Why should you read our BOTM: Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Booktopia’s September Book of the Month is Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid and I’m here to tell you why.

In my time working with fiction books at Booktopia, I’ve read a lot of books that have blown me away. But from the first few pages of this one, I knew I was reading something special. It grabbed hold of me instantly and consumed my waking hours, circling around in my thoughts whenever I was rudely pulled away from it to do things like work, eat or shower. I felt deeply drawn to the character of Carrie Soto, and over the course of the story became her biggest fan. I found myself cheering her wins and grieving her losses as though she was a close friend, turning pages with bated breath, rushing to find out what would happen next. 

Reading Carrie Soto is an immersive whirlwind that made me gasp, laugh, cry and enthusiastically try and fail to talk to my non-reader friends about any chance I got. They wouldn’t listen to me, so I have turned to you, friend of Booktopia, to give you ten reasons why I can’t stop thinking about this book, and why you need to read it:

1. It is written by the one, the only, Taylor Jenkins Reid, the mastermind behind several BookTok darlings such as Daisy Jones and The Six and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. She truly is the gift that keeps on giving.
2. Evelyn Hugo walked so Carrie Soto could run. If Evelyn Hugo is your favourite TJR book you HAVE to read Carrie Soto. I honestly could not tell you which one I like more, and this is coming from a person who takes great pleasure in pitting my favourite books against each other.
3. The protagonist is a fearless, ambitious, relentless woman, Carrie Soto, who just won’t quit even though everyone is telling her to. She is an icon and she is the moment and although she has her detractors, I can quite confidently say she is my new feminist hero.
4. The premise is incredible: Carrie was a huge tennis star in the 1980s, but now it’s the mid-90s and an up-and-coming tennis star, Nicky Chan, overtakes her record for winning the most number of grand slams ever. Carrie decides to come out of retirement at the apparently geriatric age of thirty-seven to compete in all four grand slams, reclaim her record and prove that she is the best tennis player in the world. 
5. The cover is stunning and it will look incredible next to TJR’s backlist on your bookshelf! I would quite like to get in contact with whoever is designing these covers and fly them in to paint my bedroom walls. 
6. The title comes from a line in the book where a sports reporter refers to Carrie by saying ‘the bitch is back’, and if that’s not bad enough he thought his mic was off but his words were actually broadcasted on live television! Shocked! Appalled! My gasp could have been heard across the nation.
7. You can read and love this book even if you don’t care about tennis! Or about any sports! I couldn’t tell you the difference between rugby league and rugby union with a gun to my head and I want to shout about this book to the rooftops. I’m booking tickets to go to the Australian Open as we speak!
8. The relationship between Carrie and her father-slash-tennis-coach is so tender and beautiful that I cried at 3am and you will too. If you’re not much of a weeper you will at the very least end up clutching at your chest with an achy heart.
9. The love story in this book is second-chance-romance with a dash of rivals-to-lovers and a sprinkle of I-hate-everyone-except-you. Bowe Huntley, aging tennis star and unrepentant flirt, is everything to me. I won’t be taking any questions or comments at this time.
10. ‘You are perfect, even in your imperfection.’

I could go on, but I hope you’re picking up what I’m putting down. Carrie Soto is a tour-de-force, a magnetic and effervescent comeback story about what happens when a woman refuses to let others dictate what she can and can’t do. We’re so incredibly excited to throw our full support behind this book for the month of September and we hope you love it just as much as we do!

— Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Penguin) is out now and is Booktopia’s September Book Of The Month.

Carrie Soto Is Back

The bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

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.

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About the Contributor

Hannah Armstrong