Carrie Soto is a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid, released in 2022.
I love Taylor Jenkins Reid books and the characters she creates. I’m always so completely immersed in her stories. I was therefore really excited to read her latest novel, Carrie Soto is Back.
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Plot
Carrie Soto is the best female tennis player the world has ever seen. By the time she retires, she has broken every record and won twenty slam titles, leaving everyone in no doubt of her supremacy.
Winning isn’t always easy and Carrie knows she deserves those titles. She has sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, including any personal relationships.
However, six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself watching a new player, Nicki Chan, take her record. Carrie is no longer the best the world has ever seen. She now has competition.
So, at 37 years old, Carrie decides to come out of retirement and recruits her old coach, her father, to help her reclaim her record.
Some members of the media can’t wait to tear down the “Battle-Axe” Carrie Soto, who never made any effort to be pleasant and personable. They can’t wait to see her inevitable failure.
When her body, now older and suffering with old injuries, doesn’t move as it once did, Carrie and her father realise winning another slam is not going to be easy.
Whatever happens, for one last season, Carrie Soto is back.
Carrie Soto is Back Book Review
Another brilliant book by Taylor Jenkins Reid!
I initially had a few reservations about reading a book predominantly about tennis, but I needn’t have worried. The author has a way of describing the matches in a way that is exciting and engaging.
I loved Carrie as a character. She is strong, determined and ambitious. She’s not in the slightest bit interested in changing her personality to become more likeable and I loved that.
I was completely invested in Carrie’s story. I liked her more vulnerable moments and how she struggled to accept defeat and what she perceived to be failure. This ambition could often have a negative impact on her relationships, both with her dad and any romantic attachments. I enjoyed reading about how she learned to navigate that as the story progressed.
Carrie is such an inspiring character, and the story perfectly highlighted the struggles ambitious and successful women face. It wasn’t enough for her to dedicate her life to tennis and become the best in her field, the media demanded that she should also be ‘nice’. A demand that so often isn’t expected of men.
I rooted for Carrie throughout the story. Not necessarily to win, but to find the happiness that had always eluded her.
My favourite parts of the book were the interactions between Carrie and her father. I loved how they managed the complexities of him being both her coach and her father.
What should I read after Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid?
If you enjoyed Carrie Soto is back, I’d definitely recommend reading Taylor Jenkins Reid’s other books. My personal favourites are Daisy Jones and the Six, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and One True Loves.
I would also recommend Paige Toon’s books, particularly Only Love Can Hurt Like This. Paige Toon also writes romances with real depth and emotion.
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