Daisy Jones and the six was a surprise favorite of mine last year.
And this one is amazing too.
Carrie is a 37 retired tennis player that decides to come back to stop a girl from taking her records.
It's tough she has to retrain and swallow her pride.
In her run she finds out that she's not as tough as she thinks she is.
She finds love and she has heartbreak

This week’s headline? The bitch is back. (I admit I put this down before that scene… I may feel a little bad).

Why this book? Very anticipated read

Which book format? ARC

Primary reading environment? By the lake

Any preconceived notions? It’s TJR, so I’m hoping I won’t be disappointed

Identify most with? Carrie

Three little words? “the Battle-Axe”

Goes well with? Tennis courts, rivalries, fierce competition

Recommend this to? Fans of TJR’s other novels

Other cultural accompaniments: https://www.tennistheme.com/tennishistory.html

Grade: 3.75/5

I leave you with this: “Unlike them, my time had purpose; my father and I were working toward something of meaning. I was going to be the best.”

📚📚📚

Carrie Soto Is Back is about a retired tennis pro who was once considered the best until years later when another player comes onto the scene and matches her record. So there’s only one option - Carrie must come out of retirement and reclaim her title.

This is a story of ambition borderlining on obsession. All Carries thinks about is tennis. All she cares about is winning. Most of the book focuses on tennis matches, giving play by plays, which may be a turn off for some people, but I didn’t find it too technical. I loved the relationship between Carrie and her father. It brought some depth that was otherwise lacking as most of it can read like a biography, even though it is in first person. I still recommend this, though, as it’s entertaining if you’re not expecting it to be exactly like TJR’s other books.

tw: mention of death

Carrie Soto Is Back is available now.

This was my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book and it will certainly not be my last. My only brush with tennis was lessons I was took with a neighborhood friend one summer when I was maybe 8 or 9. I can honestly say the lessons were fun, but I was terrible at tennis. I remember very little about tennis from those long ago lessons, but it didn't stop me from enjoying every moment of this book.

Carrie Soto is a force of nature and her energy fills the pages of this story like nothing I could have expected. The heat and energy pop off the page and it feels like you are experiencing the wins, the losses, the joy, the fear right along with Carrie in real time. Treat yourself to this book. You'll be glad you did!

Carrie is one of those polarizing characters in Malibu Rising. It's not until you read her story that you understand where she's coming from and who she is.

Loved. It. Carrie Soto is unapologetic about her ability. She is determined. She's fierce. She's focused. She's loyal. She's tough on everyone, especially herself, yet secretly vulnerable. She is an undermined female athlete whose sacrifice for her sport demands respect yet sportscasters and male athletes don't give her her due. I couldn’t put it down. Her story was riveting from beginning to end.

If you absolutely loved the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu rising, or Daisy Jones and the six, you will absolutely love this book as well. It has the crossover‘s everybody is looking for, a strong main character, and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s great writing. For me though, I don’t have the best track record with her books. I loved Daisy Jones and the six but didn’t really care about Evelyn Hugo or Malibu rising. I found this book to have the same hiccups that Evelyn Hugo and Malibu rising had but also have the same redeeming qualities that Daisy Jones and the six had. I enjoyed the father daughter relationship And I don’t think anyone could ever say that Taylor Jenkins Reid is not a good writer. It was just a decent read for me, nothing absolutely terrible but also nothing absolutely phenomenal.

Loved getting to explore Carrie’s story more after Malibu and I loved the tennis details! TJR is a master at making characters in books truly come alive!

Carrie Soto has had one vision … to be THE BEST! When she retires, she holds the most Gram Slam titles. Fast forward and her title is set to be broken, and she decides on a comeback. This follows her past and present till the satisfying ending.

Carrie loses her mother at an early age. Her father, her first coach are extremely close. This relationship takes a few turns but love is always there. Loved watching this unfold, and watching Carrie grow from a focused young girl on a mission, to a icon on the tennis circuit to a women who knows what she wants. As I am not a tennis fan, I found some of the details and strategies overwhelming and, at times, very slow. But, I so appreciated the dedication to the Sport. The book picked up 3/4 of the way thru, where I truly appreciated Carrie and her transformation. The character development is top notch. I can’t wait to see what TJR does next.

Thanks to Ms. Reid, Ballentine Books and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone!

Thank you @netgalley and @BallantineBooks for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Carrie Soto (otherwise known as "battle-axe") is fiercely determined to be the best women's tennis player of all time. Her father, Javier, is her coach, mentor, and single parent as her mother has died. I enjoyed their relationship in the book, especially towards the end when her dad helps her understand herself better. While Carrie is not always likable, she does remind me of some of today's tennis stars. If you enjoy tennis, you will love this book. You feel like you're at the matches and reading it play-by-play. Even if you don't like tennis, you will enjoy this book for the story is fast-paced and well-written. #CarrieSotoIsBack #Netgalley

Well, it was missing depth for me. This book was missing that TJR magic.

Carrie was obsessed and narcissistic and mean to people and unlikeable. She was so rude to her opponents and people in her life. It made it hard to route for her. She was too one dimensional.

I get what she was trying to do but this completely missed the mark unfortunately. I expect more DEPTH from TJR

In this powerful novel about the cost of greatness, a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime—from the New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review an advanced readers copy of this book. This in no way affects my review, all opinions are my own.

I never thought I'd be so invested in a book about tennis, of all things. But wow, this one seriously had me hooked! I'm convinced that TJR can't write a bad book. Carrie Soto is a tennis star, who at thirty-seven years old decides to come out of retirement to reclaim her record and image as the world's best tennis player. Soto is such an interesting character because she is so cold and motivated towards only tennis and nothing else, but you'll still be rooting for her the entire time. TJR writes these really compelling heroines in her books but is never shy about their faults, and that stays pretty true to Soto as well.

There are times when I was reading and we would start one of Carrie's matches where I would just find my heart racing because it was so intense. I didn't know anything about tennis starting this, but I feel like I learned so much just being in Carrie's head and reading the play by plays of her games. Her passion for the sport made this story so much more enjoyable and exciting to read! I think that any TJR fans will fall in love with this book and Soto's story.

Did I just read a book about sports? About tennis? Yes, I did. And only TJR could do this for me. I like neither of these things and somehow I could not put this book down. I almost feel like I need and want to watch tennis now. When is tennis season? I learned so much about tennis because of the details in this book.

I have to admit I wasn't sure how I felt about Carrie at first. As in, the first half of the book. Then I just got really confused and conflicted and kinda loved her. I love Bowe. I love the strength of both Carrie and Bowe. I LOVE HER FATHER SO FREAKIN' MUCH. I was on the edge of my seat, I was happy, I was nervous and I even cried once or twice.

The epilogue had me surprised with another tear.

I really need to watch tennis now. This comes out 8/30/22 and if you are in any way a tennis fan, I highly suggest picking this up. It's a lot of tennis. But it's also so much more. And if you're not a tennis fan, I still suggest it. You may like it soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review

I was a little nervous before reading this one. I’m not a big sports fan and even though I love TJR, I wasn’t a big fan of Malibu Rising. Well let’s just say I loved this one!

This book was very, very heavy with tennis and tennis jargon, but it didn’t bother me at all. Carrie Soto is such an inspirational character, and I was so enthralled with her story. She was a sensational tennis player when she was younger and was the best in the world. Now at the age of 37, she comes out of retirement because Nikki Chan has broken her record, and Carrie wants to be the best in the world again.
It's a story about the game of tennis, but it’s also about Carrie’s personal growth. She’s such a strong and determined woman and I was rooting for her every match. This was a great comeback story and the ending was perfect.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of the most anticipated books of the year and for good reason! Taylor Jenkins Reid has a way of humanizing her characters and connecting us to them in a brilliant and original way. Her books always transcend genres and I never know what to expect, besides perfection.

Carrie Soto is a retired tennis great in her 30's. She's watching a tennis match, seeing her record be taken by a noob! With her father at her side, she decides to come out of retirement.

We know that going in, so then we get to hear her backstory. She lost her mom very early on and with her tennis legend father, she grows up practicing, drinking it in like water. She wants to be the best and won't stop until she is.

She is not without issues. She's not as beloved as some other tennis players because she's a bit cold and let's face it, full of herself sometimes. Her dad tries to humble her but he has to let her go on her journey. And what a journey it is!

I was afraid of this one because I hate sports. This fell into the actual sports genre so I thought this could possibly be the first TJR miss for me but wrong I was. I should have known better than to doubt! I wanted to put that out there for others worried about the same thing. I am now a bit of a tennis buff myself! Okay, just kidding, but seriously, this was amazing. I'm looking forward to hearing the audio version too.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review ahead of the release. 10/10!

Carrie Soto is a fierce and determined tennis player who has shattered all grand slam records. Since she was two, her coach and father Javier has ingrained the thought that she would be the best in the world.  After being the best for several years, Carrie comes out of retirement on a quest to reclaim all the titles and records. Carrie's life journey forms the premise of the book.

I love everything that TJR writes! We got a glimpse of Carrie Soto in Malibu Rising and she was amazing! It's great to read the ups and downs of a tennis player while keeping the story real and engaging. I loved the relationship between Javier and Carrie, it felt so real. I liked how complex and layered her relationship with Bowe was. TJR has a way of connecting you to her characters and keeping you so invested in their journey.

Thank you Ballantine Books for the eARC of Carrie Soto.

Not really quite sure how to feel about this one.

It hardly needs to be mentioned, but TJR's writing and character work is engaging, and she continues to play to those strengths in Carrie Soto is Back. I know nothing about tennis but I really admired Carrie's ambition and how unapologetic she was about her talent and drive to win. Reading about how the media drags her for not smiling enough or for not starting a family in her retirement was infuriating, and to watch Carrie throw it back in everyone's faces by doing the damn thing was incredibly satisfying.

However, I had two big issues:

First, there has been a lot of discourse surrounding this book and TJR's decision to once again write in the perspective of a Latinx person after being heavily criticized in the past for doing so. Full disclosure, I am a white person and I gave Evelyn Hugo a 5-star rating after I read it for the first time. However, I feel like I've learned a lot since then and after listening to several people's opinion on the matter, I agree that I would much rather have read a Latinx story like this written by a Latinx author. TJR attempts to flesh out Carrie and Javier's cultural backgrounds by throwing in Spanish into their conversations and the like, but if the two characters were white there would have been pretty much no change to the story overall. I'm certainly not the authority on these things, but this doesn't seem like good representation to me.

Second, I do not give one single hoot about tennis. Obviously, this is out of TJR's control and has nothing to do with her ability as an author. I'm a fan of hers, so I was interested in this book for that reason alone, but unfortunately she could not convince me to care at all about the world of professional tennis. The details of the matches were mostly lost on me, and at the 50% mark I was much more invested in Carrie's relationships with her father and Bowe, a male tennis player that Carrie trains with and gets closer to as the novel goes on. At the end of the day, this one just wasn't really for me.

Overall, I thought this novel lacked the spark that Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo both had. I enjoy TJR and plan on reading more from her in the future, but I'm hoping she makes different decisions involving how she handles POC characters going forward.

🎾Book Review🎾

Guess what tomorrow is…pub day for Carrie Soto is Back! Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC!

I just finished a buddy read of Malibu Rising right before I started this one. So, I was somewhat aware of who Carrie Soto was in TJR’s world. Can we all just give a 👏 for TJR providing cameos from her other books?

Carrie Soto is a 37-year-old retired tennis great. Accepted as the GOAT in women’s tennis. Only this book starts out with her sitting in the stands with her father as a younger tennis phenom matches her record of all time slams. Carrie just can’t have that and announced she’s officially coming out of retirement to regain her title.

This book was a joy to read and I really enjoyed it. There is A LOT of tennis talk. A lot. Be prepared for that. Also, Carrie Soto is a Latina and a lot of the conversations with her dad are a mix of English and Spanish. I loved that!

Read this one! Classic TJR writing to fall in love with. And as a woman known as the ice queen at my old job since I have a major RBF…I empathized with this Battle Axe 🪓. 😏

After first reading about Carrie Soto in Taylor Jenkins Reid's Malibu Rising, and the not ideal story line she was involved with in that book, I wasn't sure what to expect from this novel. But Carrie Soto Is Back was sooooooo good! It's an inspirational story of a fictional tennis superstar who decimates the women's tennis world back in her younger days before retiring after injuries. However, now at 37 years old, Carrie decides to come out of retirement to uphold her records from a rising star determined to surpass Carrie. I don't know much about tennis admittedly but the way this story was written kept me fully engaged and following along with Carrie. I think my favorite part of the book was all of the developing relationships - Carrie and her father, Carrie and her manager, Carrie and fellow tennis player Bowe, Carrie and her tennis rival Nicki Chan. Carrie grew so much throughout this book, and I feel like this kept the readers along for the ride. At first, the reader likely doesn't even like Carrie. By the end, you are rooting Carrie on and cheering for her personal growth. As a 41yo woman, I was inspired by this story of Carrie, and her defying the odds and the critics to continue her passion, and possibly best work, at 37.

Carrie Soto is Back- Taylor Jenkins Reid
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
I love me a good TJR book. This one just didn’t do it for me. I know nothing about tennis and I found myself skimming a lot of the tennis parts (which is a lot). I also don’t speak Spanish and there is a lot of Spanish in this (which I also skimmed over). I did like how it was told, with the transcripts in there. This just wasn’t the book for me.

“Never underestimate Carrie Soto. And to any other women out there, wondering if they are too old to play tennis, let the Battle Axe be all the evidence you need to get back in the game.”

Carrie Soto is fierce, and determined to win at any cost. Her attitude has not made her popular among other players. By the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every single record and has claimed twenty grand slams. She has sacrificed nearly everything to become the best.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself In the stands at the 1994 US Open watching her record be crushed by Nikki Chan.

At thirty-seven, Carrie had made the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year In an attempt to reclaim what she believes is rightfully hers. Even if that means swallowing her pride to train with a man that she (almost) opened her heart to – Bowe Huntley.

Carrie Soto is back – for one final epic season.


Let me preface by saying, I have read (and LOVED!) every TJR book….thus far. But unfortunately, Carrie Soto did not live up to the hype for me.

While is book was VERY tennis heavy, but that wasn’t even my issue. WE BARELY GOT TO KNOW CARRIE!!!! Yes, we can admire her grit and work ethic when it came to the name of the game but other than that???? ZIP ZERO ZILCH! It was mentioned like twenty times she drinks a blueberry smoothie and eats almonds for breakfast every day. That is the extent of how “deep” it got in terms of learning all about the GOAT Carrie Soto. Athletes live, eat and breathe whatever sport it is that they play – but there is more to a person than JUST the sport, but we never got to know Carrie beyond tennis. And for that reason, it was extremely hard to connect with her, much less LIKE her…which brings me to my next point.

I didn’t find Carrie to be a nice person. I obviously understand the competitive nature of her job – but kindness goes a LOOOONG way in life, and Carrie did not treat others by the “golden rule”.

I did find the last third of book to be better…Carrie’s armor was slowly chipping away, to reveal a “nicer” human but honestly by then it was too little too late.

This is a layered journey about father/daughter relationships, being a female in a male dominated sport, the expectations of females in media and even what happens when athletes age out. The pressures described in the story sometimes seemed too much to bear but Carrie, the Achilles, seemed to weather it all. I liked that Carrie wasn’t likeable and she wasn’t apologetic about it. She was driven and goal oriented. The story is character driven around her and her journey to self acceptance. How much is too much for the greatest athlete of all time. It was an interesting story that makes you question what you see in the media now set when tennis had their greats in the 90s. It was refreshing and inspiring. I loved all of it.