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letiross's review against another edition
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Dementia, and Car accident
lkristin2018's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
3.5
This is a romance set in the world of international competitive chess. However, it’s also a coming of age book, and a book where the two main characters deal with challenging family issues.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Ableism and Sexual content
Minor: Suicide and Outing
There was not an actual suicide, but several examples of characters making jokes about suicide.funshine3's review against another edition
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Chronic illness and Infidelity
Minor: Death, Grief, and Death of parent
kalefactory's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcoholism and Car accident
reminiscences's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
stardustandrockets's review against another edition
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, Misogyny, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
dai_renee410's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Dementia, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Abandonment
kathis_wonderland's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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
Check & Mate is the first young-adult novel by Ali Hazelwood. Mallory swore off playing chess forever but agrees to play at a charity event. There she wins against current world champion Nolan. After that Mallory starts to play chess more and crosses paths with Nolan. But Mallory has many responsibilities at home and Nolan is her rival. However, this does not keep them from coming closer to each other.
I became a massive Ali Hazelwood fan and I am glad that I enjoyed her YA debut as well. It often happens that when authors who usually write spicy books write a young adult novel tend to include explicit spicy scenes in it. This is something I am a bit sceptical as so many young people in their early teens are reading YA and spice is just something that might be too early for them to read. But Ali Hazelwood did well! We cannot expect for eighteen to twenty-year-olds to not think about or have sex. This book had no explicit scenes in it. There were instances where the reader knows what is happening, but nothing explicit.
This love story is really slow to develop! I was rooting for them for a long, long time and couldn't wait for their first kiss. There were so many swoon-worthy scenes. When he trapped her leg between his during dinner. There first kiss. Him just being there to support without showing himself to her. Oh, Nolan is just the cutest. He is so patient. Mallory has a lot on her plate. My heart ached for her. The book actually made me cry towards the end. That hasn't happened in quite a while. But I kind of knew how Mallory was feeling. The overburdening and overwhelming feelings one has when they feel responsible for everything. I have so much respect for her. And it is awesome that we have a bi main character!
I really enjoyed this book. It had some really slow parts and I had to google some chess words as I don't know them in English. But Mallory and Nolan have good chemistry and I love how they love chess. I can highly recommend Ali Hazelwood's books.
I became a massive Ali Hazelwood fan and I am glad that I enjoyed her YA debut as well. It often happens that when authors who usually write spicy books write a young adult novel tend to include explicit spicy scenes in it. This is something I am a bit sceptical as so many young people in their early teens are reading YA and spice is just something that might be too early for them to read. But Ali Hazelwood did well! We cannot expect for eighteen to twenty-year-olds to not think about or have sex. This book had no explicit scenes in it. There were instances where the reader knows what is happening, but nothing explicit.
This love story is really slow to develop! I was rooting for them for a long, long time and couldn't wait for their first kiss. There were so many swoon-worthy scenes. When he trapped her leg between his during dinner. There first kiss. Him just being there to support without showing himself to her. Oh, Nolan is just the cutest. He is so patient. Mallory has a lot on her plate. My heart ached for her. The book actually made me cry towards the end. That hasn't happened in quite a while. But I kind of knew how Mallory was feeling. The overburdening and overwhelming feelings one has when they feel responsible for everything. I have so much respect for her. And it is awesome that we have a bi main character!
I really enjoyed this book. It had some really slow parts and I had to google some chess words as I don't know them in English. But Mallory and Nolan have good chemistry and I love how they love chess. I can highly recommend Ali Hazelwood's books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Chronic illness and Death of parent
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Dementia, Car accident, and Alcohol
readwithria's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
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
4.5
Check & Mate stole my heart! Mal and Nolan are so cute, and I loved the chess so much. This book made me want to go rewatch The Queen’s Gambit, and to get into chess, and to reread all my favorite Ali Hazelwood books.
I will say this didn’t feel very YA to me, except for when it did. At times it felt like a closed door adult romance, and at others it was very obvious that Mallory was a teenager (/derogotory, it was very well written shitty teenager behavior 🤣). I think age groups for books can be a bit subjective, but sometimes I forgot Mal wasn’t in her mid 20s.
Ali Hazelwood always hits, and this was close to a home run. 4.5 stars.
I will say this didn’t feel very YA to me, except for when it did. At times it felt like a closed door adult romance, and at others it was very obvious that Mallory was a teenager (/derogotory, it was very well written shitty teenager behavior 🤣). I think age groups for books can be a bit subjective, but sometimes I forgot Mal wasn’t in her mid 20s.
Ali Hazelwood always hits, and this was close to a home run. 4.5 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing
Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Car accident and Death of parent
annadelreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
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? It's complicated
5.0
“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.”
When you stay up late and take a half day off from work, that’s how you know that a book is good. I wanted to devour the book after the first fifty pages just to see how Mallory’s story would progress.
I love how the first hundred pages is just about Mallory's life (and yeah, that chess charity event too but it was just one chapter, right?). So the author really just made me get a feel for Mallory's world - her past and how the present came to be. It's not all about romance, which is one of the best thing I actually enjoyed (somewhat ironic since I'm a romance lover). It's mostly all about chess so when I get that little snippets of Nolan happens, I'm just dead, head-over-heels in love with that man. I also love how the characters are opposite where it's the girl who's sexually active compared to the guy, it's legit one of the favorite things in this book because I rarely see a romance book with that trait. The story also has more of a family aspect to it where it really shows the dynamics between each family members. Did I say that I'm in love with this book to the point of me actually watching chess games in youtube? Nope? Then yes. I'm in love with this book and it makes me want to enjoy chess - and believe me, I did try it and it's just not for me. Nonetheless, this book is just amazing.
So far, I've read almost all of Ali Hazelwood books except for her latest one, Not In Love, which I already have though! So I'm really excited for that!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Death of parent
Moderate: Chronic illness