Book Review: Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Carrie Soto is Back

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Series/Standalone: Reidverse (Book #5)

Genre: Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Sports, Adult Fiction

Pages: 384

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Year Published: 2022

Format: Audiobook (Library Copy)

"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 stand 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' anyways. 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."

My Rating: 5/5

I love Taylor Jenkins Reid's Reidverse. The way these imagined celebrities feel so real, the way they have such individual personalities, but feel so real to the time and our world. I feel sad sometimes that I can't look up more information about where they would be now. Carrie Soto is far from likeable. That is made clear from the beginning, but as the story goes on, you grow to love her as she is. The determined, unrelenting and resilient athlete she is. The way she copes in her life through all of it, despite what everyone things, inspite what everyone thinks. I hope her next corner is all the better, and I wonder if Taylor Jenkins Reid will add to these stories.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Malibu Rising

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Series/Standalone: Reidverse (Book #3)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Historical Fiction

Pages: 369

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Year Published: 2021

Format: Audiobook

"Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

Malibu: August, 1983. It's the day of Nina Riva's annual end-of-summer party, and anticipation is at a fever pitch. Everyone wants to be around the famous Rivas: Nina, the talented surfer and supermodel; brother Jay and Hud, one a championship surfer, the other a renowned photographer, and their adored baby sister, Kit. Together, the siblings are a source of fascination in Malibu and the world over, especially as the offspring of the legendary singer, Mick Riva. 

The only person not looking forward to the party of the year is Nina herself, who never wanted to be the center of attention, and who has also just been very publicly abandoned by her pro tennis player husband. Oh, and maybe Hud- because it is long past time to confess something to his brother from whom he's been inseparable since birth.

Jay, on the other hand, is counting the minutes until nightfall, when the girl he can't stop thinking about promised she'll be there.

And Kit has a couple secrets of her own- including a guest she invited without consulting anyone.

By midnight the party will be completely out of control. By morning, the Riva mansion will have gone up in flames. But before that first spark in the early hours before dawn, the alcohol will flow, the music will play, and the loves and secrets that shaped this family's generations will all come bubbling to the surface."

My Rating: 4/5

There is something so impressive about Taylor Jenkins Reid's work. It feels so close to our reality that you can picture the famous characters, you can almost "remember" the events, even though they are fictitious. It makes you want to meet these people or watch documentaries about them. Her ability to create characters is what I truly love about her work. This was no different. My only complaint is that it felt a bit odd to not have any sort of epilogue, and the plot wasn't entirely based on fame as others in this series had been. I liked it and look forward to listening to the next novel in the series.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Title: Daisy Jones & The Six

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Adult Fiction, Historical Fiction, Contemporary

Pages: 368

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Year Published: 2019

Format: Audiobook

"Everyone knows DAISY JONES & THE SIX, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity... until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it's the rock 'n' roll she loves most. BY the time she's twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she's pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Bill goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly, capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice."

My Rating: 5/5

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, and it was absolutely excellent. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid's ability to pull you in and make you feel like you want to see all the things that the famous person has been in previously. I'm grateful that when reading this, the show had been produced (not that I'll watch the show), but this means that there are some songs that helped me fully immerse myself in the story. The twists, the turns, and the different voice actors make for a great atmosphere.

Can't wait to read more of her novels in the Reidverse.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: The Disappearing Act by Catherine Steadman

Title: The Disappearing Act

Author: Catherine Steadman

Series/Standalone: Standalone

Genre: Adult Fiction, Thriller

Pages: 320

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Year Published: 2021

Format: Audiobook

"A woman has gone missing

But did she ever really exist?

Mia Eliot has travelled from London to LA for pilot season. This is her big chance to make it as an actor in Hollywood, and she is ready to do whatever it takes. At an audition she meets Emily, and what starts as a simple favour takes a dark turn when Emily goes missing and Mia is the last person to see her.

Then a woman turns up, claiming to be Emily, but she is nothing like Mia remembers. Why would someone pretend to be Emily? Starting to question her own sanity, she goes on a desperate and dangerous search for answers, knowing something is very, very wrong.

In an industry where everything is about creating illusions, how do you know what is real? And how much would you risk to find out?"

My Rating: 3/5

This was a fun thriller. I liked the idea of having a disappearance in the middle of Hollywood where nothing is as it seems. In a city with just a ton of people trying to make it and people who are desperate it does add to the creepy factor. I did love the different layers of media placed throughout. Enjoyable but overall I don't think that this will remain in my memory.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Title: Small Great Things

Author: Jodi Picoult

Series/Standalone: Ruth Jefferson (Book #1)

Genre: Adult Fiction, Contemporary

Pages: 480

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Year Published: 2016

Format: Audiobook

"Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy's counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family- especially her teenage son- as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other's trust, and come to see that they've been taught their whole lives about others- and themselves- might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice and compassion- and doesn't offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game."

My Rating: 4.5/5

I'm going to start this review by saying that this is not written by a black author. I think that is an important note to make and that is why it was docked one point. Not because I don't think that people can't write from other perspectives rather than their own, but I think that it could be offensive to those in the black community.  I do think that this book was very interestingly written from the perspectives of Ruth (a black labour and delivery nurse), Turk (a white supremacist) and Kennedy (a white public defender) and how their lives combine and their views on the world morph. It brings up the subject of not being able to see the white supremacy culture that is present in our day to day lives when you have the privilege of not having to take notice of it. I do think that the ending statements were vital to the enjoyment of this book. The author took time to do research, speak to those who have had the experience where she had not and had input from the black community to be sure that she was capturing the story to the best of her ability.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny

Book Review: Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice

Title: Interview With the Vampire
Author: Anne Rice
Series/Standalone: The Vampire Chronicles (Book #1)
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Classic
Pages: 353
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Year Published: 1976
Format: Audiobook (Own It)

"Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, showing and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing forces story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the sense. It is novel only Anne Rice could write."

My Rating: 1.5/5

I know that this is a lot of people's favourite series and I can honestly say, I don't think I get it. Maybe someone could let me know if they are all written in the same fashion and same format. Because I'd be willing to continue if I knew next books in the series would be different but at this point, I just don't really care. I was intrigued by the idea of different kinds of vampires and vampire children but then it just seemed to drag to me. I did care about some of the characters in the story, and the atmospheric writing was beautiful, but at this point, I just don't think that I will continue the series.

Thanks for reading,

Sidny