Title: Carrie Soto is Back
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Pages: 384 Pages
Publisher: Random House UK
The Blurb
Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular.
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.
The Review
Taylor Jenkins Reid has quickly become that author. You know the one. The one you can trust to tell a damn good story. Carrie Soto is Back is no exception. It is a damn good story. It focuses on Carrie Soto an one time tennis great who comes out of retirement to claim back her record which has been taken by young upstart Nicki Chen. Okay, so that is the surface story but it is about so much more than that. It is about survival, about family and about the ability to grow and change and I was hooked from page one. I cared far more about tennis than I ever have before.
I think that whilst Taylor Jenkins Reid can write a fabulous story I always felt that she peaked with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I liked Daisy Jones and the Six and I liked Malibu Rising but they never gave me the same gut-wrenching love that Evelyn Hugo did. However Taylor Jenkins Reid tugged me back in with Carrie Soto is Back and I think I know why. For me, Taylor Jenkins Reid shines so much more when she does the single perspective novel. I rooted for Carrie Soto because I traversed this journey with her. I wanted the win for her. I felt like I was on the court with her. I don’t think there is a bigger complement for an author than to know that their book transported you into the novel.
I can say this for sure, with Carrie Soto is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid retained her title of being a fantastic novelist.
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid is available now.
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