Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Check & Mate

I think it's okay and it did get me out of my slump. The ending was a bit rushed and I would like it better if it was not. The concept is kind of "I know you — no, you don't know anything about me" angst yknow.

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samchase112's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This was fun, page-turning, romantic, chess-filled, and filled with coming-of-age goodness — and that’s all I wanted from it! An absolute delight that makes me want to rewatch The Queen’s Gambit.

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eya_b's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

are all ali hazelwood fmc clueless to men being completely in love with them? homeboy could be confessing his undying love and she'd be like BUT AS A FRIEND RIGHT?

anyway I devoured this book. it felt like it was no longer than 100 pages? ali hazelwood continues to be the only author who can pull me out of a reading slump every singl time (even when it's YA??? which I haven't been able to enjoy in ages).

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josoko's review against another edition

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emotional funny

4.25

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nabaraditi's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I have never given a romance book more than 3 stars. Also this is my first Ali Hazelwood book and I'm impressed. I had a lot of fun reading about CHESS???? (how?) and the characters. Two reasons (I think) that pushed me to give 4 stars is:-

it wasn't romance heavy, it was Mallory (the character) heavy. I believe that love is a part of us and not the whole us. And this book is the same. It is about Mallory's life and her struggles, her sacrifices, her rigid thinking patterns, her passion and love for chess, her friendships, her caring nature towards her family. You get enough of it all in this book and so it was so easy to understand the main character. Also, she didn't seem superficial. She seemed real AF.
I am very much like Mallory. I have grown a lot but there are still some parts of the present me that resonate with the character.

Like I've already said that this isn't ONLY lovey-dovey book, we get family drama as well which I love. I like how Mallory describes the love interest. It seems a bit realistic to me, cause that's how I describe my boyfriend in my head. It isn't about the abs and cuts. But it's their work, their movement around whatever they're doing, in the book, its chess pieces.

The smutty scenes weren't too much for me So I love that!!.

SPOILER:-

As the book isn't romance heavy and mostly about chess and Mallory's life, we don't get to actually see how they or rather Mallory fall in love. The guy falls first, we clearly know that later. But all throughout the book as its not a double POV book, we have no clue whether they like each other, who is going to fall first. And even later, we don't feel as Mallory being into Nolan and that could be ehhhh for a lot of people. I, in fact, loved that because she's shown to be very resistent to love. So, it goes really well with the story and Mallory's character. As she has been so focused on chess and not on love, she may not even realise she has a thing for Nolan that she clearly admires. She's resisting it for as long as she can until she gives in to him cause it feels soo goddamn good and safe with him. So, I loved that part too.

I am not for rich guy romance stuff. But this is done really well in this book. There is no "i will kill you if you touch her" nonsense or throwing money to impress the girl crap or I'm rich I can get any girl crap. It's the opposite, actually. Nolan hasn't even kissed anyone cause he never felt like that towards anyone until Mallory. Isn't how sex or anything physical is supposed to be? Isn't it supposed to be intimate? IDK And I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THATTTTT.

Any of the romance novels I have read has a stereotypical virgin girl who fucks the main guy like a pornstar and the guy is the whore anyway!. But this book has a complete gender role reversal.

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miiino's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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betweentheshelves's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Buckle up friends, because as my co-workers can attest to, I have a lot of feelings about this book and they mostly have to do with the current state of YA. First, let's start out with the positives! I appreciate that this book shows a path other than college for high school seniors, because not everyone has to go to college. The narrator for the audiobook also did a great job; the narration style was reallly engaging.

I think a lot of adult fiction writers think that if you make your characters teenagers (which the love interest is not a teenager, but I digress), that means it's young adult. This book very much just feels like Hazelwood's other books, but the characters just happen to be younger and the sex scenes are just fade to black. In a way, the tone reminded me of Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzalez, which would have worked much better as an adult romance.

Mallory is said to be 18, but in my opinion, she reads older than that for most of the book. The entire vibe of the book feels like more college, new adult to me, which fine! But indicative of the current problem in YA which is: characters being aged up. When YA was just starting to gain traction with publishers, the average age of protagonists was probably 14-16, and you'd get the occasional older protagonist. Now, there is a lot more YA about graduating, going to college, etc. Is there room for that in YA? Absolutely. These are still problems relevant to teenagers. But to make the majority of YA set in this age group erases the group that it was originally written for.

Anyway, this isn't to say Hazelwood is a bad writer. This book is fun, it fits the tone of the other romances she's written, even if you can look past the fact that most of her love interests are Adam Driver inspired. It's just rare skill for writers to be able to flex between audiences, and I don't think that's her strong suit. Mostly because it feels like she thinks hitting the teenage voice just means throwing in a bunch of pop culture references.

This is a fun, chess inspired story that I wish would have been just published as new adult instead. Chances are if you enjoyed Hazelwood's other books, you'll probably enjoy this one. Unless you're reading them for the spice.

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aileron's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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