As an absolutely huge fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid's previous books I don't say this lightly, but this is her best book so far.

What she has done with Carrie Soto is create such a gripping , powerful character that is just a force to be reckoned with . Carrie is headstrong , intense, labelled as a bitch and the battle axe of tennis for her no nonsense ability to take down other players mentally and physically and while normally you wouldn't particularly route for a character like that because of how aware she is in her ability and what she strives for you can't help but admire her and be desperate for her to win her comeback tour.

We follow Carrie as she comes out of retirement to shut down the now current favourite tennis champion Nikki Chan's attempt to beat Soto's world record of Grand Slams , what follows is how she prepares to make her return to the tennis world at the age of 37 .

I don't want to go into too much detail as I think the joy of this is how quickly the dialogue , the change of setting , quick wit , the depth of the characters motives pushes the story along . This could easily be a one sitting read but at the same time something you could soak in and pace yourself with to immerse yourself.

Carrie Soto made me care about tennis and that is not something I would ever thought would happen , I would suggest to read this outside with a jug of pimms and some strawberries and you've got your afternoon sorted.

Just utterly fantastic.

Taylor Jenkins Reid never dosappoints. The way she makes her characters come to life with all their faults and imperfects just amazes me at this point. If you've loved Malibu Rising you will love Carrie Soto is back.

I’ve said for a while now that I believe Taylor Jenkins Reid can do no wrong, so you’ll believe me when I say I SCREAMED (and maybe cried a little) when I was approved for this e-arc! All her stories are outstanding, and „Carrie Soto is Back“ is no exception!

When a book makes you fall in love with tennis, even though you couldn’t care less about competitive sports before… When it makes you wanna step in front of a bullet for a rude, stubborn and overly ambitious yet so lovable heroine… When it makes you cry following the beautiful but sometimes heartbreaking father-daughter-relationship you see so much of yourself in… And when it makes you swoon over that slow burn romance so long in the making… I’d say when a book does that, it’s fair to say it’s perfect.

Carrie Soto is Back is a story about ambition and outstanding achievements. It’s about deserving the successes you’ve worked so hard for and yet not defining your life by them. It’s also a story of love, of family and of growing up, of grieving and finding what makes you happy. And it’s a story of letting go.

If I haven’t yet convinced you to go pick it up upon it’s release date on Aug. 30th, I don’t know what else to do.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for this e-arc. In return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review.

Carrie Soto is one of the most anticipated reads of the year and it didn’t disappoint at all.
I have a love hate relationship with the author’s books but this one is definitely in winning the balance.
I loved how Carrie is depicted as a very selfish and uninterested person, her only goal is to come back in full force and take the strand as the queen she once was.
The story delves more into the relationship between her and the ones in her life. Her father plays the most important part and some heartbreaking moments made me want to give her a hug.
It’s the story of the year and many will love it as much as I have.

Very grateful to the publisher for my review copy

I couldn’t resist diving into this one early. It’s no secret I’m a massive TJR fan and her writing style is incredibly immersive and this book is no exception. We follow the legendary Carrie Soto as she re-enters the competitive world of Tennis to try and regain her record. I personally like Tennis and found this to be a really fascinating background to the story but I think it’s more about the characters and their relationships so don’t be put off if you’re not into sports. Carrie is in some ways very unlikeable but you really do end up rooting for her and I also love the secondary characters in this book.

An absolute 5/5 for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings: misogyny, death of a parent

Carrie Soto was born to be the best tennis player in the world, and she was. But five years after her retirement, the new face of women's tennis ties her record of the most Grand Slam titles ever, prompting Carrie to come out of retirement and defend her legacy.

I was super excited to receive an ARC of this novel, because I've really enjoyed all of the books in this series so far, and man, this did not disappoint! The snippet of Carrie Soto that we got in Malibu Rising had me intrigued and excited for this book, and she remains and fascinating and incredible well written character in her own story. I continue to love TJR's writing - I always find her novels so easy to read (apparently, even when they are about sports, which I must assure you is very impressive because I truly cannot emphasise how much I do not care about sports). The mixed media elements are done very well - I think it can be easy to overdo it with them sometimes, but here I think they enhance the story. TJR is very good at extremely flawed, abrasive characters who you still root for, and Carrie Soto is maybe my favourite yet - I was rooting for her SO hard the whole way through. I truly didn't want to like the romance subplot (personally, I was hoping for a Chan/Soto rivals to lovers moment) but I must congratulate TJR for selling me on it eventually.

Daisy Jones and the Six might have a rival for my favourite TJR here. I loved this novel. Such an easy recommend!

Thank you to Taylor Jenkins Reid, NetGalley, and Random House UK for the ARC of Carrie Soto Is Back.

September 1994, Flushing Meadow for the US Open, Nicki Chan (a Brit, yay!) versus Ingrid Cortez. If Chan wins she’ll equal Carrie’s record Grand Slam wins. Carrie and her father Javier (‘The Jaguar’) watch tensely with the world press waiting for a front page worthy reaction. Their conversation goes backwards and forwards like the balls smashing, whizzing, gliding, lobbing and drop volleying over the net or not. As Nicki wins the decision is made. Yes, it’s a comeback or the title wouldn’t work and they hope it will be a successful one. Javier will be her coach and both are well aware of the intensity of the next few months. Of course it is a risk as Carrie is now 37 and it’s six years since she has played competitive tennis. So take your seat at Centre Court, munch a few strawberries topped with cream, raise a glass of champers and watch Carrie maybe burn her way through her younger rivals. One thing is for sure it’s lonely at the top as “The Beast “ (Chan) takes on “ The Battle axe“ (Soto).

Okay, brace yourself especially TJR fans who I suspect would applaud anything she writes even if its instructions on the side of a packet!!! First of all, there’s way too much game and this is a comment from someone who loves the sport and once upon a time was a pretty good player.

It does do the toughness, commitment, sacrifices and the rivalries very well and gives a good flavour of the sport at a high level. It’s good on relationships especially the sometime turbulence of her relationship with Javier and with other players and I like the “dance“ across the net with Bowe Huntley a sort of McEnroe figure.

The characterisation is a bit one-dimensional as you can see Carrie who is not likable as she has more hard edges than a 50p piece although she does improve as time goes on. She’s very ruthless, she can be coldhearted and is a warrior figure as she pursues her ambitions and she calls a spade a shovel . However, I dare say to fight your way to the top of pro tennis these qualities are probably a prerequisite. I do enjoy the interactions with Chan who is a likeable character and I love the way she deals with Carrie. In places it is quite exciting but I’ve got to be honest reading about tennis on paper is not as exciting as on the television.

I don’t like the TV interviews or media sections as some of the pundits with their thoughts and comments are vacuous. This is probably bang on the money as I mean as dumb questions go “how are you feeling?“ after losing a Grand Slam final is probably right up there with idiocy.

There’s a lot of Spanish, I didn’t expect to need a dictionary! I don’t care for the formulaic documentary style as in Daisy Jones and the Six as it feels too ploddy for sport. Some phrases are clunky and jar such as “round of 16“?? Just say the last 16 for goodness sake.

So, I’m very conflicted. You have to admire an author who has the bravery and daring to write a book in this way but does it work? The jury is out for me.

It’s an okay read.It’s not amazetennisballs in my opinion but you might find yourself more riveted and invested in the on/off court dramas.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Random House UK/Cornerstone for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

"One of the great injustices of this rigged world we live in is that women are considered to be depleting with age and men are somehow deepening."

Synopsis: At the age of 37, Carrie Soto - world renowned retired tennis player - makes the life altering decision to come out of retirement to defend her record, alongside her dad as her coach. Just like they used to. Carrie's life is tennis. She does not know how to lose. Can she defeat these other world class players?

"I’m back at war, after years of not knowing how to live during peace time. This is the only place where I make sense to myself."

Five stars, all the way through. Listen. I don't even give a single care in the world about tennis, let's be honest here. But this? Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote a book revolving around tennis and I was absolutely hooked from beginning to end. I cried so much, I was scared I'll wake up everyone else. Let's face it: I couldn't put the book down and of course that led to reading into the morning hours. It's that good. What an amazing main character with even better character growth.

Reid has a way with writing that hits my feelings like a shotgun. I'm left so stunned and hurt but I can't look away, because she's fixing the wound already. Weird description, but it does make sense to me. She's an incredible writer who deserves all the love and success in the world.

The only negative remark I can give is that I personally disliked the Spanish in the book, but only because I don't understand it and I was too lazy to use Google translate. That's on me.

"This is the tiniest beginning of a terrible, beautiful whole new life."

Excuse me while I go read and reread all of her other books, immediately.

First off this is actually my first foray into Taylor Jenkins Reid world, as a bookseller her books have been on my tbr pile forever but there was just something about Carrie Soto is back that pulled hard enough at my subconscious to make me take this one on first. Rest assured im now a converted fan.

In reguards to Carrie Soto is back, I adored it. It was short, concise and too the point but like Soto herself. If you're a sport's biopic fan like me and can't help but getting invested in those underdog films on the rise of famous sportpersons or iconic events, then this novel is absolutely for you. Hollywood please make a movie!

Soto's story vibed so much with real female tennis stars like Billy Jean King and the Willaims sisters. It really made me wish she was real because despite not being perfect Carrie Soto's work ethic and inspiration created a connection between us. I wanted to be better.

The romance element wasn't ground breaking, a little bit obvious but I still enjoyed it, and sometimes you just want to shake Soto to get a grip, there's more to life than tennis so please let the dude love you.

Over all the plot was well placed, going through the time periods of Carries career and back to the present. I really enjoyed the break up chapters with newcast reports via tv/newspaper. Also that it was set in the 80s/90s, it felt like the sport and achievements really mattered, being set now when there is so much inclusivity would have lost the message that these players were paving the way.

⭐️⭐️ 2 disappointing stars.

I’ve read and love a couple of other books by the author so was very keen to get started on this one.

Unfortunately I found it very slow, there was too much repetition and far too much description of tennis. I enjoy watching the odd tennis game but this was very detailed about strategy, moves to play, ways to stand and it was just too much - not interesting enough to grip me.

It took a while to get to like Carrie which was an issue too - all this tennis we sit through when we aren’t even bothered about whether she wins or not.

Oh and I didn’t like the way it ended either.

In summary, slow, predictable, repetitive and tennis heavy.

Loved this expansion of the Taylor Jenkins Reid cinematic universe. Carrie Soto, a background character in Malibu Rising, is beautifully fleshed out in Carrie Soto is Back. Carrie’s battle through to tennis stardom and then the four Grand Slams as part of her comeback is gripping and her relationship with her dad is so touching. I was really rooting for her (in everything!) by the end.

I have absolutely loved all of Tara Jenkins Reid's previous books so I was so looking forward to reading this one.

We begin by meeting Carrie and her father in the 90's watching a tennis final. She is a retired tennis player and the new champion Nicki Chan is about to even her world record. We then go back in time to 1966 where we begin to find out when and why she started playing and her relationship with her father who was also her tennis coach. The book flips from before and after the comeback so we get a feel for each character and their back stories.

I warmed to Carrie as a character, I liked how strong she was and how unapologetic she is about being super good at something and better then most, but also how vulnerable she had to be in the sense of she had become coldhearted to men and how she had relationships with them after a heartbreak.

I love how TLR has a way of creating big strong celebrity characters that are also likeable, I really do get taken in to another world,

I also learnt so much about tennis which I found interesting especially as its something that I have never really understood, but feel next Wimbledon I will be watching.

Great book, loved the characters and emotions alongside the return of Carrie!

Never did I ever think I’d see the day when a book about tennis could have me hooked from the first instance. But, here we are.
I’ve been dubious about the hype around TJR for a while after loving her earlier work but not really enjoying her more recent books. I was finding the grind of Hollywood starlets draining and a lack of focus on the characters. Well, this has all been completely redeemed by Carrie. She’s so unlikeable that I don’t just like her, I love her. The relationship she has with her father, tennis, winning and Bowe is so complex and it’s been beautifully and brutally captured throughout the novel. I feel like we grow with Carrie and her emotions. Oh, and prepare to cry. A lot. An easy five star read for me.

Thank you @netgalley for the eARC of Carrie Soto is back. Available on 30th August 2022.

Thank you NetGalley & Random House UK, Cornerstone for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again. From start to finish this book engrossed me. I didn't want to put it down, but when I did, I struggled to pick it up again as I did not want it to be over. TJR has, once again, created such a loveable yet hateable character that you can't help but root for. As with her other books, Taylor Jenkins Reid captivates you into the world of the character just to rip your heart out once that emotional connection has been formed. With such appreciable character development, Carrie Soto's story is not one you want to miss, and as one of my highly anticipated releases this year, it definitely did not disappoint.

Just like the indomitable Carrie Soto, Taylor Jenkins Reid has been honing her game. All her books have been very readable, but this one I flew through in a single day - not quite at the speed of Nicki Chan’s service, but not far off.
I love TJR’s big-name women. They’re so charismatic, and I loved Soto and Chan. This book is destined to be another huge hit, and rightly so. This is probably one of my favourites; it’s certainly right up there with Evelyn.
Also, I love the way these characters touch the lives of Evelyn, Nina and Daisy!
And… Best. Ending. Ever.
Taylor Jenkins Reid is back, and she’s serving aces.
Five big ones.
🎾🎾🎾🎾🎾

Carrie Soto was the greatest tennis player during the 80's with 20 Grand Slam titles under her belt. But her career was cut short with a knee injury and after surgery was never the same player again. But the new kid on the block , Nicki Chan, is quickly going to take her title. With her father fully behind her Carrie comes out of retirement to try and prevent this happening
Carrie was called "the battle-axe"during her reign due to her uncompromising character, her ruthless behaviour and her arrogance towards her fellow players. This has not eased during her time away from the game but at 37 can she come back the player she was?
This was my first Taylor Jenkins Reid book but I really liked her style of writing. I'm not sure if I really warmed to Carrie but I enjoyed reading about her rise to stardom. This book is a must for any tennis lovers, gives the reader an insight to the cut and thrust and back biting of the circuit and season

I love any book by Taylor Jenkins Reid anyway but Carrie Soto Is Back is now probably my new personal favourite. This was such a delight to read on my morning commute to work and I was caught off guard when it ended sooner than I hoped it would.

Taylor Jenkins Reid truly is a master at creating characters and worlds which feel completely real.
If you’re not a fan of tennis, you may not enjoy this quite as much as fans of the game. But as someone who follows tennis and watches Wimbledon, the French and US Opens every year, this felt like I was watching the matches but with the added bonus of knowing what goes into a match and life as a tennis player.
Carrie is someone who grows as the story develops and you can definitely emphasise with. But her relationship with her father is what made this book for me.
I also enjoyed seeing her open up to love and Bowe and how she went on to relate to and champion Nicki.
The ending was a nice change from what I expected but felt very true to what we’d read all along.
This is right up there with Evelyn Hugo (my favourite Taylor Jenkins Reid book) and I genuinely could not put this down, reading it within 24 hours.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A 2022 summer must-read, this is just so much fun! In Carrie, TJR has created a modern heroine who is sharp, competitive and driven - yes, she's flawed and has lessons to learn but that's all the fun of the journey. I like that this keeps female ambition centre stage (or should that be centre court?!) with a cute romance only on the sidelines: Carrie's important relationships are with her father, her agent and with her tennis nemesis and arch-rival. Page-turning, exciting, a little heartbreaking in places and just oh so satisfying - just the thing for switch-off reading that doesn't insult our intelligence.

Absolutely adored this book! Anything Taylor Jenkins Reid writes is just beautiful and feels so real. The character development and plot make it feel like I’m actually living through these icon periods. Was a bit skeptical to begin with that the focus would be on a sporting star, but it even made me fall in love with tennis