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.

This book was super cute and I personally liked that there was a magical realism aspect to it! The magical realism might be in the description, I just wasn’t expecting it! Highlighting the soul mates / names on skin a little more would’ve helped me to fully get behind the concept! It felt a little brushed over. I feel like the magical realism, combined with the tennis plot might not reach everybody, but I enjoyed this!

I am always in the market for a sports romance and I do dabble in magical realism, so when this ARC came my way, I was ecstatic.

Juliette Ricci and Luca Kacic are tennis rivals- when they shake hands after their first match playing each other, the marks on their wrist reveal that they are in fact soulmates. So we embark on a rivals-to-lovers romance with a lot of “tennis talk” along the way.

I had a good enough time- I thought there was too much “will they or won’t they” back and forth, and Juliette was far to hot-and-cold to really enjoy her character. The slow burn is definitely there and there was a little bit of side plot that also kept me engaged, but ultimately pretty average and easily forgotten for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my review!

I'm sad to say that I dnfed this book. It was just too repetitive for me and I couldn't connect with the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This title reeled me in right away. Thank you for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I am working through my backlog, and will be momentarily posting reviews for the stories I have yet to get posted but have finished reading.

Rivals to lovers? Okay, I'm in.

While I don't know a lot about tennis, thankfully you don't need to know a whole heck of a lot to appreciate and enjoy this book. I thought Juliette and Luca were engaging characters, and while I think a little more time could have been to develop them individually, you do learn a lot about them as the book progresses (and let's be real, I have NO idea where in the book it would make sense to learn more about them - I must have just been impatient and wanted the information about each of them sooner). If I had to complain, I felt the soulmate thing was dropped in the story and everything else was like real life. I would have appreciated a little more background at the beginning about it, as it was the only "out there" thing in this book. More about soulmates is mentioned later on, so it's not like it was forgotten about, I just kind of felt like it was almost an afterthought until the characters decided to actually do something about it (which again, may have been the ENTIRE point).

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC!

I want a Luca in my life! She was absolutely adorable and her passion for Juliette was unmatched. While there were times that Juliette annoyed me with her decisions, her redemption was so nice to see. It definitely shows real people who will make real mistakes, but realize and own up to them. I loved all of the side characters and their growth throughout the novel as well.

While there was quite a bit of tennis lingo that I did not understand, it was a great first tennis novel for me to try. If you know tennis, you would probably get all of it. I loved the soulmates aspect and the anxiety representation in this book. I will definitely be looking out for this author’s books in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Backhanded Compliments is a sapphic sports romance that pairs intense tennis rivalry with a soulmark-based magical realism twist. Set during the Australian Open, it follows Juliette and Luca, two competitors who discover they are fated soulmates.

While the enemies to lovers arc had strong chemistry and emotional moments, the magical realism element, the soulmarks, threw me off and kind of ruined it for me. It felt out of place in an otherwise grounded sports setting and made it harder to connect with the story. The tennis backdrop was well done, but the fantasy layer distracted from the character development I was hoping for.

Overall, it is a unique concept, but the speculative twist did not work for me. Fans of queer romance with a fantasy edge might still enjoy it.

DNF at 5%. I was not expecting magical realism in this story and it didn't feel right in this setting. I lost interest once that was introduced.

Thank you @atriabooks for a copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

DNFed at 68%.

I really wanted to enjoy this book (as I do all sapphic romance novels), but I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that they're not for me. I find them boring, frankly -- romance books in general. I didn't feel like the couple had chemistry and none of the characters compelled me. Totally my fault, but I didn't know this was a soulmate book before reading it. Had I known, I never would have read it. In sum: not for me, but maybe for others.

Tennis lovers and sapphic romance lovers will love this book featuring tennis rivals Luca and Juliette. They are rivals in the court but they are marked as soulmates so their rivalry becomes love throughout the course of the book. This is a serious book that talks about anxiety, panic attacks, pressure from coaches, parents, and the pressure an athlete puts on themselves to be the best. The author paints a fantastic visual picture of what tennis looks and sounds like.

Super interesting premise that I read on Publishers Marketplace months ago - it stuck with me. Unfortunately, I didn't find myself invested in either main character.

If last summer was a Challengers summer, then this one belongs to Backhanded Compliments by Katie Chandler!

This is an amazing enemies-to-lovers romance with a dash of magical realism that makes for an ideal summer read. If you’re a fan of Ashley Poston, this one’s for you.

As a former tennis girl, I ate this up! Katie made the sport feel fun and totally accessible, even for readers with no tennis background. I also loved that the story was filled with side characters I was just as excited to follow as the main couple—always a win for me and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them!

Thank you to Atria Books and Netgalley for the ARC!

✨Book Rec✨
Backhanded Compliments by Katie Chandler
Can be stand-alone

3rd person dual POV
Spice: 1.5/3🔥

This was all consuming and I loved it. I don’t usually gravitate to third person but this one truly sucked me in. The tennis aspect was so fun!! And sapphic rivals? Say less.

What you’ll find:
- sapphic
- tennis rivals
- soulmates
- anxiety rep

I think this was too long and had some pacing issues, but it's a perfectly fine romance novel. I think my favorite part was when they were at the MANN and were discussing soulmates/soulmarks in antiquity, and I would have loved if there was more of that.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

Thank you to Netgalley, Atria publishing, and Katie chandler for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to love this book more… but the two main characters being mean girls who seem to only be together because of their soul marks really pulled me out of it and took away from the plot. I will say the spice was gooood though.

This may be your cup of tea if you enjoy drama, tennis, world travels, on page tweets, and banter.

(3.75/5⭐️)

A modern day soulmates romance, readers can expect to find big epic love, so if you're not a romantic this book might not work. But as a certified lover girl, I found Juliette and Luca's love messy and sweet and grand.

Overall, I wish there was more exploration of the concept of soulmates in this universe because it's an interesting concept that felt glossed over. Some characters have no soulmate mark, some have multiple, some fall in love with someone who's not their soulmate. It makes for a compelling take on love and destiny and choice that could have added more depth to the story.

There were other issues with repetitive writing choices and character arcs that felt shallow, but at the end of the day I liked the chemistry between the two main characters, their quippy rivalry, and their character growth.

Attractive female professional athletes who are rivals from different countries? Sign me up. The title was clever, and that was one of the things that drew me into this book.

Admittedly the soulmark and soulmate idea was a bit weird for me at first, but the author was able to weave it into the storyline with the two main characters (and others in the story) pretty well, so I accepted it as the book progressed. Another challenge I had with this book was the amount of tennis descriptions. I strongly believe readers who love tennis will appreciate this immensely, but I personally glossed over a lot of the lingo.

The rivals to lovers trope took a bit of time for me to appreciate, but the slow burn did pay off. I enjoyed the banter between Juliette and Luca. And once they stopped fighting their feelings (for a variety of reasons), the payoff was wonderful.

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read and review the arc of Backhanded Compliments!