Carrie Soto is Back

 Tell me a story...about a comeback 

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Expected publication date: August 30, 2022

Date read: June 27, 2022

Carrie Soto was raised to be a professional tennis player, and she succeeded. Her drive and determination made her the best player in the world, with twenty Grand Slam titles to her name. But her fierce style of play and unfriendliness to her fellow competitors has also made her unpopular with the other players. Then, at thirty-seven, six years after retiring, Carrie is watching the 1994 US Open as Nicki Chan ties her record. Despite her age, her injuries, and her reputation, Carrie decides to come out of retirement for one season in order to beat Nicki and take her record back. 

We first met Carrie Soto in Malibu Rising, as the other woman in Nina’s relationship. She was unlikable by virtue of her position, but in her one scene managed to come off as funny and intriguing. So when I saw that Carrie would be getting her own book, I was intrigued. 

This book did not disappoint. I loved Carrie Soto. She’s a mostly unlikable person, and if I met her in real life I would hate her, but she’s funny and driven and knows what she wants. I found myself rooting for her so hard as she attempted her comeback. 

The beginning chapters of this book are a little tough at times. They’re a little slow, but more because of the excitement to get to the present day. Mostly it’s just hard to watch Carrie as a child being denied any part of a childhood. The scene where she’s 9 years old and asks her dad to take her for ice cream, but he makes her run in the sand for conditioning instead is heartbreaking. While the first half of the book is a little slower than the second, this insight into why Carrie is the way she is allows her to be sympathetic despite her unlikability. 

From the point where Carrie announced that she was coming out of retirement, however, I was hooked and didn’t want to put this book down. The final match was predictable in that we knew who the players would be, but I still had no idea how the author would play it out. 

It is not necessary to have read Malibu Rising before this book, nor is it necessary to understand or like tennis to read this book. While it is tennis-heavy, the rules are explained in the book. I have never cared for tennis, and I even field like I would watch tennis now. 

Overall, this book is a delight. It features an unlikable main character and shouldn’t be as enjoyable as it is, but it’s fantastic. This is the mark of a great writer, and i will definitely be reading more from this author in the future. Even if you read Malibu Rising and didn’t like Carrie, don’t let that put you off from this book. It’s a great story by a wonderful author. Highly recommended. 

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Content warning: death of a family member, child abuse* (I don’t personally think that what Carrie’s father put her through for training constitutes child abuse, but a reader with a child abuse trigger might, so I will include it here.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.