Battling the odds, Carrie Soto at age thirty-seven decides to get back into competitive tennis where once she was the number one player, claiming twenty Grand Slams, referred to as the the Battle-Axe. Carrie was known to be a tough, fierce competitor who was not known for her cuddly personality. As Carrie trains her body and her mind to get into shape to compete with women far younger and stronger, she finds she has other demons to confront. Carrie Soto Is Back is an intimate look at what it takes to be a tennis star — the drive, the training, the mind games, the focus, the support. I loved the descriptions of tennis: the games, the thinking, the outside observations, the analysis. This book was a slow start but really builds in intensity as Carrie strives to reach her goal of being on top once again. But like in life, she cannot do it alone. Taylor Jenkins Reid does not disappoint in this novel, exploring the world of tennis and those who love the game, and exactly what it takes to get to the top and stay on top. Interesting, thought-provoking read!

This was phenomenal. Only TJR could make me care about 400 pages of tennis. I don't even like tennis but I'd read about it for the rest of my life if she was the one writing. Carrie was a beautifully written character and her relationship with her father was precious. As someone who never had a relationship even close to that with their father, I envy Carrie and I am endlessly happy for her. Everyone deserves someone like that in their corner.

Look TJR is one of my favorite authors. The woman writes characters in such a simple yet profound way. I know Evelyn Hugo. I know Daisy Jones. I know Nina Riva. And now I know Carrie Soto. These woman are far from perfect, but you can’t help but root for them. Carrie might have been the best tennis player of all time, but yet the reader is rooting for her happiness first and foremost. We see the cracks in Carrie’s life and how that impacts her and leads her to train even harder. As if that would fix all her problems.

Seeing Carrie come back to tennis is inspiring, but seeing her grow as a person is even more so.

I will say, I don’t like tennis. So the tennis talk/the matches were a bit too much for me. But, I loved seeing Carrie, Javier (her dad), and Bowie (another tennis player) talk about winning, what it means to love a sport, training, what’s important in life, the intersection of all of these, etc.

Carrie’s relationship with her father who coached her as a child and she asks to train her as she makes her comeback was what stands out in this novel. TJR doesn’t write a lot of stories that feature healthy relationships with parents and I just loved Carrie and Javier so much! Seeing them talk about tennis reminded me of my dad and I talking basketball (except were just two fans instead of players).

I loved the other side characters like Bowie and Grace. Seeing Carrie soften to the people in her life was truly excellent. I’m also glad that their was a small romance plot bc I love love and I hate the narrative that strong women can’t have love and be challenging or strong.

I do have a caveat to this entire book. TJR is white (to my knowledge) and she is writing an Argentinian main character. There is a lot of discourse on if white authors should write BIPOC stories and I tend to lean on the side of no, especially since TJR doesn’t mention using sensitivity readers or anything. I also would’ve liked to see more of their culture than just seeing them speak Spanish.

Personally, I also have an issue with this and it’s hard to put into words because my grandma’s maiden name is Soto and I am Latinx. Which even saying that feels like stepping into an arena that isn’t mine to step in. I’m white passing and feel detached from Latinx culture in a way that I’m not going to talk about in a goodreads review. Because of being removed from the culture and whatnot, I worry about writing Latinx characters myself. I’m worried that people will police my own experience and yet here is TJR with a massive marketing budget despite not being Argentinian. So despite enjoying this book and being a TJR fan, this book is marred by this situation.

I have to be honest. I received an advanced copy of Carrie Soto is Back a few months ago, and I was beyond thrilled to get my hands on an ARC from TJR! But then, I didn’t read it right away. I was afraid that it couldn’t live up to the hype, but mainly I just really, really don’t like tennis.
I don’t know why I ever doubted that TJR could make even tennis into a remarkable story. I absolutely loved Carrie’s character! Her dedication and determination are inspiring, her friendships are complex and challenging, and her relationship with her father is so beautiful. (Parenting goals!) I laughed aloud and cried multiple times and found myself so engaged with Carrie’s life. I needn’t have worried - Carrie Soto completely lived up to all the hype, and I was once again blown away by the sheer talent of Taylor Jenkins Reid!
Carrie Soto is Back releases August 30, so grab your copy soon (even if you don’t like tennis)!
Special thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for sharing an ARC with me in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored this book. As a devout TJR reader and lifelong tennis fan, this truly was the combination of two things I love. Carrie was complex, difficult, admirable, and so much more -- but I was rooting for her all along. While Evelyn Hugo will always be TJR's magnum opus in my mind, I think this was a really close second favorite.

This is literally one of the best books I have ever read. Going into it, I had low expectations from previous reviews I've seen and because I didn't enjoy Malibu Rising that much. I felt like I've put reading this book off for as long as possible, and now that I've read it, I'm upset that I will never be able to read it for the first time again. Taylor Jenkins Reid does an amazing job of creating such an ambitious and well-rounded character such as Carrie Soto. While reading, felt as if I was reliving the matches alongside Carrie and embodied her feelings as well. I loved the relationship/bond between Carrie and her father and just how well the understood each other and their limits. It was so nice to see Carrie grow more comfortable in her own skin and to build better relationships with the people in her life. Five Stars!

TJR is back! Carrie Soto is actually the 4th in a series of TJR's of writing about strong, fictional historical women. Just like the characters that came before Carrie- Daisy, Evelyn, and Nina- Carrie's story is pretty great.
The only thing that was different here is I was actually nervous I wouldn't like this one as much. I don't know or really care much about tennis and this book is SO much tennis, in case you were wondering. It's not a side plot or a character trait, it is THE plot. But I will say about 50% through, I was pretty hooked- which is a bit longer than I would give another author's book. Carrie's character rounded out in the second half of the book, the plot went a different direction and it felt more authentic than the first part of the book. I was moved and very satisfied by the time we reached the end.

TJR is a master of her craft. I don’t care one stitch about tennis, but I was all in for Carrie Soto. Carrie is a rich, complex character, on the comeback. Is this a story about the game of tennis? Sure. Ultimately is about the redemptive power of love, between friends, competitors, a parent and child, and what happens when one woman learns to trust herself. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for my gifted ARC.

Game. Set. Match. Taylor Jenkins Reid served this one straight to my heart and wins again.

Carrie Soto is abrasive, cocky, unfiltered and unapologetic for it. Back in the '80's, early in her professional tennis career, her aggressive style of play earned her the moniker the "Battle-Axe", and as she coolly dominated her competitors, later just "The B*tch". She never tried to make friends with any of them and where men were concerned, she kept her heart out of play. It was just her and her dad, Javier "The Jaguar" Soto, himself a one-time tennis great in Argentina, all those years perfecting and honing her game so that she could be what Javier told her from the very beginning she would be:

The greatest tennis player the world has ever seen. Not the greatest women's player, mind you. No. The best. Period.

The record books certainly supported that assessment, and when she retired, she did so holding perhaps her most defining record as the winner of the most Grand Slam titles by ANY player ever.

Now, six years later, it's the 1994 U.S. Open, and she and Javier have just witnessed thirty-one year old Nicki "The Beast" Chan, tie this milestone record. With her father's support, Carrie makes the decision she's convinced she must make: to come out of retirement at thirty-seven years of age and earn that record back, and she's only giving herself four tournaments in which to do so: The Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

What will Carrie's legacy be? I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that it's a journey worth taking with her!

Ironically, the period of time this story was set in was the period of time in my life growing up when I went through my "tennis phase". For a few years there, tennis captivated me. I was engrossed in watching TV matches with the greats like Martina Navritalova, Chris Evert Lloyd, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and my personal favorite, Ivan Lendl. This book took me right back to those days like being wrapped in a warm and fuzzy blanket! The familiar 80's pop culture references only added to my delight.

Despite her flaws, Carrie had my heart from the very beginning, and her dad, Javier, did too. They shared the loss of Carrie's mom when she was young, and he never remarried, instead devoting himself to coaching her considerable talent for tennis and trying his best to instill good character in her. She was fiercely stubborn and headstrong in her goals, sometimes at his expense, but I never once doubted their deep love and respect for each other. He's the kind of dad every girl would be lucky to have!

Watching Carrie claw her way back into shape, overcome her mental hurdles and try to find her footing in the game she once dominated kept me completely enthralled, and her relationship with Javier, as both coach and father, was in turns heartwarming and heartbreaking. Seeing her evolve from someone who has little real estate in her heart for others, to someone who can allow some emotional vulnerability with them made for a satisfying emotional arc - particularly where her romantic relationship was concerned.

Those of you who read Malibu Rising will have met Carrie before, as well as a few other characters, and TJR even does a cute nod to Daisy Jones & the Six. The book isn't what I would call straight up historical fiction, though it's definitely flavored with it and at times even dips into a documentary style, interspersing fictional op-eds, sports articles and tournament match replays with the story of Carrie and Javier, and later, her romantic relationship. The chapters are short and keep the story moving well, but the biggest strength of the book is honestly TJR's immense skill at writing characters. I ADORED the characters in this story. They made me feel all the feels: good, bad and ugly!

One bit of advice: if you can read this on a Kindle, that's my recommendation, since there's quite a bit of Spanish. I was able to use the translate option to quickly find meaning, but those reading a hardcover or listening along will either have to glean the meaning the best they can or keep looking it up. Most can be generally deduced from context. My only other teeny tiny niggle is that TJR doesn't seem to like using contractions much, which makes some dialogue feel more formal than it would be in normal conversation.

All that said: Taylor Jenkins Reid, you ACED this!

★★★★★

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Netgalley and author Taylor Jenkins Reid for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. It's due for publication on August 30th, 2022.

Carrie Soto is Back is the story of the retired holder of a record 20 grand slam tennis wins who wants to return to tennis to keep newbie Nikki Chan from breaking her record. Her trainer father brings in Bowe Huntley, a player she once dated to train with her. Known as “The Battle Axe” for her strong demeanor, Carrie May finally gain a personal life. An enjoyable escape with a strong message.

I have found my new favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid character, and I found it in Carrie Soto. I’m not sure if it was her ambition or her honesty- but Carrie Soto is one refreshing character to get to know in Reid’s newest book. Like all of us, she is complex- seemingly unafraid to speak her mind and doesn’t care if others like her, yet drastically cares that she is seen by all as the best. As she wrestles with this throughout the book, you get a chance to see a character, flaws and all, navigate her way through grief, loss, passion, letting herself love, healing childhood wounds, and finding a way to herself. I felt drawn to and inspired by her. While I loved all the main characters in Reid’s novels, Soto might just take the cake for being my all time favorite. Perhaps at least until Reid comes out with her next one. But she’s got one hell of a character to top.

Okay I will probably be in the minority here! But not my fave TJR installment! I thought I was going to love Carrie and her journey. The synopsis and initial setup resonated with me. However, the discussion about white authors writing POC authors is a valuable one, and in my eyes the constant Spanish speaking felt performative rang hollow. I could understand it but I'm not sure how those without school-age Spanish could, perhaps they can "get it" from the context, and it didn't really add to the story. The tennis scenes were impossible to look away from, and I loved the exploration of the father/daughter relationship.

Thankful to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for an early eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a great TJR book. This was a story about the relationship between Carrie Soto and her father. How that relationship affected every aspect of her life. My only issue with the book is that I don't appreciate when white authors write about marginalized communities, TJR is already an author that has had some microaggressions in her writing I don't it's a great idea for her to tackle a Latinx character especially adding in Spanish. Especially gettting some words wrong. I'm not sure if she had sensitivity readers but they definitely failed her. I honestly think we don't have enough Latinx writers writing characters like this but to get it wrong was just a total fail.

Besides that this book was great. The writing was superb. The idea was great, the character growth was amazing. TJR such stick to writing strong female characters which is what Carrie Soto is and that was amazing but let's leave the race out of it. Because of that this book gets such a low rating for me. it bothered me the entire time I was reading the book because I am a Latinx reader and I can't just turn it off.

Thanks to Net Galley for an arc as always all words are my own.

TJR once again creates a heroine (among the ranks of Evelyn, Daisy, and Nina) whose story is so compelling and beautiful (wait, these are fictional characters?!) that you find yourself rooting for her throughout. No need to have any interest or knowledge about tennis to be sucked in by this comeback story of Carrie Soto.

Daisy Jones and the Six missed the mark for me, and I liked but didn't LOVE Malibu Rising. However, for me, Carrie Soto is Back means TJR IS BACK AT THE TOP OF MY LIST. I did not even read the description before diving into this book and I'm glad I didn't go into it with any preconceived notions about what it may be about (literally did not even know the topic). The characters were complex and at (many) times, unlikeable which added to it for me. I immediately added this book to my favorites list of 2022!

I received an electronic copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Carrie Soto is a retired tennis player. She has been coached by her father since she was very young. After her mother's death tennis is her bond with her dad and her sole purpose in life is to be the best. She holds the record of winning 20 grand slams but at age 37 she watches her record about to be shattered and decides to make a come back.

There is a lot of tennis but I never felt bored by it. Carrie didn't start out as very likeable but she grew on me. I loved the relationship with her dad. He wanted her to succeed but he just wanted her to be happy. Carrie's relationship with Bowe was complicated and in the end I was rooting for both Bowe and Carrie to win. Heck I even liked Carrie's opponent Nicki.

The only downside for me was there was a lot of Spanish that I didn't understand. At first I tried to figure it out but then I just ignored it.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing me with a copy.

This book is so so good. I read it In two days and couldn’t get enough. She made a book about tennis with a tough to love main character so interesting. Made me want to play some tennis too!

This was SUCH a beautifully written story - we wouldn’t expect less from TJR! I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it going in, but this was pure magic! I LOVED Carrie, I ADORED Javier (maybe my favorite character in this book), and I LOVED Bowe! So so much! Carrie wasn’t always easy to like, but damn that girl went after what she knew she deserved and I adored and respected her for it! I’m raising 3 daughters, and if they can have even an ounce of the confidence and character that TJR gave Carrie, I’ll be thrilled! I did not expect a book about tennis to release so many emotions in me - but I laughed, I sobbed, and I swooned. I loved reading about Carrie training, I got nervous reading about each of her matches…This was Just pure magic! I’ll definitely be ordering a copy for my shelves!

I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve never been a huge TJR fan. Daisy Jones and the Six was fine; Malibu Rising was tedious at best (and frankly ill-timed given that a fire in CA is a central plotpoint, but I digress). But I like women’s tennis, so I gave her another chance here.

I still don’t love TJR’s writing; in particular, I don't like the way TJR incorporates references to her past books because it's frankly too obvious and cheap for me (like I groaned very loudly when Carrie reads a book and it's described as “an unauthorized biography of Daisy jones and the Six”). I struggled with the Spanish incorporated throughout because the syntax felt off, but that is quite possibly more a "me thing" because I know Castilian Spanish, and I assume the Spanish Carrie and her father speak has roots in Argentinian Spanish (the lack of translation absolutely did not bother me and other reviewers complaining about that should get over themselves).

I did find Carrie Soto compelling as a heroine (even if there's part of me that wonders if Serena Williams could sue given how many aspects of the character are clearly drawn from Williams's life and career). It's heavy on the tennis, which was fine by me, but I do think readers should ideally have a passing interest in the sport to properly enjoy the story. The pacing was solid, and while the narrative was predictable as hell, I didn’t mind it as much. I’m pleasantly surprised.

DNF for me. Am I the only one not under the Taylor Jenkins Reid spell? I was so bored and debated of I should continue. Ultimately I decided to cut my losses.

Carrie Soto is Back is available August 30,2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review.