A review by genny
Carrie Soto Is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

Huh, I'm surprised by how much I ended up liking this. Nothing about this was surprising - around 20% in, I wrote down my predictions for the plot in my reading journal, and I was pretty spot on. This was my note:
Spoiler"After coming out of retirement, Carrie is going to get win after win (after a grueling re-training montage and some early losses, maybe) and then realize it was all for nothing and that winning doesn't equate to happiness. Maybe her dad dies."
Oof. 😆 It's like a classic feel-good sports movie, y'know. I got the audiobook and kind of zoned out during the tennis matches, but those were always pretty quick, and as a whole it made for a nice listen. I know nothing about tennis though, so I can't speak on the accuracy (based on others' reviews, it was not accurate, lol).

Overly competitive people irk me to no end, so you can imagine how incredibly annoying Carrie was to me at first, even though it made sense due to her upbringing. Of course she became more likeable as she learned to acknowledge her faults and I found myself rooting for her eventually. I especially enjoyed her banter with Nicki Chan (the best character, hello?!). This was much more entertaining than Malibu Rising, though at this point I don't think anything can live up to Daisy Jones for me.

I loved the ending! What a fun last line.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings