Before I get into my review, I first want to say thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC of “Backhanded Compliments”!

I unfortunately DNF’d this book around 45%. I have been anticipating this book for a very long time since it was announced, but honestly, it fell kinda flat for me.

One of my biggest issues with the book is how it is written. The entire book is written in third person yet has dual point of views. Another reason is I didn’t really love the chemistry between Juliette and didn’t feel the connection to the characters.

As I say this, I would love to give this book another chance in the future, but at the moment, it’s not for me.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5 stars

Backhanded Compliments by Katie Chandler serves up a sharp, tension-filled rivals-to-lovers sapphic romance with a refreshing fantastical twist—and it mostly aces the execution.

Juliette and Luca are fierce tennis opponents with chemistry that crackles both on and off the court. Their rivalry is deliciously layered, filled with snarky banter, mutual grudging respect, and unresolved longing. When the soulmate twist is introduced, it adds an unexpected emotional complexity to their dynamic—forcing them to question what they truly want: victory or vulnerability.

What makes this book shine:

The sports setting is dynamic and well-researched without overwhelming the romance

Sizzling tension and slow-burn moments (yes, the massages and limoncello scenes deliver)

Realistic portrayal of mental health, ambition, and the cost of being the best

A heartfelt exploration of queer identity, pressure, and earning your HEA

Where it drops a few points: the emotional back-and-forth can get repetitive, and some of the soulmate mechanics could have used a bit more fleshing out to feel truly earned.

Still, Backhanded Compliments is bold, queer, emotionally nuanced, and filled with heat. If you're a fan of enemies-to-lovers, found family, and sports romance with a dash of magical realism, this one deserves a spot on your court-side TBR.

I loved this book so much! Katie Chandler managed to make a 300-something page book feel like a lifetime- in a good way! I genuinely feel like I went through so much with these characters. They both felt so real and their decisions and actions were so realistic. Each character was so dynamic and their relationships with each other, themselves, and others were so unique and I really appreciate that in a book. I personally really like watching tennis, so the representation of sapphics in the tennis space was awesome. I tend to wish sports-romances leaned more into the sport that the character(s) play, and I wasn’t disappointed with this one, at all. I will say, I do have some experience with how tennis works and the rules/terms, so I didn’t have a difficult time understanding what was happening in that aspect; however, I feel if you do not have that prior knowledge you may get a little lost, as it’s not explained. Otherwise, I really enjoyed these characters and their journey of falling in love.

This book was not anything like I was expecting and I loved it. The soulmate mark was such a fun addition and I'm obsessed with it. Juliette is kind of a hard person to know and a bit of a bitch but a softie on the inside. She fought getting to know Luca so much and it was only hurting her. Luca and Juliette are so good together and I love them. I need books about Juliette's sisters because I'm attached.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC.

As someone who is at the pickleball courts multiple times a week, when I saw this was a sapphic racket sports romance I was immediately intrigued.

For full transparency I did DNF this at 40% because I didn’t feel like there was enough world building around the soulmate markings. This potentially could have stood alone as an enemies to lovers alone, but I needed more from this element to believe in the impact that would have on them.

I could not get through the beginning of this book. The writing was not for me at all. I think the premise sounded amazing and I was so excited to see how it all went down. I tried 3 times to get into and at that point, 12%, I decided to officially dnf'd. I do not rate dnfs < 50% on goodreads.

Thank you Atria and NetGalley for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

“You’re ridiculous.”
“So are you for being in love with me, my strange noodle.”

I really wanted to love this sapphic rivals-to-lovers tennis romance novel, but sadly I did not enjoy the reading experience at all.

To start, I loved the juicy drama between the two characters. Katie Chandler nailed the “rivals” or “enemies” angle right on the head — it’s obvious these two absolutely hated each other. Unfortunately, I just can’t understand how the two fell in love. The romance hinged on the soulmate trope, but I never felt any real chemistry between the love interests. It felt kind of like “oh we’re soulmates, okay I guess we’re deeply in love now!”


I did really appreciate the family tension and outside pressures that were explored in this story, but the explorations fell short. Everything wrapped up too quickly and easily at the end, while other loose ends were never tied up.

One thing I did love about this novel was the tennis — I’m a player, and that’s explicitly why I picked this up. After reading some other reviews, I know some readers found the tennis matches to be boring and too technical, but I actually wanted to see the two play tennis even more! Those were my favorite scenes because they were well-written, engaging, and filled with tension.

I think Chandler has a lot of potential as a romance author, but this love story did not work for me.

Thank you to Atria Books, Netgalley, and the author for an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted to Goodreads 6/4/25.

Review posted to Instagram stories 6/4/25, and will be posted again in my end of the month reading wrap up at the end of June.

3.5 - thank you netgalley & Atria Books for this arc!!

I think it was pretty much guaranteed that I would like this as someone who loves both tennis and women. And there was a lot of tennis! And women! I loved the rivals to lovers trope, and it was done really well--I genuinely believed that the characters hated each other at the beginning, and for a LONG TIME as the book went on. And then I enjoyed how they warmed up to each other and put their tennis rivalry aside. The character development was great; both characters were flawed (one more than the other) which made it seem more realistic. I love a grumpy female MC. It seemed a little long for a romance and I do think the pacing was slow at times, but I also enjoyed it the entire way through. It's a solid sports romance, one that I probably won't read again but would recommend :)

This was such a cute and sweet romance! I loved the rivals to lovers vibe mixed with such a slow burn and trying to defy a soulmate mark. Luca and Juliette’s love story gave me all the feels! I might not understand tennis but I didn’t have to have a full grasp of the sport to understand what was going on or how these two rivals have to overcome not just the losses but also the feelings they want to hide and run from.


*I received a free ARC from NetGalley*

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this free ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: June 10, 2025

Soulmate tennis sapphics?! Sign me up.

This is an open door rivals to lovers sports romance between two elite female tennis players. This does focus heavily on the tennis aspect, so I’m not sure how this will read if you aren’t already a tennis fan.

I get that this is a sports book, but the 3rd person POV plus the interchanging use of both MCs first and last names at the beginning was wildly confusing and made this difficult to get into. I’m lukewarm on the magical realism of the “soul mark” that some people have on their skin, naming their soulmate. It’s a major part of the story but also felt unnecessary when this could’ve survived solely on the rivals trope.

Random sidebar: I’m not sure when this is meant to take place but this explicitly says Croatia uses the Kuna instead of the Euro, despite switching to the Euro a few years ago IRL. Snapped me right out of the story.

DNF’d at 40%.- I was super excited to read this book, but unfortunately it fell flat for me and I don’t think continuing will make it improve. The romance is not believable to me past whatever the soulmate bond is making them feel for each other. They haven’t had any real emotional connection other than playing a doubles match together. I understand it’s a soulmate bond but it feels like it’s that and only that that is the foundation of their relationship. They just didn’t seem to fit together without this thing pushing them together.

Luca and Juliette are rivals on the court. And, through a twist of fate, soulmates. Juliette is determined to ignore that, but after the two are selected for the same team in a charity tournament, she can't avoid Luca any longer.

Read if you like:
-Rivals to Lovers
-Flawed First Impressions

I struggled with the book. On the one hand, I loved the dynamic of rivals to lovers. But on the other, I just couldn't suspend my disbelief regarding the soulmate marks. They were never sufficiently explained for my curiosity, and it really distracted me. How did people first figure them out? What about people who couldn't read? Why do some people have none? Why does one person have two? It was an attempt at a cute gimmick that didn't quite work. And it took away from the love story because Juilette believed in soulmates and turned her back on Luca.

This book might be for you if you want to explore the idea of reluctant soulmates.

Really loved the fated mates concept of Backhanded Compliments, but unfortunately that was about the only thing I enjoyed.

Serving Up Enemies-To-Lovers Romance!

Backhanded Compliments is the enemies to lovers, sports romance you’ve been clamoring for! It takes two tennis rivals and pairs them against each other in various platforms. These pairings are intense and when the media gets involved along with a soulmate pairing, the energy becomes palpable!

This is such a delicious romance. Bouncing between perspectives keeps the story moving along and you get a full picture as the romance develops. It is a bit of a slow-burn so prepare to enjoy all of the tension that is generated between these characters. It’s delectable at times and it might make you scream at the characters (totally me yelling “just kiss her already!”). However, this was such a fun story!

My only point of confusion is the slight paranormal/science fiction component of this story. The soulmate pairing isn’t explained explicitly for a bit, so I was a bit lost as to how this pairing came about. I would have loved to have a bit of a backstory, because it does create a big draw between the characters. However, I’m excited to read more in this universe and there are other pairings I’m desperate to read! Grab your copy today - it’s a love story for the courts!

2.5⭐️ this was not a good way to start off pride month bc i wish i liked this more than i did... i had a couple of issues with this book and they mainly lied with juliette. i liked luca but i think she deserved better than that. from the beginning, luca wanted her and wanted to make things work out as soulmates. juliette started off against the idea of luca despite being soulmates because of their rivalry and her jealousy (keep in mind this rivalry was lowkey one sided because it was being fueled by juliette's jealousy of luca's success). juliette gave both luca and i whiplash from how fast she changed her demeanor towards luca. when they were talking about getting together, luca was extremely hesitant (i don't blame her) and it wasn’t enough to prevent her from getting hurt in the end. i get juliette's reasoning but i felt as though it was hypocritical of her to suggest speaking to someone because of a panic attack when that played a part, from her end, in them breaking up.

ikkk i'm ranting a lot but i swear there were parts that i enjoyed!! i had so much fun reading the tennis games. idk anything about tennis so i can't say anything about realism but it was soo fun to see play out in my head as i read. i think the relationship with her dad was something that i enjoyed reading and seeing change. thanks to luca and juliette's rekindlement, they were able to see how they could communicate their worries to each other! i really liked how they revealed their relationship to the public, it was super cute and on brand for them lol i think luca deserved a better character development from juliette but i think the little things they did to make up for their mistakes were cute!

thank you atria and netgalley for the arc.

This was cute, but I felt like the enemies/rivals piece went a bit too far for me to want the couple to be together in the end. The pacing felt a bit off, and I just had a hard time being invested with the couple.

This was such a fun and emotional read. The tension between Juliette and Luca was so well written and kept me completely hooked. Their rivalry felt real and sharp and watching it slowly shift into something more was really satisfying.

I loved the tennis setting. The stakes felt high and the matches added so much intensity to the story. The soulmate twist gave it a fresh and interesting angle without taking away from the real-world pressure they were under.

Both characters are flawed in ways that felt honest. Juliette is all sharp edges and ambition while Luca hides a lot of fear and self-doubt under her calm exterior. I found myself rooting for both of them even when they made things harder for each other.

The romance was steamy but also full of emotion. Their connection felt earned and complicated in the best way. Sometimes I wanted to shake them for not communicating better but I also understood why they were holding back.

This is a great pick if you like enemies to lovers with real emotional depth a bit of magical realism and a lot of heart. I would definitely read more by this author.

A sapphic tennis rivals to lovers with a fated soulmates twist that was super neat to read in a romance book. It was fun, steamy, and a good read for summertime. This book had a good balance between romance and tennis aspect, with it leaning more on the tennis heavy side. The tennis matches felt like you were included in them with how involved the descriptions got and the deep dive into all the tennis info.

Backhanded Compliments had real and raw characters that struggled with anxiety, which was written really well into the storyline to the point it wasn’t overtaking Luca’s character, panic attacks, and Juliette struggling under the pressure to live up to her family’s expectations and tennis ranks.

Juliette and Luca balanced each other out really well and I enjoyed seeing their relationship progress from rivals to tentative friends to something more. Their relationship had a will they or won’t they thing going on, especially with the soulmate twist but it made their chemistry more intense and intriguing. I loved the side characters. They were fun, outgoing, and slightly messy in a good way. And the relationships and friendships in this were thoughtful, heartwarming, and sweet.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 because while I enjoyed most aspects of this, I couldn’t stand one of the main characters, Juliette. I couldn’t tolerate her for a majority of the book, she was very whiny and immature in the beginning but she went through some good character development towards the end like I was hoping she would.

Despite the rocky start, it has a good solid ending and was overall a fun rivals to lovers romance.

Thank you Simon & Schuster, Atria and Netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

CW: panic attacks, anxiety

Tropes/what to expect:
🎾 rivals to lovers
🩵 fated soulmates
🎾 dual pov
🩵 travelling all over the world
🎾 forced proximity
🩵 slow burn
🎾 steamy tension
🩵 open door spice
🎾 tennis sports romance

I was super excited to see a sapphic sports romance, especially with how much 2000s soulmate au fanfics I have read.
However, I felt like this did not reach the mark for me. Juliette's character growth felt abrupt and the issues that Maya were going through was not really explained thoroughly. The plot outside of admitting their soulmate bond seemed sporadic and did not lead anywhere. I would probably not recommend it to my lgbtq+ friends unless it was solely on the basis of it being a sapphic romance.

A sapphic rivals to lovers tennis story with magical realism might just be the quick and entertaining read you need. Juliette and Luca both have soul marks on their wrists, marks which well, mark them so that they can find their soul mates. They just didn't expect to find them across the court. This has a healthy dose of tennis but it's not in the weeds so don't worry if you're only vaguely familiar with the game. There is a fair amount of verbal volleying and know that it can feel repetitive in spots as they work through things but that you'll find yourself rooting for this couple. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A fun one.