By Jenny Ireland (author)
"Romance, grief, mental health, living with a long-term condition - this romantic YA charmer has tremendous heart and depth"
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Shortlisted for The Branford Boase Award 2024 | Shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2024 | 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.
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'.
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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.
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
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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.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed The First Move and determined it is suitable for children aged 15-18 years old
The First Move features in the following genres: Debuts of the Month, Recommendations, PSHE: Special educational needs and disability (SEND), Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Romance / Relationship Stories, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Featured Books for Young Adults
Paperback. £8.09, down from the £8.99 cover price. In Stock.
The First Move was written by Jenny Ireland and published by Penguin Books Ltd an imprint of Penguin Random House Children's UK
The First Move has 443 pages
£8.09, reduced from £8.99. In Stock.
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