Carrie Soto is Back

Game. Set. Match.  Taylor Jenkins Reid served this one straight to my heart and wins again.

Carrie Soto is abrasive, cocky, unfiltered and unapologetic for it.  Back in the '80's, early in her professional tennis career, her aggressive style of play earned her the moniker the "Battle-Axe", and as she coolly dominated her competitors, later just "The B*tch".  She never tried to make friends with any of them and where men were concerned, she kept her heart out of play.  It was just her and her dad, Javier "The Jaguar" Soto, himself a one-time tennis great in Argentina, all those years perfecting and honing her game so that she could be what Javier told her from the very beginning she would be:

The greatest tennis player the world has ever seen.  Not the greatest women's player, mind you. No.  The best. Period.

The record books certainly supported that assessment, and when she retired, she did so holding perhaps her most defining record as the winner of the most Grand Slam titles by ANY player ever. 

Now, six years later, it's the 1994 U.S. Open, and she and Javier have just witnessed thirty-one year old Nicki "The Beast" Chan, tie this milestone record. With her father's support, Carrie makes the decision she's convinced she must make: to come out of retirement at thirty-seven years of age and earn that record back, and she's only giving herself four tournaments in which to do so: The Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.

What will Carrie's legacy be?  I can't tell you that, but I can tell you that it's a journey worth taking with her!

Ironically, the period of time this story was set in was the period of time in my life growing up when I went through my "tennis phase".  For a few years there, tennis captivated me.  I was engrossed in watching TV matches with the greats like Martina Navritalova, Chris Evert Lloyd, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, and my personal favorite, Ivan Lendl.  This book took me right back to those days like being wrapped in a warm and fuzzy blanket!  The familiar 80's pop culture references only added to my delight.

Despite her flaws, Carrie had my heart from the very beginning, and her dad, Javier, did too.  They shared the loss of Carrie's mom when she was young, and he never remarried, instead devoting himself to coaching her considerable talent for tennis and trying his best to instill good character in her. She was fiercely stubborn and headstrong in her goals, sometimes at his expense, but I never once doubted their deep love and respect for each other.  He's the kind of dad every girl would be lucky to have!

Watching Carrie claw her way back into shape, overcome her mental hurdles and try to find her footing in the game she once dominated kept me completely enthralled, and her relationship with Javier, as both coach and father, was in turns heartwarming and heartbreaking.  Seeing her evolve from someone who has little real estate in her heart for others, to someone who can allow some emotional vulnerability with them made for a satisfying emotional arc - particularly where her romantic relationship was concerned.

Those of you who read Malibu Rising will have met Carrie before, as well as a few other characters, and TJR even does a cute nod to Daisy Jones & the Six.  The book isn't what I would call straight up historical fiction, though it's definitely flavored with it and at times even dips into a documentary style, interspersing fictional op-eds, sports articles and tournament match replays with the story of Carrie and Javier, and later, her romantic relationship.  The chapters are short and keep the story moving well, but the biggest strength of the book is honestly TJR's immense skill at writing characters. I ADORED the characters in this story.  They made me feel all the feels: good, bad and ugly!

One bit of advice: if you can read this on a Kindle, that's my recommendation, since there's quite a bit of Spanish.  I was able to use the translate option to quickly find meaning, but those reading a hardcover or listening along will either have to glean the meaning the best they can or keep looking it up. Most can be generally deduced from context. My only other teeny tiny niggle is that TJR doesn't seem to like using contractions much, which makes some dialogue feel more formal than it would be in normal conversation.

All that said: Taylor Jenkins Reid, you ACED this!

★★★★★

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group, Netgalley and author Taylor Jenkins Reid for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.  It's due for publication on August 30th, 2022.