As a lover of chess I definetively loved this book, specially what I loved most was female representation. Scarlett hook me in because, as I read more and grow, I definetively relate more to characters who are grey in how they navigate life and I'm so hyped up how there are more authors who write this flawed characters with so comolex backgrounds. And also I loved that this comolez characters dynamics have HEAs for themselves.
Totally recommend this book to anyone who knows chess and who doesn't know it at all because Emma really did writed in an engaged and easy way.

I have loved Emma Barry’s writing since I first read the Fly Me to the Moon series she wrote with Genevieve Turner starting back in 2015. I just vibe with her writing. All of her characters are complex, fabulously messy and complicated, but her female characters have tended to be a little more emotionally mature than their love interest. With Bold Moves she has given us Scarlett, who is unapologetically and strategically difficult. I love Scarlett so much. So. Much! And so does Jaime, but before he can be with her, he needs to dig his hole so deep that he finally realizes that he is the source of his own problems. This second chance romance is so good we get a third chance romance too.

The first thing we learn about Scarlett is that the doorman at her building thinks she’s, “one of those femme fatales.” Scarlett grew up poor, moving around a lot with a mother who was more focused on herself than Scarlett. Chess became Scarlett’s way out and she is mad about it. She is mad that she has to be extraordinary just to get a foot in the door and even then, the chess elite don’t want her to succeed. Scarlett has made herself into a legendary wrecking ball and very few people see that her chaos is actually strategically aimed at destroying the systems that keep people out. She wrote a bestselling book about her life in chess, which has not endeared her to the people in power.

Jamie Croft is one of the rare people who see her. They were in a complicated situationship in high school, made messier when Scarlett turned Jamie’s father in for, essentially, dealing opioids. After holding his family together, he made a docuseries exploring the opioid crisis in Appalachia, and his father’s role in it. Now he wants to adapt Scarlett’s memoir. She agrees with conditions, conditions that force them to work together closely. Jamie thinks he’s so mature and in control now. He gets his ass handed to him and watching him realize he did it to himself was chef’s kiss.

All the things that drew them together as teen flare to life in a messy and passionate glory. It was such a joy to read, I loved the ways they came together and drove each other away. They work through a lot of their messy past and learn each other as adults. As with many romance main characters, Scarlett and Jamie have to figure out how to get out of their own way. Sometimes this can be frustrating, but here I delighted every time they made their own lives harder. Both of them, but especially Jaime, kept digging holes to avoid confronting themselves. And good for them, because they hit the bottom and realized that the good isn’t in being flawless and limitless, the good is in being flawed and limited together.

Scarlett, in true Emma Barry fashion, is still a touch more together than Jaime, even though she’s an agent of chaos. I really loved Bold Moves.

I received this as an advance reader copy from Montlake and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.

Bold Moves by Emma Barry

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3/5

Even though I personally don’t play chess, I am always so excited to read books about the game. I find the sport fascinating, and the structure surrounding it intriguing. I honestly was hoping for a little more of the chess world in Bold Moves, but it felt like we just kind of danced around it the entire time. Not to say it was bad, but I just wanted more!

Scarlett Arbuthnot is one of only a handful of female chess grandmasters on the planet, and she scratched and clawed her way to get there. Now, she’s written a memoir detailing her experience with the misogyny and sexism in the chess world, a memoir she is quite protective of. She won’t trust just any old filmmaker to adapt it either, but when Jaime Croft, her high school sweetheart, shows up in the lobby of her building with high hopes and a blank check, Scarlett decides to take him up on the offer … but only if she can co-write and co-produce the show right alongside him. However, Jaime has stipulations, too. He wants to write the show in Musgrove, Virginia, their hometown and where they fell in love as kids. But unbeknownst to Jaime, Scarlett has carried around a secret for the last 17 years that will shake his foundation to the core.

I was really enjoying this book in the beginning. It had promise and kept me hooked to see what was going to happen next. The tension and chemistry was there and strong. Then, it started to get a little repetitive. It felt like Jaime and Scarlett were just a pendulum swinging back and forth, taking turns hurting each other. I hate a third act breakup, but that would have required them to work out their issues and even be together in any sort of meaningful way in the first place, which they never were. It felt very superficial and lust-fueled, even though you could definitely tell they were in love with each other the whole time.

I really wanted more chess in this. I wanted to see Scarlett take on the misogyny in a game, not just read about it. We don’t get that until the very end. I think it would have added so much more depth and dynamic to her character that was lacking. She comes off very egotistical and arrogant and not as intelligent as I imagined her to be. I get why she painted herself that way, but did she have to act that way with Jaime, too?

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It would be great for fans of The Queen’s Gambit or Ali Hazelwood’s Check & Mate.

Thank you to NetGalley, Emma Barry, and Montlake for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions stated are my own.

I had really high hopes for this one! I always love a second chance romance and was super intrigued that our FMC, Scarlett, is a chess grand master. How cool! The book begins when Scarlett reconnects with her high school ex, Jamie, as he adapts her successful memoir for the screen. I liked how emotional their backstory was and I thought the glimpses we got of their younger years added a lot of depth to the characters. While there was definitely physical chemistry, I’m not sure I 100% bought into their emotional connection, especially in the end. That said, I was rooting for them the whole time! It was a unique story and I enjoyed it!

With second chances being my bread and butter, I couldn't wait to see what Emma Barry was going to bring us in Bold Moves. The whole promise of a fierce grandmaster FMC teaming up with the love of her past to adapt her memoir to a tv show. I really loved the first half of the book and just seeing everything unwind between them. Naturally, there's no doubt that something is still simmering between them, but there's definitely something that needed to be said.

They have a lot to work through individually and together as well. And I did struggle with Scarlett's character a little because at time it just came off as my way or the highway. I totally understand that because of her upbringing, but it brought in this new element that I haven't quite read about. However, it's something she recognizes and wants to work on in the future.

With Jaime's hang-ups, while I understood his decisions, it really brought in the angst a bit.

I feel like this book won't work for everyone because you're getting a dynamic that you don't always see in romance. For me, it was fresh, and it had me looking at both sides very deeply. There was more push and pull than I would have liked, but overall, I really enjoyed this one!

Bold Moves is an emotionally gritty second chance love story between two high school lovers that were destined to orbit one another and eventually collide with an explosive impact.

Jaime and Scarlett had amazing chemistry and energy from the moment they met their junior year of high school. However, it wasn’t enough to build a relationship. Scarlett grew up poor, with a single mom who was more friend than parent, so at an early age, she learned to be independent and rely on no one. Jaime lived a life of comfort with his respected and stable family and large home. Her dreams to become a world-class chess player took her out of Muskgrove as soon as she graduated, leaving Jaime behind to pick up the pieces of his heart while holding his family together after his father was sent to prison for dealing opioids.

Fast forward seventeen years and Jaime is an award winning television show producer, his first series a docu-drama about his father’s arrest. Scarlett is a celebrity, taking the chess world by storm, with her recent autobiography a huge success. After denying all others the right to adapt her book, she agrees to work with Jaime, selling him and his studio the rights to her book, Queen’s Kiss.

Jaime and Scarlett’s romance takes place over the course of years, with fits and stops along the way. They never deny their bond which draws them together regardless of drama, time, and emotional well-being. Both feel better when they are with the other, but there is always something that blocks them from a true emotional connection. First, it’s Scarlett’s need to leave Muskgrove. Then it’s a huge secret that Scarlett has held on to for seventeen years. And then it’s Jaime’s pride and need to be the fixer. The couple ebb and flow, at times a trickle and others the rush of Niagara Falls.

Bold Moves was tougher on me than the author’s previous titles. But I am such a sucker for emotional second chances. And honestly, if I didn’t know and trust Barry as a romance author, I would have been worried for the ending. There just seemed to be so many obstacles keeping the pair from finding their HEA. Both have baggage that they need to unpack. For years, the chip on Scarlett’s shoulder kept her from letting anyone in; she holds any potential friends at arms length, believing they wouldn’t want to know the “real” Scarlett. But also, she doesn’t want to be vulnerable and exposed. She views life as a challenge to overcome.

Meanwhile, Jaime is driven to take care of his broken family and fix problems. He needs to be in control and sees the world sometimes as black and white. When her learns Scarlett’s secret, he’s not hurt so much by what she did as that she didn’t give him the chance to participate in making a decision that impacted his life, as well as mad at himself for not seeing what was happening in his own home.

It takes time and work to bring these two to their HEA. Scarlett learns to trust others and that life is better, richer when she’s not going it alone. And really, that’s what Jaime learns… he doesn’t need to be the one fixing everyone/thing. I have to admit, I was a little mad on behalf of Jaime that no one took “his side.” While he needed to figure it out his feelings and grow from the experiences, I do wish someone had told him, you have the right to be angry… and then get over it.

Bold Moves is gripping, emotional, and ultimately rewarding. My heart broke when either Jaime or Scarlett would bare their soul, only to be ignored or turned away. It’s an up and down journey that needs the time to blossom into an HEA, and it’s a journey worth taking along side the pair.

My Rating: B

This is a second chance romance trope with heavy themes of the inner world of professional chess and film making. I really enjoyed learning about chess (previously knew nothing), and the romance is hot and steamy. I would read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing the ARC.

This book was kind of a dumpster fire, to be honest.

This is a second chance romance featuring Scarlett, a chess grandmaster with a chip on her shoulder and an independent streak a mile wide, and Jaime, the up-and-coming filmmaker who wants to adapt her biography into a television series. These two were formerly together in high school, although it's really unclear as to why they were and why that particular relationship ended up being the one thing they both hold onto well into their 30s.

Over the course of the book, you learn a bit more about what their relationship was like, and more about the characters themselves. I found Scarlett to be infuriating most of the time. There's independence and there's outright refusal to let someone into your life. And unfortunately, Scarlett falls into the latter. Her attitude is catty and mean, she says things she knows will wound, and I genuinely found her incredibly unlikeable.

Jaime isn't much better. He operates through life with these optimistic rose-colorer glasses on, and his naivete gets him into trouble. He and Scarlett butt heads, especially when it comes to her decision making, as he wants to be included. But he came off as very immature, which is not an attractive quality for men in their 30s.

One of the best things about second chance romances is the yearning that comes from being in close proximity to each other. This book had none of that. It made it difficult to see how and why Jaime and Scarlett rekindled their relationship, or even why they wanted to date each other in the first place.

Not my favorite book.

Jaime Croft has an open checkbook from Videon after the original docuseries he wrote and produced received multiple Emmy nominations. There’s only one story Jaime is dying to tell: the story of chess phenom Scarlett Arbuthnot. Scarlett’s memoir, Queen’s Kiss, was a runaway bestseller and Jaime is dying to adapt it. The only problem is, Scarlett and Jamie have a past that neither of them wants to revisit.

This angsty second chance romance hit all of the right notes for me! I couldn’t put it down. The chemistry between Jaime and Scarlett was palpable from the moment they first reunited in Scarlett’s lobby.

It was interesting to watch these two struggle with their feelings while they worked in extremely close proximity to write the episodes for the Queen’s Kiss adaptation. Jamie’s affection for Scarlett was always close to the surface, but Scarlett was harder to read. Once Scarlett revealed the real reason she left Jamie behind seventeen years prior, my heart broke for both of them.

Part of their third act frustrated me a bit, because they both acted immature at times. I did love the ending, though, and how Jaime showed up for Scarlett and helped show her that she could need people.

This book had some emotional moments and the second-chance story really pulled me in at first. I liked that the characters had real struggles and didn’t always have the answers. The chess setting was interesting and added a unique layer. But overall, I found the relationship between Scarlett and Jaime frustrating. They felt more toxic than romantic, and their constant drama made it hard to root for them. I also expected more about the chess world, especially since it was a big part of Scarlett’s life. It had potential, but I wanted more depth and less chaos.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it had that second-chance romance and was engaged with the world. The overall feel worked with this universe and was hooked from the first page and thought the overall element worked for the characters. Emma Barry has a strong writing style and was engaged with what was going on and enjoyed the realistic romance overall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to lie, when I first saw this ARC on NetGalley, I was on the fence about requesting it. For some reason, I kept getting pulled back to it time and time again, and so I bit the bullet and requested it. However, the more I continued reading, the more I realized that the only "bold move" I could've made was to not read it. I love a good second-chance romance. I love the pining, the tension, the memories, the unspoken feelings, and everything that was left unsaid between the two MCs. In Bold Moves, though, I think this was one of those scenarios where an ex should stay an ex for a reason.

Scarlett Arbutnot's at the top of her (chess) game. She's breaking the glass ceiling in the chess world as she tries to make a name for herself and advocate for more diversity in the game to include more women and the LGBTQIA+ community, all while doing it on her own, because the top of a lonely place. As a proverbial middle finger to the organization that runs the chess competition world, she comes out with a biography. When her old high school fling, Jaime Croft, reaches out to her with an opportunity to turn her biography into a TV series, she gives him the green light. As they spend months together working on scripts, filming, and everything else in between, old memories and feelings spark between the two. What could possibly go wrong?

For two people who are in their thirties, Scarlett and Jaime were PAINFULLY immature. They both need to do A LOT of growing up before they can figure out what they want in a romantic relationship. I'm a big believer in "You have to work on yourself and love yourself before you can give that love to someone else" and Scarlett and Jaime both needed to do that. Scarlett had to learn how to do life on her own at times, which made her independent--we love an independent woman!--but Jaime just didn't like that he couldn't be a part of her decision-making process at times, and he couldn't stand not feeling included in things. On the other hand, Jaime also lashed out at Scarlett many times throughout the story for making some of the decisions she did, and to be completely honest, Scarlett was 100% justified in making those decisions, in my opinion. (I can't say more without spoiling anything, but that's all I'll say on the matter.)

Their relationship was so toxic and unhealthy and I don't mean that in a "Kat and Heath from The Favorites" type of toxic, like the kind of toxic you can't tear your eyes away from. It was the kind of toxic vibe you get from that one couple you know in your life who constantly break up and get back together and you just go, "...bruh, WHY?!" There was no deeper connection between them beyond physical and sexual attraction and it's painfully obvious throughout the entire book AND both of their POVs. There was not a single moment throughout the eARC where I felt like they were in love and they deserved to be together.

I also thought we'd get more information about the chess world and Scarlett's thought process that goes behind how she prepares for a chess match, what goes through her head when she's in a game, and anything else related to the chess world, but we didn't get much and that disappointed me. She wrote an entire biography about her life and included details about her most important matches, but we barely hear about any of them besides maybe two or three of them.

Overall, this book didn't make the "bold move" of impressing me. It just wasn't for me and it didn't meet my expectations. Hopefully, someone else will read this book and enjoy it--it seems like a lot of people did if the current rating is sitting at 3.71 stars at the time of writing this review--but this just wasn't what I expected.

Emma Barry’s Bold Moves starts with an interesting setup. A chess grandmaster and her high school ex reunite after 17 years to adapt her memoir into a TV series. Scarlett is sharp and ambitious. Jaime is creative and nursing an old heartbreak. Their chemistry is evident, and I really enjoyed that the book takes place over a year, a much longer timeframe than I usually see in romances.. The romance fell short for me because Scarlett and Jaime fall into a frustrating cycle of miscommunication. Their dynamic often feels more strained than romantic.

Seventeen years after breaking up, Scarlett, a world champion chess player, and her high school
boyfriend, Jamie, a filmmaker, meet again. Jaime shows up wanting to turn Scarlett’s memoir into a movie and she decides he might be the right person to do it.
On one condition - she wants to help write it.

The rest of the book follows the two as they create a television adaptation of the book. In doing so, they’re forced to evaluate past decisions and decide if they should continue to be together in the future.

The two MCs had some great moments, however, I really didn’t think these they should have ended up together. It seemed their realizations to forgive one another came seemingly out of thin air (more so on his side, he would have benefited from therapy). I also don’t understand anything about chess so those parts of the book were difficult to attend to and definitely slowed the pacing down.

Even though the story itself wasn’t my favorite, I enjoyed the writing. I generally prefer historicals over contemporaries, but Barry’s writing really kept me going. It was very grounded and not too cheesy. I really look forward to the other books by this author that friends have suggested and will continue to read more.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced eARC.

I’ve enjoyed Emma Barry’s books in the past, but this one failed on the execution to me. It had major plotting and pacing issues, as well as an over reliance on metaphors that made me want to do a shot every time one of them thought of a new analogy for their connection. (Some spoilers included below)

First, it started with a backstory dump, and I vastly prefer when a second chance romance starts you in the middle and then strategically reveals information. And there’s this “big secret” that is somehow supposed to be hidden, but it is immediately easy to guess. I disliked having the obvious dangled but not confirmed, so we’re waiting for the reveal like it’s a mystery but it’s not.

When they holed up together to write the scripts for her memoir adaptation, it should’ve been the forced proximity that is romance catnip. But once they’re in his house together it’s like a play, all just conversations in a room. It would’ve been smarter to give us flashbacks to moments from their past instead of us constantly in their thoughts while they rehash it. It contributed to a pacing issue in that I wanted more scenes of them connecting in the present instead of constantly angsting about the past or telling us about their chemistry but not showing it. There needs to be more to their current relationship than just their past relationship. I should’ve felt this slow burn of tension toward the moment they finally kiss, with hand brushes and near misses, but we don’t get those. It’s not palpable and it’s been burning at the same heat the whole time since they arrive, it doesn’t build. It’s described as a collision course and a riptide but it’s not.

Then there were these tonally off moments that the book isn’t self aware about and so doesn’t address. When Jaime is nervous about Scarlett’s offer to strip when they play chess, he makes a slut shaming comment about a photo shoot she did that erases the vast difference between public and private, the central importance of intention and emotion and vulnerability. And Scarlett just doesn’t react. It made it seem like Barry just intended it to be an inept attempt at banter.

In terms of tonal dissonance, this brings me to the character of Scarlett. I did a lot of soul searching because I love a prickly “unlikable” heroine but I just couldn’t get on board with her. First, I hate when people are mean or play confusing games because they’re scared of intimacy. I don’t like when one mc’s self doubt makes them act in ways that play on the other mc’s self doubt. I need better characterization or more interior monologue that’s not just a series of metaphors for emotion or connection, otherwise I can’t accept that she’s doing this. I think where this book truly lost me is when Scarlett decides to sleep with Jaime before telling him the big secret that directly involves him and why their relationship ended all those years ago.

Yes he reacts poorly to the revelation, and yes he was is ass. But the book acts like her poor timing is nothing. She has spent weeks resisting being honest with every fiber of her being, and then chooses to drop the truth bomb after they’d been having sex, when she’s walking out the door. On the one hand, Barry does give us nuance for Jaime in terms of showing the stages of his emotions and reaction, but ahe doesn’t seem to believe that he has a right to at least some of that reaction. I definitely think he does, both because she should have told him before they re-established intimacy and because it’s understandably triggering news and re-opens real trauma for him.

Honestly Scarlett blindsided him twice, the second time when she shows up at his door at the end of filming like, I’m going to give you whiplash with my emotional confession once again!. She continually gets to dictate the terms of their emotional intimacy, and then he’s framed as responsible as if he hurt her intentionally. She spends the beginning of the book being cagey and gaslighting him about her feelings, but then with these big reveals we’re supposed to view her as this pillar of honesty and vulnerable risk taking. I couldn’t get there.

I wish the story were that Scarlett found Jaime to adapt her memoir, all the time wanting to tell him but not knowing how. As opposed to how we get it which is that he makes all the steps, seems her out, while she dreads telling the truth only to blurt it out.

I also need to say something about Barry’s random description of Jaime’s sister’s mural. The book seems to use the mural as shorthand for who she is (if it’s meant as broader commentary on Appalachia there’s no where near enough there to make that argument). I felt weird about it because it’s a mural filled with marginalized people but it’s like it’s there to give her character street cred, shorthand for Ev being a good person. Also purely aesthetically, Barry doesn’t have Victoria Lee or Regina Black’s gift for describing art in a compelling way.

Now all of this said, I want to highlight that there were some very lovely observations and turns of phrase in this book. I loved how Jaime thinks about his relationship to his father and his crime. I loved when he goes to Scarlett for comfort and thinks, “Can you be with me in my pain and, by your simple presence, comfort me?” I loved the handling of their big reunion at the end— Jaime shows up at her chess game but doesn’t distract her focus, and then he has her friends warn her so she’s not blindsided (even though that’s what she does to him!) And I loved her logic for forgiving him and not making him do more to convince her. Their tension-filled sex scenes during filming were super duper hot. And when I read about Scarlett’s DEI chess camp at the end, I wrote in my kindle notes, “a balm during these dystopian times.” I also loved Nate, Jaime’s partner and best friend. He is a delight and I would read the crap out of his book.

1.5 stars
I tend to avoid romantic books as I know they aren’t my thing, but I felt intrigued by this one with its Queen’s Gambit comparisons and the ambiance of the cover. However, I felt the story itself very boring, for lack of a better word.
The story begins with Scarlett, a chess champion who has just published her best selling memoir, being found by her high school ex, Jamie - an award winning TV writer - who wants to adapt her book into a series. After some moral hemming and hawing, Scarlett agrees under the condition she co-writes. The two go back home to the town they grew up in and hole up in Jamie’s home to write the series together…and work through their lingering feelings.
Where the book falls flat for me is in its characterizations. Both our main characters feel more like vessels for words than people. In their chapters, each grapples with their feelings for the other and reminisces, but the things and quirks they claim to love never seem to be true of the other character. At first I thought it might be a clever writing trick - when you’re in love, you see what you want to see - but the further into the story I got, the more it became clear that this wasn’t the case.
While it’s a fun concept, that feels like all it is. With more in-depth characters, and perhaps even more engaging writing, the story could soar.
Thank you NetGalley & Publisher for the advanced digital copy.
My review will be published on Instagram closer to the book’s release date.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's possible that this author just isn't for me. When I first saw this story - second chance, chess, yearning - it seemed right up my alley and I was excited to dive in. As I started to read, continued to read, forced myself to read, and finally read the book, it was painfully clear this was not up my alley or even in my neighborhood.

Jamie and Scarlett are high school exes (were they even together?) who are reconnecting when Jamie options Scarlett's memoir for production. I was unclear about where their original "relationship" came from or why they were even together then, outside of hormones, and their attraction never seemed to permeate beyond physical. The intellectual piece seemed more admiration than true compatibility. I read the whole book and I STILL can't tell you why the HS relationship was so meaningful to the other.

For characters in their 30s, they are incredibly immature, have zero communication skills, and are so heavily steeped in metaphor it's not clear how they can even see straight.

There were some admittedly very good lines that I highlighted, but there were so. many. metaphors. So many. Too many. Jamie wasn't so much a simp as a pathetic redundancy of wanting Scarlett (though I don't know why) and Scarlett consistently pushing him away (for no clear reason). When the characters ARE finally together, it's either brief or in the epilogue, but that is where they shine and make more sense. I wish we would've gotten to see more from them.

This book, sadly, isn't for me. People seem to like it though, so it might be your thing.

A steamy second chance romance that reignites an old flame of two exes who come together to work. Timing is everything and this book shows that distance can make the heart grow fonder.

There's something about Emma Barry's writing style that can be hit or miss for me, or at least, doesn't hit 100% . I loved the chess aspect, and I am always here for a black cat heroine.

A second chance romance between a chess champion and a documentary maker - I felt like the author was being ambitious with this premise but despite some pacing issues in the middle, Barry does pull it off.

Scarlett and Jamie are just a couple of small-town high school kids happily banging their hearts out until two things happen - Jamie's doctor dad is arrested for serious crimes and Scarlett decides to cut things off to pursue her chess career. Years later, they still think about each other but when Jamie decides to ask if he can adapt Scarlett's memoir into a TV series he tells himself its because it's such a great project. Seeing and working with her again has NOTHING to do with it of course...

The chemistry between these two in this story is insane. Their relationship is a roller-coaster (and let me tell you, the reader has to brace themselves for some hurt) but the sheer enduring attraction between them lasts through many tests and I felt this was the key to pulling off the second chance romance plot. There's forced proximity with lots of loving and fighting in his rural cabin while they're co-writing the script, then cold arms-length professionalism when months later they have to film the thing.

I was blown away by the fact this book has not one, not two but THREE breakups. I felt that was a little overkill, particularly because the last two (which are on-page, the first being in the past) happen because despite literally years of therapy, Jamie is an emotionally stunted manbaby. And yet I couldn't entirely commit 100% to Team Scarlett because she's a manic pixie dream girl who had to learn to let people in emotionally. Suffice to say, both MCs had their problems but in the end they get it together in what is a reconciliation scene that in my personal opinion could have had a LOT more grovel.

Recommended if you like second-chance romances with a lot of angst, fighting, break-ups and make-ups. But be warned, it's a little light on the actual chess.