This book took me back in time to when I played tennis and was a big fan of Chris Evert. Even if you aren't a tennis fan, the emotionally dynamics of the story will draw you in. The author did a great job giving us a glimpse into the professional player's life and how all-consuming it can become to just want to be on top or be the best at the cost of everything.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a literary goddess. She never writes the same book twice, and yet I love them all. Her last three are very loosely related by a thread, a whisper of a character. It’s a fun Easter-egg, a shout out if you’ve read previous books, but they are all stand alone stories. When I heard her newest book would feature a character from Malibu Rising I had to search my brain. Who was Carrie Soto? Why did I want to read an entire book about this minor character I didn’t remember, a book about…tennis? Because it’s Taylor freaking Jenkins Reid (previously mentioned writing goddess) and Carrie Soto is the unapologetic kick butt women I needed, that’s why!
While centered around tennis, this is a book about how we categorize women who are ambitious. They are unlikable if they don’t smile, if they don’t follow the societal rules of making everyone comfortable with how they achieve, if they’re not sufficiently humble, gracious, and deferential to…everyone. This is about the audacity of a woman who has achieved greatnesses in her field, is considered too old, past her prime, and wants to push herself to maintain that level, to hold her title a bit longer. How dare she! It’s about a primary parental relationship when they are also your coach, stepping back to gain independence, circling back. It’s about seeing yourself, and others, in a light you never thought possible, a light that offers a way forward on your own terms.
My first Taylor Jenkins Reid book was Daisy Jones And The Six. I binge read it by the pool after my youngest son was married. The immersive story using such a unique format had me hooked. I loved the book, but moreso I fell in love with Taylor Jenkins Reid as an author. I immediately read her entire backlist and preordered Malibu Rising as soon as it was available. For my audiobook friends Julia Whelan narrates many of TJR books, so I can highly recommend that format!
I give my highest recommendation to Carrie Soto Is Back, as well as Taylor Jenkins Reid’s backlist. She simply can do no wrong, serving up characters that intrigue and fascinate me every time. Thank you to Random House Publishing - Ballantine Books for the digital advanced reader copy via Netgalley.

While I don't believe this book is for everyone, I absolutely loved it. People should be aware of their preferences going in, this won't work if you don't enjoy an unlikeable main character and if you have zero interest in learning about tennis. There is so much tennis. Personally there was just so much about this that worked for me between the father/daughter relationship, the celebrity of it all, and the focus on a sport. This hasn't eclipsed my love for Evelyn Hugo, but I am so happy with this book after my personal disappointment in Malibu Rising.

Carrie Soto, phenomenal tennis star, is back. Carrie was at the height of her tennis career and the best tennis player in the world when she retired. Now she decided to come out of retirement to defend her title as the best. Can she do it?

Carrie is such an unlikable person. She is brutal and very cutthroat. I wanted to hate her. I really did. But I really admired her drive and determination, and I found myself rooting for her. And I just loved her dad and coach Javier Soto. Javier's belief in her was unwavering. As the story progresses, Carrie really seems to grow and mature, and we see she really is human afterall.

I've never had an interest in tennis, and I didn't really care for some of the author's previous works so I had some trepidation going into this one, but I'm so glad I decided to pick this one up. I was fascinated by the glimpse into the tennis world and was impressed by all the details.

Carrie Soto is Back is different from anything I've read before, and I really enjoyed it.

Taylor Jenkins Reid did not disappoint on this one! I enjoyed the character connections to one of her previous books and the sports fiction genre. I found Carrie Soto to be a uniquely strong and competitive female character with depth who showed lots of personal growth throughout the story.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has written an epic book about a strong woman searching, and sometimes struggling, to do and be her best while aging in the world. Heaven forbid women age. But we do, and we become less than in society's eyes, and Carrie is here to push the limits back and reclaim her title. Her growth journey made me cringe, tear up, and filled me with joy all at the same time. I'm not a sports star and I've never been the best at anything, but I have thought many of the thoughts Carrie voiced, and I found I could relate. Her relationship with her father is incredibly beautiful and I loved being there with them both through all the training sessions and matches.

Carrie Soto is my new favorite TJR book. Bravo for making me feel all the feelings with a sports book! I have this crazy desire to buy a tennis racket!

Spoiler alert: I found so much comfort in Carrie's thoughts on grief. I highlighted the phrases to return to later when I need them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Carrie Soto is one of my favorites. She is unapologetically herself and doesn’t care if people like her or not, she’s out there to play a game. Fair warning: there is a lot of tennis talk but it didn’t bother me one bit.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️STARS

Thoughts before reading
✨I love TJR. She never disappoints

Thoughts while reading
✨Tennis is hardcore
✨Carrie is a badass
✨Why do women always have to be told to smile? Why can’t they just be?
✨How do professional athletes put their bodies through all the training?
✨Carrie is making me tired.
✨I hope Carrie achieves what she sets out to achieve

Thoughts after finishing
✨I don’t care what people say, Carrie is awesome
✨What a beautiful story
✨How does TJR do it? She’s such a talented writer
✨Everyone should read this

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I know everyone probably saw this one posted on pub day yesterday but I have to add my review to the mix. I loved this book. I loved the audiobook especially and highly recommend going with that version. It was absolutely superb. I absolutely love tennis and played for 5 years in high school/middle school. And I love watching the majors on tv and always have. So that definitely contributed to my life of the book. But I also loved how Carrie’s character evolved throughout the book and loved who she was at the end. One of my favorite parts was her relationship with her father. I also loved the character of her rival, Nikki. This is my second fave TJR book now ❤️

Quick synopsis: Carrie Soto was a big tennis champion and sets a record for the most majors before she retires. But when a young player is about to take her record she decides to come out of retirement. She is certainly older and out of tennis shape but with her father as her coach she is determined to make her come back.

A tennis legend past her prime making a comeback!! Carrie Soto was the best tennis player in the world, but her world record is being challenged so she decides to give it one more go. This time around her dad will be by her side coaching and cheering her along. I enjoyed how relatable the characters were and how the author digs into the unseen struggles Carrie experienced in the past.

This book took me by surprise, I absolutely loved it. I was a little skeptical when I first read the summary and read some reviews, but I am thrilled that I ended up reading it! You do NOT need to understand tennis at all, I know NOTHING about it and was still completely absorbed from the first to the last page. Despite not knowing the sport or jargon, I was captivated and excited and found myself wanting to read more to see what the ending would be. I had my thoughts, and without providing spoilers, I loved that I had to read the whole book to get my answers. The writing was superb, it kept me intrigued and I did not get bored by any of it. The best part to me was the relationship between Carrie and her dad. He was such a special and amazing man and I respected all he did for his daughter and her career. She was not an easy person for me to like, to respect, or to relate to, but she was an easy character to want to read about. This was a super emotional book and was a fantastic one. Highly recommended!

I loved this book!
Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my go-to authors; I love her characters and their strong personalities. Carrie Soto is absolutely a character that fits that description. She is strong-willed, stubborn, defensive, and gifted. Yet, as with us all, she has an Achilles heel - a weak spot, and that is her love for her father.
I loved the setting here: the world of tennis; and I read this novel without trying to assign real-world tennis names to Reid's characters. I wanted them to stand on their own and be themselves and I had no trouble with this.
A page-turner that I could not put down and made me feel a range of emotions!
Highly recommend.

I was intrigued by the idea of a comeback story but I don’t find reading about tennis to be compelling and I was not captivated by the character of Carrie Soto. I was hoping for a story that would be more relatable to the struggles we all face and need to overcome but I unfortunately didn’t find it here. Fans of tennis might be more interested.

4.5 stars
I absolutely loved this book and Carrie Soto feels like a real life person! Another knockout by TJR!

I really thought I was going to dislike this book since it is all about tennis. I don't like sports of any kind. At all. So, I was surprised that I found myself really enjoying this book and actually rooting for Carrie. I think TJR does a great job creating her characters. She gives them flaws, she makes us love them, but also hate them at times too.

Carrie Soto is a tennis phenom, coached by her tennis professional father Javier since she was a kid. In 1994 when a new player on the courts, Nikki Chan, ties her record for the most Grand Slam wins, Carrie decides to come out of retirement and get back into the game. The story starts back in the 1950's when her parents first got together and then Carrie was born. We quickly go through her life as she becomes a professional tennis player eventually nicknamed The Battle Axe (aka The Bitch).

This book was less about tennis and more about the relationships - family, friendships, and love, as well as Carrie discovering herself through different people in her life. I like that TJR likes to link her books together in a subtle way - if you read Malibu Rising, Nina's husband Brandon (a pro tennis player) has an affair with Carrie Soto leading to the destruction of Nina's marriage.

Carrie Soto is a champion tennis player and goes back after a knee injury in her mid-thirties to protect her Grand Slam record from the younger generation. 
Taylor Jenkins Reid takes you deep into the heart of Carrie's mental and physical well being, as well as each match as she fights to keep her record alive.  You feel as though you're immersed in her story and invested in how it all plays out from her relationships to her matches.  She is a very strong woman in a male dominated sport and Carrie's no-nonsense attitude made me like her character even more. 
The way this book is written, each match I felt as though I was watching it in real time. The description, the high octane pressure they go through during and when it comes down to that last match I guarantee you will be on the edge of your seat as the ball volleys back and forth. 
If you read anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid I highly recommend Carrie Soto is back.

I know I am the outlier in my feelings about this book. And I'm okay with that. Basically this story had none of the grit and nuance that we all love from TJR. I love her books for the deep character dives and how things all messily mesh together. Sure there were some relationships but I felt it was all pretty surface level stuff and completely totally overshadowed by tennis. There was nothing in this entire book that was not drenched in tennis. And while I am not a huge tennis fan, I do appreciate sports and athletes and it was interesting to follow along but it wasn't enough to carry and entire novel. Had this been a nonfiction book about an actual athlete then I would have given it another star because it would have been focused on the athlete and their performance, not them as an individual human. Does that make sense? Needless to say, I'll be right in line to grab and devour the next TJR book.

“I suspected the problem was that I was always the winner. But I could not for the life of me understand why that made people want to play with me less instead of more.”

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever. In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season.

What Worked: A tennis book for non-tennis fans! I worried this book wasn’t for me. However, it totally worked, and I was wrapped up in the story. TJR could have made Carrie a rhythmic gymnast, and it wouldn’t have mattered. The drive of these characters to be the best is really what keeps the story moving. I saw much of my own struggle with Carrie’s desire to be so perfect that it causes one to lose the original joy that got you started in the first place. The writing style is fast-paced, and the conflicts are engaging. The character relationships are complex. Even if you don’t like tennis, you’re sure to get sucked in no matter what.

What Didn’t: There were times when I felt that TJR’s attempt to write Latinx characters didn’t come off as fully authentic. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but there are other more detailed reviews that can explain better than I.

Rating: Really Liked It

Thanks for the gifted e-arc Ballentine & @netgalley! Swipe for synopsis.

Happy pub day to this gem that deserves all 👏 the 👏 damn 👏 stars. Right when I think I have a favorite TJR, she goes and makes me question everything. Not sure where this one falls, especially since I read most of her older works 5-6 years ago, but it’s up there y’all. Evelyn will always have a special place in my heart, but I can safely say Carrie will now too.

Carrie is so unlikeable that she’s likeable and I really, really adored her character. TJR wrote her so well & her character development was *chef’s kiss.* I liked that we saw so many sides of her - an athlete & competitor, a daughter (my fav!), an opponent, and a lover. You can’t help but cheer for her.

The book was the perfect mix of plot & character driven and didn’t feel nearly as long as it was. I flew through it! Oh, and be prepared to feel all the emotions.

I grew up playing a ton of sports and worked in college athletics until a few months ago, so I loved the tennis aspect, but I will say the book is pretty tennis heavy and if you don’t like sports (and tennis specifically), you might be a little confused or bored at times. While I think you could still enjoy the book without understanding tennis lingo, that knowledge would definitely help and make for a more well-rounded, enjoyable experience.

I read this one months ago & it’s one of the few books I haven’t had to go back and refresh my thoughts on before writing a review. I could go on and on but I’ll just leave it as TLDR; highly highly recommend. 👏

Despite being familiar with Carrie Soto after reading Malibu Rising, I just could not get into this one. There is a lot of tennis lingo and description of the matches/training. Someone who is extremely passionate about tennis will most likely love it, but others may be bored.

Brief Synopsis:
Carrie is a determined tennis player who works so hard to win no matter what. She used to hold the title of the most slams until she hurts her knee and is forced to retire from the sport… but at 37 she decides to come back to take back her title of the most slams!

My thoughts:
-TJR is such an amazing writer! No matter the topic she pulls you in and you feel so close to the characters and feel so attached to the story.
-Carrie’s dad, Javier a tennis player as well, coaches her starting when she is little. Their relationship is so strong and real and I absolutely loved reading both their growth throughout the story
-Carrie is such a strong female character. You feel with her as she goes through the challenges and emotions on her journey as she comes back and fights for her title
-There is a lot of tennis! I played in high school so I liked reading about all the tennis. Even if you don’t know much about tennis you won’t mind all the jargon it is written so well
-Overall if you love character growth, sports and historical fiction this one is definitely for you. This has become one of my favorite TJR books!!