☆ ☆ ☆ ☆.5

“The downside of perfectionism is that you are so used to getting it right, you completely collapse when you get it wrong. And it will not be me who collapses today.”

What a book! I have read both DJaT6 and TshoEH by TJR, but there was something about this book that kept me even more hooked. I read it in less than 3 days - I usually take 1-2 weeks. The plot wasn’t even fast-paced, but I was just addicted?

In my opinion this book has a much lighter feel to it than those other 2 I have read. It felt less full of traumatic events and sadness, and instead full of hope and love. There’s a huge amount of love in Carrie’s life and such a beautiful support network which made me adore this book a lot more. The characters of Bowe, her father and her agent Gwen took this book to a whole new level. They were such beautiful souls, and having such an open outpouring of love gave this book such a gorgeous energy.

I didn’t love Carrie for most of the book, and she irritated me mainly, but that doesn’t affect the book for me. TJR is so BRILLIANT at producing irritating, complex characters that somehow she keeps you rooting for. Carrie was such a badass. she was often arrogant yes, but confident in how hard she works and her ability to win every match. She stood her ground, and wasn’t afraid of being disliked. she was a powerhouse.

The romance in this book made it that little bit extra special for me. DJaT6 and TshoEH contained romance, but often quite tragically, whereas CSIB has such a beautifully healthy relationship that had me “awww”ing whilst reading. He was such a beautiful person who created such a healthy dynamic. I REALLY loved them, and definitely a favourite part for me.

Bear in mind that this book is HEAVY on tennis. Like I hadn’t planned going into it for it to be quite so technical with the tennis aspect. If I’m honest, being a big fan of either watching and/ or playing tennis will enhance the experience of reading this book as it is very heavily focused on it. However, I am not much of a fan and still LOVED it so it’s in no way a requirement.

Only issue - I learnt Spanish for a few years so could translate the Spanish. But not everyone knows Spanish. There was a quite a lot of Spanish and VERY rarely any translation? Which would’ve made many sentences go wasted if you don’t know what they mean? But a minor note.

It’s an incredible book.

- Lara <3

“You are perfect, even in your imperfection.”

Another winner by TJR. Daisy Jones and Evelyn Hugo are firm favourites of mine, this is another highly enjoyable read.

What TJR does incredibly well in my opinion, is writing superb characters! Not necessarily likeable, and you’d be forgiven to remember they’re not real life people.

Tennis is one of my favourite sports. I played it, my sons played it and we are regulars at the Australian Open every year. That said, I firmly believe that even if you have never played, this book is much more than just tennis. I came away with a greater appreciation of gender bias, female athletes endure(d) and a deeper level of understanding of what it takes to be an elite athlete.

Carrie Soto was first introduced as a character in Malibu Rising. Here, she makes a phenomenal come back to professional tennis at an age where most are deemed too old. Indeed, her motives to come back and reclaim her title are not quite as simple as just winning. Her beautiful and often fraught relationship with her father is crux to her personal demons and making peace with her limitations and imperfections.

Carrie Soto is a highly engaging read, I was totally immersed in the world of tennis and all the characters, all written with incredible depth. Carrie is not a particularly likeable character. However, here is where you see the magic of TJR. Making a flawed, complex, character, into someone you feel empathy towards and end up positively cheering for. It's a story that will stay with me for a long while. Beautiful and heartwarming - Best have tissues handy!

TJR Strikes Again! 👏🏽🎾👟
It's a book about tennis yet its not about tennis at all. Just like Fredrick Backman and his Beartown - a book about hockey yet it's not about hockey at all. Backman again, (Anxious People) writes a book about a bank robbery yet it's not at all about a hideous crime. TJR did it with Daisy Jones, wrote a book about a rock band but it's nothing to do with a fictitious rock band really.

I think you catch my drift.

Plot wise it took about 50% of the book to get going so stick with it, I then sailed through the last 50%.

What I adore about TJR is her ability to consistently write strong fierce female characters whether they be supporting or up front they are always present and it's actually those on the side line I love most. She did it with Karen Karen in Daisy Jones and she's done it again with Gwen Davis Carrie's agent. Gwan Gwen Gal! 🙌🏽. Nikki Chan is pretty awesome too.

I adored the writing, the tension. she created with the tennis matches. Read this book for its writing quality. Little moments brought big smiles to my face such as the moment Carrie is contemplating purchasing a second nightstand in her bedroom. I love that, simple language that speaks volumes to its reader. Yes TJR. The fluffing the pillow sentence. That classic show don't tell quality of her writing. Love it!

All in all a 4 star read for me. It was missing that emotional reaction from me which I just didn't get at the key points when I could have.

Lastly I want to say a HUGE thank you to @netgalley and the publishers @hutchheinemann for my advanced reader copy in return for my honest review. I never thought I'd get approved, I was overjoyed to get approved for this one!

Taylor Jenkins Reid does it yet again. I was absolutely mesmerised by the raw talent that Reid has in bringing her characters alive. Just like in her most recent books, I believed Carrie Soto to be the greatest tennis player alive in our world. The way TJR writes makes you feel like you're sat there in the stands watching the tennis match right in front of your eyes, play by play, as the ball is passed over the net. Although Carrie Soto might not be loved by all, reading about her determination and drive to become the best and seeing everything behind the scenes of how it is to be a famous athlete was absolutely captivating. All characters introduced were wonderful and I could not help but love them all. TJR even made me want to play tennis.

Like so many others, I love Taylor Jenkins Reid - but I will confess I wasn’t sure going into this one. I couldn’t get my head around the fact that this was about tennis. But of course within pages I was hooked. Carrie Soto is a brilliant protagonist. Stroppy and on the face of it unlikable, by the end I was absolutely on the edge of my seat, wanting her to win. The whole novel has both heart and depth.

I have been putting off writing this review for 2 weeks because I just don't believe I can do the book justice. So here's me eating that frog and getting on with it.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I got approved for an ARC of Carrie Soto is back. Taylor Jenkins-Reid is an auto-buy author for me and despite not being a tennis fan (not one teeny tiny little bit) I knew I had to read this.

Initially I was nervous that I would struggle to get into it because of my lack of interest in sports and tennis in particular but, once TJR decided to write a gripping, feminist, sporty love story that all changed. I am now counting down the months to Wimbledon so I can relive the beauty of this book.

As always TJR made me forget I was reading, and once again I found myself believing that all characters in this book were in fact real people, and maybe this was a sneaky biography (I very much dislike non-fiction so once again bravo TJR because I would definitely be reading a biography written by you).

Her writing has a kind of magic that makes me care so much about the characters, from Carrie to each new person in the novel. I do wish we got more of a back story with some characters (namely Nicki Chan) but appreciate that this is part of the beauty of TJR novels.

It pains me to write my one and only irk with this book. The amount of Spanish dialogue was too much for me. I found myself having to translate whole sentences to understand conversations which stopped the flow of some sections, although luckily this was sent to me as an ebook ARC and I could translate these straight onto my kindle.

Overall thank you TJR, for creating this wonderful world we can escape to. I heard a rumour this may be the last in the Evelyn Hugo universe and I truly hope you change your mind and give us some more. I for one could read these until the end of time.

Thank you to Random House UK, Cornerstone and Netgalley for making my dreams come true and giving me a digital ARC of this novel.

Taylor Jenkins Reid is a genius and I will read whatever she puts out. This was beautiful. I don't think it is her best work, purely because Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones are sensational pieces of ART. But nonetheless stunning. I would always recommend that her books are read in print copy and not Kindle as I find some of the formatting on a kindle is awkward.

4.5 stars

As someone who isn’t into sports particularly tennis, I am quite shocked that I actually enjoyed the book. I have read couple of TJR books (Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo being my favorite), but I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much I did.

Carrie Soto is a strong character who can come off as arrogant initially; however as we read we start loving and rooting for her. Her dad’s character is so lovable and the relationship and the bond they share is absolutely adorable. The writing in the book got me hooked from the beginning to the end. Whether it was the love between father and daughter, her love life or love for tennis, everything’s so well put together. I couldn’t help but root for her matches and growth. There were times I was mad at her, proud of her and happy for her (so it was actually like watching a match). The story isn’t particularly sad but there were times I shed little tears be it for her achievements, her dad’s words for her or for the love she deserves from the audiences. The book’s engaging, inspiring and motivating.

Thankyou Netgalley and Libro.fm for the arc.

Wow! I am not a sport fan but this had me absolutely gripped. Jenkins Reid once again creates a crediable, female voice. It takes an accomplished writer to write well in the first person and for it not to grate especially when the protagonist is deliberately drawn to be abrasive.

Thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read this title in advance.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Random House UK for approving me for an ARC of this book. I love TJR and am making my way through her entire collection so I squealed with delight when I got approved for this one.

I firstly must apologise to two of my book club members as we were buddy reading this one over on Storygraph. However I picked this up on Tuesday and could not put it down and raced through to the end. Luckily with Storygraph you can leave comments along the way so they will see my views as they read it.

Where do I even begin with this one. Firstly, who knew that a book centred around tennis could be so addictive. The matches were described just enough to make me aware of what was going on without boring me at the same time. I actually felt the tension during the pinnacle moments and felt that I was holding my breath on several occasions, waiting to see where the ball would land.

Carrie Soto is bold, fierce and one hell of a tennis player. Whilst this story is about her comeback I actually enjoyed the development of Carrie as a person. Yes she has a hard exterior and to the media she comes across as ‘The Beast’ but there is a softer side to her too. The relationship with her father and training partner Bowe were the highlights of the story for me. Even her feud/friendship with Nicki Chan was entertaining and showed the best and worst of women’s sports.

I was rooting for Carrie from the start and when the media got involved it only fuelled my support for her. Whilst her comments and actions weren’t always agreeable with me I couldn’t help but love her and want to see her prove everyone wrong. She’s a force to be reckoned with that shows what pure determination and obsession can do to a person.

Towards the end of the book I was in tears and the just kept flowing. It’s a beautiful story and has now taken my top spot for my favourite TJR read!

Only two weeks to go until the explosive Carrie Soto is Back hits shelves and I'm so excited for people to read it. When the book starts, Carrie has decided in the 1990s to come out of retirement to take back her title for most slams and show everyone why she is still the greatest of all time. However, we quickly realise she is as famous for her unapologetic bad manner as she is for her unmatched game.

This is the fourth book of Taylor Jenkins Reid immersive, loosely related "series" about invented and interconnected pop culture figures in the late 20th century in California: movie stars in the 60s like Evelyn Hugo, rock and roll legends in the 70s like Daisy Jones and surfers in the 80s in Malibu Rising. You don't have to have read any of the others to enjoy this novel (and in fact it is far better than the previous book), but readers will remember Carrie's introduction in Malibu Rising, when she turns up to the house party as the "other woman" and gives that guy hell.

Carrie's ruthlessness and refusal to compromise could sound unlikable, or like Reid is making her seem like a bitch for the sake of it, but Soto is an incredibly thoughtfully drawn character and I felt like I knew her totally, and completely understood her reactions and decisions at every turn. Not only that, but I got more annoyed each time the narrative switched to press or broadcast villanising of her every move. When she wins a huge match and roars "Who's next?" into the screaming crowd, I was nearly on my feet screaming too, and I could feel my heart thumping in my chest. It's electrifying, and is a triumph for Reid's storytelling.

Taylor Jenkins Reid succeeds again in making you believe these celebrities are real and the perfectly fleshed out world and popular culture around them supports this feeling completely. I love that, by creating this new world full of its own cultural memory Reid is really saying pop culture is important, we find the cult of celebrity fascinating for a reason and informs so much of how we see ourselves in and relation to famous people, and as well as how we see recent history.

Carrie Soto Is Back is such a fun and exhilarating read! It actually made me excited about tennis and invested in Carrie’s return. I loved that it also explores her relationship with her father and coach who is with her every step of the way, through the good and the bad. It was a very emotional read and one that I still haven’t recovered from.

I loved that it started off with Carrie wanting to return to defend her record, before taking us back to when she was younger and playing her first matches. I love how fierce and unapologetic she is. Her determination to win and smash every record makes her very unpopular among her fellow players and also the public. Her drive to succeed when she was younger came with its sacrifices as she has no friends and has never been in a proper relationship with anyone. However, we slowly see a change in her as she gets close to another tennis player, Bowe Huntley, who has also returned to the sport. The slow burn romance between them was perfect as it showed Carrie slowly overcoming her fears and reluctance to let anyone into her life. They train together with the help of Carrie’s dad and the three of them become closer as the story progresses. It was honestly so heartwarming seeing how much Bowe cared for her father.

The relationship between Carrie and her father was explored beautifully. There was definitely some ugly moments, however, seeing how proud and supportive her father is no matter if she wins or loses was so heartwarming. I was definitely not expecting to cry while reading this but there’s a couple of moments that had me in tears. I just cared about these characters so much. I really love how developed they are and how you can see the ups and downs of their lives so clearly.

This is my first book by this author and it definitely won’t be the last. It’s a beautifully written story that had me completely falling in love with the characters and had me on the edge of my seat during the intense tennis matches. It’s a captivating and unputdownable story that I’m sure many people will love.

There’s just something about the way Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story. I love that she tackled an unlikable character. Eleanor Hugo hovered around the edges of that, but Carrie Soto is all in as an unlikable character and I was fascinated by how much I wanted to read about her. I am pretty sure the intention was to call this book The Bitch is Back, and some crazy marketing person talked Taylor out of it. She should have stuck to her guns.
Even though I am a mediocre tennis fan, the intensity in this book is immense. I wanted the full story arc for Carrie because she deserved it. The writing just pulls you in and holds you. I want the next Taylor Jenkins Reid book already.

Carrie Soto is back aka The B**ch is back!!

Having read Malibu rising and seeing a glimpse of Carrie in that book. I was so excited to read this book.

Carrie, is now retired from Tennis, but Niki Chan has come along and threatened to beat Carrie’s title. The only thing for it, is for Carrie to come out retirement…. but can she live up to her old reputation?!

I love how this book delves back into how Carrie’s career started, explaining how and why she got to be the person she is/was.

This book has made me view tennis is such a different like and I really am going to watch the next slam with my new knowledge.

If you enjoyed Malibu rising then you’ll enjoy this.

The only negative for me was the Spanish parts as there was no translation. However, this does not affect the book or the story

4 stars.

After reading (and loving) Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones, I had high expectations going into Carrie Soto Is Back. Whilst I didn't think Carrie was as compelling a protagonist, I still ended up enjoying this book a lot! The plot was incredibly compelling and it was easy to imagine Carrie Soto as a real tennis player. The side characters were all very fun to read about, especially in the latter half of the book when certain characters are developed more.

Whilst I ended up flying through this book, there were moments throughout that perhaps seemed predictable. I was also a tiny bit underwhelmed with the prose and the writing style - it was occasionally rather simplistic, particularly compared to the intricacies of Carrie Soto's story.

Overall, a highly enjoyable read with a story and characters that will stay with me long after I finished it.

The story
At 37, Carrie Soto, former world champion tennis player realises that her Grand Slam record is about to be overtaken by Nicky Chan seven years after she stopped playing following an injury. Carrie decides to return to tennis. The Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open allow her to enter. But it will take blood, sweat and tears from her and her coach father to get there.

My thoughts
Okay. I just really love TJR’s writing. This story felt so much like reading Daisy Jones. It’s filled with tennis and not music, but I loved the feeling that I was ready to go Google more about the characters, hard to believe that this isn’t a true story. I loved the special bond that Carrie and her father, who adore each other, share. Their minds and hearts are intertwined following a lifetime of being a family of two after Carrie lost her mother and Javier lost his young wife. Carrie’s relationship with Bowe, mens tennis player and should have been “has been” fascinated me. Carrie is wary of love and commitment, but Bowe’s love for her shows it’s through “Acts of Service”. Bowe accepts Carrie, her grumpiness and what really lies beneath and is waiting for her to find self-acceptance. A beautiful read, the pace is perfect, the introspection is very real and it all just “works” ❤️

She does not miss.

Did I have any interest in tennis going into this book? No. Am I now heavily invested? Hell yes. Taylor Jenkins Reid could write a book on any subject matter and make it brilliant, compelling and gripping. It is truly the most amazing talent. I am so in awe of this author.

What a book. Every single character is so brilliantly written, so complex and nuanced. The relationship between Carrie and her father, the relationship between Carrie and Bowe, the relationship between Bowe and Carrie’s father, even Carrie’s relationship with Nicki. Every single one was so thorough, so real, so right. This author is an artist. Honestly.

And what a journey. This book peaks and troughs. It will have you laughing and crying. I cannot wait for this to be released so everyone can appreciate just how excellent it is.

I cannot wait to read what TJR has up her sleeve next. I have never met one of her books I didn’t love, and I’m 6 deep!

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an auto-buy author for me. Love her writing, and this book did not disappoint.
Carrie Soto is a retired tennis player, and we see her return to professional tennis to defend her record. We delve into Carrie’s past to understand her more. We see her become the “battle-axe” and what life was like for Carrie, on and off the court. Carrie faces quite a lot of criticism for playing “unladylike”. TJR has done it again!
GAME, SET AND MATCH!!!! This book was absolutely fantastic and deserves all five stars!

Carrie Soto came back with a bang!!! I cannot express how much I enjoyed this book. It's thrilling, fast paced, atmospheric and utterly utterly moving.

My favourite part about this book is the star of the show herself. Carrie's character is so well developed I'm convinced she is real. Fighting against unrelenting misogyny and constant criticism, Carrie is one hell of a protagonist; feirce, determined, tenacious and unapologetically herself......she is someone who we could all do with channelling from time to time. To be fair, if I knew her in real life I probably wouldn't like her, but as a reader I got to see underneath the harsh, rude exterior and I couldn't help but fall in love.

The relationships in this book are complex and messy but quietly unassuming and beautiful at their core. Some are integral to the journey Carrie goes on, for me a journey of self discovery as much as a journey around the tennis courts.

This book is packed full of tennis , but written in such a clever and easy way that if, like me, you know nothing about the sport, it won't matter at all. You'll be a tennis fan by the end!!

For me this book was truly excellent, I cheered and cried my way through it and loved every word. Read it, you won't regret it. Now.....who's watching the US Open???

Another compelling and nuanced book that's hard to put down from Taylor Jenkins Reid. I loved the complexity of Carrie Soto, and was completely gripped by the setting and relationships.