I read Backhanded Compliments through NetGalley and was immediately pulled in by the setup: Juliette and Luca, rivals on the pro tennis circuit, meet in the finals of the Australian Open. Juliette loses. They shake hands, and the names they’ve each had on their wrists since birth turn black. Soulmates.

I’m usually pretty skeptical of the soulmate mark trope. It often feels like a fanfic shortcut to intimacy, and here, it ends up doing a lot of the emotional heavy lifting. There’s strong tension between Juliette and Luca—their rivalry is believable and the slow burn works—but the book spends so much time on the tennis and the soulmate system that there isn’t enough space for the characters themselves to fully develop. I wanted more time with who they are when they’re not competing or reacting to fate.

The pacing also stumbles toward the end. The conflict wraps up too fast and too neatly, which made it hard to feel fully satisfied after so much buildup.

That said, there’s a lot to enjoy here: the rivals-to-lovers dynamic is sharp, the slow burn mostly works, and the premise is undeniably fun. If you’re into queer sports romance and don’t mind a trope or two doing some heavy lifting, it’s worth picking up.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!!

This had everything I love queer women and sports! Sadly, the story wasn’t really there for me, the soulmate trope didn’t work for me in this story. I think I would have liked the story more without it, I also feel like it dragged on about certain topics but left giant holes about other plots. In the end it was entertaining but it was a let down for me.

there's nothing i love more than a sapphic romance !!!! i couldn't stop reading once i picked this up. the pacing was perfect, i loved their banter, how supportive they were, and overall writing of how fun and competitive tennis is. i had a great time. thank you netgalley for the arc!!!

Thank you to Atria Books and Katie Chandler for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Yall I really wanted to love this. I mean so so badly. It started out great! Queer tennis romance?! SIGN ME UP!

So we're chugging along... and then comes the random and completely disjointed soul mate mark storyline. Almost just plopped in the middle of what was a good book with great potential. Now let me be clear: I love me some magical realism. This just wasn't it. It seemed forced and almost added in at editing because it was necessary. I didn't enjoy it. Pulled me right out of the story and unfortunately I never was able to get back in. Tons of potential, just lost it on execution.

🌟🌟🌟/5

I DNF’d this book at 25%. The speculative aspect with the soul mates seemed dropped in, I just couldn’t get into the plot or characters despite loving queer romance and tennis.

3.5 ⭐️

This was a cute rivals to lovers vibes with a nice soulmate mark twist to it. I liked the hate-to-love pacing with this story, not only did the tennis/sports talk balance well with the romance and spice but it was also nice and queer too.

Following the life of two women in professional tennis the plot thickens when the rivals learn who their soulmate is. Naturally ignoring the fact they have each other’s name written along their wrist, because there can’t possibly be a world where the two could get along let alone be the perfect match for each other. Will the enemies turn into lovers or will they continue to hate one another?

Plot: 6/10
Pace: 6/10
Ending: 7/10
Characters: 6/10
Enjoyability: 6/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Would I Recommend? Yes
Favorite Character: Luca

Favorite Quote: ❝“I’m taking control of my life and my career.”❞

Overall I really did enjoy this book. People have “soul marks,” essentially a white/silver tattoo of their soulmate’s name. When a person touches their soulmate for the first time, the soul marks turn black. Some people have one soulmate, some have two, others have none.

I liked both Luca and Juliette as characters. One believes whole-heartedly in soulmates, one believes you should choose who you love. I wish there had been more emphasis on these beliefs by the main characters. I felt like both characters were wishy-washy on their beliefs about soulmates. Another qualm of mine was the breakup and back together of it all toward the end. It all happened so fast and the reasoning behind it was really strange and didn’t really work for me.

I did love the tennis aspects and how much both women loved the sport. They came up in tennis in different ways, and I loved seeing their relationships with the sport change with their romantic relationship. I also looooved the tension between the two during the Connolly Cup. You could cut it with a knife and it was absolute perfection. The found family amongst the players was also so sweet to me.

The concept was really interesting but I felt it wasn’t totally fleshed out. It was still an enjoyable read and I love a good sapphic sports romance.

Thank you Katie Chandler and Atria Books for the ARC!

I was initially drawn to this book because of its cover and the intriguing premise—women in sports, a spicy romance, and rivals. The honest conversations between the characters were something I appreciated, but I struggled to fully root for them. At times, the plot felt a bit contrived, with the fated/soulmate trope taking center stage. As a result, I never felt like their relationship truly evolved into something genuinely loving.

Two rival tennis players, always having to play against each other, slowly fall in love over a season and need to keep their rivalry going for the public.
There’s so many things that make me absolutely thrilled for this book- one: the fact that it’s between two girls. you barely see females in sports in romance books, let alone two. also you never see gays in sports romance- I GOT BOTH!!! that thrilled me to no end, and is what made me want to request this book in the first place. two: the fact that the book is a soulmate!au trope- it felt like a fanfiction in the best way (but written better- court case to come if necessary). it wasn’t super obvious either which made it even better because the more you read the more you find out about soulmates. it made me so so happy.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an eARC of this book.

This book was a great read. It had a Deep End by Ali Hazelwood vibe and a Queer leading couple. For me it was 3 chili pepper of spicy scene (that were well done), open conversation about anxiety between both characters and interesting side stories that I hope get developed into their own stories. It has a fated mate story line which felt a little missed place in this setting and very detailed information about the tennis match that I felt could’ve been removed. Overall a good story line and a fun read.

This was cute but I had a really hard time getting into it and liking the main characters. The fantasy aspect felt weird and random.

I was excited to get my hands on this book because rivals to lovers is one of my favorite tropes! After an intense tennis match, rivals Luca and Juliette discover that they are soulmates and then things get interesting. The protagonists started off with heavy tension, but unfortunately, after so much negative attitude and behavior towards each other, I struggled to root for them. I understood that they were rivals, so they wouldn’t treat each other well, but too much hostility affected my take on them as a couple. If the author eases up on the hostility, I think it could help. At times the sports jargon was a lot, and I felt like the book dragged. I enjoy sports, so at first I didn’t mind it, but more of a balance between sports and romance could help the book. It wasn’t my all-time favorite, but the book has potential. 


I’d like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book!!

A sapphic tennis romance?! Sign me UP!!

I had so much fun with the tennis backdrop to this story, and I thought it was a fresh and unique setting for a romance. You can really tell that the author is knowledgeable about the sport, and I felt the tennis was the most compelling part of the book.

I thought that the speculative twist in this book was very promising, but it ended up feeling a bit underdeveloped. I think that the soulmate trope could have been a great addition to this story and to this world had it been fleshed out more fully, but because it wasn't it caused the story to feel a bit two-dimensional at times. I think that the story leaned too hard into the fated aspect of Luca and Juliette's relationship when the rivalry between them was the perfect setup for their romance.

I also felt that the pacing was off at times and that some of the key plot points felt a little bit forced. At times it felt like the FMC's were making decisions for the sake of furthering the plot and not decisions that were true to their characters. But, I was still invested in the story and wanted to see a happy ending for these characters!

In the end, I'm glad that I was able to pick this one up, and I would be interested in seeing these characters again in a future series.

Thank you Katie Chandler for the opportunity to read this book as an ARC. A Sapphic enemies to lovers book about two tennis players . They have always known they were meant to be based on their soul marks. Both kept fighting as they were worried they would risk everything. They’ve worked hard for when temptation finally hits the head while they make it. I love Luca and Jules story. The fight between what you want and change is always a hard one .

I was so very excited when I came across this book! Tennis has been a huge interest for me lately and I was excited to fall into a sapphic world with it. However, there was a huge disconnect for me. Luca and Juliette had in my opinion very forced chemistry and it created a huge rift in the story. I did enjoy the rivals to lovers aspect as it’s one of my favorite tropes. I still recommend this book as it has a lot of promise! I read this one in a little under 24 hours so it did keep me hooked in!

dnf. this sounded perfect- a sapphic sports romcom?? i’m there immediately! but the soulmate trope was so out of place in a seemingly normal world that one smidge of magical realism kept throwing me off and i was never fully behind it. nor, can i say, was i ever fully behind their chemistry because it was…where? i got halfway through but i can’t anymore 😫

I absolutely adored this book for the most part! I felt like the writing was beautiful. I loved the FMCs, both as individuals and as a couple. I feel like there are some loose ends that may be hint to writing this into a series? I will say I feel like the ending was rushed though and there were some major people mentioned in the story that we never see (both FMC’s mothers even though both of their dad’s are explained for starters.) Overall, I really enjoyed this book but I do feel that there are some minor that feel major issues with this overall.

3 Stars – I really wanted to love Backhanded Compliments—a tennis romance is a great change of pace from the flood of hockey books—but it just dragged on too much for me. The chemistry was there, and I appreciated the sports details, but the pacing kept me from fully getting into it. Still, a solid palette cleanser if you’re looking for something different in the sports romance world.

I thought this book was an interesting read, but I had mixed feelings about it. I appreciated the setup of Juliette and Luca’s rivalry—it felt exciting and full of potential. I enjoyed the tension in their press conference jabs and the buildup to their highly anticipated match. I felt their chemistry was well done, and their journey from rivals to something more had some compelling moments that kept me reading. However, I found myself struggling with parts of the book. I felt like it got too detailed about the tennis aspects, which sometimes made me lose focus. I wanted to stay engaged with the characters and their story, but instead, I often felt bogged down by the technicalities of the sport. I also felt that there were sections that dragged, with a lot of filler that didn’t move the plot forward as much as I hoped.

Overall, I thought the book had strong characters and a promising premise, but I wished it focused more on their relationship and less on the technical details of tennis. While it was an okay read for me, I’d probably recommend it more to readers who are big fans of tennis and enjoy slower-paced stories.

3.5 rounded up

This book made me feel like the victim of a bait and switch. I settled in expecting a juicy enemies to lovers story about tennis rivals only to suddenly find myself reading about soulmates, not a choice I would willingly make. Unfortunately this book only reinforced my preconceived aversion as it seemed to rely on the fact that the characters were fated and didn’t bother to develop the relationship. I was disappointed and left wishing for the book I thought I was getting.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.