My thanks to NetGalley and Ballentine publishing for the opportunity to review this book.
Did I know anything about tennis before reading this ? no. Did it matter? no.
The book was brilliant yet another Taylor Jenkins Reid triumph.
I can highly recommend this page turner of a book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Review - Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid ⁠
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#CarrieSotoIsBack⁠
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Thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone @vintagebooks and @NetGalley for providing me with a proof copy in advance of publication. 📚⁠
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Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again with the fourth book in her modern history series. Though they’re not initially connected, they have recurring characters that crossover from one to another. ⁠
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This novel focuses on tennis legend Carrie Soto, as she comes out of her retirement to reconquer her record. The story is told over the course of a tennis season, with flashbacks to her becoming who she was at the start. Her father, also a tennis legend in Argentina in his prime, was at the helm of her training from a young age and was a huge influence. I love how much detail the novel focuses on her rivals, such as Nikki Chen and a fellow male tennis player, who is also trying to make a comeback. ⁠
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I loved Carrie’s determination, ambition and energy throughout the novel. She’s called the Battle Axe for a reason. She is definitely a bit arrogant and intense at times but you feel for her. You want to celebrate her wins and drown out her losses with more training sessions, game analysis and replay to correct her mistakes and study her opponents for success in the future. ⁠
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Carrie has been one of my favourite of her heroines. As I grew up playing tennis (not professionally, but competitively nonetheless), I related and felt her playing and the helpful tips her father gave her to improve her game. I have been recommending it to any tennis fanatics, as this is the book equivalent of Battle of the Sexes and Drive to Survive. I hope you love this book as much as I do and I cannot wait to read what TJR writes next!⁠
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#afterelizareviews #elizareviews

Like all the Taylor Jenkins Reid books I’ve read, it’s hard to remember that this book isn’t about an actual famous person. Carrie Soto feels so very real and this reads just like a memoir. It was fun to see characters from other books popping up in a cameo role and indeed another of the author’s books made a cameo appearance too! Carrie herself is a character from Malibu Rising.

We see Carrie’s fierce determination and the single minded dedication required to become the best tennis player in the world. We follow her through the challenges, the sacrifices, the rivalries and are in no doubt about her competitive approach. She’s not very easy to like though, not really caring about public opinion, or being sporting to her rivals. She’s just totally focussed on winning at all costs. For most of the book we see her developing as a tennis player. It’s not until quite late on that she finally seems to develop as a person and become a bit more likeable. Taylor Jenkins Reid shows Carrie finally beginning to realise that there’s more to life than winning tennis.

With her reputation for being stand-offish she’s nicknamed ‘The Battle Axe’ and she’s not in the least bit bothered by that. Not surprisingly, she has difficulty in maintaining relationships when on the circuit all the time. One aspect of the story which I really enjoyed was the close bond between father and daughter and how that was stretched and snapped under the pressure. Javier had also been a successful tennis player in his time and he drives Carrie on to be the best as her coach. There were many touching scenes as Carrie and her father begin to understand each other and become close again.

We follow Carrie through early success as a tennis player, becoming the best in the world. We then follow her as injury leads to decline and her retirement. We see that tennis players don’t just need to be physically fit but mentally fit too. The psychology and tactics of the game matter almost as much as the physical strategies.

Most of the book focusses on the big comeback as Carrie wants to take back her record of the most Grand Slam titles. Following Carrie as she plays in all four tennis grand slams is almost as tense at times as watching an actual tennis match! I read this the while the US Open was on which was interesting and I’m sure that publication date was accidental. It made me watch the players with different eyes. It’s hard not to compare Carrie to Serena Williams who is almost certainly playing her last Grand Slam tournament. At the other end of the scale, there are young players like Harriet Dart who beat a top ten seed for the first time at the US Open this week.

I did have a couple of niggles with the book. There’s a fair amount of Spanish scattered throughout the narrative and it’s not always translated or easy to guess. I suppose that not much of it is that important or it would have been explained but it did make me feel that I was missing out a bit. The other thing I wasn’t so keen on, and it maybe sounds a bit mad to say, but I felt there was just too much tennis in the book. Of course, it’s about a famous tennis player and her career but sometimes it felt like we were getting every single shot of a match described.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy reading about Carrie Soto and by the end I was cheering her on. The final few chapters as she plays her way through the US Open were almost as fast paced as any thriller novel. Carrie Soto is Back is another great character driven novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid with a sharp insight into ambition, determination to succeed and what that can cost.

I adored Taylor's last novel, Malibu Rising, so I was intrigued to learn that one of the minor characters is given the starring role in this story.

Carrie Soto has been coached by her father from her childhood to be a winner at tennis, partly because she has a natural talent, inherited from him, but also to help them both cope with the unexpected death of her mother. By the time she retires from the sport she holds several sporting records, including that of most Slam wins, and is considered a sporting legend. When another tennis player looks set to break that record, years later, Carrie announces her comeback. But in risking everything, is she making a terrible mistake?

Carrie Soto is Back is an immersive, gripping story, showing how brutal professional tennis can be, especially when you're no longer young and fit, and reveals the kind of person you need to be, psychologically, to win. (I love how Bowe tries to explain it as 'Self One' vs 'Self Two'.) The story follows Carrie's progress through each slam event: The Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and, finally, the US Open. Has she been arrogant to believe she can just swan in at the same level of fitness, with everyone waiting for her to fail?

Carrie has a consuming need to be the best; failure is not an option - something her friend Bowe can't understand. He's kept going through alcoholism and injury, why did Carrie retire in the first place? She lost a couple of matches? Big deal. Her father believes tennis is a beautiful game and that she should concentrate on enjoying herself - win or lose - but is he being naïve?

Carrie Soto is Back has some very wise words to say on the business of winning and losing (and of taking part!) that can be applied to all areas of life. Like Daisy Jones and the Six this is a very immersive novel, with lots of tennis! Would suit fans of the film King Richard and sport-themed novels like Midnight in the Snow (Karen Swan). I loved it! One of my favourite reads this year.


Thank you to Taylor Jenkins Reid and Cornerstone/Random House/Penguin for my copy of this book, which I requested via NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.

Everytime I finish a book and I think about how many stars I'd give, I think about how much I enjoyed it, if I'd change anything, if there was anything not great, how it made me feel, etc.

With this one, I didn't have to think twice. I couldn't put it down (would've read it in one sitting if I had the time!) and couldn't think of a single thing I would've changed. I know there's been some controversy about the minority characters and how TJR is probably not the person to write about them but, actually as a Latin person (Brazilian, even worse! People don't see us as Latin or anything, just...well, whatever misconception they have of us), I didn't think it was a problem. She didn't reeeeeally try to portray the life experience of a Latin person, she didn't exactly touch that subject and quite rightly so, because it's not hers to touch. Instead, she made a lot of her characters latin, just as a normal story where people were Latin and it wasn't about their ethnicity/background, it was about their character, their development, and they just so happened to be Latin which I thought was actually pretty cool.

On the subject of publishers giving a white CIS woman all the marketing budget and not so much the actual Latin writers telling stories of Latin people, that's a different story...I wholeheartedly agree that more minorities should be given bigger stages, bigger budgets, bigger everything. But that's not TJR's job - she's a wonderful writer, especially when it comes to portraying everyday sexism/gender bias/etc.

I went in not really sure because I've got zero interest in tennis and, throughout the first descriptions of games/training, I thought maybe I'd find it daunting as I didn't know what the drills/movements meant. However, that ended up not influencing my reading experience in one bit. I loved the story and was fully invested in Carrie Soto's growth as a human being and athlete!

I really loved this book and even though I know nothing about tennis I really enjoyed this aspect of it. I loved Carrie’s determination to win another title and I loved the relationship that she had with her dad.
She wasn’t really a likeable character but I was really rooting for her.
I thoroughly enjoyed this and I would recommend it.

As I have loved other TJR books I was excited that we were going to meet Carrie Soto. She make an appearance in Malibu Rising, which I really enjoyed. I love how TJR is blending her worlds and characters. I am here for that.

In Carrie Soto Is Back we follow Carrie who is a professional tennis player and is coming out of retirement as Nikki Chan a British player has taken her Most Grand Slam's by a female title. Carrie wants her title back. We are taken through Carrie's life story on how she became the amazing tennis player she is and how that drive has affected who she has become. For me there was too many hit by hit accounts of tennis games, technique and drills. This slowed the pace for me and became repetitive.

I do enjoy TJRs social commentary, especially around women's rights and how they are seen and treated. Overall it was a good story, but not outstanding for me. Looking forward to the next TJR.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance digital copy to review.

This is the second book by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I have read and I've quickly fallen in love with her writing style and the vivid colours with which she paints her characters. Carrie Soto seemed like a bit of a driven, sporty stereotype and I wasn't quite as gripped by her arc as I would have liked, but the fact that I devoured this book over a couple of days says a lot. Even where I don't fully get the main character or find her driving factors particularly interesting, I'm still helplessly carried along by the strength of the story and its language.

I received an advanced copy of #CarrieSotoIsBack from #NetGalley

I’m partial to reading team sports books with lots of romance. This is the first time I’ve read a book about tennis. I really enjoyed this book. It was well written and I loved the historical data that kept appearing fitting for the setting of the story.

At first I thought it might bore me as there are not numerous characters interspersed in the pages, rather the story focuses mainly on Carrie and her father Javier through childhood to present day and tennis. There are 2/3 other characters that we get to know. Bowe the recovering alcoholic, injured tennis player who hasn’t given up on the game or on Carrie, Gwen the agent who doesn’t suffer fools gladly and to a lesser extent Nicki Chan who is the ‘enemy’ having equalled Carrie’s record and is the reason for her coming out of retirement.

Due to their being so few characters, Taylor Jenkins Reid really develops them well so that we feel we know them and that is my reasoning for the 4 star rating. I understood Carrie and why she was how she was but I can’t say I liked her until I was about 75-80% through the book. I had admiration for her focus and determination but she did seem like a cold character until Bowe started to break down her defences or maybe it was a maturity of attitude that made me start to warm to her.

Carrie set the record for the most grand slam wins until Nicki equalled the record resulting in Carrie coming out of retirement. Her path to regain fitness and hone her technical skills is outlined and the reader will experience each step of the journey through this book. I also felt the emotions of Carrie’s relationship with her father. Due to my current personal circumstances this really resonated with me.

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this story which has an expected publication date of 30 August
1 like

Taylor Jenkins Reid has done it again.

Carrie Soto Is Back had me completely gripped from the start, the character herself is compelling &, as I love tennis, the story was one that gripped me, although I'm pretty sure it would even if tennis wasn't your thing as the writing is just so good. I flew through this in a day & couldn't put it down. I laughed & cried, got goosebumps in the matches as Carrie took on not just her opponents but a world that was trying to keep her in her place & put her down. I loved Javier, Bowe, Nina & Nicki too, each bringing a different dimension to the story & bringing something out in Carrie.

It does scare me that a book set largely in the 90s is considered historical fiction 😳 but maybe I'm just getting old (there's no maybe about it but 🤫).

It is fast becoming apparent that Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favourite authors & I'm pretty much guaranteed to love anything she writes so I do need to go back & read Daisy & a few of her earlier books now.

As a big fan of TJR I was so pleased to get an ARC of her latest work and I am so happy to say she's back and better than ever!

I have now read all books in the 'evelyn Hugo' universe and this is up there with Daisy Jones & Evelyn Hugo.
After a blip (IMO) with Malibu Rising, this is an excellent story of sport excellence and what is expected of you in sport when you're a woman and aging.

An excellent story that I couldn't put down!!

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Happy Publication day Carrie Soto.

I really enjoyed this book. I will admit to not being a die-hard TJR fan. I have liked the previous books that I have read of hers and while they didn't blow me away, I can appreciate why so many people love her books. Carrie Soto is Back is definitely the best book I have read by TJR , entertaining, engaging and a delightful distraction from real life.

Carrie Soto retired at the top of game , record smashing and the best female tennis player of all time. Six years later it's 1994 and Carrie is sitting in the stands watching the US Open final , watching another player equal her record.. This spurs Carrie at 37, to come out of retirement and return for one season to protect her legacy and titles.

Carrie is a really interesting character. Intensely competitive, determined and hardworking, working towards a single goal at all times. As a result , she isn't portrayed as particularly likeable but she is admirable and it is hard not to completely root for her.

There is a lot of tennis in this book and it is intensely readable. The tension of each match leaps from the pages and it was like watching live sport when reading. The observations on women in sport and the misogyny , inequality and constant negative media attention is captured with razor sharpness. The whole book feels meticulously researched and it translates to a really captivating read.

Yes, it is a little formulaic and there are not any great twists or surprises but it's a really enjoyable read written in TJR's engaging style.

Recommend and its reignited my interest in watching tennis.

If I had known that tennis featured heavily in the book, I would never have read it I’m happy to say I’m glad I read it. I’m officially a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid.

When she retires from tennis, Carrie Soto is the best player the world has ever seen. With her father as her coach, she has sacrificed everything (relationships, family, social life, to mention a few) and shattered every tennis record and claimed twenty Slam titles. Carrie believes that she was entitled to these as she is the best tennis player the world has ever seen. BUT six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record being taken from her.

At the grand-old age of thirty-seven years, Carrie decides to come out of retirement. With her father coaching her she is sure to maintain her record. Carrie wasn’t’ liked as a person when she was playing professionally. Her return isn’t met with much enthusiasm by other players or the media. Her sponsorship deals are also threatened if she doesn’t win or gain popularity.

Carrie is surprised at how much her body has changed. Will she be able to get herself in peak winning condition or has she made the biggest mistake of her life?

JTR is very at crafting a story and characters that draw me in. As in her previous book, she flashes back from the protagonist's childhood to the present day. I also like the way her characters are taken from previous books but have a stand-alone story.

I’m adding Maybe Another Life, One True Loves, After I Do & Forever Interrupted to my TBR

Tennis is the one sport that I understand, and one that I actually enjoy to watch. For me it didn’t feel too much, but if tennis isn’t your thing, you have been warned! Part sporting memoir, part coming of age (even though she’s already grown up), part familial drama and part romance - TJR delivers another cracking read. I loved how her stories are interconnected - with Carrie is mentioned in Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones being mentioned in this story.

I will admit, Carrie was a little hard to relate to in parts - with her fierce determinism and how she keeps herself closed off from other people in her life. But TJR is great at developing her characters and letting them get under your skin. And Carrie does just that as battles against all the odds to attempt to reclaim her world record. The depth of technique and strategy that goes into tennis is laid out bare here - I loved how it’s not just about how hard you can hit that ball. It was great as her dad as coach and strategist was such a fundamental part of her journey.

There are some great supporting characters in this story, and they each help bring out that extra dynamic of Carrie, I particularly liked her little head to heads with Nicki Chan, and how that particular story arc played out. I also really enjoyed how Carrie grew up at the end of this one.

Thanks to NetGalley, the team at Random House and the author for the opportunity to read this review copy.

Retirement doesn't suit Carrie Soto. She is used to being the centre of attention not a spectator at Centre Court. She retired at the top of her game but now she sees that others, namely British champ Niki Chan could surpass her and Soto cannot have that. Carrie Soto has to return to competitive tennis and remind everyone why she is still the best!

When I heard Taylor Jenkins Reid had a new book coming out I was excited but I was slightly less excited when I heard the story revolves around a character introduced in Malibu Rising. I didn't love that book but TJR is one of my new go to authors so I was willing to give Carrie Soto a try. I'm so glad I did as it was a very different read from her last. Obviously the story is full of tennis but at the very core is a tender father daughter relationship. Both fiercely love the other but rarely show it in the conventional way. Javier Soto came alive from the pages as I could picture him so clearly and could almost smell his cologne. The determination he had to raise a tennis player rather than a child broke my heart as that was all he knew how to do. Carrie was exactly who she was because of her father and despite the love/hate opinion the public have of her I as the reader knew the truth and that she doesn't know how else to be either. The story of Carrie's life through the years is as fast paced as one of her serves and her comeback as tense as any match point. In this one book Taylor Jenkins Reid highlights all the issues females in sport have to face before they even come up against any competitors. Just like her protagonist TJR is back on top form with her newest release..although in my eyes Evelyn Hugo still remains unbeaten.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! Taylor Jenkins Reid has done a wonderful job a writing another consuming and engaging book.

We had a small glimpse of Carrie in Malibu Rising and I wasn’t sure what her character would be like but I was blown away by her in this book. TJR has done such a good job at creating a complex character who I couldn’t help but fall in love with and root for her all the way through.
The relationships with her father and Bowe were excellently portrayed and her love for tennis took on a character in itself as well.
I never thought I could feel so tense and exhilarated reading about a tennis match but TJR expertly captured the tension and anticipation in each detailed shot and decision. There is a lot of tennis in this book which some people may not enjoy but for me who just has a basic understanding of the game and only watches big finals like Wimbledon it was well written and captivating.
I have loved reading about Carrie Soto and her tennis family and honestly could not put this book down.

Carrie Soto Is Back surprised me in the best way possible. Prior to reading, I didn't have many expectations for this book - I knew it was tennis related and featured a character staging a comeback after years of being out of the game but knew little else about it. I feel like the fact that I did have no expectations contributed to how much I enjoyed this book, which it turns out, is A LOT.

I've read a fair few of Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels by now and I'm always struck by her writing and how skilled she is at drawing a reader in. I can't quite explain it in words but there's this quality she has in crafting a story and characters that just hooks you in and will not let you put it down. This book is no different. I'm not usually in to books about sports of any kind, so I thought I wouldn't find this one interesting since it focuses so heavily on tennis and it's technicalities etc but I found myself pleasantly surprised. I learnt a whole lot about the sport and while it's a fictional story - it's also realistic enough to feel informative too. I don't know if you'll ever catch me at Wimbledon but I do have so much respect for these players who put their all into this sport.

I really liked how we flash back and forth in time from present day as Carrie trains furiously to make her comeback to when she was a child and to the height of her stardom as a tennis player. This really encapsulates all the highs and lows of her experience and makes several important points about how professional sports people, notably women are treated in the media and the pressures they face. I loved Carrie's relentless drive and her belief in herself, which is bolstered by her father Javier who is one of my favourite parts of this book for sure.

The relationship between Carrie and Javier is a real highlight here - I don't think I've read another book which explores the relationship between a father and daughter who also happen to be coach and mentee so this was unique for me as well. I adored how Javier believes in Carrie so deeply and especially as they heal and mend some of the fractures in their relationship, it becomes a source of unconditional love and trust and I really liked seeing this on the page. Coupled with their father / daughter bond, is that of Beau - a fellow tennis pro who is also staging a comeback of sorts, a last ditch effort before he retires his racket - I loved how patient and understanding he was with Carrie, even when she's being self destructive without it feeling unbalanced. He simply gets her and she gets him - perhaps better than either of them expected. Beau also bonds with Javier and their little trio scenes were so sweet without it being overly sentimental, something which Carrie absolutely isn't, which made me love her more.

Overall, this book was enjoyable, interesting and fresh - I would definitely recommend this to readers who enjoy character driven narratives with a unique voice and angle which will be sure to draw a reader in.

Carrie Soto is Back is one of the best books of this year! As well as Carrie Soto being back, in my view Taylor Jenkins Reid is also very definitely back! After absolutely loving Daisy Jones & The Six (which has recently been adapted for TV by Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine) and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I have to be honest and say I was pretty disappointed with Jenkins Reid’s last novel, Malibu Rising (it just didn’t work for me). So I did approach Carrie Soto is Back with some trepidation, especially as the character Carrie Soto briefly appears in Malibu Rising. Yet I had no need to be worried – this new novel is thrilling and addictive! It may even be Jenkins Reid’s best novel yet…

If you are a tennis fan and love the thrill of watching a competitive tennis match, you are sure to love Carrie Soto is Back. Mind you, even if you are not that interested in tennis, I am sure you will still love this book as it is an intoxicating story about drive, determination and the cost of winning.

It is also a touching and poignant exploration of the relationship between a father and a daughter.

From the first page of this novel, we the reader are confronted with the almighty force of Carrie’s drive to be the best. It is the final of the 1994 US Open; Carrie, at the age of 37 has been retired from tennis for six years. When she retired she was the best tennis player the world had ever seen, winning 20 Grand Slam titles and shattering every tennis record going. That record still stands. Yet as Carrie sits in the stands alongside her father who was also her coach, she is about to witness her record snatched away from her by the younger dazzling player, Nikki Chan. Carrie cannot let that happen, so there and then, decides to come out of retirement, determined to win back her record.

And so, even though her body is older, slower and the media which never admired her ruthlessness, negatively calling her The Battle Axe believe she can’t hack it, Carrie attempts to make a comeback. Believe me, this is a powerful, riveting read. Whole chapters are made up of one tennis match and I swear, reading these chapters I felt as though I was watching the match on the TV, screaming, cheering and shouting at the TV as I watched (something I have been known to do whilst watching tennis matches). My heart was often in my throat reading this novel, and not just during the tennis matches, as I strived for Carrie to succeed.

Carrie is a complex character. She is flawed, ruthless, arrogant, ambitious and definitely a bitch; she has no friends on the tennis circle and is not popular with the sports media. And if you have read Malibu Rising, you will already know that Carrie is a husband stealer. On the surface, Carrie is not the type of woman I would want as a friend. Yet she has a vulnerability that although she strives with all her might to keep hidden, we as the reader are privy to. She is also frightened, insecure and desperate to be loved. I really like and admire Carrie. Yes she is pig headed and ruthless, but she is also defiant and extremely brave. Especially when she refuses to succumb to the toxic masculinity that tries to bring her down. Carrie Soto is definitely a true literary heroine.

Carrie Soto is Back is such a unique, fresh and exhilarating read. I really felt on a visceral level Carrie’s wins and defeats, both professional and personal. This is a book that I loved straight away and will continue to love. I just hope that Reese Witherspoon chooses to adapt Carrie’s story to the screen too. Just like the book, that will be thrilling to watch.

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for my advance copy in return for my honest review.

As a big fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books, I was super excited for her newest novel especially because Carrie Soto made her first appearance in Malibu Rising, a book which I absolutely devoured. When I was approved for a digital ARC, I was ecstatic and I couldn’t believe it! If you love TJR too, Carrie Soto is a book that shouldn't miss from your shelf.

Huge thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK for the gifted digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Read this if you:

Love playing and/or watching tennis
Have (had) a close relationship with your dad
Are looking for a book with a strong and inspiring female lead
Want a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish

My Thoughts:

I loved loved loved this one! The plotline is so intriguing that it kept me curious the whole time. I was torn between reading this book in one sitting or savoring a little bit of it every day because I didn’t want it to be over.

I am not a big fan of sports in general. I only practiced rhythmic gymnastics for a while when I was little but none of the other sports (especially the ones that include a ball) ever attracted me. However, if I were to pick one sport that had me curious and caught my attention a little bit, it would have been tennis without a doubt. I never played it and I don’t watch it on TV either, but there is something different about this sport that sets it apart from the others in my view.

This book has a lot of details about tennis. It is fully packed with tennis details so if you are not a fan of this sport, this book might not be for you and you should be aware of this before going in. For me, it was very enjoyable because, as I said, it is the only sport that ever attracted me a bit, but had this book been about a different sport, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much.

I found Carrie Soto to be such an inspiring, brave and ambitious woman! I absolutely adored her! I know she might come across as a bit mean, obsessed or self-involved to some people but the way I see it Carrie should be a role-model for all the women out there to fight for what they want and to never listen when someone tells them they can’t achieve something. Carrie Sotos’s determination and perseverance can definitely motivate you to accomplish any goal you might have.

I loved the father and daughter relationship portrayed in this book. I think that Carrie owes a lot of her achievement to Javier Soto who had the patience to shape her into the best tennis player. It was so great to see their relationship switch from father and daughter to coach and player throughout the book and I loved that, no matter the arguments the two of them might have, they were a family above everything else.

I absolutely adored the ending! I didn’t expect it and I think it was beautiful and realistic at the same time.

If you’re a TJR fan, a tennis player lover or a just a reader looking for an engaging book to keep you on the edge of your seat, then Carrie Soto Is Back is a novel you shouldn’t miss!

“She is relentless. She does not stop. She will not be counted out”
Wow what a ride this novel is! It’s propulsive, addictive, adrenalin-fuelled and you power through it as fast as one of legendary tennis player Carrie Soto’s serves. This is real edge of the seat stuff. Imagine THE most tense Wimbledon championship featuring your favourite player, transcribed into words, and you’ll have some inkling of what lies ahead in Carrie Soto is Back (CSIB).

When her record number of grand slam wins is about to be broken by Nicki Chan, retired tennis legend Carrie is tempted back into competitive play at 37, to preserve her status as the world’s greatest tennis star.
Carrie’s beloved father, Javier, himself a former tennis champion, is her coach. He is the man who made her everything she is as a player. He taught her how to win, but neglected to teach her how to lose; he taught her to be a perfectionist, but not how to cope with failure.

Emotionally damaged by the death of her mother when she was a child, Carrie also struggles to form personal relationships and her personal life is littered with unfulfilling one night stands and brief flings. (We already know this of course - Carrie Soto is the tennis start who had an affair with Nina Riva’s husband in Malibu Rising.)

With all these factors in the psychological mix, Carrie’s attempt to maintain her record is not going to be an easy one. About as easy as her personality: her nickname is The Battle Axe, and some call her far worse.

CSIB is a very rare sports-based novel for women, with an athlete as its main character. It looks at the cost of ambition and its effects on both the player and their nearest and dearest, and it also looks at the concept of female single-minded ambition and how this is viewed differently by everyone to how they would the same trait in a male player. Everyday sexism in the world of tennis and the sports media comes under scrutiny by TJR, as does the very definition of success.

In addition to its take on the world of tennis, this novel explores the themes of love, loss, and coming to terms with grief, and the complex dynamic of this father-daughter relationship.

TJR is a brilliant storyteller and she creates wonderfully complex, rounded and developed female characters at the centre of her novels. Carrie is no different. She is very similar to Evelyn Hugo in her ambition and determination to be the best. She can be cruel, mean and unkind to other players and to her family. She can be ruthless. She is so single minded that it damages relationships with those she loves, and it isolates her to the point that she has no friends. There is no softness to her, for which she is berated by both fans and the media. There are times when her behaviour makes us actively dislike her and we see her as more of an anti-hero.

However, she is also a character we admire and love, and we recognise that under the tough exterior of this determined champion there is hurt, rawness and fear stemming from her grief at the loss of her mother. Despite all her bad behaviour, we support her and root for her throughout. We really want Carrie to win, as much as Carrie wants Carrie to win.

Over the course of the season, and with everything that happens, Carrie grows in self-knowledge. She recognises that being the best also means learning how to fail and to let go, and on the personal front she realises that she must learn to trust and open her heart to relationships. As her accumulated and unprocessed grief is dealt with, and her self-knowledge grows, the Carrie at the end of the novel is a world away from the one at the outset.

If you want an edge-of-the-seat story of ambition, determination and rivalry with a fascinating central character, told with all the trademark TJR sparkle and skill, this is definitely one for you. 100 percent recommended!