"Romance, grief, mental health, living with a long-term condition - this romantic YA charmer has tremendous heart and depth"
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.
| Primary Genre | Young Adult Fiction |
| Other Genres: | |
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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. 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 features in the following genres: Young Adult Fiction, Debuts, Romance / Relationship Stories, Children’s / Teenage fiction: Relationship stories, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Dating, relationships, romance and love, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Disability, impairments and special needs, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, Recommendations, Fiction, Children’s / Teenage personal and social topics: Relationships (non-family / groups), Children’s / Teenage: Personal and social topics
The First Move is available in Paperback
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
