Backhanded Compliments

A Novel

By: Katie Chandler

Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Jeremy Carlisle Parker

A steamy sapphic romance with a fantastical twist about two bitter tennis rivals who realize they are reluctant soulmates—perfect for fans of Expiration Dates and Here We Go Again.

Juliette Ricci dreams of only one thing: being the best women’s tennis player in the world. 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 life: 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.

Slightly Magical World of Tennis

This story takes place in a world very much like our own with two major differences.

1) Soulmates are very much real and most people are born with a magical tattoo of their partner's name on their wrist that permanently changes color the first time they touch.

2) There's no Canadian Open.

Wonderful competitive soulmate story

I absolutely loved this! The author was new to me but I will absolutely be looking out for whatever titles she writes in the future because this was so great. The narrators were both ones that I already loved, and they were each fantastic here. They had a decent amount of accent work to do and (to me) it all sounded really great (the way they both said Luca’s name in Juliette’s Italian accent in particular was… very dreamy). They performed their hearts out and made this so much enjoyable. I ended up buying a physical copy around the 80% mark because I knew it was one I would want to come back to again for sure.

Both MCs were fantastically flawed and easy to root for, even Juliette in the beginning—you understand where she is coming from. I loved a lot of the secondary characters (especially Juliette’s sisters and Remy) and loved that they felt fleshed out too. There was a great balance of the romance, and character work individually for both of them and the secondary characters. The tension between the MCs was palpable and it was a really great example of a rivals to lovers dynamic that makes sense. I am not a sports persona and don’t know much about the rules of tennis, but I really enjoyed what was in the book here! And I think if you already love that, this will hit even more for you. It was a great use of the soul mark trope (which is hilarious that it’s made its way out of fandom spaces and into the mainstream). I really liked the way Katie Chandler did the minimal worldbuilding for it but centered it in a way that makes sense to readers who might be unfamiliar.

All in all, this was a blast and I’m sad it’s over.

What a fun enemies to lovers story

I cannot say I know anything about tennis but I am absolutely a fan of this story. Great chemistry between the MCs pull them down a rocky path and amplify their energy. I loved the narration!

good accents

the story was good, kept my interest the whole time. main characters were well written.

Suspend belief

Soul Brand?! I thought I misunderstood the description of the book at first but nope, this is really about two people who live in a world where their soulmate’s name is a birthmark on their wrist or something. Idk, it’s an okay idea I guess if this was like a fantastical magical world where people float and dogs could talk but it wasn’t. It was like a very realistic world so I just couldn’t get past this soulmate’s name on the wrist thing and all the real issues this would pose in real life.
Actually the story could have worked for me if I could have got on the “soul-brand” train.
The narrator was good. I wish the accents were not necessary but it was decent, I like the voice in general. Only sometimes the volume of the voice went up and down so I had to turn the volume up to hear some of the dialogue.