I wanted more of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones. This one just did not wofk for me. I am not a fan of sports, so maybe it is just me. But thank you for the opportunity to read this one!

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
As always Taylor Jenkins Reid delivers another power house for the summer!
Carrie Soto is bitchy, cocky, and unapologetically abrasive so much so that at the start of her tennis career they called her the battle axe! She’s the greatest tennis player in the world.
Now 6 years later she just watched Nicki “The Beast” Chan tie her record and her come back is born.
Will she at 37 be able to reclaim HER record? You”ll have to read to find out!

I’m calling it now: I just read the best book of 2022.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has a knack for writing historical fiction in a way that makes you feel like it’s a true story. I grew up in the 90s watching amazing tennis players like Martina Navratolova, Venus & Serena Williams, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi. From the opening of Carrie Soto is Back, I was there, watching the match. I could hear the racquets smack the ball, feel the tension of the crowd, see the full picture. And I stayed there all the way through the book. The characters may have been fictional, but the story felt very real. I haven’t been this absorbed in a book in a long time. This one was absolutely unputdownable.

Let me continue my praise: Carrie Soto is 100% the best character TJR has written. She is tough, tenacious, brazen, dominant, legendary. And undeniably admirable. I was absorbed in this story from the very first page. I loved seeing Carrie’s career progress, from learning the “beautiful fundamentals” with her dad, through early matches, going pro, retirement, and the ultimate comeback. There is so much packed into this book, but nothing feels rushed. The details are there. Carrie’s relationship with her dad is all the feelings. Heartbreakingly beautiful. It’s wonderfully written. Carrie’s relationship with Bowe is also absolutely beautiful. The unlikely friendship with Nikki. Wow.

I don’t feel like I have the right words for all the emotion this book provoked. Overall Carrie Soto is Back stole my heart and I never wanted it to end. This one is definitely going in my top five favorite books of all time.

Will post full review to Goodreads & Bookstagram on pub day!

#ad Thanks for the free book PRH International

Well… well, well, well, WELL! Okay, so… let’s start out by saying that no, I’m not a huge fan of tennis. I mean, I’m not a big sports fan in general, to be honest. It isn’t like I’ve never seen a tennis match, and I know my mother liked playing the game for fun. My father-in-law was the big tennis fan in the family, and he would go on and on about this player or that player; he’d watch every match that was on TV with total devotion. So, when I started reading this novel, I wasn’t sure how much I would get into the whole tennis thing. Mind you, I hate hockey, and I still loved both of Fredrik Backman’s Beartown books (and the last one is already on my Kindle), so it isn’t like I can’t appreciate a novel that deals with sports. Even so, I didn’t think I’d get so involved with this story, but boy, oh boy, did I ever get involved!

You see, even though the whole tennis thing was a big part of this book, it wasn’t really a Tennis Novel – much like the Beartown books aren’t really Hockey Novels. No, the sports in these books are more vehicles for something far more universal than playing a game. Also, it isn’t always about winning the game, either. That’s because what it takes to achieve something, or what it takes to master something, isn’t always the point. The whole point of achievement and mastery isn’t just the act, it is also becoming someone you weren’t before you started out; it is learning about yourself, through learning how to do that particular thing. This is the main reason why I’m calling this a coming-of-age story, because that is, technically, the definition of this type of tale. If there is no growth or change in the main protagonist, there is no coming-of-age. And again, as I’m said many times, some people come of age when they’re young adults, while others take many years, even several decades to reach that point in their lives.

Now, I’m going to say right here that as compelling (sorry, do I use that word too much? Maybe I should use captivating instead) as this novel is, I am forced to withhold a quarter of a star. The main reasons for that were two-fold. First, while I get that Carrie Soto is Latinx, I sadly don’t know Spanish, and I felt that I missed some things – subtle inferences or emotions – because they were expressed in Spanish, and I wasn’t able to deduct what was being said in several instances. It is probably unfair of me to say that, because I also know that if they’d been immediately translated, it would have totally ruined the flow of the narrative. The other reason is that as much as I admired Carrie, and loved her father, I was missing that extra bit of emotional connection to them which usually makes me choke up. Yes, there was one bit that made me laugh, but that was only because Reid gave a nod here to one of her previous novels. Again, I admit that it might have been my not understanding Spanish that caused that slight disconnect here.

Despite that, this novel is simply marvelous. The way that Reid builds the tension in the novel is practically a study in how to write thrillers, without even a drop of blood. Reid also knows just how to play the other characters against her main protagonist, and allow for the type of relationships (I can’t really say romance) that have no angst, but are filled with conflict. Finally, I swear I could see every jump and lunge and volley that happened during the games she described, as if I was actually watching the games on TV or sitting court side. There’s no doubt that I’m recommending this novel very warmly, with my 4.75 out of five-star rating (rounded up to 5 for the graphic). While this book doesn’t surpass Daisy Jones for me, it certainly comes in an extremely close second!

I really liked this book. The main character was an amazingly headstrong woman. A total badass, and I liked reading her story. Here's my qualm with this book and with Taylor Jenkins Reid. I like her books, I really do. I think she's an amazing writer. What I don't understand is why she keeps writing Latina MC's. They always feel very whitewashed. There was a lot of Spanish in this book, but I didn't feel any of her culture. As a hispanic woman myself, it felt like she was just trying to get diversity points but not do any actual work besides translating a couple sentences.

Wow! I loved this book. 📚❤️

Taylor Jenkins Reid really creates vivid, complex characters and this book is a brilliant example of her gift for doing that. Carrie, her father, the other players, and even Carrie’s agent were interesting and compelling people in the story.

The story was super fun, the pacing perfect, the ending satisfying. I really loved it. 🥰

I LOVED Carrie Soto is Back wayyyy more than I thought I would. I don’t know much about tennis and am not usually a big sports novel fan but dang Taylor Jenkins Reid can write. Seriously, if this was written by any other author, I cannot find myself loving this novel as much as a did. The author has such a way with writing and making you feel one with the characters. I was tense reading the tennis scenes and found myself really rooting for Carrie Soto. This book is also really heartbreaking and made me cry, but in the best way. I love when a book feels so real and just sweeps you away and this is exactly what happened with this book.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again!! Over the last few years she has easily become one of my new favorite authors. I know when I pick up one of her books I am going to be in for a treat. She just has a way with words that pulls me in every time and really makes me feel for the characters she has created. Often, I have found that I have to remind myself that these characters aren't actually real people but are in fact fiction.

One of my favorite parts about the Taylor Jenkins Reid books that I have read (which I have not read them all yet but I am currently working on her back list) is the little Easter Eggs that she throws in for her previous works. I couldn't help smile when Carrie mentioned trying to read about Daisy Jones & the Six or when I learned about her relationship with Nina Riva's husband. It is little things like that, that really make me appreciate how much time and thought Taylor Jenkins Reid must put in the the books/characters she creates.

I really loved Carrie as a character. She was one badass female. She wasn't going to let anyone (not even her father) get in the way of achieving her dream/goal of being the best tennis player out there and when someone threatened her record of course she had to step in and show them who was boss. She may have been the "old lady" on the court but that sure as heck didn't slow her down any. I really enjoyed watching her character development throughout the course of the book. By the end of the book it was almost like she was a whole new Carrie. I have never really been a fan of tennis before but after reading this book if Carrie had been a real person you can bet she would have a new fan

My only complaint is now what do I read? I read this book to fast and now I am forced to wait for whatever (and whenever) Taylor Jenkins Reid decides to publish next.

I think Taylor Jenkins Reid might have magical powers. I know nothing about tennis...don't CARE to know anything about tennis...and yet I read every damn word of this book, which is CHOCK FULL of tennis stuff.

And that, my friends, is the power of a good writing.

I guess the strength of this one book is ultimately the strength of all of Reid's books: she knows how to tell a good story. Her character's are richly rendered and often deeply flawed, and yet you just can't wait to find out what happens to them next.

She's also wickedly talented in describing real-time activities (whether that's a recording session or a tennis match.) I didn't really need to understand tennis to read this book, and for that I was thankful.

So, naturally this is not my favorite Reid book of all time. The ending is a bit predictable and again, there was sooooooo much tennis it in, (Also, I would have appreciated a cover image that didn't portray someone who looks 22, but I quibble). I'm still giving it four stars for the magic.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Random House Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC of Carrie Soto Is Back in exchange for an honest review! As a tennis aficionado, I was so excited to see Taylor Jenkins Reid write about a tennis icon. Unfortunately, the more I read it, the more I began to grow a bit uncomfortable. Like a good chunk of the world, I started my TJR journey with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I didn't know what to make about her portrayal of her protagonist, Evelyn, a Cuban American bisexual woman, and her life's journey. Though now reading Carrie Soto, that seems to just be the beginning. The Spanish in this book was honestly horrendous and made it pretty hard to focus on everything else. The writing, while it is TJR at her best, was just meh to me when I began to make connections to how eerily similar Carrie Soto's backstory was to tennis icons, Serena and Venus's. All in all, it was beautifully written in a way only TJR can write but I think the way the author keeps making her main characters Latina (Evelyn, Nina, now Carrie) and her questionable choices portraying their cultures is beginning to rub me the wrong way.

Like I said, the book is gorgeously written as per usual but I couldn't quite shake this glaring fact.

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is another amazing novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Reid excels as always with a fantastic, evocative novel.

Taylor Jenkins Reid give the sports world the same brilliant treatment here as she did with the music industry in her earlier works. When the novel opens in 1994, Carrie Soto (briefly mentioned in Malibu Rising) is retired from professional tennis, having achieved a record of twenty Grand Slam wins—more than any player, male or female. She retired after a knee injury and now after only five years off the tour, she is watching Nicki Chan attempt to tie her record, and this threatens her to her very core. How can she sit by and allow some upstart take her record? When Chan ties her record, Carrie resolves with her dad to return to tennis and ensure her place in history as the greatest tennis player of all time. Carrie is relentlessly driven and not always likeable, either to the reader or her fans, but you can’t help admiring her dedication. Her character is well-developed, as are her dad, Javier, who coaches her; her agent, Gwen, who is always supportive; and her former lover, Bowe, also making a return to tennis. I love professional tennis, so I enjoyed the descriptions of the matches, though reading about tennis without names like Navratilova and Graf took some getting used to. It would help to have a rudimentary understanding of tennis, but otherwise, jump in and let Carrie inspire you.
Thanks to #NetGalley for the arc!

Carrie Soto, the notorious "Battle Axe" of women's tennis, rose to greatness during the 1980s and became the best tennis player in the world. Now it's 1994, and Carrie has been retired for six years when she sits in the stands with her father and former coach Javier, watching tennis phenom Nicki Chan take her record for most tournament wins. At age 37, Carrie's just as stubborn and competitive as she ever was, and she never was one to handle losing with grace. So Carrie Soto is back to defend her legacy -- one more year of her father coaching her, four more Grand Slams, and, just maybe, a second chance at love.

Carrie Soto, who first made her appearance in Malibu Rising, is hands-down my new favorite TJR character. She is abrasive and confident, emotionally closed-off and brutally honest with everyone, except sometimes herself. She's stubborn and determined and completely unapologetic. She's also vulnerable and fiercely loyal and loves hard. TJR brilliant renders the complexities of her character and makes you fall in love with her -- even though Carrie would absolutely not want you to do that. And the relationship between Carrie and her father is a beautiful, incredible thing.

Carrie Soto is Back just goes from strength to strength. Aside from the brilliant character work, the plot itself is exciting and propulsive. We follow Carrie through the four Grand Slams, and her narrative is interspersed with transcripts from the sports media about Carrie's return to tennis. The transcripts are an effective way to show how Carrie is portrayed in the sports media, and to lightly highlight the inherent misogyny when women do not perform or behave in the way society thinks they are "supposed to."

It so happens that this novel is largely set during the period of time in the 1990s when I couldn't get enough of professional tennis -- the days when Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi, among others, dominated the court. I have a tendency to be a sucker for those "magical moments" that happen during sports, and reading Carrie Soto is Back was like one extended magical moment for me and filled me with nostalgia for my 11-year-old self, sitting in front of the TV watching Wimbledon. TJR's writing is so vivid and descriptive, you almost feel as though you're watching Carrie's matches instead of reading about them.

I was just completely blown away by Carrie Soto is Back, which gave me chills on nearly every page. I loved the way this book fit into TJR's universe and am secretly hoping she chooses her next heroine from this novel -- please let it be Gwen!

I absolutely adore Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing style, and could not wait to read this one. I loved that it was so different from everything I’ve read by her so far. I wasn’t sure how I was going to enjoy a story centered around tennis, but I absolutely loved it and could not put it down.

Carrie was one of the most determined, goal oriented characters I’ve ever encountered. I loved her passion and will to never give up. At times she frustrated me a bit with her lack of awareness about anything other than tennis, but it made her more real to me. I love the author mentions characters from past books, a few made appearances by namesake.

If you love this author read this book, if you want to love this author read this book. It’s a win win either way. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next. She is and forever will be an auto buy author for me.

the plot of this was fantastic, however the inclusion of a Latinx main character with untranslated Spanish conversations made for a confusing and problematic book for me. I am not sure how the editors and reviewers missed how ick this was.

I will not summarize this book because we've all heard about it. So, instead I will write how this book made me feel.
I DID NOT WANT THIS BOOK TO END! (And I haven't written that about a book in a long time.) Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again - writing about a female protagonist so well that I had to remind myself that she was not a real person. I think that's one of the best compliments I can give an author! I was here for all of it - her relationships with her father/coach, her competitors, the press, the public. Carrie Soto is real and flawed and hard on herself and others and I loved it! Preorder this book and read it immediately. You will not be sorry! Sometimes books are worth the hype!
Thanks so much to #RandomHouse #Ballantine and #NetGalley for my advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

This is a hard one for me to review as I have really, really mixed emotions about it.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is an amazing storyteller and she always gives us a story that is character driven with characters that may be hard to like. But once she dives into the psychology of each character and what makes them tick, you begin to understand them more. BUT, and this is a big BUT, Carrie Soto is NOT a character she should've written a whole book about. TJR does not come from the same background as her and this was not her story to tell, in my opinion. Carrie should've been kept as a side character from this white writer. Especially when Taylor Jenkins Reid proceeds to add a lot of Spanish dialogue without giving any sort of translation for her readers (luckily, I knew enough to figure it out, but others will not and it may hinder their reading).

With all that said, Carrie Soto is a hard character to like as she is so focused on winning and tennis and not much else. She has a close relationship with her father, but during her career, it was strained toward the end when she wanted to be THE BEST. It was hard to watch her in the past, but also it was fun. I liked seeing her rise to fame. I'm a person that likes competition, so it was fun to witness this from the story the author created. It was very vivid. If you're a reader that enjoys sports, I think you'll like how heavy this book is with all the tennis and the tennis terminology. Unfortunately for me, it might have been too much. This was a fictionalized tennis story of a woman that wanted no one to beat her record and she came out of retirement to stop a woman from succeeding in her quest to do that. In doing so, we get to see her repair her relationship with her father and with other tennis players on the circuit. From someone that was known as the Battle Axe, we get to see her soften just a tad for the right people.

Overall, if this was a story of just a woman tennis player and her comeback, I would've rated this higher. It was well written, heavy on the sport and made me ever so slightly start to root for the protagonist and her bid to win more Grand Slams. Unfortunately, for the mere fact that TJR wrote a book about a female Argentinian tennis player, I just can't get down with that. It needed to be written by a Latinx author. And she should've translated the numerous Spanish lines she used for the readers that will have a tough time figuring the phrases out.
With all that said, Carrie Soto isn't all that likable, but I did enjoy watching her come back and claw her way to the top.

I know absolutely nothing about tennis so I was a little concerned that I would feel lost while reading but TJR does not make you feel that way at all. By the end of the book I felt like a tennis expert, sort of.

The story follows Carrie Sotos career before she retired and throughout her comeback. You see her grow as a person, improve her game, as well as better her relationship with her father. Carrie is a very cocky person that does not accept losing so I could see people not liking the character. However, you will find yourself rooting for her to succeed.

The little bits of romance between her and Bowe I did enjoy. I love how he remained by her side through it all.

I think if you like Malibu Rising you will really enjoy this book. TJR writing is great, making it so easy to get enthralled into a story. If you have read her other books you will pick up on some references on characters you already know and love throughout the story, it was a fun and welcome surprise.

Thanks to netgalley and Random House/ Ballantine books for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Carrie Soto is real, and she is the greatest tennis player to ever exist.

This book was honestly such a great book! I never thought i would enjoy reading about tennis but i truly found myself intrigued by everything. The rise and fall of Carrie was one of the greatest stories Ive ever read. TJR really explored some family dynamics that i feel alot of people can relate to.

“My heart hurts when you hurt because you are
my heart.”

LIKE i cried at that line. Maybe I felt more drawn to that line because we group up as extensions of our parents, they build us up to be the best that we can be. And sometimes there is so much pressure to be the best and that’s something that we can definitely see in Carrie.

Her relationships were complicated at best with everyone but it really highlighted carries character. this book was truly amazing loved the father/daughter relationship and loved carrie in general! Highly recommend it.

Thank you to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, just wow. I love everything that Taylor Jenkins Reid writes. Carrie Soto is Back is no exception.

This is the story of retired tennis star Carrie Soto and her quest to come out of retirement and prevent the current champion, Nicki Chan, from breaking her Grand Slam record. Carrie’s journey is at the heart of this story. Yes this is about tennis! I know many people shy away from these type of sport stories but I am telling you this one is not to be missed. It is beautifully written and will suck you into the world of Carrie Soto within the first few chapters. TJR has the ability to immerse you in an era and/or subject regardless whether it is a topic you would normally be interested in. I love tennis and this story brought back all of those memories in the 80’s and 90’s of some of those great athletes and their epic battles on the court. The beauty of this book though is you don’t have to love tennis, you just have to love a great story with excellent character development and impeccable writing.

5 ⭐️ my favorite book of the year so far

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
#CarrieSotoIsBack #NetGalley #tjenkinsreid