Book Review: Check, Please!, Book 2: Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu

 So a weird thing happened with my reading of this book. At first, I could only read half! I downloaded it at work and I was horrified when it ended after Bitty's Junior year of college, knowing that certainly couldn't be the end (plus it was kind of a cliffhanger) and so I had to wait until the book was published to read the whole thing. And when it was published, I was distracted by pandemics and moving multiple times, so then it actually took like a year and a half for me to finish, which means I had to go back to the beginning and restart. Which wasn't an issue as this is a delightful book. 

The first Check, Please! book takes up through Eric "Bitty" Bittle's first two years as Samwell University and on their hockey team. In his last two years, he and his NHL boyfriend go public (in fact, very, very public) and come out to their parents and he is voted captain of his team and he bakes A LOT of pies. Some old faces resurface (love that Shitty keeps coming back. Yes, that's his nickname--no one even knows his real first name until the last page of the book.) and you get to know new freshmen and Jack's teammates, too. 

I love this super idealized university that is wildly diverse and tolerant and kind. I wish I could live there. I also love Bitty who's so full of energy and verve and jam, and only 20-something athletes could eat this much baked goods and keep it off. It's a fun conclusion to the story that pulls together all the earlier stories and will make you want to watch some hockey!

This book is published by First Second, a division of Macmillan, my employer.