This was a fun, nerdy love story. While I don’t know much about chess or really understand it much, I didn’t feel like that detracted from my enjoyment of the novel. I liked that the author did such a great job with the inclusivity in the book. A perfect read for YA lovers.

Firstly, I just want to say that the cover is breathtaking and literally caught my eye. Premise was interesting since it involves a disabled girl, a guy with a lot of secrets and chess. I really like the way the author writes. It feels very mature and it’s easy to be absorbed into the story. However, the character’s decision making without thinking beforehand makes me feel a bit annoyed. I am well aware that they’re teenagers and that the book is YA so it is something to keep in mind if you’re an adult reader.

Juliet thought she was just a girl with crutches with arthritis.
Roman has to start at a new school for his last year due to family problems.
Without realising, chess is something that helps them both escape the real world. But then brings them together in the real world.
I very much enjoyed this read! Definitely recommend

This was super cute. Kind of enemies to lovers but the high school version 😂

Juliet is worried about school. She's just had to start using crutches full time for her arthritis and she's worried about people's reactions. Thankfully there's a new guy at school, Ronan, transferred for one year only. Juliet thinks he's arrogant and has attitude, her childhood best friend Tara is obsessed with him.

Ronan has changed schools to avoid some classmates he associates with bad times. Ronan has a secret obsession with chess so joins a site where you can play virtual matches and chat. He gets matched with a user name PRETTYBASIC and the pair bond.

As I'm sure you've worked out PRETTYBASIC is Juliet, and when they eventually realise they go to the same school she is naturally worried that whoever he is will be put off by her disability.

There are certainly some ups and downs along the way but this is a super cute story with some great characters.

yeah, not gonna lie, this was good! It's refreshing to read about diverse characters and this book does show us Juliet's life with arthritis which I didn't know much about. I liked the chess part and I suppose that if you liked that about check and mate by Ali hazelwood, you'd like this one. The romance was very sweet and fun although it was very much the cliche bad boy with a sad past hence the 4 stars instead of a 5.

I got into the story pretty quickly, I really loved Jenny's character. I loved the strong support system in her family and with her friends, I really enjoyed reading about the dynamics between them. The romance is so cute, I'd loved the build up to have built up a bit slower and fleshed out abit but I really enjoyed it.

No one is more gutted than me that I ended up dnf-ing this book.

A few years ago I would have lived and breathed this book and it's characters but I've now come to the devastating conclusion that I just don't enjoy YA romance anymore. I'm dying somewhat inside.

I really liked Jenny Ireland's writing so I'm giving this a three stars for that alone however I just am no longer it's target audience which sucks for me.

I'm definitely going to keep a look out to see if they write any adult romance in the future!

I DNF this book. I just wasn't invested in this book. I gave it a good shoot, but no, not for me...
Thanks to Netgally

A really quick, easy and cute read with great representation. I couldn't put it down, I really enjoyed it

A Massive Thank You to the Author, the Publisher and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book prior to its release date.

It was cute!
For all the reasons all the other reviewers mentioned and many other!

The whole book was witty, based in Northern Ireland, the characters fit so well together and it was such a nice YA romcom. A lot of people would love it, hopefully!

The writer's style of writing was my life boat; it took me all through this book and made it unforgettable and unputdownable!!

The First Move is a cute, relevant and fun read. Yes it's full of cliches but they work well with the story and the characters.

For most of the story, I did think that I was really enjoying this, I love that old trope of two people chatting online only to find out they know each other in real life - but the third act break up made me reflect on what I'd read, and overall, I really couldn't be invested in this romance.

I initially liked the banter as Jules and Roman chatted online while playing chess, and I really wanted them to discover that they knew each other in real life. Jules is a witty, complex character that struggles to fit in with her ableist friend group.

New boy Roman seems sweet, but he seems to think he's better than Jules because he knows more named chess moves, which started to grate on my nerves. His toxic behavior to Jules during the Third Act Break Up was awful and he seemed to be one step away from calling her a whore for finding someone else after he dumped her online.

I really wanted to like Michael, but he really filled the role of the Gay Best Friend, and aside from liking fashion and supplying the story with sassy one liners, I didn't really get much else from him. He was the only Queer character in the story, apart from his boyfriend who turns up later.

The ending was fine, but I was really slogging through that break up and the messiness that followed, which made it difficult for me to root for them to get back together. A good amount of the story was resolved, but it didn't make me like the characters any more.

What an excellent debut novel from this author. It was one that I found hard to put down.
The characters were much more complex than you would normally expect in a teenage romance novel. The author handled the complexities of disability, teenage friendships, family dynamics and first love so cleverly and sensitively.
I am genuinely excited for what is to come from this author in the future!!

I played a fair bit of chess as a teenager, although it was one of those hobbies that lost out to new interests when I went to university. I dabbled in online board games in lockdown and could see why other people enjoyed the challenge, but it always felt too slow compared to the in-person version, especially given that I was playing against people who are sociable in 3D but less so over email. And that’s a rather lengthy explanation of why this book interested me. Beyond the heroine with disabilities part of the blurb, obviously.

Juliet was an outgoing girl before becoming unwell with what was later diagnosed as a rare form of progressive arthritis. The disease makes her insecure about her appearance and causes her to miss school for painful treatment sessions, as well as restricting her social life due to the pain and fatigue that she experiences. Meanwhile, Juliet’s mother feels guilty about her daughter’s issues and buys her expensive gifts, mostly clothes that reveal more than Juliet is happy to show. Returning to school after the summer, Juliet worries what people will think of her, now that she is using a cane to walk, but is also intrigued by new boy Ronan, who has transferred from another local school.

Ronan was taught to play chess by his older brother, who was a talented player before getting in with the wrong crowd – some of whom were originally Ronan’s friends – and throwing away his future. Ronan hopes that changing schools will enable him to put his past behind him, and allow him more time to help his mother deal with her grief and denial over what happened. Having distanced himself from his former friends, Ronan seeks company in an online chess community, where he coincidentally finds himself playing against Juliet, though neither of them realises who the other is initially.

When not playing chess online, Ronan and Juliet are determined to act like normal teenagers, dating their classmates and going to parties. Juliet resents the time Ronan spends with one of her friends, little realising that Ronan has uncovered family secrets that Juliet’s friend had managed to keep hidden from her. Ronan is genuinely interested in people, even while covering up his own family’s dysfunction, and this is shown in the contrast between his support of Juliet’s disabilities and his willingness to learn more in order to better help her, and the callous lack of interest shown by other boys that Juliet tries dating.

Both the central characters, as well as various of their friends, develop as people through the course of this book, with Juliet in particular learning to look beyond her own issues and see what’s really behind the supposedly perfect lives of those around her.

This book showed a lot of promise as a debut novel, and I’m keen to see more from the author.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

I'm afraid I couldn't finish this one. I love YA but the teens in this were all so shallow and vapid and self-centred that it was unbearable. I was excited for more disabled representation but this needed more edits to turn the characters into something approximating human beings as opposed to emo sex driven nightmare creatures.

I read this for free from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This is an easy to read, cute little book. The plot was easy to follow with a nice ending. It also brought more awareness to the condition of arthritis from a teenage perspective. I would recommend this book.

Jenny Ireland has a gift for a good story. Taking inspiration from her own life experiences, The First Move normalises the life of teenager Juliet who deals with arthritis on a daily basis. From her point of view, we are privy to her anxieties and struggles, the well-meaning but a little smothering response of her family, and the support and uplift provided by her lively group of friends.

From the point of view of new boy at school Ronan, we appreciate Juliet in a whole different light, seeing her against the backdrop of school and friendships, as well as how she handles her condition while going about daily life. Both characters are well drawn and their slow but inevitable interaction travels a bumpy path of suppressed feelings and distractions, real life always in the way, the actions of other friends serving to delay, confuse and misdirect.

Unknown to each other, they are also taking solace in their discussions with each other’s aliases via a chess app. This is one of the book’s strengths, the app’s chat function providing a way for the two to discuss their issues and provide advice to each other on the very problem they unknowingly share, their growing attraction to each other.

Many other issues are covered in this well-rounded portrayal of teenage life, and I particularly appreciated the depiction of teens that need to act as carers for adults, to the detriment of their own lives, and the way they might try to conceal that from school and friends. It’s so true that someone’s behaviour and personality can be a mask for the real issues going on behind the scenes, and the book takes care to explore this with realism and sympathy.

In a summary, The First Move is a great read, the short chapters and cliffhanger situations encouraging the reader to keep turning the pages long into the night.

With thanks to Penguin Random House for the ARC.

Juliet Clarke uses cruches and is in her final year of high school. She has arthritis.
Michael picks her up ready for school

Caled Harrison fancys Tara, who likes to think shes queen bee and knows Ronan used to go to StAnns.
All go to Bunch high school in Belfast

There a new boy at school, Tara thinks he looks like Hollywood star, but this doesn't impress Juliet.

Ronan ends up playing chess on line, where you can remain anonymous, as you just use usernams. But does not know its actually someone from his form at school.
How long will it take for them to work it out?

Why did he leave his old school asks Luke?
Taras mum is not well, and comes outside near the park, where all the teens were hanging out.

Ronan 'more aware of everything' since the incident involving a boy called Ciaran- more intrigued into what happened.

Julell tells us about how she doesn't sleep well, so plays chess game online therefore speaks to new boy Ronan.

Ronan says. 'I want to know everything about about you', to Juliet

Talks of how she was friends with Tara but since secondary school 'they become different people'.

Ronan would give anything for a decent parent.
As he goes over to Juliets house and sees how caring and attempted her mum
Juliet is jealous of Ronans new girlfriend, so get together with Harry but hates it.

This books has very short chapters which moves the book very quickly on
Coming of age novel. It has different characters POV every chapter. Which gives the book greater depth. However the actual story dragged on and I was happy when the conclusion finally came.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a complementary digital copy of this ebook in exchange for a full, frank and honest review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

What a gorgeous YA romance with incredible representation. Jenny Ireland shows teens with chronic pain or disabilities that they exist and deserve a cute, fluffy romance. I think chess is going to be the next big thing in the YA publishing world, especially with Ali Hazelwood's novel coming out soon so this is ahead of the game - *insert chess pun here?*