Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Release Date: 30th August 2022
Genre: Adult, Historical
Source: Publisher, NetGalley
Rating: ★★★★.5
By the time Carrie retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Slam titles. And if you ask her, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father as her coach.
But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning, British player named Nicki Chan.
At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked the ‘Battle-Axe’ anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.
In spite of it all: Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story about the cost of greatness and a legendary athlete attempting a comeback.
I hate sports in books. Hate it! But I also don’t like reading about musicians and I gave Daisy Jones five stars. So. Here we are. Here I am, giving a book about a tennis (of all sports!) champion an almost flawless rating. Carrie Soto is Back deserves all the praise and the hype, and I’m so happy to have read it.
I simply adore Taylor Jenkins Reid’s new era. I’ve heard rumours that it’s ending and that Carrie Soto is the final book in the Evelyn Hugo universe. I really hope that’s not the case. This universe has come to mean a lot to me, and I look forward to each new release.
Taylor Jenkins Reid has a real knack for writing unlikeable and successful women and making you love them. She writes them in such a way that you know you would hate them in real life, but when you get to know them over the course of a book you realise they’re actually kind of brilliant. I want more.
I imagine Carrie will be the least likeable of the bunch for many readers. She has no filter, she knows her own skill and talent, and her advice to her opponents is simply “Get better at tennis.” I love that. and I can’t explain how hard I can relate.
One thing I was not expecting from this book was a SLOWBURN ROMANCE!!! It was so lovely and it had my heart swelling. I won’t talk about it in case you don’t want to be spoiled about who the romance is with, but it was wonderful.
I also cried a lot and that’s how you know it’s a great book. Carrie had me crying, Javier was wonderful and made me sob, and Bowe was just so cute! The only thing I probably didn’t cry over was the mention of Mick Riva </3
I love Carrie Soto is Back so much! In my ranking I would put it fairly near the top, probably something like this:
- Daisy Jones and the Six
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Carrie Soto is Back
- Malibu Rising
- Everything else
If you want to check out my previous ranking for all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books, you can watch my video in which I read her entire backlist and decide which Taylor Jenkins Reid book is best.
Also, I think I understand tennis now? Maybe.
You May Also Like
I Shot the Devil by Ruth McIver | Book Review
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert | Book Review