Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood on November 7, 2023
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Young Adult Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Young Adult Fiction / Sports & Recreation / General
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
“He told me once that sometimes, with some people, it’s not about winning or losing, That with some people, it’s just about playing. Though for the longest time, I didn’t really believe him.”
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, a current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess. Nolan’s loss to an unknown rookie 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…)
Overall, I really enjoyed the storyline and setting of this book. Though, if you are familiar with the pattern followed in Ali Hazelwood’s other books, you can probably guess the “twist” that comes towards the end. I wish we had gotten more of Sawyer’s found family outside of the interactions with Mallory so I could see him as more than an obscenely tall, love interest and chess machine. Despite loving the initial dynamic between these two, I do have to say that I would have loved to see more depth and development in their relationship. I thought it was very endearing that Sawyer fell in love with Mallory’s chess game first, but I did want to see why his feelings changed beyond that eventually.
I gave this novel four stars. All in all, I thought this book was very fun and charming with an engaging writing style, but I did definitely miss a little more depth in the romance part of things. Lastly, I want to have a quick rant about all the other people in Mallory’s life, because damn, did they suck HARD. Mallory’s mother and sisters were all selfish, ungrateful users and I truly couldn’t stand them. In the end, it was a quick enjoyable read. I am stupid when it comes to chess and because of that I’ve always found it a little boring, but Ali Hazelwood wrote a chess romance that was exciting and fun. It kept me engaged all the way through!