3.5 stars

Without a doubt, Taylor Jenkins Reid has quickly become one of my favorite authors over the last few years. I eagerly await her new releases with over-the-top anticipation. Maybe this is a case of overhype in my head, however, Carrie Soto just did not raise to the level of love I've felt for Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and even, Nina Riva (who I admittedly did not love AS much as the other two). Mostly a character study with less plot, Carrie is certainly going to be a divisive character (and book, for that matter), but the relationship between her and her father/coach, Javier, was the highlight of this one for me.

I do not want to call Carrie unlikeable, because the thought of a strong powerful woman who knows exactly what she wants and is not afraid to go after it, should not make someone unlikeable - but there is definitely a hardness to her that made it more difficult for me to feel kindred to her.

In any event, my countdown is back on for the next announcement of a TJR book!

Like all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books, this one left me wanting more, but even more so than the others. The nods to her previous books are like a little gift to her dedicated readers, and her writing is fresh and clean and insightful and fun.

As someone whose knowledge of tennis does not go past Wii Sports, I found myself at the edge of my seat while reading this book, desperate to find out how every match was going to end. I felt like I was there, in the stands, watching it all happen in front of my eyes. While I don't know all the technical tennis terms I was still able to follow along and enjoy the story.

This books shows the complexities of a father/daughter, coach/athlete relationship, and pros and cons that come with both. This book also does a great job of showing what it's like inside an athlete's head, how much pressure they put on themselves, and how they can be their own worst enemy.

This book also shares the struggles of women in the media, how you have to be "likeable" and "grateful" and how you never really do anything "right", because whatever you do is the opposite of what everyone wanted. But Carrie Soto. What a woman. How refreshing it is to have a female lead who is unapologetically, ruthlessly, herself. Who knows her flaws but wears them proud. Who just doesn't give a damn about what they all say.

Overall, this book is well written, flows nicely, and has that classic Taylor Jenkins Reid banter that her readers love.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again! Pulling a minor character from last summer’s hit Malibu Rising, Carrie Soto takes center court in this high-stakes page turner set in the world of top-tier professional tennis.

While sports themes dominate, for those uninterested in tennis or even sports, fear not. I have little interest in tennis, but I was riveted and completely consumed by this book over a 2 day period. Reid craftily makes you care, and care mightily, about each and every point. I have not read a book with such a rocketing narrative drive in quite a while.

Reid reaches to her recent backlist to continue the theme of the price of fame. Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones, Nina Riva, and now Carrie Soto each intersect with fame in different ways and each pay their own price.

As always, Reid’s supporting characters are equally strong. Carrie’s father, Javier, and a male tennis player on the pro circuit, Bowe, are particular standouts. Carrie’s relationship with her father is perfection on the page. They slip in and out of Spanish, so have a translator app nearby if you are not conversant.

This title is a solid 5⭐️ for me. I typically favor literary fiction with well-crafted writing and richly layered characters. Carrie Soto did not disappoint. Absolute Grand Slam!

Carrie 🔥 Freaking 🔥 Soto 🔥
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Taylor Jenkins Reid remains at the top of her game. It was so easy to get lost in this story, told match by match as Carrie comes out of retirement and tries to reclaim and defend her most Grand Slams title. 🎾 What a journey. What a comeback. What a career.
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Carrie is such a dynamic character. Bold. Unapologetic. Competitive. Stubborn. Abrasive. Her growth throughout the story is amazing. The ending was perfection.
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I loved every supporting character. Bowe, the self deprecating, patient training partner. Nikki Chan, the absolute badass rival. Javier Soto, her father and coach. 🥹
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Is this my new favorite TJR? No. I just don’t love tennis that much. Is it a comeback story for the ages? Definitely. I had chill bumps for the last 15% of the book. Does Carrie deserve a spot with Evelyn and Daisy? You damn right.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Ballentine Books for the chance to read this early!

QOTD: Are you into any sports?
I never played any, but I’ve loved to watch baseball and visit the stadium (go Phils ⚾️) when I used to have more leisure time.

BOOK REVIEW:
Carrie Soto is Back, @tjenkinsreid
Pub date: August, 30, 2022

When I found out TJR’s new book was about a tennis player I was underwhelmed, especially after not loving Malibu Rising. But you guys, this book is some of her best work yet, IMO.

No kidding, I sat on my deck well past dark finishing Carrie Soto, because I just couldn’t stop. Carrie is ruthless, and yet, I found myself rooting for her every step of the way. There’s some romance, but the best relationship in the book is the one between her and her dad (also her coach for most of her career).

In the story, Carrie is heading back to pro-tennis to defend her record in her mid-thirties after spending 5 years in retirement. In doing so, she learns a lot about herself and her relationships. As someone her age, I really could see myself in so much of her evolution.

I’m telling you, if you’re skeptical, I’d still give it a shot. It’s good. If you’ve loved all of TJR’s work, I think this will be a home run for you. The only story that bests this for me is Daisy Jones (on audio), but it’s close. And really, does anything compare to Daisy Jones? It was just such unique storytelling.

Thanks @netgalley for my gifted copy!

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TJR is the creator of epic, unforgettable heroines and queen of fascinating historical fictions help us time travel and experience the vivid images, daily lives, true cultures of different time zones where we want to spend more time and never return back to the reality!

“Carrie Soto is back”: might be one of her most exciting, engaging, adrenaline pumping, entertaining, heart throbbing novels she’s ever written !

TJR’s heroines are flawed, but brave enough to rise from ashes, learning from their mistakes by taking risks and challenges. Sometimes you really hate them or resent them but they always find a smart and unique way to get under your skin and charm you with their power, endurance, resilience and bravery. Just like Carrie Soto did this book and just like Daisy Jones, Evelyn Hugo, Nina Riva had done to us! Both of these amazing heroines changed our worlds! We chanted for them! We screamed at them! We wish their happiness and we witnessed their self growth and their search for the meaning of the life!
Now let’s focus on who Carrie Soto is!
Carrie Soto is total bitch! She’s born to be tennis star! Her eyes are always on the ball! Only thing she wants is to be the best, the one, becoming invincible, crushing her opponents in expense winning more enemies and people’s hate! She’s crude! She’s husband stealer! But under that ice queen facade, she’s lonely, she’s sensitive, she’s insecure. She secretly thinks people will abandon her as soon as they notice that sensitive part of her just like the men she’s had one night stands and never heard them back.

Her father Javi was a great tennis player called as “Jaguar” immigrated to the USA from Argentina,finding his love of his life. Since she was a little girl, Carrie keeps visiting her father at the tennis courts where he coaches the people for tournaments till she becomes of her most important student to be trained to be beast who destroys her opponents!

Carrie becomes callous, relentless, an ice queen, an battle-axe, focusing on winning. She even fires her own her father to become the winner, working with another coach helps her dreams come true!

And in 1994, she’s 37, she’s single, her only friends and confidantes are her father Javi and her agent Gwen. Her records are about to taken away by a brutal, competitive, 31 years old brilliant tennis player Nicki Chan. Carrie cannot let that happen! Without being the best tennis player who can she be! Nobody! She doesn’t have any love interest and any aim in life makes her excited. She has to return back ! She has to get back what belongs to her! She has to be the best of the best again!

This means she has to train more and work with the man she had a past. The man’s name is Bowe Huntley who is struggling tennis player working so hard to get in shape after being sober, getting through divorce and lots of game loses.

Carrie has no intention to become friends with him. They tend to act civil and do their jobs for becoming the best!

But at the age of 37, Carrie realizes her life, her goals can change. She slowly learns to open her heart to people by looking different perspective. Maybe becoming the best is subjective. Maybe she never exceeds her own expectations.

I loved most of the characters! Javi is my star and I’m taking a bow for sweetheart Bowe who was caring, patient and so lovable.

I enjoyed crossovers from Daisy Jones and the Six as Carrie reading the biography and dating with Nina’s husband from Malibu Raising.

If you don’t like tennis, this book makes you a big fan by explaining the basic rules smartly and each chapter keeps you in your toes and you feel like you just transported to the tennis matches, sitting on a benches to watch the games live as your heart in your throat! The narration couldn’t be exciting! You jump up and down! Scream! Crossing your fingers! Wishing so hard to see Carrie win!

Overall: I love sports! I love anything TJR writes! Of course I’m giving 5 shiny score stars! I devoured this book and I truly enjoyed it!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing / Ballantine for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy of one of the most anticipated books of 2022 in exchange my honest opinions.

I loved this book. Reading it was an entertaining experience from start to finish and I devoured it in 3 sittings. I personally love tennis and follow it closely, so I cant say for sure if someone who doesn't know and love tennis would blow through this so quickly and with such glee. But if you can get past the tennis if it’s not your thing, the underlying character development of Carrie, her relationships with the people closest to her, will keep you engaged. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I cheered. It was a great reading experience; to me this author never misses with keeping the pace and momentum.

“Don’t hate me. It’s a waste of your time.”

Former 80s Tennis Star Carrie Soto “The Battle Axe” is back, and she’s coming for you. If you’re looking for a read with a badass B, look no further than Carrie Soto. She gives zero Fs about what you think of her, and she definitely doesn’t care if you know it.

The story starts with how she decides to make her tennis comeback. It goes though her life from the being, her family, how she got into tennis, up to her comeback.

I loved the flow of the book and even with all the backstory and tennis info I couldn’t put it down. It’s my favorite TJR book to date. There is definitely something special about Carrie Soto and it shows in these pages.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballentine for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Thank you NetGallery and Taylor Jenkins Reid for giving me the chance to read and review this title.
Never in a million years would I thought that I would be reading a book about a tennis champion coming out of retirement to defend her title. When I saw this book was written by Taylor Reid I knew I had to try it and I was not disappointed. Reid has a way of drawing the reader into the story that she weaves. She builds great relatable characters that make the story flow. She does such a tremendous job of pulling the reader into the story that I often found myself tensing up as if I was right there with Carrie Soto on the tennis court. Readers who loved her Malibu Raising novel will definitely enjoy Carrie Soto Is Back.

There is nobody better than TJR in crafting a book that feels like you are watching a movie. In the case of Carrie Soto is Back, it is that all encompassing feeling of watching a high stakes sports movie, except we get to be inside the head of the GOAT. As someone who’s tennis knowledge was limited to Wii Sports and the movie King Richard, I was completely consumed by the game and strategy involved as described by the author. You do not have to be a tennis expert to enjoy the suspense and thrill of Carrie’s journey in this novel.

In addition to the setting, the characters’ relationships in this story are incredible. Carrie’s relationship with her father/coach Javier develops from childhood to her comeback at age 37. The emotions and love between the two of them is so strong and heartwarming.

The commentary on women in sports and in the public eye is unfortunately reminiscent of what we see in the real world today. Carrie is ambitious and determined to win. She is unapologetically herself and although she truly does care about what is said about her in the media, she refuses to change to appeal to those who are critical of her in society.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this read! Many thanks Random House for the ARC.

🄱🄾🄾🄺 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆 ----⤼⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣
𝚃𝙸𝚃𝙻𝙴: Carrie Soto Is Back
𝙰𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁: Taylor Jenkins Reid
𝙿𝚄𝙱 𝙳𝙰𝚃𝙴: August 30, 2022
𝚁𝙰𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶: ★★★★☆

𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐞!

Ohhhh this one is going to be a rough review because I'm still not sure if that 4 star rating is accurate. It's probably a 3.5 rounded up. And I changed this many times, so who knows if I'll settle on this. Maybe it'll change again.

To anyone wondering, yes, this is all about tennis. Tennis games. Tennis practice. Tennis technique. Tennis. Tennis. Tennis. So if you're not a sports fan, this will NOT be for you. Am I a sports fan? Ehhh? I could take it or leave it, so keep that in mind.

This story is very, very character-driven, which isn't my favorite. I love plot-driven stories that have rollercoasters of twists and emotions. This one lacked a lot of that. But the weird part is, I really wanted to finish it and see how it ended for Carrie Soto. She's a flawed character that doesn't care if you love her or not, and I found her quite bitchy!

This is the type of book you don't skim. TJR's writing is flawless and I'll give her all the praise because she knows how to write an engaging story. It did feel a tad long, especially because I had to keep Googling the Spanish conversations that had no translation for fear I'd miss something. I loved Beau and her father the most!

To anyone wondering, here's how I'd rank the books I've read:
1. Evelyn Hugo
2. Maybe In Another Life
3. Forever, Interrupted
4. Daisy Jones
5. One True Loves
6. Malibu Rising
7. Carrie Soto

All right, as always, give this one a chance. I didn't hate it by any means. Was it my favorite of hers? No, but she's still a kick-ass writer and I'll still read anything she puts out.

Carrie Soto started slow for me, but it picked up pretty quickly. Carrie Soto is one of those characters that takes a little while to warm up to, but once I did I was rooting for her 100%. She is a complicated character, but as I got to know her better and understand her motivations, I became a huge fan. She is on a mission to remain the best tennis player in the world and won’t let anything get in her way.

However, over time she does begin to see what the single-minded cost her. I loved how she matured as well as the story progressed. The secondary characters are well developed, and the few people she lets in to her life really make an impact on her.

One thing that really resonated with me was the difference in the way Carrie was treated and viewed as a female athlete versus how the male tennis players were viewed and discussed. Characteristics that are acceptable or even welcomed in men are not allowed in women and instead are criticized or mocked. TJR weaves in both news articles and transcripts of sports commentators to demonstrate this in the book which worked very effectively.

This is a story I will not soon forget. Daisy Jones is my favorite of TJR’s books, but I think Carrie Soto is now up there neck-and-neck with Daisy Jones.

The character development in this novel is wonderful, and makes it my favorite book by Taylor Jenkins Reid yet! For the first time in a long time, I could not put this book down.
Carrie is a dynamic and beautifully flawed character, making her journey thrilling to read and the twists and turns unpredictable. I completely fell in love with Javier and Bowe.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who reads women’s fiction.

TJR has done it again. The way that she effortlessly dives into a new character and gives you a new perspective on them. Carrie Soto is a bitch, but she's my bitch and I love her. Also the DJATS mention had me screaming and crying.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Okay this book is fantastic, but if you can I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audiobook too!! Hilarious! I really, really enjoyed this book! It was captivating and it hooked me from the very first chapter! Definitely recommend! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

The only reason I didn't rate this 5 stars is because of all the Spanish I could not understand. I know a little bit not enough for some of this book I guess. I started the book by googling translations but there were half page conversations in Spanish that I just couldn't keep up with and there was no explanation as to what the conversation was about. Plus I'm not even sure my translations were correct on some words. Did get father keep calling her pigeon (pichona)?
I loved all the references to TJR's other books! Yes, Mick Riva is mentioned. So is Daisy Jones and the Six! It's like TJR has a whole universe in her head where these characters exist in all her books.
I thought I would hate Carrie Soto based on her role in Malibu Rising but I was wrong. I loved her character and I learned so much about tennis. I highly recommend this book (especially if you are fluent in Spanish!)

🎾 Carrie Soto is Back 🎾

“This is fun, I think. How did I forget this is so fucking fun?”

Carrie Soto is Back and this is TJR’s best serve. Of her incredible female characters, Carrie is easily the ace. She is unapologetically herself, and she follows an incredible journey. Years after retiring from setting records in the professional tennis world following injury, Carrie Soto makes a comeback with her father as her coach, seeking to defend her title as female tennis player with the most grand slams. The relationship between Carrie and her father as they navigate tennis and Carrie’s growth is beautiful.

Normally, I say “check this one out if…”, but honestly, just check this one out.

In it, you will find:
🎾 An incredible comeback story
🎾 Strong female lead, pushing herself and learning what she needs
🎾 A beautiful portrayal of the love between a father and daughter
🎾 Journey of following your life passion
🎾 Feminist themes such as, “Some men’s childhoods are permitted to last forever, but women are so often reminded that there is work to be done.”

In a world where there is always work to be done, TJR reminds us that it is ok to play, it is ok to have fun.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC! Carrie Soto is Back will be on shelves August 30.

This book was absolutely beautiful. I 100% agree with the editor's note at the beginning of the book, Carrie is my favorite main character in a Taylor Jenkins Reid book. Despite her obvious flaws, you can't help but root for her from beginning to end. Her growth throughout the book is absolutely beautiful, and the epilogue really demonstrated that. The relationship with her father was so well-written and was, for me, the best part of the book. It was so emotional, both in their good and bad moments. Her relationship with Niki Chan was so interesting and showed that even two women who are constantly pitted against one another can found respect and friendship while still being fierce competitors. Even though the setting of the book (sports, tennis) didn't appeal to me as much as the movie or music industry that are the backdrop of TJR's previous books, I found myself so invested in those tennis matches, on the edge of my seat, desperately rooting for Carrie.
My one note is that many lines between Carrie and her father are written in Spanish without translation. Even if that wasn't a problem for me, I wonder if readers who have little to no Spanish reading comprehension abilities might get frustrated by missing out on those lines?

I think I know more about tennis now than I ever had even playing it. Tennis is really having a moment in books right now, I think. I liked the idea of taking a throwaway character from Malibu Rising and fleshing her out it but I never really felt like I got to know Carrie or the people around her very well. We know she likes to play tennis and win. We know she is close to her father but still willing to fire him. But that’s really about it.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Her books are always so beautifully written and Carrie Soto is Back is no exception.

Carrie Soto is back--in the tennis world, that is. After hearing that her previous records are about to be broken by a new female tennis player, Carrie Soto returns to the court in order to win back her title. With the help of her father, Carrie undergoes several grueling months, both physically and mentally, in preparation for the match of her life. Along the way, her character transforms from one who is stubborn and, at times, unlikeable, into one full of grace and compassion.

I absolutely LOVED Carrie. I loved her relationship with her father and I was rooting for her growth throughout the entire novel. Taylor Jenkins Reid writes remarkable characters that you truly care about. I was so sad finishing this book and will likely read it again.

Carrie Soto is back is my favorite book of hers to date! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read an ARC in exchange for a review.