Book Review: Backhanded Compliments by Katie Chandler

Official Synopsis: She’s worked nonstop with her strict father/coach to prepare for her big chance in the Australian Open. Unfortunately, she’ll be playing Lucky Luca Kacic, an aloof player whose unorthodox style and reigning popularity deeply irritate Juliette.

For months they’ve traded sly insults in their press conferences leading up to their showdown on the court, and their first ever match is the most anticipated of the season. But Juliette refuses to let her nerves—or Luca’s annoyingly perfect abs—get the best of her.

Meanwhile, Luca seemingly has everything Juliette desires but there’s one thing missing from her love. When she shakes hands with Juliette after an agonizing match and sees her rival’s name appear on her wrist, it feels like a cruel joke. Juliette is a spoiled, arrogant brat who wants absolutely nothing to do with Luca or a soulmate.

But despite their personal and professional clashes, the two grow closer after late-night massages and one too many shots of limoncello. Their chemistry is tangible, but Luca’s anxiety tells her that Juliette is just messing with her head to throw her off her game, and Juliette can’t understand why Luca is so hot and cold. With the pressure of the world scrutinizing their every move, they will have to decide what’s more important—being together or being number one.

I am very much on the tennis romance trend, and this book is a fun edition to the genre. We all know at this point I love a good sports romance, and recently have tended to lean hard into Tennis and F1 romances. As an active tennis player, I sometimes judge the tennis in the books pretty harsh, because I want to be able to read it like I'm actively playing in the match. This book did a good job of explaining the matches, practices and every other aspect of the game. From how the points work, to how they travel between locations and who is staying to finish out whatever tournament they were in. I also like how the book went into a bit of detail describing how the points worked and what tournaments were worth the most when it came to the rankings overall.

Juliette has a lot going on, her dad is her tennis coach, even after her sister's found new coaches, and she feels a lot of pressure to do better than she is. She wants to win the Australian Open, but is put up against Lucia Kacic, and though they have never played with other before, Luca is the name on Juliette's wrist, indicating who her soulmate might be. When they finally shake hands at the end of the match is when it is confirmed they are in fact soulmates, and how they chose to act on that is up to them. I think how both of them choose to act is silly, but I can see how there would be pressure of knowing who your soulmate is and not particularly liking them.

From the moment they realize how they are connected to the end of the book, there are little moments where they show they care for each other, but then promptly mess it up by acting silly or mean. As they figure out their relationship, and how they are going t explain it to the people around them, the better they seem to have control on things...until they don't. One of my biggest pet peeves with this story was how much they jumped back and forth from accepting they liked each other to backing off. Through their ups and downs, they finally end up coming clean to themselves and the people who support them. There is also a brief third act breakup, or at least, 3rd act 'what are we doing' kind of thing.

Overall, I liked the tennis and the characters, but I did realize that maybe the soulmate thing isn't for me. I think it means there is a lot more pressure on the characters, in a situation where there is already a lot of pressure, and makes them make dumb decisions about their situation. It's definitely mostly connected to the soulmate thing and not much about other things within the text.

I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads