I had been excited for this one ever since I found it while scrolling on Goodreads last year. It sounded very unique since it was based around a scrabble tournament. I can’t say I have ever read a book with scrabble in it. It definitely brought back memories as my grandma would play with me and beat me, haha. She always knew the best words to play. Although there were aspects of this book I liked, there were also times I just needed more from different parts of the book.

The book is told from one point-of-view and it comes from Najwa Bakri. She has been playing in scrabble competitions for awhile now and even got her friend Trina into it too. Things didn’t go so well at the last competition a year ago when her friend mysteriously died and now someone is sending messages from her Instagram. Najwa has her work cut out to solve what is going on as well as keep her head in the game. I liked reading about how she coped with her friend’s death . Najwa is a very strong character even if she doesn’t give herself enough credit.

Because the plot deals with a mystery, there are a lot of suspects. I will say that I didn’t feel much for the other characters because there just wasn’t enough information about them. I didn’t ever really get to know them besides through small conversations which mostly had to do with Trina and the day she died. Najwa definitely had the most development with Trina right behind.

The pacing of the book is what really got to me and had me putting down the book more than picking it up. It does get faster as the book progresses but it’s hard to hang on when the beginning is slow.

Overall, this was good. There are a lot of unique qualities about it like the scrabble competition and the words throughout the book with definitions included. The mystery wasn’t a favorite but I didn’t guess the person until around the reveal so it wasn’t all bad. I think the characters could have used more development but maybe that’s just me. I would definitely give this one a try if you enjoy scrabble or are looking for a light YA mystery.

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.