If you haven’t heard, the book is a story of Carrie Soto, an older athlete on a come-back tour and her relationship with her father, her peers, her sport and herself.

Carrie Soto is my new favorite character. She’s tough, determined, plays hard, loves hard, family-oriented. I just love a good come-back story, especially a comeback about a woman who the industry labeled a bitch because she didn’t act the way a female athlete should act.

So, Carrie is a 5-star-character and I loved her more than I loved the book (because there is just so much, so much tennis.). Still, the book will be one of my favorites of this year. Carrie Soto had a small cameo in Malibu Rising as a tennis pro who had an affair with Malibu’s main character’s husband.

Thank you @netgallery and @ for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Random House for my copy! All thoughts are my own.

I have become a TJR fan girl. This isn’t something new or innovative in the book world, but I truly love Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing and creativity in her story telling. I have a number of her backlist titles on my TBR and i’m excited to see how they compare, but I am a huge fan of the Women of the Decades universe. These are The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising, and now Carrie Soto is Back.

I will say, this book is quite tennis heavy. I grew up playing tennis and attending the US Open every year. I have always loved watching Wimbledon and noshing on strawberries and cream. So, I didn’t mind how tennis heavy it was! I also heard from a few people who aren’t tennis fans that they didn’t mind either. I think the sport lends itself to the story as more than a metaphor.

In short, I really enjoyed this book. I felt very seen with Carrie’s journey and how strong she was, while discovering that it’s okay to be soft. As someone always struggling with perfectionism, I really got Carrie.

And just so you know, the acknowledgements of the book absolutely wrecked me.

What I Liked:

The Writing—As always, this is TJR’s real strong point and part of why I love her books. I know they will always keep me turning the page.

Carrie as a Character—Like I said, I really got Carrie. She may not be likeable to many but I really think that comes down to being not like women who aren’t afraid to speak their mind in the way that men do. People love when Tom Brady and Roger Federer are blunt and confident.

The Portrayal of Female Competition and Friendship—I loved the development of respect and understanding between Nicki Chan and Carrie. I loved how they were brutally honest with each other and found most of their interactions quite entertaining.

What Didn’t Work:

Expectation of Structure/Story—Sadly, I think TJR is always going to be up against herself since she has found such success. A lot of people will say this book is bad because it doesn’t compare the creativity or structure that Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones has. I agree, but I also hate that authors are always in this position because the story in Carrie Soto is so worthy of reading, especially for those of us who identify with the characters.

Character Authenticity: 5/5

Steam Rating: 0/5

Overall Rating: 4.75/5

Content Warnings:

loss of a parent, mentions of alcoholism

As a huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid I look forward to every new book of hers and Carrie Soto is back was another page turner. I read it during the first week of Wimbledon and I couldn’t have found a better fitting time to read. Carrie is a former tennis super star who is making her comeback, in her mid thirties. It’s suspense, mixed with love and close family ties. A page turner!

Carrie Soto Is Back
By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor has done it again!! Carrie Soto Is Back was in my opinion a wonderful read. After reading Malibu Rising, I wasn’t so sure I was going to like it with how Carrie Soto is portrayed, & I have ever understood tennis, but I really enjoyed this story.

It is all about how Carrie Soto comes out of retirement from tennis to defend her titles.

I have to say that Taylor is one of my favorite authors, I have loved everything she has written so far and I can’t wait to read her next story!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the advanced copy for my honest review.

My goodness what a spectacular book. Carrie Soto is not s typical likeable heroine and yet I loved her fiercely. I wanted the very best for her, she was a fully fleshed out, flawed human being, and that's not something you get often in a female protagonist. Pick this book up as soon as you're able.

Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best! No one has to try too hard to convince people to read the latest book by the author of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. However, Cary Soto is back is sure to be the next big thing on BookTok and the best of lists.

Cary Soto is a retired tennis pro entering the game again to take back her record of number of Grand Slam wins. She is an underdog, but she has ambition and her father in her corner. If you love sports stories about grit and fighting to overcome, you will love Cary and everything she has to do to prove her worth in a sport that wants to spit out over 30 women (especially those are not blond and don’t smile enough). Reid writes a character with a lot of flaws, but we are still rooting for Cary at every match and even in love.

This book will make you laugh, cry, cheer, and maybe even pickup a tennis racket! Never sleep on Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Oh. My. Goodness. I honestly didn’t know I could like a book this much. I could not put it down! I was a little unsure because I thought an entire book about tennis might be boring. And then I was a little unsure because I thought it might be too predictable. But I was wrong! This book was everything. I laughed, I cried, I flipped pages late into the night! If you’re looking for a page turner, this one is for you. Thank you Netgalley for my free copy!

Another great summer book -- right in the middle of Wimbledon 2022! We follow Carrie Soto from when she first picks up a tennis racket through her winning career and finally her retirement. Her father is her tennis coach, and they develop a very close relationship as a result of it. Carrie is not the darling of the tennis world, but instead very driven to win at all costs. A great inside look at the tennis circuit, and another fantastic book by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

I think how much people enjoy Carrie Soto is Back might depend on how much they enjoy... training montages? Like, the bits in the movie where a person runs up and down the stairs 20 times interspersed with boxing scenes, or tries that dance lift and falls over and over, so you can get a sense of how hard they've worked to get where they are by the end. And there's snappy music and it's cut together well and there's a familiar structure and rhythm to it, so sometimes you can tune out the individual steps. Anyway, Carrie Soto felt like if a training montage had character development. Your mileage on that is almost certainly going to vary. Thus, three different short reviews. 

You love training montages: I'm right here in this category. I fcuking love a training montage. Sometimes when I get bored, I go on YouTube and watch hype videos for football matches that are just cuts of various players scoring goals cut to dramatic music. And I really enjoyed this book. It follows Carrie Soto through her career as a young tennis player - one of the greatest of all time, her eventual retirement due to injury, and her dramatic return in her late 30s with the help of her father (also her coach) and a former champion men's tennis player (also her love interest). I absolutely love reading about sports, particularly women in sports, especially particularly "difficult" female sports stars. I enjoyed Carrie SO much as a character. She is incredibly cocky, and skillful, and SO unbelievably driven that she really sometimes can't see past the end of her own combative personality to consider other competitors as human beings. I really enjoyed reading about what it took for her to be successful at two very different points in her life, and even though I have ZERO interest in tennis, I fell right into the rhythms of a sports narrative, and felt right at home. I don't think this book was anything earth-shattering, but I was entertained all the way through. 

You have zero feelings about training montages: Look, there is a LOT of tennis in this book. A lot of tennis strategy, a large number of tennis matches, and quite a bit of discussion of the training that goes into preparing for them. But there is, to be fair, other stuff going on in this book, if you don't mind finding it via lots of descriptions of training runs on the beach and battles against ball machines. I thought that this book offered a brilliant portrait of the competitive psyche, and the way it intersects with gender, and how that gets interpreted in sports media. (There's a recurring bit with transcripts of a 1990s sports talk show where the one woman on the panel gets treated so exactly the way that women with Sports Opinions often get treated by men... it was subtle but immensely recognizable). Carrie's relationship with her father also lends some weight to the story, and watching them discover - sometimes together, sometimes separately - what success and happiness mean to them was really interesting. If you don't mind sportsy stuff providing the scaffolding for your character development, or if the treatment of female athletes in the 1990s sports media is of interest, or if you're intrigued by the tension between having ambition for yourself and having it for someone you love, this book might still work for you. 

You hate training montages: you are probably also going to hate this book. 

Anyway, that's my two cents. I enjoyed it, but I just don't *quite* think it had enough of a plot arc or character depth to carry through readers who don't come into it already interested in the sports angle.

As a long time Taylor Jenkins Reid fan, I was SO excited to read this and Carrie Soto is Back did not disappoint! It was so refreshing to read about an unapologetic, badass, successful woman. As a former tennis player, I was impressed with the level of detail in this book, giving such vivid and description scenes. I zoomed through this book, it was such a page-turner and I didn't want to put it down. I think this just might be my new favorite book by Reid and I will definitely be picking up a copy once it comes out and will recommend it to my friends! Thank you for the opportunity to read an early copy!!

Carrie Soto is Back has heart, suspense, and everything in between. Taylor Jenkins Reid has an uncanny ability to make readers feel invested in her characters right from the beginning, and Carrie Soto is no exception. Lovers of Reid’s books will enjoy references to beloved (or hated!) characters of past stories, woven seamlessly into the fabric Soto’s. Hardcore fans of tennis will enjoy the references and technical detail, while others will learn a thing or two.

(Goodreads)

I have a HARSH review of TJRs last book, Malibu Rising. I am not sure that I can say I liked this one better, though there were parts that I liked. Do you remember as a kid there were chapter book series about sports teams and there would be a lot of game drama and then a little bit what was happening to the characters outside of sports? That’s what’s happening here. About 80% of this book is play by plays of tennis matches. I’ve never in my life watched or played tennis. So it was basically a foreign language.The good news is, I could skim those pages so this was a super fast read!
What this book did well was Carrie’s relationships with her father (loved these parts, didn’t love that they were almost entirely in Spanish), her love interest, and her main rival. Carrie was pretty one dimensional and unlikable herself, but I think the change in her throughout the book was satisfying.

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publication Date: 08/30/2022
Date Read: 06/29/2022 - 07/01/2022
Format: ebook (NetGalley)
Genre: Contemporary Fiction (historical? It starts in the 70s and ends in the 90s)
Series: very lightly connected to her last three books. The Mick Riva-verse if you will. It is a standalone though.
CW: death, misogyny, injury
Rating (❤️/👍/🤷‍♀️:👎/❌): 👍
Spice: N/A not a romance
Would I Recommend?: Yes

This book is really heavy on sports. 90% of it is playing and practicing or talking about tennis. The other 10% is family and relationships stuff. I liked Carrie’s story and her as a character overall. I liked this more than Malibu Rising but less than Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo. If you care, Mick Riva is mentioned briefly (she dates his daughters husband briefly). Just a comment. Daisy Jones and the Six (documentary on TV) is also mentioned. I’m a TJR fan for sure, I will read any of her new releases.

Carrie Soto is fierce, ambitious and has tunnel vision with winning being her one true love. She’s not a friendly or warm character- in fact she is cold and ruthless in her pursuit of her dream and at times I really did not like her. I’m still not sure I do. But taken all together, this is a story about recognizing one’s limits and finding what truly matters in life and TJR is so good at putting that into words!

Thank you to NetGalley for approving this ARC in exchange of an honest review!

Coming out of retirement, Carrie Soto is back. She is fierce and ready to battle for her title, her legacy, and her honor.

I do not want to go into much details in my review because I believe it is best if you start reading this masterpiece completely cold.

Carrie Soto Is Back is the first book I have read by the lovely Taylor Jenkins Reid and I completely understand her fanbase now.

Carrie has such a vicious, cutthroat nature that while I did not see much of myself detailed in her, I was rooting for her. When the media called her "The Battle Axe" or "The Bitch," I was thrilled along with her for her comeback. I wanted her to grow into the person she was meant to be.

Most of Carrie's personal issues come from the inability to communicate her emotional needs. When she attempts to do so and they are not met, she creates a barricade around her heart - not letting in even the most precious relationships she has cultivated along the way.

Carrie Soto Is Back is a beautifully crafted journey (that made me wish I knew more about tennis) about grief and sorrow - for one's lover, for one's parent, for one's self. It demonstrates to find joy in a rather anguished world.

Another excellent book from Taylor Jenkins Reid. I just need to go get all of her books and read them. I'm not sports fan of any kind, but this could make you one. Makes Me wish I was a little like Carrie Soto. She has so much grit and passion for the sport.

Thank you so much to #Netgalley for the arc. I love everything Taylor Jenkins Reid BUT this one was not my favorite by her. It was still a story that kept me interested, but it might have been my lack of tennis knowledge that did me in.
The idea though was really good. A retired tennis star, decides to come out of retirement to defend her title.
I had mixed feelings though about Carrie at least at first. I did not like her. Not one bit in the beginning in the book. I originally thought she was spoiled and bratty! However, by the end, I did grow to respect her and respect what she was doing.
The relationship with her father, that was my favorite aspect of the book. I loved how he supported her and then also realized where he may have gone wrong with her. The book was a little slower pace than her other books and I think the tennis parts just lost me. Usually with her books, I'm able to picture the scenery, but this one I struggled with a little bit.
Still good for any fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid

WOW, Carrie Soto might be one of my favorite characters yet. She’s passionate, stubborn, and I never wanted this book to end. I could have kept reading this story for hundreds more pages.

****
The book starts out with us learning about Soto’s career. We learn she’s a hardcore player that really only cares about tennis and her father Javier Soto (an ex pro (amazing) tennis player). He teaches his daughter not only the game of tennis but everything to be the best of the best.


We fast forward:

Soto comes out of retirement from a bad knee injury. She trains and wants her record back from Nikki Chan. She’s determined but through her training, she learns more this time around.

This book has everything Jenkins knows how to do so so well. I already can’t wait to read her future books. 5/5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A compelling, believable portrait of drive and ambition. Carrie is a retired tennis great who sees her achievements in the verge of being overshadowed. The book neatly covers a lifetime of competition and the sacrifices and single-mindedness needed to attain tithe goal of greatness.

The book zips along winningly, with its greatest surprise the way in which author Reid brings a series of tennis matches to life. You could imagine a version of this book that would be a litany of “and then this happened” descriptions, but each match has its own personality and conveys the internal thinking of Carrie.

The book dovetails references to Reid’s last couple of books without carrying thr weight of furthering a universe.

A fun, entertaining visit into the mind of a ruthless competitor.

TJR has done it again! This book follows Carrie Soto, a retired professional tennis player, as she decides to make a comeback in order to protect her record of most Slam titles. Carrie is hard around the edges and doesn't let a lot of people in, but I really loved the way that she progressed throughout the story. I liked getting to know Carrie and her father, and I loved the story about winning and what it means.

All of the main characters in this book were well rounded and interesting - I especially loved Carrie's development with Nicki Chan. Bowe was also interesting, although I felt as though there were a lot of characters to keep track of that didn't have much depth to them, which made it really hard to differentiate between them. But overall, TJR continues to prove herself to be a master of characters.

I think my main complaint about this book is that it lacked a bit of emotional depth that I was hoping for. Maybe that's because I don't know tennis very well and I'm not an avid tennis fan (although the tennis parts of this book were well explained in a way that it all made sense to me, without it feeling like the book was holding my hand). I did like the exploration of winning, and it's definitely a great read!