Cover Image: Carrie Soto Is Back

Carrie Soto Is Back

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Member Reviews

A good page turner that gives an interesting glimpse into the world of professional tennis. Fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid will not be disappointed.

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Set aside several uninterrupted hours to devour this book in one sitting. You won't be able to put it down.

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This is the third Taylor Jenkins Reid book I’ve read this year and it was exquisite! The father/daughter relationship was so touching. Learning all about the world of tennis was a plus.

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Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my absolute favorite authors and this book is another prime example of why. Thank you to Netgalley for the EArc. This book follows tennis star Carrie Soto as she navigates the world of tennis, her dad and her personal life. As a mom of two athletes, this book hit on all cylinders. I loved it! 5 stars.

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I've read and loved all of Taylor Jenkins Reid's books, and I love the way the four most recent (including this one) have threads connecting them. I was thrilled to see Carrie Soto get her own novel and be the main star. She's a complicated, fascinating characters, and I loved the way Jenkins Reid continues her theme of shining a light on the person vs. their public perception/persona. Carrie Soto is as compelling as Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones. As a tennis superfan, I loved the tennis details and 1990s setting. Will this novel feel too tennis-focused for those who don't know and love the sport? I can't wait to find out when I push this into the hands of readers who are eagerly awaiting the next Taylor Jenkins Reid. I also think it will work for readers new to Taylor Jenkins Reid, and with 1990s nostalgia so huge right now, it will rightfully attract more readers to Jenkins Reid.

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Another great beach read from Taylor Jenkins Reid. Would recommend for fans of tennis, Serena Williams, Friday Night Lights, or any of Reid's other books.

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I have been wanting to know more about Carrie Soto since she stole the scene in Malibu Rising.

Six years after she retired, she comes back for one last season to reclaim her title from Nicki Chan. With the help of her father, who hasn't coached her since she fired him, she sets off to reclaim her glory.

Carrie Soto is one of the best books I've read so far this year. This was perfection. A woman mostly hated in the tennis world, you will love her.

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This is an excellent book. TJR does it again as she tells the story of Carrie Soto and her rise as a tennis great. Readers of her other books will delight in her subtle references to past characters. I found myself preoccupied with which minor characters she may highlight in her next book.
This book has a LOT of tennis in it. I love reading about tennis, so it was thrilling for me, but if you know nothing of the sport it may be a bit confusing. I loved every single page. I thought the author did a splendid job encouraging you to root for such a conceited hard to love player. The relationship between Carrie and her father is well done too. In the end, this book was impossible to put down and it was heartbreaking to realize these weren’t real people you could read more about. Thank you to @netgalley and Ballantine for advanced access to this book which publishes in August. This will go down as one of my favorites this summer.

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Carrie Soto is a great, uplifting read about the trials of growing older and achieving childhood dreams. This book took me back to when i played tennis as a kid. There are fun parts about it as well as the strategic notes to move up in rankings. If you liked the movie King Richard you’ll love this book. Carrie soto brings you a great father-daughter relationship with it’s ups and downs and unexpected love as well. I hope you liked this book as much as I did I will for sure read it again!

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Carrie Soto once known as the best tennis player in the world with 20 slam titles decides to come out of retirement at the age of 37. Why, you wonder? Well because Nick Chan just took her record and there is no way Carrie will let that go.

She returns for one last season of tennis to take back what was once her title.

She trains hard day in and day out with her father (and coach) who was once a tennis player himself.

Carrie is not a loveable character AT ALL at least in the beginning. Eventually I finally started feeling empathetic towards her, but boy did I hate her at first. She was known as “The Battle Axe” for a reason and TJR wrote that very well. I hated her like the players hated her.

A line that stood out to me was “because as good as you are you have never been able to make peace with failure” and that pretty much summarizes Carries attitude for practically 70% of the book.

I loved her interactions with her father who speaks to her in Spanish from time to time, and knowing Spanish myself I was able to understand his lines, but if you don’t know Spanish you might have to google it.

Although it’s all about tennis you don’t need to be a tennis fan to understand the scoring or the matches she writes about. I enjoy tennis so it was easy enough for me.

Overall I feel her character was written well, BUT I still enjoyed Evelyn Hugo better.

I can totally see this book becoming a mini series or movie.

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Taylor Jenkins Reid has become an auto-read author for me. She has a way of getting me invested in stories that revolve around topics I usually have little interest in (this time tennis!) because of the characters she builds them around.

What I loved most about Carrie Soto is Back is the relationship between Carrie and her father, Javier. They go on quite the journey, and though they both make mistakes and hurt one another deeply, their bond and love for each other is undeniable. I found Javier's unwavering support of Carrie particularly moving.

I mentioned that I usually love the compelling characters Taylor Jenkins Reid creates, and that's where I found this book just a little lacking. Carrie felt a bit flat to me. Maybe that was intentional because her entire life is supposed to be tennis, but I do wish there was a little more dimension to her personality.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book.

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arrie Soto has been retired from the game of tennis for 5 years. She shattered records and made no friends doing it. Her nickname "The Battle Axe" was well deserved and she took no shame in it. So when young powerhouse tennis player Nina Chan threatens to break her record, Carrie decides to come out of retirement (at the age of 37) and try to win some more championships. With her father as her coach she knows it's a nearly impossible task, however she's willing to train as hard as she ever has in order to prove the world wrong.

Reid has done it again! I loved everything about this book, and I know nearly nothing about tennis. The chapters were divided by years and certain matches that Carrie was competing in. I laughed, I cried, I didn't want to put this book down. Even if you don't like tennis this book will hold your interest and have you cheering for Carrie. I can already see this as a miniseries on a streaming network.

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🎾Review🎾
Title: Carrie Soto is Back
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release Date: August 30, 2022

This was one of my most highly anticipated books of the year. I love tennis, so i highly thank @ for a free netgalley. I love a good comeback story. I love reading about relationships between father and daughter. And I love great writing. This has all of it.

I do feel that there is a lot of tennis description in here, but whether you are a fan or not, the story alone is wonderfully done. TJR’s writing is on point and I felt myself emotional during this bike many times. I teared up a lot, as well as, laughed. Carrie is not everyone’s cup of tea, but you can’t help but to love her character. She’s majorly flawed, knows it and accepts it. Her relationship with her father felt so freaking real and it made me remember how lucky I was to have a dad like that— one who was always there.

This is 100% spoiler free, so I feel the synopsis of the book says all you need to know. Now go out and preorder this newest by TJR!

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QUICK TAKE: I wanted to love it, but this Malibu Rising spin-off left me wanting more. I loved the alternating POVs in Malibu and Daisy Jones, and thought this book was sorely missing the perspective of Carrie's grizzled love interest and her younger tennis nemesis. Carrie is also a very tough character to spend a lot of time with, and I think breaking up her scenes with those of some of the supporting cast could have given the book a little more levity and depth. It's TJR though, so it's still a very commercial, breezy read, and I did really like the father/daughter story at the center.

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This book you guys! Let me preface this with saying I’ve only read Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo but those two I feel so strongly about that I was hesitant to go into this one because my expectations were so high. It completely exceeded them without fail!

Carrie Soto doesn’t give two F’s about being in the public eye. She just wants to be the best tennis player the world has ever seen. And she is! But after her championship is overtaken by someone else, she decides to come back to the game at age 37 after many years of being retired to win it back.

It was so fun to see things shift in her outlook as you walk through her personal and professional life with her. And the ending was more than I could ever imagine. It was written so well in true Taylor Jenkins Reid style.

Brb while I go recruit all my friends to play tennis this weekend because I have the itch now!! 🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾

🎶 song to go with this book: tennis court @lorde

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Carrie may be one of the greatest tennis players of all time especially given how many Slams she won but at what cost? She is so emotionally stunted that her nickname of battle axe rings true in her conversations with other. She comes across as demeaning and patronizing. Her father constantly told her how amazing she is but in pushing herself to that place, she lost joy in the ability to play. It is sad to think that at the age of 37, she had no friends nor relationships. The ending turned out happy as she reclaimed her life but it was hard to identify with her especially given her total lack of empathy.

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I was floored to receive this ARC, I love TJR’s previous books and couldn’t wait to read this one. It did not disappoint! Carrie was funny and snarky and brave and TJR did an incredible job of writing her. I don’t often read books about sports but I never felt lost in the action here—the tennis portions are written so clearly that I felt like I was in the game. Seriously, what a joy. I loved this book and can’t wait for others to read it.

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I have zero interest in tennis yet this book kept me hooked the entire time. It follows the journey of world’s greatest female tennis star Carrie Soto as she launches a comeback to regain her champion title. The author is the best at making you really care about the characters no matter the subject. Excellent read!

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Carrie Soto was the world's best tennis player when she retired but when a younger player is set to break her record, she comes out of retirement so that won't happen. I loved everything about this book- from the characters to the relationships to the tennis "talk". This is my first book by Taylor Jenkins Reid but now I need to go back and read her others. Highly recommend.

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Carrie Soto is an excellent follow-up to Taylor Jenkins Reid's cast of unapologetic female characters. Readers will root for Carrie Soto's underdog character, and relate to her journey toward self-discovery. The sports action writing is completely different from past TJR novels but is written in a way that is accessible. I thoroughly enjoyed TJR's references to her other books in the Malibu universe.

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