. I loved that Carrie had so many unlikable moments, it made her seem realistic. I was intrigued by every relationship her character had with other characters, and even was thoroughly interested in all of the tennis lingo, despite not knowing a lot about the sport. My only criticism would be that it often felt repetitive.

Taylor Jenkins Reid did it again. I didn't think I could enjoy Carrie Soto is Back as much as I adored Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones, and most of all, Evelyn Hugo, but I absolutely did. Reid is a master at transforming a flawed yet wholly relatable character into someone you'd want to hang out with.
The relationship between Carrie and her father is complex, emotional, and heartwarming. His development in her character and his reflections in his shortcomings as a parent struck so many chords. His life lessons, taught through tennis, were inspiring and illustrated the strength of his paternal bond with Carrie.
Carrie is flawed, stubborn, strong, tough, and likeable. She is completely unapologetic in her drive to win and passion for tennis. I loved seeing her character arc and growth throughout the work. The ending of the work fit, and although it was predictable, the journey to get to the end point was engaging and empowering. Pop culture references and references to Reid's past work were perfect easter eggs. Carrie Soto is Back is the type of book you clear you calendar for- I started and couldn't stop, all the while with a smile on my face.
I received an ARC of Carrie Soto is Back courtesy of NetGalley.