The First Move by Jenny Ireland
Nov. 5th, 2023 12:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
ALONELYPAWN: Tell me something about you and I’ll tell you something about me.
PRETTYBASIC: You first.
ALONELYPAWN: This is the first time I’ve played since last year. Your turn.
PRETTYBASIC: I’m not like other girls.
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, preferring to play online chess. There, she isn’t just ‘the girl with crutches’.
Ronan is good-looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother. Chess Life is his escape.
At school, Juliet things someone like Roman could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway. His attitude stinks.
But little do they know they have more in common than they think, and everybody deserves a love story …
17-year-old Juliet goes to school in Belfast with best friends Michael and Tara. She likes teenage romance movies (even though she knows they’re not like real life int he slightest) and playing chess either with her dad or against strangers on a site called ChessLife and hates the crutches that she’s recently had to start using.
Juliet was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 12 and despite physiotherapy and regular treatment, she constantly lives with pain and the crutches can make her clumsy. As a result, she’s very self-conscious and although her mum likes nothing more than buying her new and fashionable clothes, she prefers to wear baggy outfits that hide her swollen knees and does whatever she can to avoid the attention of her classmates.
When the dark-haired, arrogant Ronan transfers to her class from a rival school Juliet knows for definite that he would never be interested in her and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway. That’s probably a good thing because Tara has decided that this is the year she’s going to lose her virginity and Ronan is the boy she wants to lose it to.
What she doesn’t know is that Ronan also likes to play chess on ChessLife and when ALONELYPAWN asks PRETTYBASIC to play a game, it isn’t long before the two discover that they have a lot in common - so much so that maybe they’re even beginning to fall in love …
Jenny Ireland’s debut YA romance has a well drawn female main character and does a great job of showing what it’s like to live with arthritis. However Juliet’s relationship with Tara interested me more than the romance with Ronan, mainly because Ronan’s backstory didn’t ring as emotionally true with his relationship with his mother in particular feeling undercooked. That said I enjoyed reading this and will happily check out Ireland’s next book.
I’ll give my usual disclaimer that although I do dip into YA romance, it’s not my favourite genre. I picked this book up because I know someone who has suffered from arthritis since their teenage years and had not come across a YA book that discussed it as a teenage condition before and having discovered that Ireland has the condition herself, was interested in seeing how she tackled it.
The book is split between Juliet and Ronan’s point of view and as a narrative device I think it works particularly well in conveying Juliet’s emotions and concerns. She comes across as someone who is torn between wanting to believe in romance but fearing that the arthritis makes her an object of pity or ridicule and how she’s self-conscious about the way it swells her knees. Equally convincing is the guilt she feels at what her condition has done to her parents, notably her mum who is a gifted artist but who is having to do other work and at the same time take her to hospital appointments but who still likes to buy Juliet fashionable clothes and shoes that Juliet feels too self-conscious to wear. I believed in Juliet’s side of the relationship that develops between her and Ronan and the way Ireland shows the difference between how she and Ronan interact in school and their on-line flirting is convincing.
Unfortunately, for me Ronan’s side of the story works less well but that’s not in terms of the romance - I actually believed in the development of his feelings for Juliet and I also believed in his empathy for Juliet’s best friend Tara. In fact, I did like the way Ireland shows how Ronan mishandles the Tara situation, knowing that she is into him but not being overly clear about where he stands. It humanises him and is something that I think a lot of teenagers (both male and female) can relate to. Where I was less convinced was in Ronan’s backstory and his relationship with his brilliant older brother Ciaran - a chess genius who teaches Ronan the game and who is all set on a bright academic future at Cambridge University. The issue for me was that it’s pretty clear very early on from the limited information provided what has happened to Ciaran so the slow reveal didn’t add a lot for me while his reaction to seeing former school mates who he blames for what happened just didn’t ring true to me. The more interesting aspect was the effect on Ronan’s mother but that isn’t really explored and it’s a shame because I think that was the more interesting element (especially given the parallels with Tara’s family life) so some more depth on why his mother is acting as she is and why Ronan can’t ask for help or handle it would have been more emotionally true for me.
The side characters of Juliet’s best friends - Tara and Michael - are well fleshed out. I was particularly interested in Tara’s storyline because the toxicity of her friendship with Juliet could have become cliched but the way Ireland humanises her makes her much more relatable. Equally I very much enjoyed the flamboyant and supportive Michael who is Juliet’s number one cheerleader even as he pursues his own romance opportunities. To be honest, if Ireland wanted to revisit either Tara or Michael in a future book then I would read it like a shot because she made me care about the pair of them.
The romance plays out with all the beats you’d expect, which is not a bad thing and if you are into this genre then I think you will enjoy how the story develops. I did think the final quarter veered towards being a little too cliche but that is very much a personal thing and again, if this is your thing then I thin you’ll enjoy it. I do want to also mention the Belfast setting for this book. To my shame, I haven’t read too many books set in Northern Ireland so it’s great to see the region used here - especially in the context of a story that doesn’t carry the religious/sectarian issues that are sadly associated with it.
All in all, I thought that this was a strong debut even though it didn’t completely do it for me. Certainly there was more than enough here for me to want to check out Ireland’s next book.
The Verdict:
Jenny Ireland’s debut YA romance has a well drawn female main character and does a great job of showing what it’s like to live with arthritis. However Juliet’s relationship with Tara interested me more than the romance with Ronan, mainly because Ronan’s backstory didn’t ring as emotionally true with his relationship with his mother in particular feeling undercooked. That said I enjoyed reading this and will happily check out Ireland’s next book.
THE FIRST MOVE was released in the United Kingdom on 13th April 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
ALONELYPAWN: Tell me something about you and I’ll tell you something about me.
PRETTYBASIC: You first.
ALONELYPAWN: This is the first time I’ve played since last year. Your turn.
PRETTYBASIC: I’m not like other girls.
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, preferring to play online chess. There, she isn’t just ‘the girl with crutches’.
Ronan is good-looking, smart, a bad boy plagued by guilt over what happened to his brother. Chess Life is his escape.
At school, Juliet things someone like Roman could never be interested in someone like her - and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway. His attitude stinks.
But little do they know they have more in common than they think, and everybody deserves a love story …
17-year-old Juliet goes to school in Belfast with best friends Michael and Tara. She likes teenage romance movies (even though she knows they’re not like real life int he slightest) and playing chess either with her dad or against strangers on a site called ChessLife and hates the crutches that she’s recently had to start using.
Juliet was diagnosed with arthritis at the age of 12 and despite physiotherapy and regular treatment, she constantly lives with pain and the crutches can make her clumsy. As a result, she’s very self-conscious and although her mum likes nothing more than buying her new and fashionable clothes, she prefers to wear baggy outfits that hide her swollen knees and does whatever she can to avoid the attention of her classmates.
When the dark-haired, arrogant Ronan transfers to her class from a rival school Juliet knows for definite that he would never be interested in her and she wouldn’t want him to be anyway. That’s probably a good thing because Tara has decided that this is the year she’s going to lose her virginity and Ronan is the boy she wants to lose it to.
What she doesn’t know is that Ronan also likes to play chess on ChessLife and when ALONELYPAWN asks PRETTYBASIC to play a game, it isn’t long before the two discover that they have a lot in common - so much so that maybe they’re even beginning to fall in love …
Jenny Ireland’s debut YA romance has a well drawn female main character and does a great job of showing what it’s like to live with arthritis. However Juliet’s relationship with Tara interested me more than the romance with Ronan, mainly because Ronan’s backstory didn’t ring as emotionally true with his relationship with his mother in particular feeling undercooked. That said I enjoyed reading this and will happily check out Ireland’s next book.
I’ll give my usual disclaimer that although I do dip into YA romance, it’s not my favourite genre. I picked this book up because I know someone who has suffered from arthritis since their teenage years and had not come across a YA book that discussed it as a teenage condition before and having discovered that Ireland has the condition herself, was interested in seeing how she tackled it.
The book is split between Juliet and Ronan’s point of view and as a narrative device I think it works particularly well in conveying Juliet’s emotions and concerns. She comes across as someone who is torn between wanting to believe in romance but fearing that the arthritis makes her an object of pity or ridicule and how she’s self-conscious about the way it swells her knees. Equally convincing is the guilt she feels at what her condition has done to her parents, notably her mum who is a gifted artist but who is having to do other work and at the same time take her to hospital appointments but who still likes to buy Juliet fashionable clothes and shoes that Juliet feels too self-conscious to wear. I believed in Juliet’s side of the relationship that develops between her and Ronan and the way Ireland shows the difference between how she and Ronan interact in school and their on-line flirting is convincing.
Unfortunately, for me Ronan’s side of the story works less well but that’s not in terms of the romance - I actually believed in the development of his feelings for Juliet and I also believed in his empathy for Juliet’s best friend Tara. In fact, I did like the way Ireland shows how Ronan mishandles the Tara situation, knowing that she is into him but not being overly clear about where he stands. It humanises him and is something that I think a lot of teenagers (both male and female) can relate to. Where I was less convinced was in Ronan’s backstory and his relationship with his brilliant older brother Ciaran - a chess genius who teaches Ronan the game and who is all set on a bright academic future at Cambridge University. The issue for me was that it’s pretty clear very early on from the limited information provided what has happened to Ciaran so the slow reveal didn’t add a lot for me while his reaction to seeing former school mates who he blames for what happened just didn’t ring true to me. The more interesting aspect was the effect on Ronan’s mother but that isn’t really explored and it’s a shame because I think that was the more interesting element (especially given the parallels with Tara’s family life) so some more depth on why his mother is acting as she is and why Ronan can’t ask for help or handle it would have been more emotionally true for me.
The side characters of Juliet’s best friends - Tara and Michael - are well fleshed out. I was particularly interested in Tara’s storyline because the toxicity of her friendship with Juliet could have become cliched but the way Ireland humanises her makes her much more relatable. Equally I very much enjoyed the flamboyant and supportive Michael who is Juliet’s number one cheerleader even as he pursues his own romance opportunities. To be honest, if Ireland wanted to revisit either Tara or Michael in a future book then I would read it like a shot because she made me care about the pair of them.
The romance plays out with all the beats you’d expect, which is not a bad thing and if you are into this genre then I think you will enjoy how the story develops. I did think the final quarter veered towards being a little too cliche but that is very much a personal thing and again, if this is your thing then I thin you’ll enjoy it. I do want to also mention the Belfast setting for this book. To my shame, I haven’t read too many books set in Northern Ireland so it’s great to see the region used here - especially in the context of a story that doesn’t carry the religious/sectarian issues that are sadly associated with it.
All in all, I thought that this was a strong debut even though it didn’t completely do it for me. Certainly there was more than enough here for me to want to check out Ireland’s next book.
The Verdict:
Jenny Ireland’s debut YA romance has a well drawn female main character and does a great job of showing what it’s like to live with arthritis. However Juliet’s relationship with Tara interested me more than the romance with Ronan, mainly because Ronan’s backstory didn’t ring as emotionally true with his relationship with his mother in particular feeling undercooked. That said I enjoyed reading this and will happily check out Ireland’s next book.
THE FIRST MOVE was released in the United Kingdom on 13th April 2023. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
