Reviews with content warning for Injury/Injury detail - Carrie Soto Is Back

As someone who knows nothing about tennis, seeing the events of the tournaments play out was riveting. Carrie is a tough personality to love but I can’t help but hope she accomplishes all that she strives for. What makes this tough is it’s also difficult not to root for her main opponent Nicki Chan. Both characters have such compelling reasons to fight for their legacy, and still the end results are so satisfying.

However, I did wish TJR gave more depth to Carrie and her tennis career prior to her comeback, in a more showing and less telling way, but even so, I was able to feel her strength and determination with the sport, as well as the love between her and her father.

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laguerrelewis's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is my first book by Jenkins-Reid, and what an introduction. She has a masterful understanding of character, and crafts a beautifully moving story about success, meaning, love, ambition, identity, and resilience. The tennis matches have been praised consistently, and for good reason—they thrill, and are understandable to the layman and enjoyable for the fans. Carrie Soto is a rollercoaster of emotion that had me grinning ear to ear as tears rolled down my cheeks. Bonus points for a romantic plotline straight out of an Austen novel. Great showing.

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thebankofbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lizaxwin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Wow! What a fantastic book. I mean, I didn’t expect anything less from Taylor Jenkins Reid, but I’m blown away nevertheless. It never once got boring to read about the matches, even though I‘m not really that much into tennis. All the different reporting types made it be interesting throughout. And I also loved that the love story was not in the center. Still, it was told beautifully. The only thing that bothered me a little were how much was written in Spanish, maybe this could’ve been handled differently without making it seem inauthentic?! Idk, or maybe it’s just a sign for me to finally take up Spanish lessons, lol.

Let me just sum this book up for you in a simple sentence: TJR is to writing what Carrie Soto is to tennis.

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kfquarium's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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booksalacarte's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

5⭐️ 2🌶️

Tennis
Professional Athlete
Loving the dream
Comeback
Older MC’s (mid-late 30’s)
Underdog
Unapologetic female elite athlete
Misogyny
Second chance Romance
Grumpy/sunshine
Biggest fan parent
Single father
Self discovery/rediscovery

Did I know anything about tennis before reading this book? Absolutely not.

Do I know anything after reading?….. maybe? I could probably watch it and not be bored now.

Did I love this book? Yes. Yesyesyes.

The structure was so interesting! TJR never fails to set books up to be structurally interesting in a way that enhances the story. Having the FMC’s POV broken up by sportscasters commentary about her game and competition was an awesome way to build tension and get the feel of the nature and stakes of the story.

I always love TJR’s Easter eggs for her other books. That they all live in this alternative universe together.

Carrie was an unapologetic, hard as nails, powerhouse of a character and I loved every second of balancing on the edge of her sarcasm and intensity while her inner monologue showed us exactly how insecure she is. It made her superhuman abilities more human.

The romance in the book was so interesting in how it was presented as iron sharpening iron. Both were so flawed and watching things develop was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Carrie’s relationship with her father was so beautiful and my favorite thing about the book. It was dynamic, full of ups and downs, heartbreaking. I was fully invested. The grief represented in the book was so well done. I found myself adoring her father which made the arc of the story so amazing.

This is a favorite. But TJR’s books always are for me.

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cindeeduong's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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loesm's review against another edition

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emotional relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have issues with Taylor Jenkins Reid as a writer. First off, her books are marked as literary, even though they are clearly not. To me, they read like chicklit, which is a perfectly good genre and one I enjoy, but they should not pretend to be something they're not. Also, her books - or the ones I know of - are about fame and perception, which is not my favourite and I actually think is some sort of cheat code for chicklit: it assumes the importance of the book and the credibility of the characters.

This is also one of the problems I have with this book: The characters are flat. Carrie doesn't rise much beyond her determination to be the best in tennis, the way the book is structured prevented me from becoming invested in his tennis, so he only serves as the persistent love interest and Javier is a male momagaer who compensates for his own injury by living vicariously through his daughter. That's about it.

Spoiler

I also feel like Javier's death is conveniently exploited as a tear jerker, solely used for plot development, which feels like an incredible cheap shot and a complete incorrect portrayal of death, which doesn't serve the whiles of plot development.

I am also wondering whether this is an ode to the Williams sisters or it's a subject it avoids. I assume it's set before their reign not to interfere with their legacies, since it touches on the same subjects, such as women in tennis and people/women of colour in tennis.

This brings me to the romance, which feels a bit unbelievable. Yes, Carrie is a boss ass bitch with an admirable determination. But her focus on winning and fear of losing isn't particularly endearing. I loved her unlikability as a tennis player (she's there to win matches, not endear people to her, and why put energy into being likable that seeps from her focus on tennis?) but as a person, there was nothing which made me want to be her friend. That's a long way of saying why I didn't understand why Bowe would suffer the string of rejections. Likewise, Bowe simply felt like a safe choice, as his one defining quality was being attracted to her, suffering the rejections and doing acts of service (which is also not my love language, so maybe I'm the wrong audience).

This book also does not pass a reverse Bechtel-test, of the discussion of things other than tennis. Although this seems to be how you get to be a star athlete.

Nonetheless, it is very well written. I can never put a finger on the things that are good, but Taylor Jenkins Reid knows how to write and keep me reading.

I also appreciated the feminism.

Discussion questions for my book club:

Spoiler

1) What attracts Bowe to Carrie?
2) What purpose does Javier's sickbed and death serve to the story?
3) What's your opinion on fame and perception of star athletes?
4) Did the ending surprise you? The end of the match and her career after.
5) What do we think of the homage to the William's sisters?
6) What genre is this book?

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