Another Slam from TJR! The story itself is wonderful and the characters, as always with this author, are beautifully fleshed out, both lovable and infuriatingly frustrating all at once. Carrie Soto herself is unapologetically fierce, and I absolutely loved the portrayal of a female sports star who doesn't try to be America's Sweetheart despite the world expecting that of her. The actual tennis scenes were the only downfall of this book, in my opinion. I almost gave this four stars because I did get bored with all of the tennis matches early on. I ran into some of what I experienced with The Queen's Gambit. A little too much technical jargon, but also I fully expect that there is a target audience for this who will love it; that's just not me. I stuck with five stars, however, because I truly believe that without all of that, the end of the book would not have hit as hard. I needed to experience the rhythm of a tennis match (as a non-tennis fan) in order to appreciate the intensity of the final moments. All of that said, even with the boredom scattered throughout the first half, that last 40 percent of this book was absolutely unputdownable. Also, as a '90s kid, the pop-culture references throughout this book were on point!