A book about tennis that isn’t about tennis. I don’t watch sports, but love sports adjacent books. Enjoyed her story arc and growth throughout the book.

As a tennis fan who loves the players' backstories, this was the book for me. And the timing couldn't have been better. Carrie Soto was going for her big comeback at the same time Serena was back on center court making her U.S. Open run. Unfortunately, Carrie was not a likable protagonist. Of course I wanted to root for her, but she didn't make it easy. Carrie's love interest, an affable fellow player also looking for a comeback, and her father/coach offset her prickly personality. I enjoyed how the author built up the suspense leading up to the big tournaments, and she hit a good balance of detailing/summarizing the games, sets, and matches. Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Readers' Copy.

A beautiful story about a woman fighting for her passion while discovering herself, I absolutely loved this one! Taylor Jenkins Reid does it again, her writing has a way with the readers. I got so engrossed when I reading that the story lives in my head rent free. Carrie Soto as a character showed me a strong female sport person who is fighting for her rights in a way. The different challenges that she faces were something I could connect to and draw from real life events. In all, this was a book that I absolutely loved!

Taylor Jenkins Reid has a penchant for stories that jump across timelines, creating intrigue and interest in the storyline. In Carrie Soto is Back, we are drawn into the life of Carrie Soto, learning how she became a ruthless champion tennis player while also following along as she considers leaving retirement when her stunning record is threatened.

At its heart, the book wrestles with themes of what is truly important -- do we find significance in our achievements? Or do we credit a successful life to have other indicators?

This is a breezy read that was hard to put down, another enjoyable edition.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

This is going to be my last attempted with TJR. It was a DNF for me. I recognize she's doing things that people will love and I'm sorry to bring the rating down on this. She just isn't for me.

I will always read books by Taylor Jenkins Reid! This one is not my favorite of hers but I did enjoy the read. The ending was definitely the better part of the book. I learned a lot about tennis that I never knew. I was both interested in learning about tennis and got bored with it throughout the story (sometimes at the same time). I understand the need for the details of tennis in order to understand a lot of Carrie's thoughts and motives, but sometimes I was thinking "okay, enough tennis." Overall, this book will not keep me from reading her next one, but I have no plans on re-reading it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A continuation of the Jenkins Reid literary universe, Carrie Soto was once the greatest tennis player that ever was but now she is retired and watching her records be shattered by the newest and youngest. And she can't have that, so she decided to come back. And she will do anything it takes to get to the top again.
I love Taylor Jenkins Reid and I love tennis so this hits a lot of nails for me. I loved reading about the hard work it takes to be that elite player like Serena Williams. I also loved Carrie's character development.

Thank you to Ballantine Books and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I have ready several books prior to this one by Taylor Jenkins Reid and have liked all of them. She is such a talented writer, and I love her characters.

This new book is about a retired Tennis player Carrie Soto. I am not a fan of Tennis, so I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book. Honestly, I got swept up in the story of Carrie and her father, as well as her coming out of retirement. I was a little slow in the beginning, but picked up steam about half way though. This one was another great book by TJR, which I will be reccomending to my library patrons. This was another win for Talyor Jenkins Reid!

5 stars. This was my favorite read of 2022. Taylor Jenkins Reid does not disappoint. Carrie Soto is a strong character who isn't at likeable, yet I was cheering for her the whole way. I found myself rooting for her during each match. This is also a wonderful father daughter story as well. There is also a little romance.

I was given a copy of the book to review by the publisher. My opinions are my own.

Taylor Jenkins Reid strikes again! This book is a gorgeous tale of how, even though you may be older, you may still not have evolved to be a better person. There is always room to change, and sometimes we just need to get out of our own heads and stop holding ourselves back. It is also an exceptionally fun read as Jenkins Reid really gets the ready involved in teaching the reader about tennis in a way that isn't preachy or boring. There are some central themes that tend to show up in a lot of Jenkins Reid's books, family and internal character struggles are two major ones, and this book has both. I highly recommend this to readers of Taylor Jenkins Reid, and will recommend this to others who enjoy books with a strong female character, drama, and enjoy being drawn into the characters world.

Taylor Jenkins Reid whisks readers off to the world of competitive tennis in Carrie Soto Is Back. While this book isn't without some controversy, I don't care anything about tennis, and I found myself rooting for Carrie Soto.

TJR has a knack for creating complex female characters, and Carrie is no different. I also enjoyed the push-and-pull of her relationship with her father/coach (or coach/father some days). And, there is of course, also a love story.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

Another amazing book by TJR! This was fun to read, and really enjoyable. However, the other TJR books like 7 Husbands and Daisy Jones were a lot more my speed. Overall, though, this was a great book.

First TJR book and impressed by the way she weaves a sport like tennis into an interesting plot and makes the technicalities of tennis approachable for all readers. The story of Carrie Soto is nostalgic for any 80s fans but Jenkins-Reid brings it front and center to today's world with an insurmountable comeback from a storied athlete. The weight and focus of family, friends, and fame all while trying to conquer a sport was intriguing. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Special thanks to Random House - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed the last two Taylor Jenkins Reid novels, especially Malibu Rising, which even has some of the same characters, but I just couldn't get into this one. Too much detail to the tennis, maybe.

Alone with the majority of the world this will be in my top 5 books of the year. I care not a single thing about tennis. But this book made me want to be a tennis fan. You don’t have to understand the game to LOVE the book.

This is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her finest. Carrie Soto is one of the best tennis players to ever play the game. She holds the record for the most championships while also being known for her cold demeanor on and off the court. While in retirement, she watches a player match her record and decides to come out of retirement to win a championship and hold onto her legend as the best tennis player ever. The next year of her life changes everything for Carrie.

This is a story of determination and grit. About dreams and the work needed to achieve them. It's about what it is to be a woman in the world today...especially as a minority. It's about the love of a father and daughter and learning to open your heart to friendships and more. Carrie learns about who she really is and who she wants to be. I'm not a huge tennis fan and don't know much about the game but the writing not only brings understanding easily to the reader, it has you on the edge of your seat along with Carrie's father and friends to see if she will really be able to do it. Can she defeat the current reigning champion? I couldn't wait to find out. I couldn't believe how much TJR made me care.

I loved this book. I loved everything about Carrie and how unapologetic she was for who she is. I loved the relationship she had with her father and I loved the relationships she forms with another tennis pro, Beau, as well as her agent. I was so proud of her in the end and only wish that she were real and I could look up to see how and what she is doing today. Read this book. It's exceptional.

I always love a good TJR book. This one did not disappoint. I wished it stepped a little more outside of just tennis, but still really enjoyed it!

When I was young, I was never interested in tennis, even though my mother was an avid watcher, but that changed after I happened to see a Federer vs. Nadal match. I still can't explain it, but I loved the way Nadal played, and that's how I kind of got into watching the sport, which would eventually lead me to reading this. I do think a familiarity with the rules helps—while I wouldn't say the author throws you into the deep end, she also doesn't explain everything. The other thing that's important to know is that there is a LOT of tennis in this book. Everything else ends up taking a backseat. I personally didn't mind it, but if you're looking for a character-driven story, I don't think this will scratch that itch.

Carrie is an unlikeable heroine, not because she's extremely ambitious and competitive, but because she's abrasive, rude, and has no filter. It was hard to root for her when she never showed a sense of sportsmanship, and hid behind a shield of "(brutal) honesty is the best policy" regardless of how that made other people feel. Her motivation at the beginning of the story is clear: someone is about to beat her record of Grand Slam titles, and she's determined to prove to everyone that she was, is, and will always remain, the best in tennis. But as you progress through the story, the way she clings to this conviction makes less and less sense, and it's almost like she's only clinging to it so we have a book to read. There are moments of her starting to realize that what she's doing isn't logical or in her best interest, but every time they simply get pushed away in favor of, "I must win!" This means that the growth we see at the very end feels very abrupt, and not in line with how she was acting for the other 95% of the story.

There has always been a double standard when it comes to women who play sports, and the expectation that they should always smile, and be pleasant, and not say an unkind word to anyone, whereas men receive more leeway when they have a bad day and start slamming stuff. I've never understood the latter—personally, I expect all professional players to show professionalism, which means not breaking rackets on the court, and being polite to the people they work/play with. I understand what the author was trying to do with Carrie, but I think there's a way to discuss this topic without making Carrie as unlikeable as she was.

Did not finish this book. It lacked the charm of TJR's other books and truthfully I don't love this celebrity universe she's created and keeps coming back to. Wish she'd focus on regular modern love stories again.

I loved this book way more than I expected! I really didn't like the glimpse of her character in Malibu Rising, but I loved the transformation of her character throughout this book.