Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.

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 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 her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.

A Novel

Carrie Soto Is Back

angie

 "You know what I say about making friends out of your opponents." 

"Honestly," I say, sighing, "no, I don't. Because you just told me to never do it." 

"Well, yeah," he says. "Exacto, hija. But if you do-don't talk strategy, don't tell them how you felt about your last game, don’t them your fears, don't tell them your strengths either. And you sure as hell never tell them how much it hurts you to lose.

 My older self knows that you must stop in the middle of the chaos to take in the world around you. To breathe in deeply, smell the sunscreen and the rubber of the ball, let the breeze blow across your neck, feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. In this respect, I love the way the world has aged me. 

I inhale and hold the breath; I let it fill my lungs and raise my chest. And then I blow it out, ready to go. I wipe the tops of my shoes and walk out onto the court.

You are late to warm up yes it is obvious 

Pia 

"I know, he says. "That obvious, huh?" I joke.

 This is one last tournament with my dad. I am holding it in my hands. And I am going to fucking win it.

Oh no…omg he just saw her win what he wanted her to win and now he saw her open her heart and now he is gone pls I’m crying the way he kinda just stayed alive to see her get happy I’m crying 

I’m so ducking happy omg I was so excited for this omg omg omg why is it wo th all her books that the people seem so real

My tenth Wimbledon. My twenty-first Slam.

Oh god pls don’t although this would be the perfect way out 

"Carrie . .." he says. "Dad?" I take a step to where he's standing. He collapses on the jet bridge just before I can catch him.

Ahja haha funny isn’t it first Evelyn’s husband now them 

The bookI brought is an unauthorized biography of Daisy Jones and the Six. I'm only reading to see who slept with who, but I can't focus.

Sure she could be a bit nicer show more empathy but she knows what she is worth and I like that but as soon as women show that they know that man with small egos have to talk them down🙄

 as if she thinks this bodes well for her. as she has a real chance. I take the match in straight sets.

Are you done mansplaining now? Fucking idiot shit your stupid mouth will you! Just another man trying to talk a women down like fuck off 

 So I'm sorry, but Carrie Soto is a "B word." And you're saying that when you call her “the Battle Axe” too. You’re just using a euphemism.

In the morning, I got up and went to the court alone. My father flew home to L.A. later that day.

Good question probably because it can hurt but sometimes it’s necessary to hear it even if you don’t want to

“Why is everyone so sensitive about the truth?”

I did not need to be pretty. My body was built to wage war. And thank God, because I was about to use it to crush pretty Mary-Louise Bryant.

Sarah Campbell

Don't I know better? Didn't I learn this lesson earlier than most? That the world doesn't care about you? That it will take the one thing you need, rip it right from your arms? 

Grief is like a deep, dark hole. It calls like a siren: Come to me, lose yourself here. And you fight it and you fight it and you fight it, but when you finally do succumb and jump down into it, you can't quite believe how deep it is. It feels as if this is how you will live for the rest of your life, falling. Terrified and devastated, until you yourself die. 

The fall isn't never-ending. It does have a ground floor. 

Today, I cry for so long that I finally feel the floor under my feet. I find the bottom. And while I know the hole will be there forever, at least for now, I feel as if I can live inside it. I have learned its boundaries and its edges.

The crowd continues to scream. l stand up as the announcers  declare me the winner of the 109th annual Wimbledon Championship. I feel as if I can hear my father cheering. I can hear Bowe clapping. The whole stadium is going wild. 

But I cannot hear anything as clearly as the sound of my own voice, begging me: Let this be enough.

I see Gwen applauding, Ali hollering. I wonder if Bowe is cheering in front of the television. 

But I do not need to imagine my father's reaction. I know he is  clapping and smiling ear to ear, for once unworried that the cameras will get an unflattering picture of him.

"Okay" I say. "Está bien." I don't say what I'm thinking. You are all I have.

When I walk off the court, my father is standing there in the tunnel, waiting for me. 

"Excelente!" he says. "Absolute perfection. You warrior, you king. 

My father smiles but says nothing. His smile grows bigger as he turns and guides me toward the locker room, and soon he's laughing. 

“What?"l ask him. "What are you thinking right now?" 

"Nothing," he says. "It's just that...this is the part I missed the most. Me and you, in the tunnel."

 "We discussed it prior to today," Bowe says. "If that's what you're saying." My father rolls his eyes at Bowe. 

"Don't give up information that hasn't been directly requested."

When it gets late, Bowe pays the check, and my father raises his eyebrows at me — as if to pose the question that I've told him a million times not to ask. I nod: the only answer he'll get. And he looks at me and grins, a simple, bright smile. 

For a moment, I'm bowled over by just how old he looks. When did this happen? But he looks a happy old, a satisfied old. He's had a lot of heartbreak in his life, and yet there is so much he's gotten right. 

Sos mi vida, pichona, my father mouths to me. He taps a finger to his chest, right over his heart. I smile and rest my head on his shoulder for a split second. 

And then we all walk back to the hotel — a walk that feels comfortable and familiar, even though there is so much about it that is new.

The waitress comes by, and Bowe orders my father a drink. Dad leans over and whispers in my ear, "Nothing will ever diminish what you did and have done." I do not want to cry, so l can't really think too hard about whether I believe him. Instead, I take the moment and pin it to my heart, as if it will wait for me to come back to it later. 

My father shakes his head with a smile. "It will never matter,” he says, "whose responsibility is what. My heart hurts when you hurt because you are my heart.”

Robin Bell

What a gift it is, to be able to guide someone to a point and then let them finish it themself.

A little boring at times but still really liked it 

Eliza adkins 

If you know a lot about tennis, you will appreciate the inside take that this book offers. Also, if you know a lot about tennis, you will laugh at the overheated, trashtalking that the characters engage in. It kind of works both ways in this book. Clearly, the author is trying to pump things up to get a Netflix movie made out of this. That said, it's a fun read with some touching father-daughter moments. There aren't a lot of novels out there with a tennis theme, so that alone makes it special. The prose is  utilitarian, but the character relationships are compelling.

Lee Schneider

OliviaPadilla

Best father-daughter relationship I’ve read. Motivating.

Quydasha Allen 

THIS BOOK WAS PHENOMENAL, ICONIC , INSPIRING AND EMPOWERING ALL WRAPPED UP IN ONE I HAVE EXPERIENCED EVERY EMOTION WHILE READING THIS BOOK AND I LOVED EVERY SECOND

Lizzy Jensen

took me forever but i finally finished. love the writing style, love tennis, and love this book. it was so easy and interesting to read buttt i was really upset with the ending

the fact that she could make me care about tennis proves just how good of a writer TJR is

Jessica Harn

ade ☕

Boothby

My favorite parts of this book were the snappy, brutal critiques of players' weaknesses, so here's mine: The entire first section is dead weight. Skip it. Any reader who isn't an idiot can pick up everything in there from context. 

It opens on a crystaline, infuriating moment as Carrie watches Nikki tie her title record. TJR accomplishes the very challenging task of giving a satisfactory explanation for why Carrie can't stand to see someone else overturn her record. From the description and prologue, it was so alien and baffling to me that Carrie couldn't just let Nikki have her flowers, for god's sake! 😬 But after a few chapters of the comeback... I get it. It's not healthy. It's not admirable. It's not reasonable or sensible. I would never do it. But for Carrie... I get it. That's the mark of a convincing character, and how much more fun is it to inhabit the world of someone who isn't like you at all? In the end, I loved her for it

I know nothing about tennis, but Reid nonetheless made it easy to understand not just the action, but the implications of every point. So clear and so nerve-wracking. The Carrie Nikki chats are delicious. More please

I just finished this book in one day. An amazing story that kept me on edge the hole time. It felt like I was right there with her at all her games rounding for her. I loved the development she went through and the end is so perfect I love it! I just love all of her books it’s the third one I read and all of them I finished in one setting…I think that does really says everything 

I never thought I could like a sports book so much, but there was something about Carrie's drive to win at all costs that I found compelling. TJR does a great job of making it so that even people who know nothing about tennis end up being tennis fans by the end of the book. Highly recommend the audio book.

Alli

finja scharnhorst 

dont get me wrong, me ha gustado pero es mi menos fav de todos los libros de tjr q he leido 😔 se me ha hecho difícil empatizar al principio con todos los personajes realmente y al principio no shippeaba para nada a bowe y a carrie pero poco a poco he ido cambiando mi opinion y al final estaba rooting por todos 🥺 eso si, me olí lo de nicki desde el principio y 🤭 obviamente no me equivocaba

maría

Overall, I enjoyed this world that TJR created. I will miss reading about these characters. I thought this was a great story and a meaningful msg behind it. I wish we got a bit more love story though. I did skim through some parts of the book as well. 

Bookworm

Surprisingly great? Super enjoyable and fun. Just what I wanted to take me out of this gloomy month.

Jeannette Ordas

'Thank you Taylor Jenkins Reid for the escapism we all need' PANDORA SYKES 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.

Joana da Silva

Taylor Jenkins Reid, you did it again. You created a character who's flawed to the bone but so lovable one can't help but root for her. Carrie Soto was one of the interesting bits in Malibu Rising and I always felt like there was more to tell about her, and, surprise, surprise, there was a whole world to explore. The story was beyond great and the ending was unexpected but the only one that made sense. You know I'm a romance girlie and the one in this book did not disappoint, even though it was never the spotlight, it was just a stepping stool to help Carrie develop herself. Loved absolutely everything about this book. TJR, keep them coming!

Jerilynn Hallett 

Dare I say that this was my favorite Taylor Jenkins Reid to date...

Erin Campbell

Louise 

Taylor Jenkins Reid is BACK!

This is my favorite TJR book yet! What a scorcher!!
I devoured this book in a couple of days; and what timing for this release with Serena Williams currently doing her farewell tour at the US Open! All the feels!!!!

Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

I couldn't tell how this story was going to end and that ending was just *chefs kiss*

Autumn

Ive loved every TJR book I’ve read so far (7 husbands, Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones) so I thought this book would be another huge hit, however I was wrong. 

Although TJR does great with character development this book had no story. No plot, no mystery, no twists, it’s just following a girl play tennis everyday. It was painfully boring and took me forever to get through. Save yourself the time and skip this one.

Linnéa Löfström

Taylor Rae Peterson

fast paced and v interesting story line but character development felt a bit rushed in first 1/2 - definitely got better in the second 1/2 

Iona Adams

mercy

a book about tennis making me cry who would’ve thought

Carrie Soto Is Back A Novel

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