LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
April 2023 Debut of the Month
Both instantly engaging and finely nuanced, The First Move is a YA romance with real-life resonance and uplifting vibes. Always honest on the realities of living with a long-term condition and mental health struggles, it’s also happy-making, wholesome, and a whole lot of fun, with well-developed characters readers will root for and relate to.
With the support of her loving family, soon-to-be-eighteen-year-old Juliet is getting to grips with her arthritis. That said, she tends to take a back seat when it comes to socialising with her schoolmates, often opting to stay home to play chess online rather than be singled out at parties as the “girl with crutches”.
Meanwhile, new boy Ronan (“all cheek bones, blue eyes and floppy hair”) is struggling to come to terms with what happened to his tipped-for-Cambridge older brother. Like Juliet, he takes solace in playing chess on an online forum. Little do they know (to begin with, at least) that the flirtatious friendships they’ve struck up with online chess-mates could become a real-life romance…
With a thrilling will-they-won’t-they rollercoaster ride of a plot revealing their respective struggles through a compelling dual narrative, The First Move is that story that’ll move readers while putting great big grins on their faces.
Joanne Owen
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About
The First Move Synopsis
Juliet believes girls like her - girls with arthritis - don't get their own love stories. She exists at the edges of her friends' social lives, skipping parties to play online chess under a pseudonym with strangers around the world. There, she isn't just 'the girl with crutches'.
Ronan is the new kid: good looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother Ciaran. Chesslife is his escape.
Juliet thinks Ronan thinks someone like Ronan could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn't want him to be anyway - he always acts like he's cooler than everyone else.
Little do they know they've already discovered each other online, and have more in common than they think . . .
The First Move is an uplifting and inclusive own-voice YA romance debut. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Alice Oseman and Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780241591826 |
| Publication date: |
13th April 2023 |
| Author: |
Jenny Ireland |
| Publisher: |
Penguin Books Ltd an imprint of Penguin Random House Children's UK |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
448 pages |
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Author
About Jenny Ireland
Jenny Ireland is a Young Adult writer who lives outside Belfast with her husband, two children and border collie. She is a Law and French Law graduate and former paralegal.
In 2019 she underwent emergency brain surgery. While this experience was relatively traumatic, the close encounter with death has given her the gift of seeing what truly matters in life. Writing books.
Find her on Instagram @jennydreamsofnarnia
More About Jenny Ireland
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Author Jenny Ireland was part of the Penguin Random House WriteNow programme and drew on her own lived experience of having a disability whilst writing the character of Juliet.
Jenny was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of twenty-three and wrote her main character Juliet with the same diagnosis. Jenny is passionate about the need for more disability representation, especially in children’s literature, and writing relatable, multi-faceted characters that are reflective of the world we live in.
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