Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

43 reviews

nicoles_reading_corner's review against another edition

emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Misogyny

Moderate: Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Car accident

pianokeys's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

easefcik's review against another edition

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

4.0

This was enjoyable although

it drove me nuts that one of her younger sister was such spoiled brat for much of the book. The martyr thing she had going was understandable yet frustrating. I also felt like the attempt to have the main character be this sexually empowered character, was spoiled by the fact that it seemed like all the meaningless sex for pleasure was an unhealthy coping mechanism and the unhealthy/potentially unsafe part of meeting strangers was never addressed.

But it was fun nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual content, and Dementia

annieisawesome's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Another amazing read by Ali Hazelwood. I absolutely devour every one of her books. I don’t know much about chess (honestly I find it so boring), but she made it very interesting and easy to follow. Even with the main settings revolving around chess they’re not boring or clinical. Her male MCs are always impeccable and so easy to fall in love with. Nolan was no exception. Mallory was a pain in the butt at points, but not enough to make me set it aside. Everyone was very loveable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

clairebartholomew549's review against another edition

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

4.0

I put off reading this despite my absolute love for Ali Hazelwood (I've been pre-ordering her books since Love on the Brain, lol) because I'm not a huge fan of YA romance - unfortunately, I need my smut, lmao! Thankfully, as my favorite book Instagrammer Beach Reads & Bubbly put it in her review, this book is absolutely brimming with sexual tension, and despite no overt sex scenes, there is a lot of steamy content. Ali is so good at taking opaque and esoteric fields that are not that easily digestible to a layperson and making them make sense - I know nothing about chess, and I was able to follow all of this relatively easily - and she always exposes the sexism and misogyny inherent in those fields with a deft and light touch. I loved Mallory as a character, and I adored her family and the way their ecosystem operated. That was one benefit of Ali writing YA - in her other books her characters are grown-ups and we don't get to see a lot of how they grew up, and of course Mallory's family is so central to her story. As usual, the found family aspect is also quite strong. I just love Ali's books so much! I'm pumped to read Ali's newest book Not in Love, which is supposed to be her steamiest yet, squeal!!!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

hjb_128's review against another edition

emotional funny informative 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, and Sexual content

ka_schulze's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Dementia

filipa_maia's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad fast-paced

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

5.0

After reading 'Bride' I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did. I think my brain was conditioned to expect one thing and got the exact opposite.

I loved this story so much. I really like Mallory (although I found her annoying sometimes) - I appreciate her sense of family and the fact that she simply feels like supporting them; and I really like Nolan - he's just a good guy who learned the hard way how to grow up alone surrounded by cameras. They are perfect for each other.

And I loved the ending - everything was exactly as it should be.

P.S.: I love Oz, he is my favorite character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Bullying, Infidelity, and Abandonment

Minor: Car accident and Sexual harassment

passionatereader78's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted fast-paced

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

3.5

I enjoyed the writing.  I love all the chess! I liked Nolan and his friends.  I didn't like Mallory 's relationship with her family or with Nolan. Mallory is a well written character,  but I didn't connect with her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Car accident

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-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

4.75

This is my third Ali Hazelwood novel and she did her lil thing with this one im ngl 😋 I’m obsessed with Nolan and how smitten he was with Mallory after she outsmarted him and won their chess game. Also the fact that she is bi and has a supportive family is just 🥹🫶 bc we rarely get to see rom-coms where the mc’s in a heterosexual relationship have different sexualities other than being straight, so this was refreshing. I do agree with some people opinions that this should’ve been marketed as a new adult instead of YA bc even if it wasn’t incredibly descriptive, the spicy scene in the book was hardly fade to black either. I will definitely continue to read books by this author bc I enjoy her writing and how each book sheds a positive light on feminism.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Dementia, Car accident, and Abandonment