Ugh. SO. CUTE. This was my third Ali Hazelwood book and it took me a little longer than usual to get into (I’m normally hooked right away), but once I did, it was over. I devoured this book and loved the different layers of complexity. 

Mal struggles with coming to terms with her emotions as a young adult with trauma that stems from a situation with her parents. This theme of young people blaming themselves for the mistakes of adults was really well done - I think this is pretty common for adolescents to hold onto and not talked about a lot. At times it was frustrating, but I think that was on purpose to show how hard it is to break out of that line of thinking. 

Loved the inclusion of chess and exploration of misogyny and lack of female representation in a male dominated field. And the romance?! Don’t get me started. Just read it.