The beauty of this book is that as I sit here typing up my review I am still overflowing with more emotions than the trojan horse held soldiers. While Carrie Soto is Back was on my list since its announcement, I have to say I tried to slow down as I read it. I knew that as I reached closer and closer to those final pages, that final match, not only would a chapter close for Carrie but one for me as well. Although she is my senior she still held some immaturity. She thought that pushing everyone and everything away would protect her, but there will always be something out of your control, and this book showcases her journey towards acceptance. I loved her comeback story because it truly was inspiring. Here she is going against all expectations and not really factoring in the long-term consequences. Almost everyone counted her out before she was ever really in, but it didn't matter. It is her journey, not theirs, so she must be okay with herself, not the version people project onto her. It is beautiful to watch someone as strong as her become stronger as she is finally able to better her mental game and gain a sense of family from people other than her father. I love her, but I think it's because as a reader, I get to know all sides of her. I get to know the events that shaped her and the people who encourage and influenced her. I get to spend all this time with her unlike those she pushed away. Most of all I cheered for her, I screamed for her, I cried for her. As someone who has never watched a tennis match, I found myself quite literally on the edge of my seat, using my fingers to block out the bottom of the page, to keep myself from seeing who got the point. I found myself trying to live those moments through her and with her, whether she won or lost, hoping she would be okay with the results. Hoping I would be okay with the results, and together we grew. I knew, just like she did, that once the moment came the outcome would not change. No matter the outcome of those matches, I would have to accept it just as she would, but the journey was so beautiful, so fulfilling, that I understood we would be okay. It was just the end of the game, the end of a chapter, the end of a book, the end of this universe. I have not only been thankful for every moment but will carry them with me, so for that thank you.

TJR never fails. Every book is a hit, no matter what. I loved this one so much. Her writing, her characters, her pacing. It's all amazing.

5/5 ⭐

Obviously anything written by TJR is an auto-read for me so I jumped all over Carrie Soto is Back as soon as I got it. It is the story of Carrie, a professional tennis player, fighting for a comeback at age 37 - battling an aging body and critics of the antics of her younger self. Is it a sports book? Absolutely. There are play by plays and so many technical tennis terms. Does it still read like a gripping novel with the classic TJR deep, well developed heroines? Also yes. To say that I was sucked in is an understatement. Carrie Soto is portrayed with all of her flaws and shortcomings but her determination, feistiness and commitment are so inspirational. Setting aside the appearance by the most hated modern day character, Mick Riva, I absolutely loved the drama, the excitement, the stress, the strength, the drive and love that this book embodied.

Thank you Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the gifted electronic copy.

Well, I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but here it goes...

TJR has a beautiful writing style so this book is beautifully written. However, it was very predictable. I was waiting for a big surprise or reveal or something, and it never happened. Yes, I love how it was written but the story itself was three stars from me.

I enjoy tennis but this book is filled with pages and pages of rules and play by play. I don't mind unlikeable characters but Carrie is brutal. Less Carrie, more supporting characters would've been a more enjoyable read. One extra star because the last 1/3 of the book we finally get a story and I couldn't put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

5 Huge Stars!

I simply adored everything about this book. As a former player and avid tennis fan, I was naturally drawn to the story of Carrie's tennis career. It was a love affair in and of itself. But this book is so much more than that. It's the story of a woman who finds herself in the most untraditional of ways. It takes her a while, but it's worth the journey. Her relationship with her father is both painful to watch at times while also being beautiful. And the push and pull between her and Bowie....well that gives a whole new meaning to letting self doubt creep in and get between you and something you want..

Taylor Jenkins Reid is such a force as a storyteller and she truly shines with this novel. Carrie Soto plays the other woman in Malibu Rising. She's not exactly someone you want to get to know. And honestly, she's a tough and thorny character through a great deal of this book. But as you learn why she's that way and what really makes her tick, you come to understand and embrace her. For TJR to be able to make me even want to like Carrie is a feat. I was quite impressed.

With Serena Williams recent announcement that she'll retire from the sport of tennis soon, this book felt timely. Not only did it focus on Carrie's tennis career and how she impacted the fictional world of tennis in the book, it also discussed the impact of other fictional female tennis players and the affect they were having on amping up the sport of women's tennis. Maybe it was just me and my love for the sport, but the book and its discussion of female athletes and their influence on tennis, whether fictional or not, felt impactful.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

4.5
I have made no secret that I love reading TJR books. I think she is a very gifted writer and she expertly crafts us a story. We read about her characters, but they live, eat and breathe within those pages and become part of our circle for the time that we are with them. Sometimes the TJR effect will last even longer and they linger on your mind.

This was all true for Carrie Soto for me. While she is portrayed as a very unlikeable woman, I didn't necessary dislike her. And even if I did dislike her just a little, I loved her story. The only thing I didn't love about this book was the occasional dialogue in Spanish. I didn't even try to guess what it was saying and found it distracting.

I also hear chatter about too much tennis - well, it is a book about a tennis player that was a champion and she is orchestrating her comeback. So yes, there is a lot of tennis. But I do think that this aspect is done so well that even someone that knows absolutely nothing about tennis will enjoy Carrie's story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine Books for an early release copy in exchange for my honest opinion. Carrie Soto is Back will be available on 8/30/22.

TJR can do no wrong. I loved the sports aspect as well as the thoughtful and in-depth character development. TJR has a knack for explaining who her characters are so well that we feel like we know them. Loved this and will be promoting next week for publication.

I love Taylor Jenkins Reid and this book was another great story told in a unique way. I would have liked to have had a little more character development and learned more about their lives in order to love them even more, and had a little less descriptive tennis match scenes, but overall I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it for fans of Reid.

Thank you Netgalley and the Publisher for the advance copy.

I loved this book! Taylor Jenkins Reid has such a special style of writing that transports you to the characters world and it's hard to believe her books are fiction. I really enjoyed that there were also reference to her other novels in this book.

Carrie Soto's comeback story and backstory is really well written. I loved the other characters in the book and tore through this novel. I highly suggest this book!

Everything I know about tennis...I learned from Carrie Soto.

Absolutely loved this book so much! It reminded me why I fell in love with Daisy Jones. TJR has the most captivating writing style. She keeps historical fiction fresh and hip. She creates characters you can't get enough of. I love how she weaves small nods to her other books/characters into the narrative. Yes, I'm looking at you Nina Riva.

I knew nothing about tennis and still binged this over a road trip. One of my favorite reads of the summer!

The audio is also such a treat! Fantastic narration by a full cast.

Pub Date: August 30, 2022

I have read several books by this author including Daisy Jones and the six (loved it) and Malibu Rising. This book was a departure and not comparable to her previous work. It was boring and I felt nothing for the characters. I get the tennis link (David Foster Wallace had mastered this) but felt like I’d heard this story before. I’d give it one star and that’s generous. Utterly disappointing.

Carrie Soto is Back kept me entranced for the whole 2 days it took me to read it. I am not an athlete and I barely watch tennis. But the concept of a person who will accept nothing but perfection from themself is not foreign. Carrie is not a beloved sports star- her nicknames are Battle Axe and The Bitch- but you still want her to win. Her father, Javier, is supremely focused on tennis but still adorable. I’m short, Taylor Jenkins Reid writes characters that I want to know more about. I especially love the dialogue Carrie has with different people. This was a book I did not want to end.

I did not enjoy this book. It's probably one of Taylor's worst.

I know part of the reason I didn't love this book is because I do not care for tennis, and that I will admit is a me problem.

Carrie Soto is intended to be unlikeable character but she is not even enjoyable. She doesn't need to be a likable character but she could at-least be interesting enough to warrant a book.

Lastly TJR should not be writing minorities.

A story about love, loss, female empowerment, redemption, and of course…. tennis!!

Carrie Soto was groomed from a young child by her tennis enthusiast father/coach to be unapologetically the roughest and most disciplined female tennis player, with the hopes that one day she would be THE best. After winning the most Slam titles and claiming her spot as the most decorated tennis player, male or female, in the world, ever, she retires. Fast forward approximately six years when her world record is smashed by a younger British player, Nicki Chan, and Carrie is in the audience to witness it. At that exact moment, Carrie decides to re-enter the now changed world of women’s tennis with her biggest fan by her side, her dad, but she is much older and changed. Will she still be able to live up to her legacy or should she have stayed retired in legendary status?

I want to preface this review by saying that I have NOT read either Daisy Jones nor Malibu Rising YET. They are on my very long, very intimidating TBR list. I understand from the book community that there is a bit of crossover easter eggs in this one related to TJR’s other bestsellers, but I will have to file those away for later when I do get around to them. There was a lot of talk initially about Carrie Soto being a sequel, but I am here to say that you DO NOT need to read those in order to read and understand this novel, which is entirely standalone.

I truly enjoyed this book and I cannot express how grateful I am to Random House, Taylor, and NetGalley for the early opportunity to read this gem. I have never in my life played or had the inclination to play tennis before reading this novel, and now not only do I have the random urge to play tennis, but to also be a fearless female warrior and dominate the heck out of it! I did not believe I required any independent knowledge of tennis to read this or that anything was confusing to me because I didn’t, in fact, I actually learned so much.

I really enjoyed how the novel was broken down by years and by major tennis events. I also enjoyed the sports casting transcripts and editorials that were sprinkled throughout. My ONLY criticism of this title would be the Spanish. Not the fact that there was Spanish, but that it did not translate it for readers who do not speak the language. It wasn’t simple, well known phrases either, so I was stuck either spending time Google entire dialogues or guessing but not really knowing what was said, which subtracted from the story.

I will scream this book’s praises from the highest rooftops and can’t wait for the world to meet Carrie on August 30th!!

“Carrie Soto is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: 8/20/22
Genre: Historical Fiction

Taylor Jenkins Reid did it again!! I wasn’t sure if I was going to like a book about tennis, but I loved it! I loved how the main character evolved throughout the book. I also love how she ties in all of her books. She’ll drop little hints on how the characters are connected.

Carrie Soto is a strong minded woman that plays the fieriest tennis anyone has ever seen. From the moment she could hold a tennis racket her father groomed her to be the best. He had big dreams for her. Carrie took it in strides and her whole life became consumed by tennis. After an amazing career but a devastating injury to her knee she retires. Six years later at the 1994 US Open Carrie decides she need to come out of retirement to reclaim her title. She enlists her father the former Tennis Jaguar Javier Soto to train her. The book shares the story of Carrie’s original tennis career and her return. It shares the relationship with her father even when complex and complicated and her friendship with former fling Bowe Huntley.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again--made me interested in reading about something I previously had no interest in. Just as I had no interest in reading about musicians or bands until I read DAISY JONES & THE SIX, I had no interest in reading about tennis before reading CARRIE SOTO IS BACK. But just as I was sucked into the life of Daisy, I became immersed in Carrie's life--rooting for her comeback through her many struggles. And that's Reid's sweet spot: creating characters and stories that feel real, because just like with DAISY JONES, by the end of CARRIE SOTO, I had to remind myself that is was fiction.

🎾 Before I ever opened the book, I knew I would like 𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗘 𝗦𝗢𝗧𝗢 𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 by the incredible Taylor Jenkins Reid. The premise of a retired tennis superstar fighting to come back and cement her record for the most Grand Slam titles ever won by anyone spoke to me. What I didn’t know is that I would LOVE the story. I played tennis in high school and some more after that until life got crazy, so I had a firm foundation in understanding the sport.I was glad for that, but it’s not essential. Though this book is definitely about tennis, it’s much more about the mental side of the game and the relationships between Carrie and the very few people she allows in her life.⁣
⁣
By now everyone knows about this book, so I’m not going to summarize the plot or the fine points of Reid’s excellent storytelling. Instead I’m simply going to tell you the one thing I loved most about it: Carrie Soto was a badass, "𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗟 𝗡𝗢" type of woman and we need more of those! Throughout her career, Carrie cared more about her game than making friends and playing to the press. Despite her success, or perhaps because of it, this earned her the moniker of “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦-𝘈𝘹𝘦.” We’d never hear such a title openly used today, but Carrie’s career began in the 70’s. When she made her comeback, the name calling and derision of male sports commentators only grew worse. No matter what the game threw at her, Carrie stood up, held her head high and played on. She was a force to be reckoned with and she was determined to make sure the world knew it. Carrie Soto didn’t simply want to make her mark on tennis history, she needed to. To anyone trying to get in her way? 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟⁣
⁣
Thanks to #BallantineBooks and @randomhouse for an electronic ARC of #CarrieSotoIsBack.

When you believe that your only purpose in life has been to be the best, the greatest tennis player of all time and the stat you depend on is the record of won grand slam matches, what do you do when someone is about to tie and then surpass your record? In Carrie Soto’s case, you decide to make a comeback at the old age (in tennis years) of 37, train perhaps the hardest you ever have in your life, and then begin to deal with hard truths about your body, your mind, and the life you thought was important in Taylor Reid Jenkins’ amazing novel Carrie Soto Is Back.

Yes, I’m telling you immediately that Carrie Soto Is Back is an amazing novel that I never wanted to end and yet kept constantly page-turning to get to the end. And those last few chapters had me so riveted that I indeed felt like my adrenalin was pumping. Fight! Win! Succeed!

Carrie Soto Is Back is a multi-faceted relationship novel: father and daughter, woman and tennis, woman and herself, and only later woman and man as Carrie finally allows herself to be something more than a tennis automaton. Carrie is abrasive, sometimes heartless, cold, controlled, and focused but as the novel progresses, Carrie grows as a human being and it’s a seriously wonderful change with many instances in which I was teary-eyed as Carrie’s vulnerability opens her wide.

The relationship between Carrie and her father, Javier, known as the jaguar during his tennis playing days in Argentina, is beautiful and bittersweet. He has molded her into believing that she will be the greatest but must walk the fine line of bolstering without lying, which ultimately proves impossible and becomes the first break in their relationship early on. But as Carrie starts over at 37, Javier is by her side, coaching and forcing her to acknowledge that she is not always right, she does not know everything.

Taylor Reid Jenkins’ description of the matches made me feel like I was right there, watching a match. I appreciated this, especially as a tennis aficionado. Carrie Soto Is Back is not only a beautiful character novel, but a beautiful tennis novel.

Carrie Soto Is Back does not flinch when it comes to the media and their perception of female athletes. Smile, Carrie. Be sweeter, Carrie. Men can throw temper tantrums, but women have to be above that. A woman cannot say she’ll annihilate an opponent. Not without being called nicely: battle axe or later when a sportscaster thinks his mike is off “bitch.” Not only is Carrie Soto back, but her agent sends her an Elton John album with the appropriate song: “The Bitch Is Back.” Times haven’t changed and these perceptions are as true today as they would have been in the 90s and earlier. Unfortunately.

And, if I could have added one more scene to this brilliant novel, it would have been one in which 37 year old Carrie Soto plays in a match the smarmy male tennis player, Petrovich, who points out that she only has to win the best of 3 sets while he has to win the best of 5 and have him eat his words and the court. Oh, well, that would be my fantasy scene, but probably a Billie Jean King/Bobby Riggs moment would have been too off-target for this novel.

While I am a huge tennis fan and would highly recommend Carrie Soto Is Back for any tennis fan/readers, this book goes beyond being merely a tennis novel. It’s about relationships and life choices, opening yourself up and pursuing your dreams, desires, goals, discovering joy again, and living.

“You want to know the secret? It’s the same thing we are all doing about life every single day.”
I look to her.
“Forget there’s an ending.”

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to net galley for providing an e-galley for an honest review. Once again Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it. She continues to write phenomenal stories that are all different. In her latest title she writes about a tennis player considering coming out of retirement to defend her record of wins. The story is told from Carrie’s perspective while providing her history of play. After reading this novel I have a new admiration for the work of the players on the circuit. I did not want the story to end and often wonder what became of the characters. A must read!