This is difficult for me to review. I liked the story but I didn’t like Carrie Soto. I didn’t care for her little cameo in Malibu Rising and I kind of wondered how I would feel about her in her own story.

I’ve seen a fair number of reviews calling her a bad ass female but I didn’t feel that way at all. Then by the time she started to redeem herself it was too late for me. If anyone in this story is a bad ass it’s Nicki Chan. She was more the star for me. As always it’s a well told story. My favorite still is Evelyn Hugo, now that’s a bad assed women.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a early copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Carrie Soto is a senior citizen in terms of professional tennis at the ripe age of 37, but when her Slam title record os threatened she decides it’s time to come out of retirement and defend her record. Many people think it’s a joke and she will never be able to do it, but her father and coach believes in her and agrees to get her ready for the competition…even those that are half her age. Can Carrie actually win after being out of the game? Will she be able to handle it if she loses? More importantly will she be able to learn to love herself and maybe even open herself up to someone else to be loved?

TJR has become a must read author for me! I love all her books and this one is no exception! I could care less about tennis most of the time, but Reid makes it seem like the most intriguing thing in the world! Fantastic story and I highly recommend picking this one up!

Review will be posted on 8/25/22
Readers of Malibu Rising may remember Carrie Soto, an accomplished tennis player. This book dives into her life and her tennis career. It starts with Carrie as a child, living with her father, Javier, who also lives and breathes tennis. He used to have a successful tennis career, but is now coaching and instructing at clubs. He has big plans for Carrie and even as a child, she is determined to be the best. As the years go by, she finds much success (thanks to her commitment and determination) and Carrie and her father have always made the greatest team. Fast forward many years later, Carrie is a retired tennis player and holds the record for winning the most Grand Slams. But then comes along a much younger Nicki Chan who might very well break her record. Carrie decides to come out of retirement to defend her record, along with her father as her coach. Carrie has always been a fierce competitor, not to mention her difficult personality, so will people root for her comeback? And quite simply, at thirty-seven, can Carrie even do it? Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a phenomenal sports book, but even readers who don't enjoy tennis will be sucked in by this unputdownable novel.

I really liked Carrie Soto in Carrie Soto is Back. I know she can be brash, difficult, a sore loser, and brutally honest, but I liked that about her. I enjoyed her determination and resilience. Reid created such an interesting character and one that felt so real that I found myself trying to google Carrie. She has to be real, right? Maybe not, but Reid really brings it when it comes to character development. Carrie practically leaped off the page. As the years go by, she reconnects with fellow tennis player Bowe and I really enjoyed their relationship and watching it progress, especially as they started training together. Lastly, Carrie's relationship with her dad was a memorable one and truly tugged on my heartstrings. I adored his coaching and his perspective on things.

Reid must have done a ton of research regarding tennis or she must be an avid tennis player herself, because I felt like I was watching a tennis match when I was reading Carrie Soto is Back. It was so real, so immersive, that it made me want to dust off my old racket and get back out there. It's never too late, right? I don't know how she does it, but Reid took a sports book and made it so much more. So, you don't need to enjoy tennis or be a sports fan to appreciate Carrie's journey.

Carrie Soto is Back is one of my favorite books of the summer, as well as the year. At this point, I'll read anything Reid writes; she is one of the best writers of our time. So, are you a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid? Do you plan on reading Carrie Soto is Back? Are you a tennis fan? Let me know in the comments below.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved Malibu Rising, so I was thrilled when I heard about Carrie Soto. I immediately wished for it and was lucky enough my wish was granted. Sadly, I wanted to love this book, but TJR didn't have to make Carrie a Latinx woman. I don't want to assume her background, but I believe she had this issue with Evelyn Hugo as well. This story was stunning, but Carrie could've been a white woman and it would've done just as well. It didn't sit right with me that this was about the BIPOC struggles, to an extent, and if you aren't one, you can't know their struggles. I wish I could've loved this, unfortunately, I can't.

I thought this book was incredible. TJR never fails to amaze me. She writes such in-depth characters in such a short amount of time. I feel all the emotions they feel tenfold. She is incredibly good at creating a whole new world with amazing characters in her books. She just knows how to connect with her readers. I am an athlete, so I resonate with the feeling of living up to your expected potential. The pressure to be the best, to never settle for less. I love how throughout this book Carrie learned how she did not have to be the best, that she was the best she could already be. Sometimes all that matters is how the people who love you perceive you. This was a 5 star read. Well done! I was kindly given an ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.

Carrie Soto is the most accomplished woman in tennis, having shattered every record to date. Now in retirement in 1994, Carrie watches as a new player, Nicki Chan, defeats her record. Determined to show that she is still the best, Carrie comes out of retirement to reclaim her record.

I read this as an audiobook and the narrator was terrific! The majority of the story is told from Carrie’s first-person perspective, with other voice actors adding perspectives as sports commentators and reading newspaper articles. I liked this style. It allowed the reader to see Carrie’s perspective, as well as see the way the world viewed Carrie.

Carrie is an incredibly competitive woman. The main plot of the story hinges on Carrie watching another woman come close to beating her record, and her feeling compelled to come out of retirement to keep her record as the best female tennis player in the world. At first, I was annoyed by Carrie’s single-minded determination to win, but as I got to know her, and watched her relationship with her father, I started to understand her. I love that Carrie is so unapologetic about her success, even as others expect her to act as though she happened on it by accident. I loved watching Carrie start to find joy in tennis the way she hadn’t when she first started to play and was solely focused on being the best.

At its heart, Carrie Soto is Back is a father-daughter story. Javier, Carrie’s father is responsible for her love of tennis and was her coach for many years. I loved watching the dynamic between the two of them as Carrie starts to play tennis, and when Carrie comes out of retirement, and the difference in how Javier coaches her both times. Watching their relationship brought me to tears at many points throughout the story.

I highly recommend this story to lovers of character-driven stories. Even if you are not a sports fan, there’s something here for you!

Amazing!!! From the first word until the last, this book had it all!! This book opens with Carrie Soto in the stands watching her record of most tennis Grand Slams be broken. Carrie is in her late 30's and with her father by her side, she decides to come out of retirement to try and take her record back. Those 4 Grand Slams are The Australian Open, The French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. The book takes you from Carries early childhood and through these 4 tournaments to see if she can take her record back. Along the way she learns more about tennis, but also much more about her life and herself. You may find it hard to deal with Carrie at first, but by the end of the book you will be cheering Carrie on! There are also a lot of underlying themes in this book that TJR does an amazing job of dealing with. Loved, loved, loved this book!! 5⭐

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

Carrie Soto Is Back
Taylor Jenkins Reid
4.5 ⭐️

TJR serves up an absolute Ace! How do you do it? How did you make me love a book about tennis!? A sport I have no interest in, and know very little about, yet I was all in. I loved everything about it. Evelyn Hugo will always have my heart, but Carrie just became my #2 TJR bestie.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a master story teller. She fully immerses you into it and gives you these *chefs kiss* authentic characters that you legitimately want to google because you swear they have to be real. Seriously, she’s that good. This story was no different. It was powerful and so captivating. I wasn’t sure with the whole tennis theme, but it engaged me right away and kept me throughly in it’s grips. It had this amazing depth to it, so many emotions, and some of the best side characters.

I loved Carrie, “the Battle Axe”. Even though she’s kind of hard to love with her “be the best at all costs” mentality, I totally loved her. I think that anyone who has ever played a sport will absolutely relate to her. She was fierce, competitive, and her relationship with her father Javi gave me all the feels. I loved watching the progress of her life and her career from begging to end.

What I loved;
🎾 Strong female protagonist
🎾 Tennis (never thought I’d say that)
🎾 Father/daughter relationship
🎾 Comeback/redemption story

This was definitely high up on my list of my anticipated summer reads and it did NOT disappoint.

Carrie Soto Is Back publishes August 30, 2022 and it’s a absolute must read!!

I was so incredibly excited for the opportunity to be an early reader. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

While I am usually a Taylor Jenkins Reid fan, Carrie Soto is Back was not for me. I could not connect with Carrie at all. I tried to push through for the entire book because I do not like to leave my ARCs unfinished but it was completely difficult. I am currently on 65% and will return to it to finish it before the publication day but need some space from Carrie at the moment.

While Carrie is a strong female character, who really has a love for the sport of tennis, I felt that she was not growing as a person. Her attitude was not only cocky but arrogant. Perhaps this was to show that women can also behave this way in sports, which I completely agree with, but the way that Carrie came off was a little extra.

I know that I am in the ;minority with this book and mine is an unpopular opinion. I have heard many rave reviews about Carrie and hope that my rereading of this book will have the same affect for me.

This book reads exactly like a fast-paced tennis match. Deep balls, short balls, blistering aces, quick points, and extended rallies. I could not put it down, driven by a gripping sense of match-like momentum to see how Carrie's comeback would pan out. To me, she's still not a super likeable character, but she is absolutely one to be admired and respected, and watching her growth as a player and a person was gripping. I found myself tearing up and breaking out in chills and cheering as if I were on the sidelines at the U.S. Open. And as I do at the end of every TJR book, I marveled to myself, "How are these not REAL people?"

One of my favorites of Taylor's. A good story about a topic I knew very little about -- made this non-athlete care about tennis!

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my most anticipated new releases of the year, and I was thrilled to get an ARC! Happy to say it does not disappoint!

The novel focuses on Carrie, a legendary professional tennis player who sees her records being broken by a new tennis star and comes out of retirement at 37 to try to reclaim them. The book is very character driven and gives us a look at what it takes physically and mentally for Carrie to make her come back.
While the plot is focused heavily on tennis, this is also a story about fathers and daughters. Carrie has a beautiful relationship with her father and coach, Javier. Javier is Carrie's biggest fan, tennis guru, and visionary coach, but most importantly, he is her devoted and loving father. Their dynamic is really at the heart of this book.
TJR is a compelling storyteller and made me care deeply about an intense character whose entire focus is on tennis and winning, even though I know very little about the sport. We see Carrie navigate a feat that takes incredible physical and mental endurance. Her character grows and matures as she perseveres despite sexism in the sport, fame and press coverage, changes in her life, injuries, and aging. So I could not stop turning the pages on Carrie's gripping comeback story and rooting for her.
The fantastic world-building in every TJR book is on display here, too, and there are some fun crossover mentions. Carrie Soto herself was first mentioned in Malibu Rising. Excellent world-building, vivid characters, and a magnetic romance round out this memorable book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballentine for the gifted ARC. I loved it!

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a brilliant book! I love how so many people will be able to relate to Carrie Soto. While her life revolves around tennis, I feel anyone can replace tennis with their own passion. It is also relatable with her relationship with her father after her mother's death. She was trying to connect with him and tennis became their thing. Let's be honest, I don't think this author can write anything wrong. She has a way of bringing the words on paper to life!

Talyor Jenkins Reid does it again! I was so thrilled to get an ARC of this book because I've loved all of this authors previous books, and this one did not disappoint.

Carrie Soto is back started a little slow for me. The description of Carrie's early years was cold and factual and didn't really provide any depth to Carrie. Which I think was the point. In her early years, Carrie WAS tennis. She didn't have much else going on and that was her entire focus and her entire personality.

When the story jumped to present day where Carrie is coming out of retirement in an attempt to hold on to her world record, this is where the story picked up. The plot was quick as Carrier fought her way back to being the greatest tennis player. The internal monologue and character growth and development really resonated with me. Carrie's struggles with perfection and her mindset about not making mistakes is something I think a lot of people could relate with.

I really enjoyed the slow unveiling of Carrie's relationships with secondary characters like her father, her manager, and fellow tennis players. It added depth to the story and more perspective about Carrie. My only complaint is that the tennis lingo during the matches got to be a little much for me at times. There was just a lot a didn't understand.

Out of all of TJR's characters, I find Carrier's story the most relatable and this really made me love this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for an honest review.
Would you believe it if I told you that I haven't read an e-book in well over a year? Everything I've read has been in audiobook form because I can listen while I work.
Well, I read this one. Actually read it! I enjoy Taylor Jenkins Reid enough that I had the motivation and desire to read it and this book did not disappoint.
This book starts out cold and takes time to slowly blossom into the wonderful story that it is. That is who Carrie Soto is in the beginning and becomes so much more as the story progresses. We're not supposed to like her in the beginning because tennis is her life and that's it. We learn about her tennis history and it's impressive. She is a beast to say the least. She dominated the tennis world but that's it. She made very few friends and had a reputation for being cold-hearted. TJR clearly took the time to learn about the game of tennis and break it down set by set. The love of the game is apparent on the page through Carrie and through her words.
When Carrie decides to come back to defend her title, nobody believes in her but her father and herself. Everyone has written her off as too old and thinks it's just a stunt. The tennis world is not ready for her hard work and determination. I absolutely loved seeing her improve her game and get even better with each game. Then Bowe Huntley returns to her life to help her out and things are icy between them for a while. He's ready to retire but wants one more season. Their playful rivalry becomes so much more. They improve each other's game and motivate each other to get better and better. Bowe is playing the best he's ever played because he's training all the time with her and has her father coaching him. Their friendship feels tangible and you just want so much more for the two of them because they are putting in so much work. No matter how far they get in their game, you're on the edge of your seat rooting for them to succeed.
Carrie's relationship with her father is really something special. There's so much love poured into those pages and I just love everything about the two of them. He's a fantastic coach and an even better father. He knows how calculating and ruthless she is with her game and while he wants her to succeed, he also wants her to find the love of the game again.
There's so much to enjoy about this book. It feels emotionless in the beginning and then you are so invested in every kind of relationship Carrie develops with those around her. From her father to Bowe and even to her agent, Gwen (who I loved), everything just falls into place. This book left me wanting more but I was also happy with how it ended. I could probably go on even longer about what I enjoyed about this story but I think I would rather just recommend it to anybody who is a fan of tennis or Taylor Jenkins Reid books.

I loved this book.

This is my first Taylor Jenkins Reid that I actually read (I've listened to two on audiobook), but it was a fabulous, quick read with a story that pulled you in. It was heavy on tennis--which is fine with me since I played tennis and enjoy the game--but I think it's still a story that a non-tennis aficionado would enjoy.

A great cast of characters, including Carrie, who developed from someone I couldn't stand at the beginning to a woman who grew and changed by the end.

I'd definitely recommend this to others.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Random House-Ballantine, and Taylor Jenkins Reid for an ARC of this book!**

"People act like you can forget your own name, but if you're not paying attention, you can veer so incredibly far away from everything you know about yourself to the point where you stop recognizing what they call you."

Part sports fiction, part romance, part family drama, part historical fiction AND even part bildungsroman, Taylor Jenkins Reid manages to SERVE up everything I was hoping for in Carrie Soto Is Back!

Carrie "Carolina' Soto grew up dealing with heartbreak, the sort of pain that can turn into fuel if you can learn how to channel it. After losing her mother at an early age, she learned the ways of the racket from her coach (and father) Javier...and also learned that failure was NOT an option.

She also then decides that she was going to be the best. Period. EVERYONE will know her name. And like her or not, she's going to MAKE IT.

20 Grand Slam wins later...she's racked up titles, fame, and acclaim...but has also been named "The Battle Axe." Reputation aside, Carrie doesn't let the judgments stop her and chooses to retire on this high note. She's content with her choice...until newcomer Nicki Chan starts to claim her turf as new champ, and Carrie isn't having it. Poised for a come back, she decides to come out of retirement and REMIND everyone who she is and that she hasn't gone for good. But in this new landscape with younger, faster players challenging her body, emotional conflicts and family troubles troubling her heart, and the critics and naysayers plaguing her thoughts, will her bravada hold up? Or has the world already seen the best Carrie Soto truly has to offer?

When I heard this book featured Carrie Soto from Malibu Rising, I was a bit surprised she was going to get her own book and also nervous that I wouldn't be a huge fan of this book. I thought this was going to be a sort of complement to that book, and I was a bit baffled as to why one would be needed. I had an especially hard time connecting with the characters in Malibu Rising, for whatever reason, and truly appreciated the time period the story was set in more than anything else. HOWEVER, TJR herself is 'back' in this one, with fully fleshed out characters who jump right off the page (whether it's their serve or not!) and plenty of emotional push and pull to keep the reader invested.

Carrie herself is a pistol. She's the type not to hold back, and I appreciated the honesty of her character, so driven by the need to win that little else matters. What TJR does so well in Carrie Soto is to give a voice and a heart to the conflict that I'm sure so many athletes struggle with on a daily basis: how much of my competitive nature is inherently ME and why do I have a compulsive NEED to win? My husband is incredibly competitive in his gaming, and while it's not something I relate to personally, it was so interesting to peel back the curtain on why Carrie might feel this way and if her competitive nature informs her character...or vice versa.

This was a lot less on the historical fiction side of things than some of Reid's other books, which to me which somewhat sad since I love looking for all the references she always includes in her books. Most of the novel also takes place in the 80s and 90s and since I grew up during this time, I was hanging on every reference...I just wish there had been more! I do love that TJR always manages to weave in different stylistic bits in her prose, from news articles to interviews, and makes everything feel SO authentic, you often forget that her characters aren't real. (There's also a tiny nod to Daisy Jones that made me smile!)

Obviously this book is FULL of tennis. If you really hate tennis for some reason...don't read it. I've always been somewhat of a casual fan, so I was worried so much detail about the game would get boring or repetitive (or whiz over my head like a very fast serve) but luckily Reid always knows how to keep things moving and I didn't feel it was too bogged down with extraneous details. Fair warning, there is a good amount of Spanish spoken between Carrie and her father: some of it is easy to figure out through context clues, but I found myself looking up words from time to time. (For example, the translations I found of 'pichona', which Javier uses as sort of a pet name for Carrie, ranged from "pigeon" to "tart"..so perhaps Google can't really settle that debate...and also, maybe it shouldn't!)

Perhaps you think you already know the end to Carrie's story before you begin...but when it comes to endings themselves? Through her character Gwen, Reid serves up a PERFECT outlook:

"Falling in love is really quite simple, " she says. "You want to know the secret? It's the same thing we are all doing about life every single day."

"Forget there's an ending."

And like the legendary Carrie Soto herself, Taylor Jenkins Reid is ALWAYS aces in my book!

4 stars

This book was wonderful. Taylor Jenkins Reid has been hit or miss for me in the past, but Carrie Soto was phenomenal.

Carrie Soto is Back is my TOP read of 2022. It was fantastic! The entire book reads like a vicious volley between the world’s best tennis players; it’s fast, intense, powerful, and relentless. I mean it when I say the pace of this book is so fast it had me reading at a speed I’m not used to experiencing in modern day women’s fiction. There are no pauses. It’s purposefully page turning at breakneck speed. There wasn’t one moment, one part, where I thought to myself, “ok come on, let’s get back to the good part.” THE ENTIRE BOOK IS THE GOOD PART!! Even the back story is written like a freight train derailed.

You’re probably wondering if you have to be a tennis fan to love this book. You don’t. You have to be a fan of really incredible writing and nail biting inner monologues. I’m not really a fan of tennis. I’ve seen enough matches to know what a forehand looks like, compared to a backhand and a serve. That’s it. And I LOVED THIS BOOK!

This was my first book by Taylor Jenkins Reid but it won’t be my last. I’m not quite sure how the rest of her books will live up to Carrie Soto in my mind, but I’m really excited to find out.

3.5⭐️
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Thank you to @Netgalley & Random House Publishing for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.
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I want to start this review by saying that Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors of all time & nothing can ever change that.
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Carrie Soto Is Back tells the story of Carrie making a comeback with a goal to reclaim her world record of holding the most Grand Slam titles.
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This is a character driven story! Carrie is a very complex character with multiple layers. We see her as a child and how she becomes who she is. We see her reach her goals and then come back for more, obviously.
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This book has a lot of Spanish dialogue! I did need to use my translation tool quite a bit, which I was not expecting.
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I really enjoyed this book & it did give me the feels, as TJR always does.
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I just didn’t love it. Please don’t hate me, as I’m sure this will be an unpopular opinion. This book has a lot of tennis lingo. The author does a good job with teaching you just enough, but I felt a little overwhelmed by how much I didn’t understand.
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I feel so conflicted by this book. I’m very interested to see other’s opinions as well!