Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
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Check & Mate

by

Ali Hazelwood

(Author)

4.3

-

12,460 ratings


In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)

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ISBN-10

0593619919

ISBN-13

978-0593619919

Print length

368 pages

Language

English

Publisher

G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Publication date

November 06, 2023

Dimensions

5.37 x 0.79 x 8.12 inches

Item weight

11.2 ounces


Popular Highlights in this book

  • I’ve got you, Mallory. Nothing bad is going to happen. You can let yourself want this, because you already have it. You have me.

    Highlighted by 2,760 Kindle readers

  • Because when I’m with you, Mallory, everything is different. When I’m with you, I want to play more than I want to win.

    Highlighted by 2,511 Kindle readers

  • It has its ups and downs. I used to love it, but a little . . . sameness set in, and I actually thought about quitting. Then Mallory arrived. His knee suddenly pushes back against mine. Now I love it again.

    Highlighted by 2,415 Kindle readers


Product details

ASIN :

B0BV5X9VB8

File size :

4667 KB

Text-to-speech :

Enabled

Screen reader :

Supported

Enhanced typesetting :

Enabled

X-Ray :

Enabled

Word wise :

Not Enabled


Editorial Reviews

Praise for Check & Mate

A Best Book of 2023 for NPR, Kobo, and Amazon

"Ali Hazelwood is the queen of smart rom-coms, and Check & Mate is her best book yet. Filled with snappy banter, clever characters, and crackling tension (and lots of chess!), this is the perfect rivals-to-lovers romance. Check & Mate will have you swooning, laughing, staying up all night, and smiling so much your face hurts. This book is my new obsession. Who knew chess could be so romantic?" —Alex Aster, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lightlark

"Ali Hazelwood brings her signature wit to YA and the result is nothing short of delightful! Check & Mate stole my heart from the first page — it's at once an irresistible romance, compelling character study, and fascinating peek into the world of chess. I couldn't put it down!" —Rachel Lynn Solomon, New York Times bestselling author of We Can't Keep Meeting Like This

"Ali Hazelwood is a known master of deeply clever, ridiculously satisfying 'JUST KISS ALREADY!!' slow burns, and this book is all of that and so much more. Readers are going to ship Mallory and Nolan hard enough to break their sails. If you’re not ready to swoon and gasp and cackle in front of strangers, read this book in public at your own risk." —Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of When You Get the Chance

“Filled with the author’s signature humor, well-developed characters, and realistic conflicts, plus the fully realized setting of competitive chess, this captivating romance will delight teen readers as well as Hazelwood’s adult fans.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Hazelwood has captured many a reader’s heart with her adult rom-coms. Now, she makes her YA debut with a story that sparkles with her signature wit and relatable characters. . . . This highly enjoyable, emotion-filled romance will attract teens and even loyal fans of her adult novels as it blends wit and wisdom with love’s tendency to make pawns of us all." —Booklist, starred review

"Hazelwood (Love, Theoretically, for adults) makes a seamless transition into YA romance with this well-researched read. Via Mallory and Nolan’s complementary personalities and complex histories, Hazelwood crafts a feminist rendering that shedslight on sexist views within the world of competitive chess, all while spinning a swoon-worthy romance." —Publishers Weekly

“Ali Hazelwood is a Grandmaster of romance. Check and Mate is so delightfully hilarious that you won't see the play coming before Hazelwood steals your bishop, sneaks by your defenses, and checkmates your heart. A charming riot of a YA debut! Ali Hazelwood has never let me down!”—New York Times bestselling author Ashley Poston

“It’s the YA romance I have been starving for and truly, only Ali Hazelwood could deliver. Wickedly smart, highly addictive, fun and emotional all wrapped in a wonderfully heart-clutching book. I can’t stop, won’t stop screaming about this one!”—Susan Lee, author of Seoulmates

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Sample

Prologue

“I am reliably informed that you’re a Gen Z sex symbol.”

I nearly drop my phone.

Okay: I do drop my phone, but I save it before it splashes into a beaker full of ammonia. Then I glance around the chemistry classroom, wondering if anyone else heard.

The other students are either texting or puttering around with their equipment. Mrs. Agarwal is at her desk, pretending to grade papers but probably reading Bill Nye erotic fanfiction. A hopefully-not-lethal smell of ethanoic acid wafts up from my bench, but my AirPods are still in my ears.

No one is paying attention to me or the video on my phone, so I press Play to resume it.

“It was on Time magazine two weeks ago. On the cover. A picture of your face, and then ‘A Gen Z sex symbol.’ How does that feel?”

I am expecting to see Zendaya. Harry Styles. Billie Eilish. The entirety of BTS, crammed on the couch of whatever late-night show the YouTube autoplay algorithm decided to feed me after the pH experiment tutorial ended. But it’s just some dude. A boy, even? He looks out of place in the red velvet chair, with his dark shirt, dark slacks, dark hair, dark expression. Intensely unreadable as he says in a deep, serious voice, “It feels wrong.”

“It does?” the host—Jim or James or Jimmy—asks.

“The Gen Z part is correct,” the guest says. “Not so much the sex symbol.”

The audience eats it up, clapping and hooting, and that’s when I decide to read the caption. Nolan Sawyer, it says. There’s a description explaining who he is, but I don’t need it. I might not recognize the face, but I can’t remember a moment in my life when I didn’t know the name.

Meet the Kingkiller: The No. 1 chess player in the world.

“Let me tell you something, Nolan: smart is the new sexy.”

“Still not sure I qualify.” His tone is so dry, it has me wondering how his publicist talked him into this interview. But the audience laughs, and the host does, too. He leans forward, obviously charmed by this young man who’s built like an athlete, thinks like a theoretical physicist, and has the net worth of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur. An unusual, handsome prodigy who won’t admit to being special.

I wonder if Jim-Jimmy-James has heard what I’ve heard. The gossip. The whispered stories. The dark rumors about the golden boy of chess.

“Let’s just agree that chess is the new sexy. And you’re the one who made it so—there has been a chess renaissance since you started playing. Someone was running commentaries of your games, and they went viral on TikTok—ChessTok, my writers tell me it’s called—and now more people than ever are learning how to play. But first things first: you are a Grandmaster, which is the highest title a chess player can achieve, and just won your second World Champion‑ ship, against”—the host has to look down at his card, because normal Grandmasters are not as famous as Sawyer—“Andreas Antonov. Congratulations.”

Sawyer nods, once.

“And you just turned eighteen. When, again?”

“Three days ago.” Three days ago, I turned sixteen.

Ten years and three days ago, I received my first chess set— plastic pieces, pink and purple—and cried with joy. I’d use it all day long, carry it everywhere with me, then snuggle it in my sleep.

Now I can’t even remember the feel of a pawn in my hand.

“You started playing very young. Did your parents teach you?”

“My grandfather,” Sawyer says. The host looks taken aback, like he didn’t think Sawyer would go there, but recovers quickly.

“When did you realize that you were good enough to be a pro?”

“Am I good enough?”

More audience laughter. I roll my eyes. “Did you know you wanted to be a pro chess player from the start?”

“Yes. I knew all along that there was nothing that I liked as much as winning a chess match.”

The host’s eyebrow lifts. “Nothing?”

Sawyer doesn’t hesitate. “Nothing.”

“And—”

“Mallory?” A hand settles on my shoulder. I jump and tear out one pod. “Did you need any help?”

“Nope!” I smile at Mrs. Agarwal, sliding the phone into my back pocket. “Just finished the instruction video.”

“Oh, perfect. Make sure you put on gloves before you add the acidic solution.”

“I will.”

The rest of the class is almost done with the experiment. I furrow my brow, hurry to catch up, and a few minutes later, when I can’t find my funnel and spill my baking soda, I stop thinking about Sawyer, or about the way his voice sounded when he said that he never wanted anything as much as chess. And I don’t think of him again for a little over two years. That is, until the day we play for the first time.

And I wipe the floor with him.

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About the authors

Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood

Ali Hazelwood is a multi-published author—alas, of peer-reviewed articles about brain science, in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. She recently became a professor, which absolutely terrifies her. When Ali is not at work, she can be found running, crocheting, eating cake pops, or watching sci-fi movies with her two feline overlords (and her slightly-less-feline husband).

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Reviews

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5

12,460 global ratings

Madison Garner

Madison Garner

5

I'm laughing, crying, googling chess, and dammit I'm so giddy!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2024

Verified Purchase

This book gave me everything I needed. I went into this expecting a fluffy cute romance after reading an intense thriller. But I was shocked at how much I related to Mallory and how in love I fell with her family. Mallory and Nolan also gave me everything I needed. The story is well-paced and a great balance of romance and a story of grieving & moving on. All of the side characters are so inviting and you cannot help but to love them. I couldn't stop thinking about the story once I finished and I feel like I could go back and read it again and again.

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Rebecca

Rebecca

5

check & mate

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2024

Verified Purchase

I’m not a big fan of chess but I enjoyed this book so much more than I thought I would. It was romantic and funny and sad a little but it kept me interested throughout the book. The characters were very likable.

Smelliere Reads

Smelliere Reads

5

smart funny loving

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2024

Verified Purchase

I don’t know how to put into words how much I loved this book. The FMC was down to earth but also brilliant. Her struggles were real and you could feel her pain and love. The mmc was intense and slightly obsessed. Honestly I don’t know what else to say other than I loved this read and highly recommend it!

Laura M

Laura M

5

Couldn’t put it down

Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2024

Verified Purchase

Engaging and very enjoyable read. Love author’s way of writing - I’m very visual, so I appreciate the humor and descriptions (even though sometimes they’re more anatomically graphic than I prefer). I was raised to appreciate the game of chess and how it teaches/trains one to think, which is an advantage in so many areas of life. So, I throughly enjoyed its basis in this story. Well written!!!

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Emily

Emily

4

Great chess themed book

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed the book overall. I was getting really annoyed with Mal's family in the beginning several chapters (yeah I know her sisters are teenagers, but ugh they annoyed me at first) when they would just complain and moan and groan without considering Mal's feelings or hard work. It reminded me a lot of Elain and Nesta from ACOTAR. The slow burn of Nolan and Mal was great, but when we finally ramped up to their second game in the final chapter I was really disappointed in how it ended. We were walked through other inconsequential games throughout the book, but the most important match was just skimmed over for a flash forward summary. I really wanted the details of this match and how her family reacted! Despite my disappointment in the ending details, I still really enjoyed this book. I have loved everything that I have read from Ali. If you are considering reading this book and aren't expecting a ton of spice then this is a great book for you. If you are looking for more spice then check out her book Bride!

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