Katie Chandler’s queer-women focused contemporary romance novel, Backhanded Compliments, came to fruition due to what she calls “a particular burnout with a fantasy novel I’d been trying to write for years.”
Chandler, who identifies as queer, had spent many nights agonizing over her writing and calmed herself by watching the 2022 Australian Open and that is when the idea for this novel was born. She said that “in a bolt of lightning, all of the pieces fell together” so she gave in and wrote the first lines of her novel at 4:00 a.m. that night.
Backhanded Compliments is the first of two books in the series that Chandler has sold to Atria Books and will be released on June 10, Chandler envisions growing the series beyond that in the future. She calls it a “sapphic, rivals-to-lovers tennis romance with the speculative twist that these two bitter rivals are also literal soulmates.”
At first, Chandler referred to this book as Cruel Summer because she got inspiration from the iconic Taylor Swift song, however, due to other creative people in her midst who helped brainstorm with her she eventually settled on the Backhanded Compliments title. She thought it was a “good tennis pun and a snarky dig about how my characters rib each other.”
Although there is no year mentioned in Backhanded Compliments, Chandler said that in her mind it is set in 2025.
Chandler’s love of writing began as a child in Pennsylvania where she lived in three very different areas of the state and where she still lives today. She was an avid and voracious reader who also wanted to tell her own stories.
When Chandler’s parents got their first desktop computer and gave her their old computer that had no internet access but did have Microsoft Word that is when she began writing in a serious way. She wrote her first story on that old computer that she calls “wonky, disjointed and unfinished” and has continued to write since that time.
Chandler translated that love of reading and writing into a BA degree in creative writing and literature analysis from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2021.
“Backhanded Compliments was an anomaly from my usual writing process,” said Chandler. “Most likely because I’d never intended for anyone to see this novel, let alone love it enough to encourage me to believe in it too. It was lightning in a bottle, an indulgent romance revolving around the intimate relationship between rivals and the longing and yearning for their hopes and dreams to come true.”
Chandler “feverishly” wrote the first draft in about two months and then reoutlined, solidified and developed the book “from the bones of the original” over the next four months. She got a lot of feedback from her fellow writer friends throughout this process.
To write this book, Chandler used her lifelong love of tennis and interest in the rivalries that occur among the elites in that sport. Since tennis is almost always an individual sport (with some doubles tournaments sprinkled in the mix), Chandler said that this forces each player to “fight and claw until the end” of each set to gain as many points as possible to win.
“The mental aspects of the game lend itself so well to interesting character dynamics,” said Chandler. “Your rival is an intimate partner because you both desperately want the same thing, and your rival is the one threatening to take it away from you … It’s a powder keg of emotions and connections that I have so much fun diving into and twisting to be entertaining.”
Chandler said that this book is the most indulgent story she has ever written and contains “travel porn, sunburns, massages, injuries, forced proximity, secret hookups, social media scrutiny, hurt/comfort, queer longing and languid lounging. What doesn’t kill these tennis girlies makes them want each other more, which will always make me giggle and kick my feet in delight.”
Backhanded Compliments main protagonists are elite tennis rivals Juliette Ricci from Italy and Luca Kacic from Croatia who keep encountering each other as they play various tournaments around the world. Chandler chose those names for very specific reasons. She said that in another life she would have been an historian. Her fascination for Ancient Rome led her to give the Ricci girls Roman names with that inspiration coming from the mother character who is a museum curator in Rome.
“When it came to Juliette, I knew I wanted her to be a Pisces, and so I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if her name was Juliette and she was born on the Ides of March,” said Chandler.“So, I did exactly that, because I am, at heart, incredibly dorky. As for her last name, Ricci, it means curly-haired in Italian, and you guessed it, all the Ricci sisters have curly hair.”
As for Luca Kacic’s first name, Chandler said it was much simpler because it is the most popular name in Croatia and “I think it sounds lovely.” Kacic is also a popular surname and is derived from the word snake. Chandler added that in a previous draft Kacic was a more cunning and sneaky character, so she kept that last name to harken back to that version of her and because she still loves that last name.
Chandler chose Italy and Croatia as the home countries for Juliette and Luca respectively because tennis is an international sport, so it makes sense to her for both characters to come from outside of America. She loves Italy and their culture and said that it was easy for her to decide to have the Ricci girls be from Naples. Chandler added that there have been lots of successful tennis players from Eastern European countries with Croatia being one of them so that is why she chose that country. She said Juliette has always felt Italian and Luca has always felt Croatian to her.
One of the recurring themes of Backhanded Compliments is the idea of soulmates and Chandler used soulmarks to convey this to the reader. She said the soulmarks idea came from a longstanding fanfiction trope with similar mechanics in lots of fantasy and science fiction novels. In Chandler’s book, the soulmark reveals itself as “a name written in silver on the wrist of the person, and when they touch their soulmate for the first time, the name scorches black, and they get a rush of vibrant feelings.”
Chandler said these soulmarks and what they mean to each character get explored in this book because, according to her, nothing is ever black and white or that simple when it comes to romance and people’s feelings towards each other. That the soulmate trope can manifest itself in various ways and be endlessly explored.
“It is a creative sandbox that I love building in, and I hope it inspires more writers to take this trope in more directions and explore the nuances they see,” said Chandler.
As for the other books in the series, Chandler said that Juliette and Luca will pop up in those stories as supporting characters since their story is done in her mind. She added that the next book will focus on the oldest Ricci sister Octavia, an elite tennis player whose story begins after a meltdown at the U.S. Open which results in a six-month suspension. The book will chronicle how she emerges from that event with the help of a new tennis coach, Ariel de Cordova. This yet untitled book will be released in the Summer of 2026.
[MR1] When Chandler isn’t reading or writing she likes to play and cuddle with her three Labrador dogs; “a sweet but grumpy old chocolate lab named Bear, a cuddly and playful yellow lab named Blue (ironically) and a silly and mischievous black lab puppy named Bunny.” She also loves painting her nails a different color while also watching tennis and Formula 1 competitions and other sports.
Chandler’s message to her soon-to-be readers is “I hope you enjoy entertaining the glamorous tennis world of Backhanded Compliments.”
On Tuesday, June 10, Chandler will hold a book launch event in conversation with author Amanda Quain at 7:00 p.m. eastern at White Whale Bookshop, 4754 Liberty Ave. in Pittsburg, PA. For those who do not live in the Pittsburgh area or cannot attend in person, this event can be livestreamed for free.