Review will be up closer to release week! I adore this- Hanna Alkaf is a phenomenal writer. This book is perfect for fans of The Queen’s Gambit except it has to do with scrabble and not chess.

Najwa Bakri is attending her first competitive Scrabble Tournament since her best friend, Trina Low, died at the same tournament a year earlier. As Najwa participates in the tournament, she realizes her life is in danger and she needs to speak with those who knew and interacted with Trina a year earlier to save herself. While this was an engaging #YAMystery, when deciding what to add to our library media center collection, we avoid niche titles that our student population may have difficulty relating to at this time. Thank you #NetGalley #Simon&SchusterBooksforYoungReaders for providing the opportunity to preview this title.

I picked this e-arc up because I wanted a light, middle grade novel with relatable characters and scrabble. What I got was a mystery set amongst anger, grief, and whether you can stay true to who you are or become something else entirely (for better or worse) when tragedy strikes.

10/10, would buy for a friend.

LOVED this one so much!!! Scrabble is my absolute favorite, the mystery was fun and page-turning, all the mental health talk and rep was so great (Najwa has anxiety, PTSD, depression, and panic attacks, and she's in therapy), and it was full of wordplay, all the GENIUS wordplay. It's been awhile since I've been this engrossed in a book, gah.