Carrie Soto is Back is Jenkins Reid’s eighth novel, and Jenkins Reid references her early career throughout this book. Carrie Soto first appeared in Malibu Rising (2021). In that novel, she was the lover of Brandon Randall, whose wife, Nina Riva, was Malibu Rising’s protagonist. At the end of Malibu Rising, Carrie seemed done with Brandon, but readers of Carrie Soto is Back learn that Carrie took him back. The connection between these two novels illustrates how Jenkins Reid is interested in what it meant to be a woman during the late 20th century. Additionally, there is also a reference to Daisy Jones & The Six (2019): Carrie picks up a tabloid to learn more about the band, cementing that these novels exist in the same universe.

These novels, along with The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, are part of a meditation on famous women, a theme that appears across Jenkins Reid’s work. In an interview with TIME Magazine, she explains the commonality between them, saying, “You make it a movie star, rock star, supermodel, tennis player, it’s all the same stuff we’re facing: How much of myself do I want to give, and what do I hide?” (

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