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?*

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are 100% my own.

This is a sweet, fluffy teen romance set in Northern Ireland. The main characters have an online pen pal thing going on whilst they play chess. I agree with other reviewers in that this book is a Cinderella story meets the queens gambit.

Ronan, the male main character, is a complex bad-boy. I really enjoyed his point of view throughout the book.

Juliet, the female main character, suffers from arthritis which is portrayed well throughout the book. She’s a little immature and naive at times, especially since she turns 18 during the story.

Speaking of the age of the characters, frequent references are made to the characters wanting to lose their virginities. But if these characters are 17/18 most teenagers around that age don’t have this problem. All of the characters in this book felt younger than their actual ages.

The thing that kept distracting me in this book is how outdated it seemed. The book is set around October 2023, but Juliet frequently wears fashion styles that were popular in 2013, such as Peter Pan collars.

The illustrated cover of this book is amazing and Janelle Barone is a very talented illustrator. Juliet is described as blonde throughout the book though, but is depicted as darker haired on the cover.

‘the first move’ is a ya romance that i believe will become well-known and loved soon enough, and not just because of it’s beautiful cover. (im a sucker for a pretty cover and this is just stunning.)

the book follows juliet and ronan, both of whom are having a hard time for different reasons - juliet has arthritis and ronan feels guilty after what happens with his brother (which i wont go into too much detail about because of spoilers.) they bond over chesslife - an online chess website - anonymously. the book discusses many difficult topics that a lot of ya books skim over. (it’s maybe worth a check at the trigger warnings for some!)

this is one of the main parts of the book that works for me, the banter between the main pair, especially when they are talking online, flows. you can see their bond progress, even if it does so quickly and before they know who each other are. the chapters are relatively short, particularly the ones that are primarily text messages, which makes the story seem like it flies by quickly.

my main dislike and the reason i’m not rating this higher is the love triangle that starts up in act 3. like many others, i’m not a fan of the love triangle - especially when one participant isn’t even aware they are in one and ultimately gets used and hurt just for the sake of the other twos plot progression. it seems unnecessary and doesn’t make for a good look for the protagonists.

that said, the love triangle thankfully doesn’t last too long and is rectified in the end with lots of apologises and a happy ending.

and who doesn’t love a happy ending!

A fast paced YA story that follows Juliet and Ronan as they navigate school, romance and much, much more.

All of the characters in the book are going through something so it tackles a lot of sensitive subjects with love, understanding and honesty .. it's worth noting that this might be a bit much for younger young adults due to discussions of sibling death, illness, alcoholism and drug use. I thought the book was great, so much so I was sat up until 1am reading it!

Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the early copy!

I mean look at this beautiful cover! Of course I was immediately intrigued by this book. And when I found out that the main character had arthritis I jumped to request the ARC! A beautiful cover and disability rep? I was sold.

The First Move follows Juliet and Ronan, two teens in their final year of secondary school. Juliet has been becoming progressively more solitary since her diagnosis with arthritis and her only escape from the world is through her online chess games. When she meets a fellow chess player online, she has no idea that ALONELYPAWN is none other than Ronan, the new kid at school and the boy that Juliet absolutely cannot stand. As Juliet and Ronan start to fall for each other online (not knowing who they're actually speaking to) Juliet starts to wonder if there's more to Ronan than meets the eye.

I'll start with the positives: the disability rep in this book was fantastic. This is unsurprising considering the author has arthritis herself. I feel like a lot of Juliet's struggles will be extremely relatable for any teens with disabilities who pick up this book. I also loved Michael, Juliet's best friend. His support of Juliet through everything was incredible and the way he called her out when she messed up is something I don't often see in YA romance.

Unfortunately, for a YA romance, the romance disappointed me. Other woman/other man drama is one of my least favourite things in romance books and The First Move had that in spades! Ronan kisses Tara, one of Juliet's "best friends" very early on in the book and, after the third act break up (which was so completely unnecessary by the way) Juliet dates another guy while still being completely hung up on Ronan. And I don't mean she tries to go on one date with another guy, realises she's still into Ronan and then calls it off. No, she actually dates this guy properly, knowing full well that she's not as into him as he's into her. It just all gave me a bad taste in my mouth to be honest and it felt like Ronan and Juliet were playing games with each other without caring at all about any collateral damage. Eventually, when Ronan and Juliet got back together, I just wasn't happy about it because at that point I didn't particularly like either of them as characters. I get that they're teenagers and it's a YA book so we have to expect some level of immaturity but I would at least like the main characters to be likeable.

Anyway, all that is to say that even though I loved the rep in this book, I wasn't enough of a fan of the two main characters and their love story to enjoy this book as a whole. There were some redeeming factors but overall, I found this book to be kind of disappointing.

2.5 stars rounded up.

I recieved a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publishers in return for an honest review. All of the opinions above are my own.

4.5 | I really, really liked this book. I can't say I had any issues with it. I read it quickly, (binged in nearly a day), loved the characters, I enjoyed it a lot. It was cute.

I loved Micheal. I thought he was exactly the kind of friend juliet needed. He didn't seem flat or overly cliche (as the "gay best friend" usually is. He did fall into a lot of stereotypes but it wasn't annoying. It just felt like him)

The relationship between Juliet and Ronan was sweet. I loved how they both supported each other without being asked. Their date during school had me SQUEALING.

I also thought it was nice how Ronan never outed Tara for what she was dealing with at home, even when it was bad for him. I liked their friendship. By the end, Tara sort of starts to redeem herself. I did feel bad for her.

Overall, this book was basically every thing you could ask for in a ya romcom. I definitely recommend it.

I was really intrigued to read this book as someone who played a lot of chess when I was younger. I loved the concept of Chess Life: an online platform for playing and chatting.

Jules uses Chess Life to escape from the pain of her arthritis. It’s not long before she can feel herself falling for her online playmate only to discover it is none other than the mysterious new boy at school. As cliche as this may seem on the outside, it was really well written and super sweet as Jules and Ronan discover they could be each other’s perfect match.

The characters in this book are amazing!

Jules is a brilliant protagonist. Whilst her home life is privileged in many ways, she has her own battles with arthritis and this book does well to explore the impact this has on Jules. I can’t speak from any personal experience but it felt sensitively handled to me as a reader, although I’m sure there are many different experiences out there.

Ronan is an absolute babe. Despite his own struggles and tragedies, he is so selfless and willing to help others. He goes on a real journey of self-discovery and I loved seeing his more vulnerable side. His and Jules’ relationship continually warmed my heart.

Michael is a gorgeous best friend to Jules. Unafraid to speak the truth whilst being absolutely devoted to his friendships. Tara makes some questionable decisions but as truths are revealed you can understand why.

A refreshing story of being young and falling in love. Of seeing past your own and other’s flaws and difficulties to accept the happiness you deserve.

Thank you to Penguin and NetGalley for my early review copy in exchange of a fair and honest review.

This book started out super cute, I loved that she had a strong support system in her family and friend/s it was such a lovely set of dynamics to read about!!

The romantic build up could have been more fleshed out, I know there was a lot that happened online, but the moment they found out who the other person was they started dating immediately which felt a little rushed to me. When they were together though, it was ADORABLE!! This was my fave part of the whole book, it felt like peak YA coming of age romance - it was sweet, wholesome, a little flirty a lot awkward, I love them so so much I feel like they compliment each others personalities A LOT!! He encourages her to come out of her shell a little, try new things and take risks, and she grounds him, giving him that safe space to be vulnerable and transparent. The scene where he kisses all her sore joints has to be my fave scene in the whole book. It's written in a way that is tender and sweet and so so intimate without making it tragic, like yes this is a moment where they're acknowledging her pain but it's never made to be her defining characteristic.

That being said, I had a lot of issues with the second half. Most of the time I felt like I was reading about 15 year olds instead of 17/18- the dialogue and lack of emotional maturity felt juvenile at times with how awkward and cliche it was. The characters felt 2D and all followed the same sort of framework (troubled home life which made them act out) and all found resolutions at the same time towards the end which made it feel unnaturally resolved. Jules and her best friend had an incredibly toxic relationship (and yes Tara had a difficult home life which made her act out, obviously there's no right way to deal with that sort of thing) but it was resolved in one teary conversation, with heavy emphasis on the good memories they had from primary school. On top of that, the love interest had absolutely no concept of boundaries (setting them or respecting them) and his relationship with Tara felt very trauma-bond-y, it also could've been explained to Jules in a couple sentences and saved everyone a lot of distress. I considered Jules' bestie to be the one emotionally aware character but the scene where he blows his top because she's hung up on her breakup and is zoning out on their double date??? It felt very uncharacteristic and like a means to an end. Most of the conflicts (interpersonal or other) tended to be dealt with via rebounds and denial which?? I wasn't a fan.
Ronan in particular half the time read like someone extremely perceptive and with lots of lived experience that lent to emotional maturity or at least empathy and understanding, and the other half read like emo teen angst with no understanding of boundaries or how his actions could hurt others. During the break up he also made an off-hand comment about her moving on super fast etc. which felt very out of character but also kinda slut-shame-y, which left a bad taste in my mouth for the rest of the book.

I did like that it was a YA romance that discussed deeper topics, but it felt like biting off more than the author could chew, giving every single character deep-seated trauma to work through in some 300 odd pages where the romance and teen drama took front and centre. The end was tied in a neat bow but I was left feeling dissatisfied with how almost all the conflicts were resolved, and not really liking any of the characters.

Generally, this book ticked all my boxes. YA romance - check. A compelling insight into a hobby - check. But. But. I just wasn’t quite buying how perfect Ronan was. He just needed to be a bit more flawed for me to totally buy into him as a character, and that meant that I wasn’t as invested in the romance as I wanted to be.

In terms of writing style and storyline, the book is fairly basic and formulaic. That isn’t to say it’s a bad thing. It’s an easy read and flows well. What really grabbed me though, was the chronic illness rep.

I felt I could relate to Juliet so well and could understand her thought processes, bitterness and front of hardness.
She’s 17 and I’m 37, how could I possibly relate? I’ve been there. I was 13 when I was diagnosed with ME/CFS and it was hard to come to terms with the limitations it put on me and how I thought about my future. I can entirely understand Juliet’s perspective.

I think it’s great for teens and young adults to have to this kind of rep; to feel seen and understood. And also to help their friends and loved ones to understand.

Overall an entirely enjoyable read and I love this for YA.

A wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed despite not being the target demographic. A great read for all no matter where you find this book sitting in a book shop.

2.5 stars

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this ARC!

This is a YA contemporary romance following Ronan and Juliet (see what the author did there ha) two teenagers just trying to cope with their problems as they fall in love. Juliet was diagnosed with arthritis when she was twelve years old and along with the constant pain she has to deal with people looking at her differently and treating her differently because of her disability. Ronan has just started at the same high school as Juliet and has his own share of problems at home. For both of them, chess is a form of escape and when they both login in to “Chess Life” (an app that lets you play chess online with random players anonymously) they have no idea that they’re actually talking to each other and that “alonelypawn” is actually the new hot guy that Juliet despises. As you can probably guess sparks fly, friendships are tested and problems are shared.

First of all I absolutely love that this is a YA book with disability rep, especially a disability involving chronic pain. I suffer from Fibromyalgia and Functional Neurological disorder so suffer with chronic pain constantly. I really related to Juliet not only with how she had to adapt her life so much to accommodate her disability but also how so many people didn’t think about the small things that would affect her. People don’t realise how small things like extra leg room and picking stuff off the floor for us helps us. I also use a walking aid so I identified with Juliet’s feelings surrounding being stared at because of her crutches. I feel like being a young person with a walking aid is even more difficult because everyone associates those with older people. I’ve lost count of the amount of times someone has said “you’re too young to need that” and not in a sympathetic way.

I thought Ronan was really good for Juliet (when he wasn’t being a bit dense) and the way he cared for her and actually showed an interest in making her life easier was really sweet. He also didn’t focus on her disability or try to “fix her” which was really nice to see. His backstory was really well done and was really heartbreaking to read.

I didn’t really like the constant internalised ableism from Juliet though. I understand the author was trying to show the difficulties that people with disabilities and chronic pain face and she did an incredible job of showing that but honestly reading all of these horrible thoughts Juliet was having constantly made me feel a bit rubbish about myself. If there had been some discussion surrounding her changing her mindset, getting therapy or some kind of representation that you shouldn’t be talking to yourself like that then I would have understood it but by the end of the book Juliet was still calling herself a “crippled daughter” and honestly that hurt to read myself. I just worry about other young adults reading that and thinking that it’s true because not much is said in the book to say otherwise.

These characters did not feel like seventeen/eighteen years old. Juliet dead was sat there and said Romeo and Juliet was “S.T.U.P.I.D” and the work they were doing at school seemed more like the type of stuff I did in year 7. The dialogue was incredibly juvenile and kind of annoyed me considering Juliet is constantly moaning that she’s an “adult” and wants to be treated as such by her parents. I found myself rolling my eyes at the writing so many times and cringing.

Overall I would definitely one hundred percent recommend this to someone who is knows/is supporting someone with arthritis because it’s really good at showing what it’s like to live with the condition but it could be harmful to someone actually living with it, especially a teen looking for solace and solidarity. This one was released on 13th April 2023 so check it out if you want to.

Juliet thinks she is unlovable. Ronan thinks he is incapable of loving someone in the way they need. The two bond over chess on a website where they’re both allowed to be anonymous, unaware that they’ve already met in real life. Soon their online relationship takes on a life of its own and before they know it, they’re face to face, finally aware of who the other is. A relationship blooms, but their problems threaten to ruin it before it’s had a chance to properly get off the ground.

Let’s start with the positives. I loved the representation in this book. While I don’t have arthritis myself, I do live with both of my parents who each have it in different parts of their body, and therefore I felt like I was really able to connect with Juliet and empathise with her whenever the pain became too much for her to handle, as I often help my parents out whenever their pain is a lot. I really enjoyed the in depth look we got into Ronan’s life as he dealt with the aftermath of drugs ruining his life. I loved that this took a different approach from usual storylines we see. I also loved Michael—I felt like I wanted to see more of him even though we saw lots of him already. This book was fast paced and really sweet, both of the main characters enjoyable to read about.

However, there were a few negatives. This book wasn’t by any means a bad book. I just felt like it was lacking in so many areas. I think the first thing I want to talk about is the cliches. There were so many cliches in this book that it got overwhelming. Bad boy main character who’s wilfully misunderstood, good girl who’s overlooked in life and who believes herself to be no one important, and a queen bee who’s entire existence is based on her being an antagonist so she can cause issues to break the two main characters apart. It was all a bit much, especially since Ronan didn’t fit the ‘bad boy’ persona, which meant it felt extremely forced. He was a ‘bad boy’ because he sometimes skipped classes and listened to music while the teacher was talking and smoked and drank, and like I’m going to be honest here—a vast majority of teenagers do that. That archetype doesn’t really fit anymore. When I was eighteen—baring in mind this was literally one year ago—and in college, most people smoked, most people skipped classes, most people drank. Hell, I know I did—apart from the smoking part, at least. It’s nothing original and nothing ‘bad boy status’ worthy. I’m also getting incredibly sick of the ‘queen bee’ trope, but I can’t tell if that’s just because I’ve read far too many books with that type of character or if it’s genuinely getting annoying. It always seems at least somewhat steeped in sexism—not that I’m saying Ireland’s portrayal of Tata is sexist, she was probably realer than most ‘queen bees’ I’ve seen recently—but I’m certain there’s something there, with that trope, that really needs to be looked at and worked, but that’s for another day. I also felt that with Juliet, we didn’t really get to see her start to love herself, it just happened in the span of a page because of Ronan? I don’t know, that just felt a bit odd.

I think the main issue I have with this book is the pacing. Specifically how quickly the main characters got together. I wrote some notes in Discord at almost four am the other day so I’m going to try to summarise them here. Their relationship online grew very quickly, which meant I felt like it lacked some crucial development. I think Ireland was trying for the ‘best friends online, enemies offline’ trope, which might have worked had their offline relationship been developed more—as in I don’t feel like they interacted all that much, certainly not enough to thrust them beyond the acquaintances label. I feel like a good YA example of where this was done well is Alex Approximately, and while it has been about three years since I read that, I do remember how much the mcs absolutely hated each other, how they constantly clashed, and yet their online relationship blossomed alongside it. (Note to self: reread Alex Approximately.) For Juliet and Ronan, like I said, they’re no more than acquaintances while their online personas get to know one another, and then when they discover who each other is, they’re straight into dating. It was too quick, especially since online relationships and people can be very different from real life relationships, even if you feel like you’ve been the most real version of you while talking to them online. And then their relationship doesn’t grow or develop, because real life shit is butting its head in, and so when we get to the ‘I love you’ scenes, it just all feels a little bit forced and unrealistic.

Regardless, this was enjoyable, if a little underdeveloped.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so easy to sink into and get lost in. The voices of the characters were so strong and they were so relatable.

I enjoyed the disability rep, it was well done. I do feel like all the disability rep is taking the same vein at the moment. That the character feels like a burden and hates their disability and though this is a really valid way to feel, I'm seriously ready for a character who's accepted themself and is more positive, so that we can see how much more they are than their disability. The books about Neurodiversity went through this phase too and I don't mean that there isn't any place for books about coming to term with disability, but there should be more to the genre.

I liked the general message of this book. That everyone has something going on in their lives and that asking for help isn't a bad thing. Nothing excuses the ableism that takes place in this book, but it was good to remember that sometimes people have reason for this.

In all, I really just loved this book especially the online messaging. Great to see some disability rep.