4.4 stars, rounded down to 4.*

I just loved this book. Taylor Jenkins Reid might be the most readable author of our time. Her books aren't overly complicated and the writing isn't going to set off a surge of literature classes attempting to capture her unique style. Nonetheless, she just writes in a way that keeps me invested and never want to put a book down.

Carrie Soto is Back is the story of 1970s-1990s fictional tennis superstar Carrie Soto. It details her rise to glory, her beautiful relationships with her father, with the game of tennis and eventually with a love interest. I cannot pretend to be a great tennis player, but I play enough to respect the details in the story and more than anything Taylor Jenkins Reid captures the emotions and passion of the protagonist.

One of my favorite "fun" books of 2022.

*with thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC in exchange for this honest review.

Carrie Soto is a tennis legend! In 1994, when she comes out of retirement to keep her title of most grand slam wins, Carrie has so many struggles to overcome.

Carrie is unapologetically outspoken about her Tennis abilities and some people do not like that about her. Carrie has this icy facade, but underneath she is lonely, sensitive, and insecure.

This is a book about Carrie's journey and how she got to the 1994 Tennis Season while also showing a woman's relationship with her father. I loved the father-daughter relationship in this book. Javier was truly the icon of the book.

The little crossovers were cute in this, hearing about Mick Riva, Carrie's Cameo in Malibu Rising, and Carrie reading A Daisy Jones and the Six Biography. Those things made me smile.

I am not a tennis fan, not that I hate it, but I just don't watch it. That was not a problem with this book full of tennis explanations and plot points. I found it interesting and easy to understand. I felt like I was there, with Carrie, watching and waiting to see if she would win.

TJR is a fantastic writer and always finds a way for me to fall in love with characters who I thought I would hate because of all of their flaws.

Thank You to NetGalley and Random House Publishing / Ballantine for sharing this digital reviewer copy in exchange my honest opinions.

5 Stars

Although I enjoyed this book, the characters did not feel as vital and alive as they did in Malibu or Evelyn. Reading this book during Serena's run at the US Open was a nice treat. The descriptions of the matches could easily been boring or rote, but they are energizing and vivid.

TJR doesn't need my review on top of the thousands already, but.... this was SO GOOD.

honestly, i really don't have much more to add - this is a great book. loved the writing. loved the story. loved carrie. loved all the characters. i cried. i laughed. i don't know anything about tennis and i don't really care, either. but this, gah. really really enjoyed it. they'll make this into a movie, right?! they have to.
you shouldn't compare books by the same author, but i liked this much more than malibu rising. i didn't dislike MR, just didn't love it. loved this one.

what a helpful review, i know :)

3.5 Stars.

I enjoyed reading this book, and despite Carrie's many flaws, I like her as well.

Carrie Soto, who you may remember from Malibu Rising, was the best tennis player in the world in the late 80's. After 6 years of retirement, she's back on the court to defend her record. There is no need to read Malibu Rising to enjoy this book.

Most of the book is very engaging. I liked that the actually tennis matches were kept short and sweet. The book focuses on Carrie's almost destructive drive to win as well as Carrie's relationship with her tennis coach father.

Overall I think this book could have benefitted more of an outside view of Carrie. If this book had been written in a similar manner as Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones, we would have gotten a wider perspective of Carrie. There is a bit of this in the book, such as tennis commentary and articles, but I found this insufficient. Also, Carrie's life before her comeback is dealt with briefly. I would have liked the author go into more detail about this time, particularly the events in Malibu Rising and her retirement years.

“Show them that the Bitch, the Battle Axe--whatever they want to call you--it doesn’t matter. They cannot stop you. And they don’t get to decide what your name is. Carrie Soto is back.”

Reading this at the same time as the U.S. Open was really interesting, as some of the quotes the media were saying about Serena Williams sounded exactly like the media quotes about Carrie Soto in the book. You can definitely see the inspiration for Carrie Soto, for better or worse.

Overall, I did enjoy reading about the triumphs of a late-30s tennis star hoping to prove that she isn’t a has-been. And while I don’t know TOO much about tennis, it was fun to have such an inside look at the tennis circuit and the prep necessary to be the best.

This is my least favorite TJR, though. Mostly because all we know about Carrie was how obsessed she is with tennis and winning. She loves her dad, too. But that’s it. No other interests or insights. If she’s so single-minded and socially awkward…maybe dig a little deeper on why that is instead of leaving things unsaid? And that doesn’t even touch on the fact that Carrie is a Latina woman, and her experiences dealing with that in a mostly white sport are only mentioned a handful of times.

I will say that Bowe was a great love interest. Always love when a guy isn’t fazed when a woman is a total asshole to him constantly, lol (I felt bad for the poor guy.) Glad that Carrie softened a bit at the end and realized there was more to life than just tennis.

"Mick Riva's kid? I can not stand that guy." - Javier Soto

If you would have told me that one day I would absolutely love Carrie Soto and the world of tennis, I would question if you even knew my reading taste. But you would have been right and I would have been pleasantly surprised.

"Carrie Soto is Back" gives us Carrie and her return to tennis to claim her title as world's best, to chase the most wins of any tennis player in the history of the game - male or female (that's important!). Carrie is hard to like, she's punishing with her thoughts and emotions, she has absolutely zero cares about what the world thinks of her. Her one weakness is her father, Javier, who is simply the best father figure in all of fictional writing. As Carrie chases perfection, we see under her hard exterior to the woman hiding underneath. Throughout the novel, we are able to see Carrie for the person she is: completely faithful, 100% committed - on and off the court. There is a romance in "Carrie Soto is Back" that is so subtle that it truly sneaks up on you. Between Carrie's relationship with her father and Bowe, you get to see the human side of the machine that is Soto.

TJR killed it with this story -- 100% the GOAT when it comes to historical fiction with women blazing their own paths. You can tell she did her research -- she single handedly taught me about tennis (I knew very little going in), that she truly wanted readers to find the redeeming parts of Carrie Soto. I am amazed by how quickly Carrie found a place in my heart next to Evelyn and Nina.

Very engaging book. Fans of her other titles will certainly enjoy this one. May be my favorite of hers so far.

Yes, you're not dreaming... Carrie Soto is BACK!

This book was so entertaining. The excitement you feel when you're reading the matches and hoping Carrie Soto wins all of them just to prove that she is INDEED the best player in the WORLD! Uff, I needed to breathe. And Carrie had to learn how to breathe too, learn that sometimes you need to say goodbye to something that once was very familiar to you but now it's not. Growing up has those types of decisions. Accepting. Accepting the change. Let. It. Go.

But when Carrie was born, she already had the winner badge craved in her thoughts. Javier Soto, her father, knew how promising she would be in the tennis world. He was right. Still, he didn't know how teaching Carrie that losing is part of the journey was just as important as practicing those aces. Life gave her that. And it's okay too.

You're probably wondering: Is Carrie Soto the new best tennis player in the world? Who knows, right? Maybe you need to read this book to find out. I did it. It's worth it. Carrie Soto is a badass!

Thank you Random House and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I loved TJRs other books. This one was a little slow for me. There was a lot of tennis in it. It took me forever to get through this book. When I put it down I wasn't excited to get back to it. I ended up skipping the press releases and skimming most the tennis matches so I could get the book read quicker. I did enjoy the romance in it and the dynamic with her father.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again! An enthralling sports story, there's shades of Daisy Jones and the Six here. Carrie Soto has an empathetic, heartbreaking story and I was captivated by her comeback.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about this book starting out, but it turns out that Carrie Soto is Back has currently landed as my 2nd favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid novel after, of course, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Carrie is incredibly abrasive, so it does take time to push through the chapters covering her early years, but I loved her character development. Carrie's relationships with others evolve in a really lovely way and bring lots of heart to the story. I also love tennis, so I wasn't bored at all by the intense focus on the sport - in fact, it actually drove much of the tension and pace for me.

I admit I went into Carrie Soto is Back knowing nothing about tennis and now know way more than I ever expected to. The first 1/3 is lots of backstory and heavy tennis, but once I plowed through that, i really enjoyed it. Carrie is a strong and often unlikeable main character, but I enjoyed reading about the various relationships between Carrie and her dad, Bowe, and Nikki.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free e-reader copy of “Carrie Soto is Back” in exchange for an honest review.

As a lifelong tennis fan, I *LOVED* this book about a veteran player’s comeback to defend her world record of most Slams won, which was a special treat to read during this year’s US Open and the focus on Serena 👑 Williams. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing just gets better and better, and I enjoyed the story, the characters and the Easter eggs from other books in her metaverse sprinkled through this one. The full-cast audio is also terrific (with the exception of the main narrator’s affected English accent when voicing Soto’s nemesis, Nikki Chan). This book was not only a fun romp with a great story, but reading it made me a more educated viewer of the game. Highly recommended. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Carrie Soto Is Back is the fourth in Taylor Jenkins Reid's quartet of books about famous women in the same universe. We briefly met tennis phenom, Carrie Soto in Malibu Rising and this book documents her return to professional tennis to defend her title for most championship wins. I flew through the audiobook this weekend. The narration is phenomenal with a full cast it gives the novel a truly cinematic feel.

Though Carrie's story is captivating, she can be incredibly cutthroat and not the most likeable. I really liked her close relationship with her father who coached her most of her life. The novel largely follows her comeback, so there is a lot of tennis, which may turn off some. The writing is really propulsive and you get caught up in the excitement rooting for Carrie. I'm very sad that this is the last in this series, but can't wait to read TJR's next novel whatever it may be!

Thank you Random House for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Engaging. Riveting. Ruthless.

Carrie Soto Is Back sings to it's own beat. Compared to TJR's other mcs, Carrie Soto is unlikeable. How her character is written makes it hard to relate ... until maybe the last 20% of the novel (which is frankly really late to have us in her corner). What I didn't like is how "being the best" is at the forefront of Soto's personality? I just wanted to see more depth regarding her character. There isn't much written about her identity as a Latinx woman nor is much talked about how women are treated in the sport, particularly during this time.

My favorite parts were the relationships in Carrie's like (i.e. her dad, Bowe, Gwen). Even though Carrie's ruthlessness is at the center of the novel, I did like the few times where she opens up to have sweet moments of understanding and comfort.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This was an utterly phenomenal book.

I had heard mixed reviews about this book and to be honest, I wasn't sure how I would like it with my extremely limited knowledge of tennis. But holy wow, this book had me flying through it and crying at multiple points throughout.

Carrie is The Battle Axe, The Bitch, and she's a force to be reckoned with. After coming out of a 7 year retirement to defend her title of most slams ever won by a single tennis player, she's showing the world who's boss.

The character development was beautiful in this book. In the beginning you're not even sure you like Carrie, but by the end, you love her like you would a best friend. Taylor Jenkins Reid's ability to write truly flawed characters and have them feel as though they're real people is a talent I haven't seen in many other writers.

I'm sad to see that this is the last of TJR's "historical fiction series" (Okay but who said the 1990s could already be classified as historical fiction??) but I am glad to have gotten the chance to read, love, and live through these books.

A HUGE thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this book.

WOW! I was ecstatic to receive an early copy of Carrie Soto Is Back. It was everything I wanted and more. The plot was phenomenal. The characters were easy to relate to and love. While it was tennis-heavy, I felt it added more to the story and immersed me in the games. Carrie was a true testament to how women are perceived if they are not lovey-dovey and over the moon happy. This book had me shedding tears near the end.

Overall, this was one of my newer favorite books written by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I say this with no exaggeration, TJR is the absolute best. I have no knowledge of tennis and have literally never watched a game, and I was GRIPPED by this story. Carrie is such a phenomenal character. She may have even taken Daisy's place as my favorite.

Thank you to Ballantine, NetGalley, and the author for the eARC in exchange for my review.

3/5

this is the first tjr book that i've read, and it didn't impress me that much. i didn't connect to the characters and i didn't enjoy the writing style. my favorite parts were when there were the newspaper clippings or radio transcripts. that being said, i can see why other people would enjoy this book.