Check & Mate

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.

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!!!

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!

There is simply not anything more to say, the way Ali Hazelwood writes her romances does it for me. Is it a kinda cringe and very cheesy? Yes. But it is super readable , it flows well and it focuses on the interaction between the couple. That is super important to me in a romance. There has to be sufficient and meaningful interaction between the couple for any romance to work and Hazelwood always delivers on that front. I enjoyed my time here.

Charming story with relatable, down to earth characters. Loved that the story was set in the world of chess. Had a lot of fun learning about the competitions and the different chess moves (yes there was a lot of googling during this reading, but only for my own interest). The romance was fun and adorable. Nolan Sawyer deserves the world. I just loved his confidence, patience, and support for Mallory. He was just so honest and reasonable. I also loved Mallory as well. Her struggle with finding happiness while shouldering the weight of her family was so relatable. I just wished her relationship with Nolan developed more earlier on than towards the end.

Overall, I had a lot of fun reading this story. Although I could have done with a little less pop culture references, I still think it was a great coming of age story.

Chess, family, and young love have never been this fun. In short, this was adorable.

The book follows Mallory, an eighteen-year-old who struggles to help her sick mom and two younger sisters while hiding a burning love for chess deep within her. As faith would have it, Mallory finds herself at a charity chess match, where she, against all expectations, beats the number one chess player. From then on, she finds herself tangled up in it.

I appreciated how this book had an unapologetic female who knew she was good at what she did and did not try to hide it; sure, she had her insecurities, but which eighteen-year-old would not? It only made her all that more human. Each character was surprisingly loveable (major shoutout to Oz), and even though it took me some time to warm up to most of them and their dynamic, as the book progressed, I felt as though each character found their footing and felt more well-rounded. Normally, I tend to crumble with anxiety when a character's life builds on lies, and Mallory did not make it easy for me not to stress on her. However, I found myself strangely pleased with how the conflict resolution was mature, honest, loving, and not unnecessarily overdramatic.

Mallory was definitely a character you wanted to grab hold of and shake into reality when she got lost in her head at times. However, I think she was the most grounded and real character Ali Hazelwood has yet to write, and it was a joy to live inside her head for a few hundred pages.

For me, the story stood out because of Mallory's journey with herself, her wishes, and her family, but of course, we cannot overlook sweet, sweet Nolan. Ali Hazelwood knows how to write a man who is perfectly rough around the edges while still being perfectly kind, sweet, and loving. Nolan was exactly that. It was an absolute pleasure to have a character who so perfectly complimented Mallory's mental spiraling with direct and honest communication.

In addition to the characters, there is naturally the chess aspect of the book, and I must admit, I never understood its appeal, not before reading this, anyway. This is likely because I have no knack for it and simply am not smart enough to fully understand its extent, but the way it was written about was enchanting, really.

My relationship with Ali Hazelwood's writing is a complicated one. I read everything she writes because I see this potential in her, and I have a burning desire to see it reach its peak. Because of that, reading this book was an offering experience. I have enjoyed the adult books Hazelwood is known for writing, but as someone who does not normally like reading young adults all that much, I will say she shined brighter with this one. This was good, and I cannot wait to read where Hazelwood takes us next.

I love Ali Hazelwood and her storytelling is always compelling. But, even though she is one of my favorite authors, I'm starting to notice that her stories are becoming like other authors in this genre in that it's starting to feel the same novel after novel - she uses the same format and the characters have the same core beliefs/reactions/issues, so the scenario changes but the protagonists feel the same. For example: -the conflict of the story is always a real and a perceived lie -heroine always assumes hero hates her initially -the heroine always has a singular 'her person' / best friend -heroine always goes away in anger and avoids hero for a while -someone always is celibate and then has a awakening when they meet the hero/-ine -heroine and her person always have something against "rich" people -Star Wars -dislike of Jeff Bezos (Do any of us actually believe he'll donate his fortune like he professed? But really don't want to read about him anymore more than I have to) -revolting descriptions of morning breath (seriously, gross - why?? ) -exaggerative phrases (some frankly, disgusting) that don't add value to the book (there are some really good zingers in the book, but a lot of the bad ones should have been removed) -allusion to Bill Nye efiction

That stated, the scenario for each plot for her books has always been well-researched and I appreciate each fact delivered in a non-pedantic way - I learned a great deal again in this book like all her other books (this time about chess, stereotype threat concept). This book was great and Oz was a different character than we've seen before, but with higher expectations than for other authors, it was a 3-star.

Dr.Hazelwood, can we get a mystery rom-com next round? And even though this review is perhaps more critical than my others, thanks for being a scientist that gives other scientists (and non-scientists) fun material to read. Thanks for not presuming that marriage and a baby on the way should be the last chapter of each book. Thanks for giving us an ideal hero/heroine where the relationship is built on more than physical attraction and giving us the opportunity to dream and imagine better relationships for women, LGBTQ+, minorities (and therefore, everyone).

There were times during this novel that I found the FMC to be borderline insufferable. She has a huge martyr complex and thinks everything revolves around/relies on her and has quite the ego when reading into other people's motivations. Then I remembered that she is only 18 years old.

Yes, that's right, the FMC is still a teenager and most likely has not spent much time inside of a therapist's office. (Probably due to a lack of money and America's Pay to Play healthcare) There has also been no time for her to work on herself because she is so young.

I don't think that the FMC has been parentified on purpose but she very much steps up for her family and doesn't quite know how to step down. It's been a decade since I was in that place in life myself, so while I can empathize, it's really not something that I want to read about when the character uses that as an excuse to treat others badly.

No one is entitled to a "normal" life and as we all know, life is often not fair. Sometimes the only real control that we have, is control over how we react and treat other people and even that is not always guaranteed. The FMC uses her own martyrdom as justification to lash out or push others away. She takes the terrible things that happened and using misplaced guilt, makes them all about herself. She resents her family but likes the temporary control she has over them and refuses to relinquish it for most of the book. Despite reaching the age of majority and taking responsibility over her family, the FMC is not very mature at all.

As I said she steps up, not grows up. The FMC is emotionally stunted and her maturity level matches someone much younger which makes for some melodramatic scenes that are both deeply uncomfortable and annoying. I understand for plot reasons why she needed to be younger but I don't get the decision to also make her emotionally immature, that combination just doesn't work well for romance. It leads to the FMC saying childishly spiteful and hateful things when her ego is bruised.

I was also reminded why I don't particularly like reading contemporary stories that are YA when I found myself cringing during the copious amount of pop culture and generational references that are absolutely going to date this book and make it nigh unreadable in the near future.

The story breakdown as follows: 60% Chess, 35% FMC Freaking out about everything (including things that are not her fault) and a paltry 5% spent on relationship development with a very forgettable MMC.

The highlight of the book was Oz's verbal smackdown of the FMC and his reminder that the world does not in fact revolve around her self righteous, petulant little self.

I was originally going to rate this book 3 stars but as this book is marketed as a romance novel I need to adjust that rating accordingly.

The FMC doesn't grovel after making cruel and emotionally vicious personal attacks against the MMC. She tries to justify what she said later when discussing the fight with her best friend and the best excuse she could come up with was that she was mad. When she attempts to apologize to the MMC she has trouble fully articulating exactly what she is apologizing for. It felt more like a cop out when he had to help her out with said apology.

Then she just proceeds to talk at him about her life goals. Then she monologues about fate and second chances and then just announces that she wants to be with him. She never once asks for his forgiveness for the cruel things she said. I see further emotional abuse of loved ones in her future. 2 stars for the emotionally constipated teenager.