Taylor Jenkins Reid: Carrie Soto is Back

Taylor Jenkins Reid is back and this time her character is taking no prisoners on the Tennis Court:

When Carrie decides to retire from Tennis she is the best tennis player (man or woman), that the world of Tennis has seen. She has won the most slam out of anyone and has shattered every record and if you were to ask her she would tell you that she was Entitled to every single one. Carrie has always put her training and tennis before anything else in her life. So as she watches from the sidelines to a newer player, Nicki Chan, tying her Slam record, Carrie knows that she cannot have someone beating it. She decided to put herself to the test and come out of retirement for one last season, to prove that she is still the best Tennis player and at 37 years old that is a monumental task. Is the Tennis World ready for Carrie aka The Battle Axe ready to come back from retirement? Probably not but Carrie doesn't care, she has a record to defend.

Alright, lets just jump right into this as I struggled with writing this review. I will admit that I requested this book as an ARC just based up Jenkins Reid's name and not realizing what the book was about / main character the book features as i have enjoyed two previous books by her. While I enjoyed the book and story that TJR has written I wonder if the book would have been different or that much different if TJR had written Carrie as white instead of Latina. 

Why did TJR choose to write the main character Latina instead of white. By Carrie being white does not change the main plot of the book, it would probably shorten it a bit as the Spanish would not have to be translated each time for those of us that do not speak Spanish. And I’m not saying that Carrie could not have been a Latina athlete, I'm more saying that TJR should not be the one to write this story but someone who is Latina. Maybe then there would have been a more real feel to Carrie and probably the racism she would have faced in the 80s and 90s, but really there is not mention of this at all, (though I am unsure if the Battled Axe / Bitch is a reference to her Latina heritage or not, but I do not think so)

There are two times that race is even really mentioned; one is when sponsorship deals or modelling contracts come around and that all the white, blonde hair, blue eyes Tennis players get the modelling contracts and Carrie herself has never been offered one. And two when she points out at one time with her manager Gwen, who is black, that she Carrie would not want to be a black woman as for how hard it is to be a black women. Was she saying it was not hard to be a Latina woman in sport and that she never faced any type of racism? I do not know as it is never developed before or after that, or ever spoken about in the book at all, so it felt very whitewashed to me.

Now for the good part is that this book reads very much like a movie. I could vividly see what TJR was portraying in my head and I enjoyed every second of it. I could see the matches and how hard Carrie was working and her need to still be the best. TJR knows how to write and I will not deny her that. 

I was also happy that the main relationship that this story about is with her father and the highs and lows that they have had as a daughter who is coached by her father. Does this stunt Carrie's character growth throughout her life, yes, she very much reads as a teenager, even when she is in her 30s but I think that this is true to the mark for many child athletes that only know sport and competition growing up especially at a young age., something socially becomes stunted. This also put the romance/relationship aspect on the fringe and latter part of the story as well, which I am okay with as I think that the father/daughter relationship was the more interesting/unexpected and overall better story to tell.

So will I pick up another TJR book? Yes of course I will, that woman can write and sucks me in each time I have read her books. Do I recommend this book? I honestly don't know, I enjoyed the book and the movie affect it had on my brain but I think that TJR doesn't do Carrie any favours but ignoring the fact that she is Latina throughout the book, other than having Spanish throughout and that Carrie would have been better written by an individual who was Latina.

Cheers!!!!!