Book 710: #Hockey (Check, Please! #1) – Ngozi Ukazu

After reading this last January, I knew I would revisit it. And thanks to a gift card for Christmas to Barnes and Noble, where I don’t usually shop, I ordered a copy of this and the follow up Sticks & Scones. This was all before coronavirus, and I had Sticks & Scones shipped to my office, where I hadn’t been able to get to it for almost a month after it was delivered 🙁

But when I got it, you know I had to re-read this one. And I loved it as mush as my first read. This time around I spent more time luxuriating in the artwork since I’d read the story previously and didn’t need to focus so much on who’s who and it was worth it.

What I didn’t expect on this read was to get more insight on why I loved Two for Trust so much. There’s a fragility, a naivety, and hopefulness that both Bitty from this and Finch from Two for Trust have that is just so incredibly endearing. Neither of them are helpless, but they both are a little lost and when Jack, in this, and Benedict, in Trust, step in to show them their potential, I just swoon—over and over again.

I spent more time looking for Jack in the background of the comic this read and I was not disappointed. It really goes to show Ukazu’s skill in that she knew when she needed him to be there to see “awwww moments” for Bitty, or Jack needed to have eyes on Bitty in order to connect his depth of emotion that’s revealed at the end of the graphic novel. It also helps to show that even when he’s agitated or has said something we’re supposed to perceive as mean or snide, he regrets it within a few frames.

If there’s one gripe I have with this novel, it’s Bitty’s coming out on his vlog but his mom not knowing it (or acknowledging it). For some reason that just seemed weird to me in how close they are and the fact that she mentions his vlog/blog when she visits for family weekend. It bothered me a little bit the first time, maybe because I was inadvertently outed in undergrad (it wasn’t traumatic or anything) when one of my uncles found a poem I’d submitted and had published to an LGBT magazine, but it just seemed a little too neat to me that she hadn’t seen any of his videos. I mean let’s face it when you disappear to go to college, your parents want to hear/see/know even the tiniest detail whether you tell them or not because they miss and love you.

My Recommendation: This book really warmed my heart. It didn’t need that much warming because of the ridiculous number of MM romances I’ve read recently, but there is something to be said about a super sweet and adorable first romance story. And then when you add in the wonderful illustration and style of Ukazu, you get the perfect recipe (pun totally intended). The best part is, you can actually read it for free online at checkpleasecomic.com.