Ali Hazelwood wrote 350+ pages about chess, a sport I have loudly claimed to be entirely uninterested in, and I ate it up.

This book has a lot of classic Ali Hazelwood fingerprints - a girl who's carrying a lot of weight on her shoulders, a boy who isn't quite sure to ask for the love he'd like to receive, sweet friends, and great banter, all scaled a bit back for a younger reader. I had a great time, and loved seeing Ali in a new genre playing with some new elements, too;

Mallory is bisexual on the page in a way that Hannah didn't have the space to be in BELOW ZERO which I really loved, and although Mallory feels a real need to help provide for her family since her father has died and her mother is chronically ill, she has a strong familial support network.

I loved this so much - as always, I cannot wait to see what Ali writes next!

Thank you Putnam and Edelweiss for the ARC!