Emma Barry’s co-authored, 1960s-set historical romance series, Fly Me to the Moon, is one of my favourites. But she has also written several contemporary romances with a good balance of heart and heat and Bold Moves follows that trend, giving us an inside look at the world of professional chess in an emotional second chance romance.

High school sweethearts Jaime Croft and Scarlett Arbuthnot had had it all – until they didn’t. When Jaime’s dad was convicted of a drugs and money scheme that tore their small town of Musgrove, Virginia apart, it also spelled the end of their relationship. Scarlett left Jaime in order to pursue a career as a chess grand master and Jaime was left to pick up the pieces of his family’s life. He’d become the man about the house and kept his sister and mother from despair. Years later, he’d turned the experience into a gritty documentary film that garnered critical acclaim and awards.

It's been seventeen years since the events of that awful time, and Jaime is looking to make another movie. Specifically, he wants to adapt Scarlett’s memoir, Queen’s Kiss, but it’ll be a tall order, especially since they haven’t spoken since she left town as a teenager. And Scarlett’s agent has made it clear that Scarlett isn’t interested in selling the rights to her story – now or ever. But this hasn’t stopped Jaime from going in person to try to convince her to let him tell her story.

Scarlett never expected to see Jaime again, and when he first pitches his idea to her, she turns him away. But seeing him again triggers long closed-off memories, and she knows that if she were to give the rights to her story to anyone, it would be to Jaime. After all, he was there when the chess bug first bit, the start of her success, and he had known her, really known her, back then. Surprising even herself, Scarlett changes her mind and next thing you know, she and Jaime are back in Musgrove, working on her story and re-discovering what had drawn them together in the first place. But as old secrets come to the surface, will their second chance at romance crash and burn?

Bold Moves isn’t a light-hearted rom-com. It’s got some deep emotional territory to cover with both of their pasts, as a couple, and as kids growing up in a small town. Then there are Scarlett’s experiences as a woman playing what has most often been identified as a man’s intellectual game. The sexism and misogyny of the chess world is put on full display, both in the live games Scarlett prepares for and plays, as well as in her memoir.

Scarlett and Jaime tiptoe around each other at first, hesitant to open old wounds, so there is a slow burn to their on-page romance, understandable given Scarlett’s abandonment (for Reasons) of Jaime at the worst possible time of his life. But they get past that eventually, and think only of the present, and the delight they have in each other as adults. They never had any problem with sexual intimacy before, and they don’t now, but while the sexual tension leads to some steamy scenes, that isn’t going to be enough to keep them together without their being prepared ot bare their souls and fight for a future together. Bold Moves is engrossing and real and relevant to today’s real-life problems. I recommend this heart-wringing romance to readers who like some emotional heft to their stories and appreciate flawed characters learning from their mistakes in their quest for happiness.

I really enjoyed this one! A sexy and smart second chance romance! I loved seeing Jaime and Scarlett reconnect and learn to trust each other again (eventually lol). There's so much hurt from their past to work through, but they've grown and are different people now, so they get there in the end. Having zero knowledge of Chess did not hinder my enjoyment of this book. It's so beautifully written with some great one-liners and characters. Scarlett is a gorgeous badass and I loved seeing her walls come down and let people in. She deserves everything! And Jaime LOVES HER! The yearning in this book is so good! Also, the ending was absolutely perfect!

This book is exactly what it says it is going to be. It’s your traditional romance where there are continuous miscommunications between the MCs which eventually they realize (many,many many pages later) that they are meant to be. It’s exactly the fluffy kind of read we all need once in a while.
This book follows Scarlett (the bad girl or competitive chess) and her high school flame Jamie (now a filmmaker). They are thrown together when she agrees to let him do the film adaptation of her book, Queens Kiss. And let the chaos ensue from there.
Overall, 3.5/5 stars for me.
I received an ARC of this title, all opinions are my own

Bold Moves by Emma Barry is so much fun! Will they, won't they? Once I started reading, I didn't want to put this book down because it kept me so entranced that I had to know how the story was going to turn out for Scarlett and Jamie. This was a fun unique story that will appeal to fans of Emily Henry.

Scarlett, a grand chess master who wrote a memoir to try and change the establishment, reconnects with her high school boyfriend,Jaime, who is now a filmmaker. As they work together on turning her memoir into a streaming series they work to see if they can resolve their past in order to make a future together. This is a second chance, slow burn romance for folks who are a fan of the Queens Gambit. I wanted to like this book much more than I did. I felt the pacing was slow and uneven. The characters weren’t clear and hadn’t matured much from their high school selves. It was almost a dual point of view but even that was murky because they sounded the same. I guess I wanted them to get together, but not because I saw the chemistry I was told was so palpable everyone could see it. I wanted them together because their maturity levels matched and they were so hung up on each other it would be unfair to others. If you want to read a good book about sexism in chess and star crossed romance I prefer Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood. 2.5 stars. Thanks to Net Galley and Montlake for this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Oooohhh, this is a FOURTH CHANCE romance, and it was angsty as hell. I knew Scarlett and Jaime would get their HEA, but WHEW, they really went through it before they got there. I liked that there was a lot of time between their breakup (again) and then being in close proximity to each other. This is. my first book to read by Emma Barry, but I immediately signed up for her newsletter because I will be reading more!

I really related to Scarlett and her hard candy shell. She's been in survival mode since she was young, and had to be the adult, so I can understand why she had a hard time letting people in. As a chess grandmaster, she has to have control of her "tells," and that's a hinderance when all of her feelings for Jaime come back to the surface. Plus, she gets used to him taking care of her while they're writing scripts, and although she's trying to resist, Jaime shows how he feels about people by taking care of them. These two are both trying to be with each other while dealing with deep childhood trauma, and that also added to the additional time away from each other before they can really be together.

The story reminded me a little of Yulin Kuang's 'How to End a Love Story,' so if you loved that book, I definitely recommend this one!

- forced proximity
- second chance romance
- moderate steam
- WDTK? Ch. 13

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a second chance romance where two people are writing and filming a TV show. Jaime and Scarlett have so much history and so much emotion is running through this book. This is the kind of romance book I really love because the author really takes time exploring this couple. Very compelling.

DNF - I was really excited about this book! I just could not get into it. It is dual POV but it never says which character the POV is in, and it felt like it switched randomly?

I really liked the premise, I mean who doesn’t love a good second chance chess story! I wish the book was written in a different tense, but that’s just me.

I received an ARC from Montlake through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Emma Barry has done it again. I loved this modern romance that perfectly melded the second chance with a unique take on "celebrity".

Thank you to Montlake and Netgalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

Jaime Croft is determined to prove his directorial range, and Scarlett Arbuthnot’s biography is the perfect project. He once thought Scarlett was his perfect match too, but it’s been seventeen years and he is still not sure that he is over her. Scarlett is a grandmaster taking the chess world by storm. She is sure that she can handle working with Jaime even if it reminds her of how she broke his heart. As Jaime and Scarlett work together, their past is resurrected and their feelings rise to the surface. Yet, they are uncertain whether they can be brave again when their hearts are at stake.
I liked the setting of the chess world, which was quite novel for me. I also enjoyed the two main characters, who were strong in their own distinct ways. Scarlet is very independent, particularly with her dedication to chess, while Jaime is determined to be successful in his career. The chemistry between them was evident from the beginning. However, their attempt to work through their past hurt was fraught with emotion and, at times, quite intense.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My sincere thanks to Emma Barry, Montlake, and @netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read Bold Moves. I give my unbiased opinion of it in the following review.

Scarlett and Jamie had an intense high school romance. It is 17 years later, and Scarlett is now a Grand Master at chess and has traveled the world. Jamie has made his mark in film making with his fame being tied to telling the story of his father's downfall and incarceration. Now Jamie needs to show that he is not a one hit wonder and decides that he wants to make a series about Scarlett based on her popular autobiography. Scarlett had never wanted to have her story adapted for tv or film but decides to give Jamie a chance and at the same time explore what chemistry may or may not still be between them. What follows is a lot of ups and downs - bold moves as the title suggests. Moves like Scarlett and Jamie need to take were not going to be easy and require some understanding and forgiveness on both sides of the board.

I know absolutely nothing about chess, but I really didn't need to know the intricacies of the game to understand this second chance love story. Honestly, at points I was so frustrated with both Jamie and Scarlett. I wanted them to open their eyes and get with the program. Both were stuck in their ways. Scarlett was too independent, and Jamie was more of a stubborn caretaker who needed to let go of control once in a while. That being said, it was realistic that it took some time for them to both be on the same or close to the same page. The mistakes that they make along the way teach them a lot and make them more ready for a true relationship. If you want a lot of fluff and easy sailing in a romance, this is not that. I encourage readers to try Bold Moves for a well written and unique story. Emma Barry has become a favorite and I am excited to see what she comes up with next.

Bad Reputation by Emma Barry is a wonderful contemporary romance.
This whole story is just fun.
A smart and sexy second-chance romance
Jaime and Scarlett were both realistic, well developed and just so much fun.
Their relationship and banter was amazing!

It was probably just me but I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. Although I liked the tension that began right at the start between Scarlett and Jaime by the middle I was over the back and forth. He always seemed far more into it than she was and I just never really got why they liked each other. I liked her skill as a player but felt the relationship was lacking and definitely not something worth revisiting. When she drops a bombshell on him her cold response was enough to let me know that there was a reason the relationship ended. It seems like plenty of other people liked it but for me it was a hard pass.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

Scarlett is a grand master, aka a really big deal in the chess world. Now she must work with her ex, Jamie, to write her memoir. Working closely with him doesn't sound like a bad idea, but Jaime is determined to prove he's great at his own job and her biography is perfect. It has been seventeen years since Scarlett broke Jamie's heart, so surely they can work together.

Emma Barry knows how to deliver the most powerful of Romance punches - how to make a reader fall in love with the characters and truly root for their HEA. I won't spoil this plot, because it has so much goodness in it, but it delivers on everything I adore in a romance. Her books immediately become Forever Faves for me - romances I own in multiple formats.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for this ARC.

✨Book Review: Bold Moves✨
Author: Emma Barry

Scarlett is a bad-ass female Grandmaster whose memoir is about to be turned into a miniseries. The only problem? The person behind the miniseries is her childhood ex, Jaime.

You’ll already know how much I love chess, so when I saw this had a chess theme I knew I had to request it. It absolutely DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I actually requested and received both an eARC and eALC from NetGalley so I was happy when I managed to get both of them so I could go back and forth between the two, and so I could enjoy the story on my commute.

I really loved this book. The story felt so real and the chemistry between the characters practically jumped off the page. You get to watch their chemistry and connection grow throughout the beginning of the story as they go from (now) strangers back to friends. They each have their own hang-ups and you can see the way they begin to change as the story progresses. She’s a lone wolf used to doing everything herself and not letting people in (until she does). He is so used to taking care of everyone that he sometimes doesn’t know when to step back (until he does).

This is perfect for fans of:
♟️Chess
♟️Second chance romance
♟️Childhood friends to lovers
♟️Friends to strangers to lovers
♟️Dual POV
♟️Amazing side characters
♟️Strong female main character

I also absolutely loved listening to the audio. Most mornings I didn’t mind getting stuck in a little extra traffic in order to listen for longer. I’m always a sucker for dual narration.

Bold Moves is out now through KU or in paperback or audio.

A very special thank you to NetGalley Montlake, Brilliance Audio, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Barry knows how to write an achy book was my main takeaway from this one though that's something I have known for years. It's funny, I'm writing this review last of all of the second chance romance ARCs I read in a row and it's absolutely the one where the second chance is most central to the plot and the best executed. You can FEEL the years between the FMC and MMC and then you can feel the years falling away. It's a gift.

<i>Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.</i>

There are second chance romances and then there’s Bold Moves, Emma Barry’s latest book, which takes the second chance romance trope and injects it with so much angst and heartache that at a certain point, I was concerned just how the two MCs would make their way back to each other. But fear not, dear readers, this is after all a romance novel and one of the best parts of our much beloved genre is in the knowledge that no matter how rocky the journey might be, a HEA is always guaranteed.

The book is smartly broken up into three parts: opening moves, the middlegame, and the endgame, made even more clever by the fact that these terms also refer to the three stages of a chess match.

Jaime, the golden boy eldest son of a well-respected family, and Scarlett, a brilliant chess player born to a struggling single mother, had a torrid romance in high school. In fact, I don’t think Scarlett would agree with my usage of the term “romance” since she was always very careful to play it cool, refusing to put any labels on what they were. No dates, no public displays of affection, no going to prom together. But their chemistry was undeniable, and their flame burned hot…and then it burned out in spectacular fashion when Jaime’s doctor father was arrested and charged with some pretty serious crimes and subsequently sent to prison and Scarlett skipped town to follow her chess dreams, leaving Jaime to handle his family’s fallout all on his own.

Cut to the present day when this book begins with its opening moves and Jaime, now a well-respected television director and Scarlett, a famous grandmaster in chess (seriously, she’s so famous in the world of chess, she did a spread for Vogue) put eyes on each other for the first time in seventeen years. Scarlett has written her memoir, a hugely successful bestseller, and Jaime is desperate for her to let him adapt it for television.

The first part of the book involves Jaime and Scarlett refamiliarizing themselves with each other while working together in close confines back in their old hometown in Appalachia to write the scripts for the adaptation of her memoir. While they dance around each other, much like pawns on a chessboard (I promise this will be my only chess related line in this review as I don’t know much at all about the game), the spector of what drove them apart looms in the background. The two rekindle their affair and Jaime wants more but Scarlett knows it can’t ever happen because she has a very big secret. I won’t spoil this secret, but she divulges it in the final chapter of opening moves, almost a preemptive strike to show why they could never have a future together and Jaime is furious and unable to handle it. Without spoiling the secret, I just want to say this is a very big deal, and one of the reasons that this second chance romance works so well is because there are legitimate things in their past that pose emotional roadblocks for them both.

In the middlegame, the story picks up 9 months after Scarlett dropped her truth bomb, when the two are forced to reunite to actually film the show. Jaime is still reeling from Scarlett’s big reveal and Scarlett is unapologetic about her actions and I have to say, I kind of love that. Scarlett refuses to apologize because at the end of the day, she did the right thing, the ONLY thing she could have done and even though that right thing had rippling consequences, her choices were correct and also partly motivated by her desire to protect Jaime. Understandably, Jaime doesn’t see it that way (when I say understandably, I don’t necessarily mean that I agree with Jaime’s stance but that I can see why HE might feel the way he does) and their reunion is rocky.

Part of their ongoing conflict is due to the fact that Scarlett, who has never really had anyone to rely on before, doesn’t know how to let anyone in, emotionally. Despite the difficulties in their relationship, Jaime is drawn to Scarlett like a moth to a flame and the two once again resume their affair, this time in the midst of filming a tv show that’s basically about Scarlett’s life. But this time, Jaime holds no delusions about their future, certain that this affair is a limited time deal, here for a good time but not a long time.

I often complain about the pacing in the current crop of contemporary romances but Emma Barry handles this so deftly because each part of the book comes with months long gaps in between so that it’s well over a year from start to finish. By the conclusion of the middlegame, it’s Jaime pulling back, unconvinced that Scarlett can truly give him the kind of emotional intimacy he wants in a relationship.

It’s such a beautiful and tightly plotted book and the character development is phenomenal. I started the book thinking that these two were such diametrically different people, with Scarlett a loner who doesn’t ever rely on people and is fiercely independent, and Jaime, the eldest son, the responsible one who wants to take care of everyone in his orbit. But the realization sets in at some point in the middlegame, that these two actually have more in common that either of them could even acknowledge. They are both independent and reluctant to lean on others. Jaime might accuse Scarlett of not letting anyone in emotionally, but the actions of his father some seventeen years ago has caused him to pull back as well, as if he needs to atone for the sins of his father.

This emotional landmine leads us to the finale of the book, the endgame, where Jaime must grapple with his own behavior towards Scarlett and sets about asking those closest to him that age old question of our time: AM I THE ASSHOLE? Unanimously, the response is: “dude, YES, OBVIOUSLY” leading Jaime to finally realize that ultimately, how you feel about a situation is not necessarily the actual truth of the situation.

This review is already too long, so I don’t want to say much more than this: the way this book is laid out, from the characters arcs to the plot points does feel, in its own way, like a tightly crafted, well played chess game. Again, this is from someone who barely knows how each of the pieces on a chess board are supposed to move but regardless, I was thoroughly entertained and riveted and on the edge of my seat to see just how this second chance romance would play out.

Bold Moves is a second chance romance about two characters coming together to work on a project, but they have to work through their past and present emotional issues before they can become something again. In this book, I really enjoyed the development of the characters. Jaime and Scarlett have been through a lot, both together and apart, and that shows up on the page in their interactions and event the way they behave with other people. I enjoyed how as Scarlett returned to Musgrove, the town became it's own character. Emma Barry is such a talented writer, and I'm excited for her next book.

I'd recommend this book to people who like their romance with deep character insights and emotional relationship development.

Content notes: reference to the opioid crisis

Dear Emma Barry,

I played a (very) little chess as a teen, so I know how the pieces move but I have never watched a match played by others. Even so, I was happy to dive into the world of competitive chess in Bold Moves. Scarlett Arbuthnot is one of the top female chess players in the world and has been fighting against the establishment and the gender segregation of the sport for years, with limited success. She grew up in Appalachia, daughter to a single mother. They moved around a lot and didn’t have much. Chess was Scarlett’s way out of poverty.

She moved to Musgrove after her junior year and went to the local high school where she met Jaime Croft. He was the high school golden boy, moneyed, gorgeous, talented.

Scarlett is and always was, prickly and defensive.

Scarlett only had herself and her smart mouth, and so she had to wield both like weapons. If she didn’t, she might fall into the trap of imagining that she was defenseless.

She didn’t want to “date” Jaime. He didn’t want her to be a dirty little secret but he’d take what he could get. It didn’t stop him inviting his “friend” over for dinner and he was never ashamed to be seen with her but Scarlett drew boundaries he had to respect. Jaime was deeply in love and completely wrecked for her. He used his influence to get a school chess club started and funded so that she could begin to live her dream.

Shortly after Jaime graduated from high school, his wealthy, respected, doctor father was arrested and later gaoled, for trafficking oxycodone and Jaime’s life was thrown into turmoil. His mother didn’t quite know how to cope and his younger sister needed support. Scarlett was off to Tokyo to compete in her first international tournament. Jaime needed to stay behind to look after his family. Scarlett, for her part, loved Jaime deeply (still does) but couldn’t see a way forward for them.

Now, 17 years later, Jaime is a successful documentary/film-maker, having made an Emmy-nominated documentary about his father and the impact of what he did on the community around them. Given a virtually unlimited budget from “Videon” he approaches Scarlett to make a series about her autobiography, Queen’s Kiss. To date, Scarlett has resisted any and all efforts to adapt her memoir for the screen. But Jaime… well, he’s different.

Both Jaime and Scarlett bear scars from their earlier relationship. Jaime doesn’t understand exactly what went wrong between them and and Scarlett has a secret (which is not too hard to figure out, or at least get within the vicinity of for readers) which she is sure will change everything if Jamie knows.

The deal they make though is that they will write the script together and because reasons, this happens in Musgrove. They live together in Jaime’s house while they’re writing and over the course of the weeks they’re working so closely together, the connection between them only grows. They’re like magnets, always drawing each other closer and it’s only a matter of time before the pull between them is too great.

Even though it looks from the outside that Scarlett is the difficult one in the relationship (and it’s not untrue), Jaime has his own demons to deal with. He has built his life, since his father’s arrest, on competence. On looking after everyone else and protecting everyone else. He even helps in Musgrove, trying to make amends in some way for his father’s sins. He runs a local support group for families of incarcerated persons. He visits his dad regularly. His dad, who will likely never leave prison. Not alive anyway.

Jaime knew he’d made his own mistakes in not realizing what his father had been up to, not being able to stop all that harm. That was exactly why he always strove to be competent and in control. He never wanted to miss anything that important ever again. He had no excuse for being ignorant now.

Jaime! You were just a kid!! Give yourself a break!

But Jaime doesn’t really give himself a break. He holds himself to an incredibly high standard and he tends to have tunnel vision about certain things.

So, when that secret Scarlett was keeping comes out, he reacts badly.

The story then skips ahead some months until filming of Queen’s Kiss the series is to begin. Scarlett is the chess expert on set and is also an executive producer. So they have to be in each other’s space all the time again.

I don’t want to give away too much because spoilers, but there is another time jump after filming to when the show is to air. That was my disconnect with the story; so much time in between each act. In terms of page time, there was no gap at all – the story focused on when they were together or about to be. But I kind of hated that they were apart for so long, more than once, marinating in angst and being unhappy and/or angry with one another and pining.

Somehow, he was going to have to make those four months on set enough to last a lifetime. Maybe he could find a way to snip up the way she made him feel and sew it together into a quilt, one he could huddle under when she left and the nights were cold again.

It felt a little disjointed to me too, even though I understood the why of it in the narrative.

Scarlett learns to let people in – something which Jaime says is his biggest issue with her (but is it really Jaime? Or, is it more about you?) and Jaime takes far too long to get the stick out of his butt over things and understand why Scarlett did what she did and to let Scarlett protect him sometimes rather than him being the one always in charge. Yes, he was mostly lying to himself but I was surprised as his own lack of insight, all things considered.

There is a rich subtext to why they each do what they do and how they feel about one another and a melancholy to the overall tone of the story. In many ways it’s a story of missed opportunities and “what ifs” as much as a story of a couple destined to be together finally getting it right.

As I’ve come to expect from this author, the writing is very good, with strong word play and tight allusions. I especially liked this one which was apt on a number of levels:

Them together forever wasn’t some absurd sci-fi thought, like a functional Congress or a natural deodorant that worked as advertised. It could happen.

It could totally happen.

Bold Moves was set in the world of chess but readers don’t need to know the game to understand the story. There’s chess in the book but it is completely accessible. I had the sense that the documentary making/film-making part was realistic also and I appreciated the sensitivity the author had about the opioid crisis and the damage of it. While it wasn’t my favourite of all of the Emma Barry books I’ve read, it was a solidly enjoyable book and one which, thinking about it later, has even more layers to it than might initially meet the eye.

Grade: B

Regards,
Kaetrin