I heard all about this webseries but never read it until now. This story about a bright young figure skater-cum-hockey player and his university team is brilliant. Everyone is adorable, strong and perfect. There's appeal here for hockey fans, LGBT readers, pie afficianados and more. I'd recommend it for ages 14 to 90+.

Are there any words for this beyond "adorable?" If so, I'm not sure I've found them yet. This is a sweet, swoon-worthy, totally endearing and utterly page-turning graphic novel that I am so glad exists in the world. If you're not obsessed with this story yet, you will be soon.

I've been following the webcomic for a few years now, after finding it in passing roughly around halfway through Eric Bittle's second year. Check, Please is a funny and heartwarming story about a closeted-at-home gay college student on the school's hockey team. There's also baking. A lot of baking. We only get snippets of the lives of the characters, and they're all told through Bitty's perspective, specifically as if it were a web vlog about baking. Bitty is not exactly the most reliable narrator, which leads to miscommunication and things being not what they seem, especially when it comes to blue-eyed Canadians in the room next door.

I was excited to find out Ngozi was going to be publishing the comic so that it could be made more widely available. It was nice to know that reading the comic is just as fun whether it's electronically or in paper form. I really enjoyed the addition of the "Hockey Sh*t" with Ransom and Holster as well as a few choice tweets from "Bitty's Twitter."

I have never fallen in love with a graphic novel so fast! Bittle is my new favourite character and I just want to read more right now! All the characters feel so unique and I love them all

Ok, everyone said this graphic novel was basically the cutest thing ever but NOTHING will prepare you for how cute it is. Nothing.

What happens when a figure skater with an infinity for pie joins his college hockey team? Well, of course he:

1. Learns that beautiful ice dancing is a tad different than body slamming, teeth jostling hockey. But he’s up for the challenge…mostly.
2. Figures out that he can bake in even the grossest man-boy hangouts.
3. Vlogs. And it’s freaking adorable. I would follow that channel.
4. Falls in love.

I finished this book on the beach and I was practically showing everyone around me. LOOK AT THIS BOOK. READ IT. BUY IT. MARINATE IN IT. Because it is perfect. There is so much heart in this book as well as a bunch of laughs.

Whose ready to go to a hockey game?

I really enjoyed the story and graphics. I even started following the online comic series. I will be purchasing a finished copy. Thanks First Second Books for an ARC of this title via NetGalley.

A delightfully charming graphic novel. Exciting to see LGBT themes being addressed in this type of story and with such a diverse range of characters. Loved it and will look forward to further volumes!

A warmhearted and engaging comic about finding yourself, playing hockey, and baking pie. Ukazu's popular webcomic translates well to the printed page, and the pacing benefits from the straightforward layout. Hopefully this repackaging of the webcomic will bring this slice of life story, full of vibrant characters and sweetness, to a wider audience.

Ukazu's art improves noticeable as the comic progresses, as is common with web-native comics, but the characters remain identifiable and the storytelling is consistent. The "extras" in the back of the book do a god job of defining story-specific hockey terms, but the visual narrative doesn't require readers to know anything in particular about the sport.

Check Please is such a fun read! A great college hockey story that follows a team throughout their college year. It’s so funny and all of the characters are so well thought out. Even secondary characters are fleshed out and provide such a great ambiance to this story, Bitty is a fantastic way to get introduced to this whole hockey world. He’s so kind and sweet and his journey is a fun one to go on. Would highly recommend to everyone.

Oooo this was so adorable. Loved the cute cartoony art. Loved Bitty and the rest of the hockey team. Definitely makes me want some pie!

I saw Ngozi Ukazu speak recently and found her charming and delightful, and so despite the fact that I have no interest in hockey, I really wanted to read Check, Please! - and I'm glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is told through a nifty framing device: Eric "Bitty" Bittle, former figure skater-turned-hockey-player, has a vlog/diary chronicling his baking and hockey playing and college experience and therefore speaks directly to the viewer/reader. It's a clever way to engage the reader and provides more intimacy than a traditional 3rd-person point of view. I'm still not very interested in hockey, but I'm definitely interested in more of Bitty's story and his developing romance with a teammate.

Check, Please!: #Hockey is the Eric "Bitty" Bittle's vlogging of his first two years at Samwell University, specifically as a member of their hockey team. Bitty quickly becomes "bros" with his teammates, even the semi-mysterious-because-he-doesn't-hang-out-with-the-team-a-whole-lot captain, Jack, the son of a famous hockey player. Despite his short stature, his history as an amateur figure skater, and his fear of getting checked (getting physically hit during the game by an opponent), he fits in well. When he's not playing hockey, he's busy baking for his vlog. (His teammates love all the baked goodies they get.) Oh, and Bitty is gay. But it doesn't matter because everyone on the team is straight (or are they...) and Samwell is highly inclusive and accepting of LGBTQIA+ individuals. Check, Please!: #Hockey is Bitty's progression through freshman and sophomore year as he makes friends with the guys, bakes pies, plays hockey, and-- unbeknownst to him-- catches someone's eye....

I did not think I would like Check, Please!: #Hockey. I'm not a sports person, and I know even less about hockey than I do about most other sports. But, I kept seeing it everywhere in the book world. I knew it featured an LGBTQIA+ character, and I was curious to see how if it lived up to the hype. AND IT TOTALLY DOES! The slow burn of romance is even better because we are led to believe that it's unrequited... All the feels! And the minor characters are a good mix of rounded and flat that supports Bitty's story.

Author Ukazu includes a forward that describes the extensive anthropological study of hockey teams she conducted for her thesis; Check, Please!: #Hockey came from that in that it's the exact opposite of that meticulous and Great Art: it's all about feels and being a cute story.

I’d heard of this series before, quite a following on tumblr and I’d always meant to look into it but it’s easy to push other reading aside for more reading. I’m glad I got a chance to read it now though, it’s a sweet, fun comic about Bitty as he starts college on the hockey team and life from there. The characters are mostly sweet (Jack took a bit to grow on me) and have each other’s backs. Bitty just wants to play hockey, make pie (and other assorted foods) and maybe, possibly find a boyfriend. Not a priority but if it happens...
Definitely reccomend.

Check, Please! Is a great comic! I love Bitty. He is a wonderful main character. Jack was kind of unlikable at first, but you get to like him the more he opens up. The art progress is amazing too. You can see where the artist has improved over time.

All of my knowledge of this webcomic comes from random posts on Tumblr that I never understood, so when I saw a collection was coming out, I thought it was the right time to read it.

I totally understand why this has such a huge following. While I have no knowledge of, or really any interest in, hockey (outside of my love for Fredrik Backman’s Beartown series) this was so much fun to read. The storyline was a bit hard to follow until I embraced the episodic nature of it and really started to just care about the characters and less about a developed plot.

Bitty is such an easy character to like. I could honestly hear a little Southern drawl narrating the story as I followed along with the pictures. While the other characters weren’t as developed, a lot of the, were interesting, and I’m hoping that more material focusing on them will be released (like the additions in the end of this volume)

My only complaints are that a)I waited so long to fall into this fictional hockey world and b) that this story ends on such a major cliffhanger. I am definitely going to check out the webcomic until this book is released!

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Sooooo happy to see this book getting a proper publishing from First Second. I've enjoyed the web series tremendously and I think Ngozi really puts her heart into her work. There's a slew of extra bits in the back of the book and an introduction that made me appreciate the book all the more.

This is a lovely and funny web series. It is really great and charming slice of life story with lots of pies, and hockey, and friendships. Everyone should read this, even if you just want to chuckle a bit. I am so glad the adventures of Eric Bittle at Samwell are going to be published. It also has a very honest, open, gay character and a team of hockey players that support him - even those who support him unknowingly.

Adorable! The episodic nature doesn't convert easily into a "book" format, but this comic is as charming as I'd always been told!

Okay, let me just get this out. Bear with me for this review will mostly be centered on my love for Eric Bittle and his story. The first time I've heard of this graphic novel was on Twitter, when loads of my other online friends kept tweeting about their love for the Check, Please! webcomic and that it was going to be published under First Second Books! I found the cover interesting and so I went ahead and checked Goodreads for a rundown on the synopsis and the author. Again, I found it so alluring, I emailed my friends from First Second and immediately requested for a review copy. And thank god they approved an e-ARC for me over on NetGalley. I read it last May, and I fell so deeply in love with the story, the art, and the characters. Read on for a more detailed summary of my thoughts.

Modern LGBTQIA+ Representation
Nowadays, more members of the LGBTQIA+ community are sharing their coming out stories through more public ways such as via Youtube videos, Facebook posts, and Twitter threads. In Check, Please!, we get to know Eric Bittle through a series of vlogs that he posts online for his viewers to watch. Personally, I love the idea of vlogging and just documenting everyday life so as to make and keep treasured memories, and so to see so much of one's sexuality, personality, and overall identity through this medium feels so uniquely personal to me. I appreciated Bittle's way and pacing of telling his story, and he is one of the many reasons as to why I am OBSESSED with this graphic novel.

Amazingly Colorful Roster of Characters
The Samwell Men's Hockey Team, (or the Bros, as they like to call themselves. Feel free to use whatever term you'd prefer.) was such a fun, intriguing, and entertaining group to get to know! I really, really enjoyed reading this because of how much I laughed out loud at all their jokes, and their soft masculinity was so, undeniably addicting! (Even though everyone, except Bitty, did try their best to be so manly...) I've only read this once and I actually sped through the pages and so I can't name everyone, but rest assured that I'll be re-reading this for months without end, trying my best to memorize all the names of the characters. I obviously cannot get enough of their story and so I seriously hope that the next book's already in the process of being published as well.

The. Undeniable. Chemistry.
So this is the part where I'll probably have a breakdown. While reading several scenes about Bitty and his... love interest (I won't name this LI here to maintain a spoiler-free review), I literally squealed countless times, and whenever I read this at work, my co-workers would instantly approach me and ask if I'm feeling okay. I kept smiling, and making such high-pitched noises while reading this and so I think it's an understatement to say that the romance and chemistry between Bittle and his LI is pretty well received. And please do take note of this: not all scenes were all filled with swoon and heart-eyes. Some scenes were also about the importance of one's identity and the role that acceptance and love played in this was vital and so well-written. The romance that one can find in this book is, memorable, heartwarming, and one that I'm sure lots of readers, wherever they may be from, whatever their gender, will enjoy. *cries in bro-speak*

"Check, Please!: #Hockey is an amazingly engaging graphic novel. It tells a heartwarming, coming of age story, about a wonderful cast of characters. It made me laugh, it made me swoon, and it most certainly melted my heart in ways I didn't know possible. My only regret about reading this was that it took me so long to discover Eric Bittle and his Samwell Hockey Team. With this, Ngozi Ukazu just gained a new, obsessed fan."

(This review is scheduled to go live on September 2018)

Absolutely delightful. I love how it was adapted from the web comic and stayed true to itself. I am so excited this will be published into a book form.