Thank you to the publisher for an eARC of this book to read and review.

Tropes/Themes: Soulmates, Rivals to Lovers, Miscommunication, Tennis, Anxiety

Overall this book was okay for me, I almost DNF'd at 50%, but pushed through and it eneded well. I enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first half. There is a magical realism element in this book with the soulmates and I don't know if it was ever explained. So I would like to know more about that because not everyone has a soulmate- and its tattooed on their wrist.

As someone who knows absoluelty nothing about tennis- there was a lot of tennis in this book, so I didn't know what was going on during those aspects of the story.

I really liked Luca. She basically has one person that supports her, and Juliette has a huge supportive family that are also all tennis players. Juliette was okay, she got better as the book went on but she had a lot of walls built up, and wasn't very nice at times.

There was a lot of the characters being on and off with each other which I learned that I don't really like.

I would love to read a book about Remi though.

Tennis has been one of my favorite sports since 2012 when Andy Murray's fierce determination sucked me in and never quite let me go. I've always hoped for more tennis romance novels and when I spotted this one as Read Now on NetGalley, I eagerly grabbed it. However--and this is entirely on me--I completely missed the soul bonding element of the book that is RIGHT THERE in the back cover copy. That early reveal (which was appreciated!) completely threw me off and though I made it about 40% into the book, I never quite managed to settle back into the story the author was trying to tell.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC of Backhanded Compliments!

A “rivals to lovers” sapphic sports romance, these two had a TON of tension and chemistry. For me, the level of intensity on the tennis scene didn’t work. As someone who’s not athletic or that into sports, I typically love the dynamics of a sports romance. But the amount of detail about tennis was SO immersive that I spent most of the scenes or dialogue about tennis having no clue what was going on. So while
I feel like a tennis fan would love this, it was a bit too much for me.

Both FMCs deal with anxiety, and I liked that representation. I’m also a pretty heavy fantasy reader and the “soulmark” concept was interesting, but felt like it was out of place.

This was fine, but honestly there was too much tennis. I love a sports romance but I need the emotional stakes of the romance itself to take center stage.

I love wlw romances and I think this one has potential, but it fell a bit flat for me. I really liked the tennis/sports romance and soulmate aspects. But I think the main characters were a bit mean at times, to the point where I wasn’t sure how they could come back from this, or if I even liked them as a character anymore.

Backhanded Compliments is Katie Chandler's debut and I am stunned by that fact because it's such a perfect execution of the soulmate trope!!! Katie's debut is full of witty banter, steamy tension, and some downright adorable moments between the two main characters. This book is a perfect read for the summer and a must-read debut!

Juliette has one dream and that's to be the world's best women's tennis player. She's done everything possible to make this happen and now has the chance to play in the Australian Open. Juliette is confident and ready, but must face a less than dedicated player, Luca, in the Australian Open.
After a rather intense first match, Juliette and Luca shake hands, leading to the discovery that they are soulmates.

I loved Juliette and Luca; they are fantastically flawed and so easy to root for in both game and love. I enjoyed watching Juliette realize there's more to life than tennis. I appreciate how Katie handled Luca's anxiety as sometimes authors make it just a quirk that characters have and as someone with anxiety, I enjoy when I can connect with a book.

Thank you to Atria Books for the e-ARC in exchange for the honest review!

This book was so much fun! I loved the fated mates element and how much these characters got me to care about tennis (lol). I am really excited for whatever Katie writes next, I am definitely a fan! Luca and Juliette felt so real and I really wish the whole mates tattoo thing would happen to me next. Very fun and sweet and hot!

Although a sapphic athlete rom-com is up my alley - especially focused on tennis during Wimbledon! - Backhanded Compliments did not do it for me. I put the book down because I didn't enjoy the main characters, or the magical realism element of the soulmate mark. Thank you Atria for the ARC, I look forward to checking out Katie Chandler's next book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved the storyline and the characters. I thought it was well written. I would definitely recommend this book.

First of all, I was really looking forward to this one ever since Challengers (last year), and I must confess it awakened a desire to read more sports romances. However, I don’t think this one was for me. I loved the concept, and the tension between the main characters at the beginning was incredible. The whole “can’t-stand-each-other” drama? I’m all in. I love a good rivals to lovers story. But— both Juliette and Luca were a little too mean for my taste. If it hadn’t been for that, I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more.

Thank you so much to Atria for approving me for this book!

A traditionally published Soulmate AU??? In the year of our lord 2025? It was an automatic win for me just based on that! Overall, I liked it a lot. Our main characters were complicated and messy and deeply annoying at times but so endearing! Genuinely so enjoyable. I'll be reading more Katie Chandler for sure

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Sporty sapphics with a soulmate twist 🎾

This was such a sweet, tender romance with a great balance between emotional connection and sexual tension. I am NOT a sports romance person - I only read this one because I actually played tennis. But I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the high stakes, the angst of the characters being in direct competition in an individual sport, and the way their relationship develops on and off the court. The spec fic elements were a super light touch, and I might have actually enjoyed more of a deep dive into how soulmatism works in this world, but I also think the simplicity served the story well by offering just a tiny, tantalizing bit of magic while keeping the focus more grounded on the characters’ emotional arcs.

The pacing did need a squeeze and a bit of fat cut from the middle - this book is just a little too long and too meandering, but I never minded all that much, with the gorgeous settings and simmering tension. Not to mention the truly joyful payoff in the end.

The concept for this book is great and I was very much looking forward to reading a story about 2 enemies, who turn out to be soulmates and the complications that arise from that predicament. Unfortunately, the romance in this book fell flat and the soulmate concept wasn't needed at all. In fact, that entire aspect of the story could have been cut and the book wouldn't have been missing anything. My biggest issue is that the characters are downright mean to each other and there is not enough growth to convince me they would fall in love. This was a miss.

I didn’t finish this book. I was confused by the “soulmate” aspect and how it seemed very “fantasy” yet nothings else was magical in the book. I had to open a few reviews to read about soulmates to make sure I hadn’t missed any explanation. The characters weren’t likable, the plot was too heavy on the logistics of tennis (even as a tennis player) and I got bored of the storyline.

I was excited to read a sapphic romance about tennis but was left unfulfilled.

Thanks to Atria for letting me read and review this book early. All thoughts are my own!!

Backhanded Compliments was set up to be the kind of book I would really enjoy. I’ve never read a tennis sports romance before, and it’s SAPPHIC!! But ultimately, I am DNF’ing at 20%. I DIDN’T WANT TO, AND I KEPT PUSHING MYSELF TO READ IT. But two entire chapters at the beginning of the book being an extremely detailed play by play of the same tennis match was not helping me stay interested in it.

I understand that it’s a tennis themed sports romance, but for so much of the beginning to be just describing a singular tennis match made me wonder how the rest of the matches would be written.

I think I will probably come back to it at some point because I really wanted to love it, but for now, I will be putting it down.

While set up to be a fun sapphic rom com, it was too long, read too analytical and was super difficult to get into. It seems like the only thing these two had in common were their soulmate tags and it ultimately became my biggest source of conflict and I don't believe these two were meant to be together, hell, I think Juliette is just using Luca this entire book. 2.5 stars.

DNF @19%

I started reading Backhanded Compliments last week and read 19%. I really wanted to love this, because it has all of the elements I enjoy. Unfortunately, I think it's a combination of the writing and me not liking the characters that had me hesitant to finish the story. I think there was too much tennis and not enough about the characters to keep me going. The idea of having a soul mate and the mark appearing on you with the name sounded like so much fun. We didn't really get any background information and them knowing their each other's match right from the start was less appealing for me than if they would figure it out later on in the story.

When I realized I was reluctant to continue, I put the book aside for a few days to see if it was just my mood. That isn't the case though, so I think it's better if I DNF this story. That being said, I wouldn't be against trying something else by this author in the future.

This utterly blew me away. And to be an author’s debut? I would have said Katie Chandler has been around for always, and it was my bad for not discovering her sooner. This was incredibly novel that masterfully accomplished every single thing it set out to do, grounding an incredibly rich romance between two strong and fully developed female leads in a wonderfully well-established world of tennis with the beautiful addition of real, actual soulmates.

Backhanded Compliments single-handedly plays into all my favorite facets of the romance genre, and blends them so beautifully, I hardly know what to do other than profusely thank Katie Chandler for all her work, and pledge my loyalty from here on. The books makes me feel how I think people who thoroughly enjoyed Challengers felt on first watch (and if Challengers had been more like this book, I definitely would have liked it more). From a vibrancy and love for the sport that jumps from every page, to characters who I desperately want to know personally, to a indulgently sweet love story (that actually makes perfect sense with its up and downs as so few modern romance novels do), there was nothing I didn’t love about this novel, and won’t rave about for the rest of my days.

It seems to me that too much romance this day is utterly indecipherable—it’s incredibly rare for a romance to compel me, especially from a premise, in any way, as everything in the modern publishing of the genre seems to be catering to exactly one group of readers who want to read the exact same thing, with maybe a few name changes and different settings. This is why I appreciated the speculative twist of Backhanded Compliments so much; it reminded me of the very few romances I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Chandler adds something to a genre that seems newly so bent on stripping down every aspect of individuality that you can’t tell one book from another. Nothing about Backhanded Compliments felt formulaic to the traditional romance novel, with every character and story point feeling as fresh as Jules’ limoncello (which I’m now desperate to get my hands on, sorry Luca, more for us).

And don’t you love it when you can tell that an author of a sports novel so obviously knows about and cares for the sport their utilizing in their novel. It’s exceedingly clear that Chandler not only is incredibly knowledgable about tennis and researched what (if anything) she didn’t know, but also just genuinely loves the sport—and it added an incredible layer of care, attention, and love to this already incredibly composed story, and enriched the world, its characters, and the reader’s experience immensely. I found each match, in each character’s head, incredibly compelling, exhilarating, and just the best time. And as someone who last picked up a tennis racquet at age 8, and who only watches Jannik Sinner interviews to practice Italian comprehension, I felt very well-informed by Chandler’s explanation and implementation of tennis terminology and games. The sports aspect of Backhanded Compliments seems like something that would make outside readers interested in watching professional tennis, and already-tennis-fans very happy with the representation and the knowledge brought by the author.

I just loved being in both Juliette and Luca’s heads. After reading so many books with dual narration (especially romances) that feel so lacking and pointless, I found myself always excited to be in either Luca or Juliette’s head with each chapter change, so great was the character development and the place and pace of story that I could never ever be bored or tired of these girls. Even in times of pain and loss and grief, I wanted every single thought Luca and Juliette had, and I’m still aching to hear more from them even after the end of the book.

I love these characters. I love this world. I love Katie Chandler’s incredible handle of prose, humor, pacing, and tension. I enjoyed this book so thoroughly. It was a literal major serve.

Please Miss Chandler, may I have some more?

Thank you @atriabooks and @simonaudio for my gifted ARC and ALC. Backhanded Compliments is out now!

This was the perfect time for this sapphic tennis romcom between the end of Pride and the beginning of Wimbledon. As a huge tennis fan, I was thrilled to receive this novel.

Two women’s tennis players are at the top of their games professionally. These women are bitter rivals playing for one of the biggest tennis tournaments, the Australian open. Over the year they are forced to play together and they become romantically involved as enemies to lovers. Juliette is loud and bold, Luka is more introspective and quieter. They each have their own style of tennis that helps them through the tournaments.

There’s a small magical realism aspect where they are “soulmates” that really didn’t work for me and I found annoying to have it brought up so many times. There were a few side characters I enjoyed such as Juliette’s sisters. My favorite inside joke of the book was that their safe word was “Margaret Court.” It came up a few times and it made me laugh every time.

I really wanted to like this book more. I read it more and I just couldn’t get through it. The leads were kind of annoying at times and I didn’t like being in their heads. It felt like too much angst and not enough tension build at times. I know they had their own battles they had to deal with, but it just was dragging the story in my opinion.

I loved the soulmate lore and that it was a tennis sports romance, since you don’t see a lot of tennis in books. Maybe I’ll try it again later. But at this moment I had to stop.