Rating: 5 stars
I am convinced that TJR can do no wrong! This is my fifth book of hers this year and it did not disappoint!
Carrie Soto is Back is the final instalment in her famous women quartet, and what a final book it was. This book focuses on Carrie Soto, a tennis legend, who comes out of retirement to win back her title for most grand slams. Carrie Soto is unlike any of TJR’s other main characters. She’s ambitious, determined, fierce and unapologetically herself. I admit that at the beginning I had a hard time adjusting to Carrie’s (extremely) disagreeable personality but overtime she grew on me.
‘Do not let what anyone says about you determine how you feel about yourself…If I say your hair is purple, does that mean it’s purple?’ he asked.
‘No it’s brown’.
‘Does it mean you have to prove to me it’s brown?’
I shook my head. ‘No, you can see it is.’
It’s been a week since I’ve finished this book and I keep talking about it to anyone that will listen. The true beauty of this book lies in the relationship between Carrie and her father. I found it truly heart-warming, and it was something I related to heavily as I am close with my father as well. Carrie’s father delivers many eloquent life lessons throughout the novel and I wish I had my own copy so I could flip to them at any point in time. The book brought me to literal tears. No book has ever done that before.
'Every match you play, you are one match closer to becoming the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen. You were not born that person. You were born to become that person. And that is why you must best yourself every time you get on the court. Not so that you can beat the other person-’
‘But so that I become more myself,’ I finished.
TJR does a splendid job of capturing what it means to work hard towards something you want with every fibre of your being. While I’ve never played a professional sport, or any sport for that matter, I could relate to Carrie’s ambition and obsessive need to win. It’s all consuming and earth-shattering to want something that seems to slip through your fingers like water. And Carrie has a wonderful arc and I was truly satisfied with how her story ended.
“So do not live in the future, carino. Don’t play the first match in Melbourne months before you’ve gotten there. We don’t know what kind of player you’ll be that day.”
The relationship between Carrie and Bowe was also very sweet to read about. It’s a romantic story unlike anything I have ever read.
Another amazing TJR novel to add to my favourites shelf, please add this to your TBR!
“We live in a world where exceptional women have to sit around waiting for mediocre men.”
