Emma Barry’s co-authored, 1960s-set historical romance series, Fly Me to the Moon, is one of my favourites. But she has also written several contemporary romances with a good balance of heart and heat and Bold Moves follows that trend, giving us an inside look at the world of professional chess in an emotional second chance romance.

High school sweethearts Jaime Croft and Scarlett Arbuthnot had had it all – until they didn’t. When Jaime’s dad was convicted of a drugs and money scheme that tore their small town of Musgrove, Virginia apart, it also spelled the end of their relationship. Scarlett left Jaime in order to pursue a career as a chess grand master and Jaime was left to pick up the pieces of his family’s life. He’d become the man about the house and kept his sister and mother from despair. Years later, he’d turned the experience into a gritty documentary film that garnered critical acclaim and awards.

It’s been seventeen years since the events of that awful time, and Jaime is looking to make another movie. Specifically, he wants to adapt Scarlett’s memoir, Queen’s Kiss, but it’ll be a tall order, especially since they haven’t spoken since she left town as a teenager. And Scarlett’s agent has made it clear that Scarlett isn’t interested in selling the rights to her story – now or ever. But this hasn’t stopped Jaime from going in person to try to convince her to let him tell her story.

Scarlett never expected to see Jaime again, and when he first pitches his idea to her, she turns him away. But seeing him again triggers long closed-off memories, and she knows that if she were to give the rights to her story to anyone, it would be to Jaime. After all, he was there when the chess bug first bit, the start of her success, and he had known her, really known her, back then. Surprising even herself, Scarlett changes her mind and next thing you know, she and Jaime are back in Musgrove, working on her story and re-discovering what had drawn them together in the first place. But as old secrets come to the surface, will their second chance at romance crash and burn?

Bold Moves isn’t a light-hearted rom-com. It’s got some deep emotional territory to cover with both of their pasts, as a couple, and as kids growing up in a small town. Then there are Scarlett’s experiences as a woman playing what has most often been identified as a man’s intellectual game. The sexism and misogyny of the chess world is put on full display, both in the live games Scarlett prepares for and plays, as well as in her memoir.

Scarlett and Jaime tiptoe around each other at first, hesitant to open old wounds, so there is a slow burn to their on-page romance, understandable given Scarlett’s abandonment (for Reasons) of Jaime at the worst possible time of his life. But they get past that eventually, and think only of the present, and the delight they have in each other as adults. They never had any problem with sexual intimacy before, and they don’t now, but while the sexual tension leads to some steamy scenes, that isn’t going to be enough to keep them together without their being prepared ot bare their souls and fight for a future together. Bold Moves is engrossing and real and relevant to today’s real-life problems. I recommend this heart-wringing romance to readers who like some emotional heft to their stories and appreciate flawed characters learning from their mistakes in their quest for happiness.