In the 1970s and 80s one woman reigned supreme in women’s tennis and that was Carrie Soto. Born to an immigrant father and told from birth that she was going to be the greatest female tennis player in history, Carrie trained hard and eventually became the queen of tennis. That is until she suddenly retired after a string of losses. Now, several years later, a new tennis champion, Nicki Chan, is threatening to break Carrie’s record of 20 Slam titles. Carrie can’t let that happen and so she comes out of retirement for one last chance at glory.

One thing that I have always admired about Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing or, to be more precise, her choice of stories, is that she picks topics that is not written about often. She choses unique stories and Carrie Soto Is Back is one of her most unique. There have, of course, been other stories focusing on tennis and female players but Ms. Reid always manages to breath new life into the topic.

As always, Ms. Reid’s characters are well flushed out and the story moves at a good pace. There are some parts that perhaps could have been left on the draft manuscript but for the most part I didn’t find myself losing interest in Carrie’s story. One of the strongest elements of Carrie’s journey is the relationship she has with her father, to the point that I wish Ms. Reid would have explored it even further. We get a good idea of their relationship from the start but I would have loved to have seen a bit more of it. Additionally, with the exception of the first couple of chapters, we don’t get a good idea of the mother’s role in Carrie’s life and while this is due to what happens to her character, I feel like that was a missed opportunity for the book.

Out of the three Taylor Jenkins Reid books I have read, Carrie Soto Is Back is my second favorite. The gold medal still belongs to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but Carrie Soto easily knocked Daisy Jones and the Six down to third.

4 out of 5 stars