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A review by bookameme
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Ali Hazelwood is brilliant, witty, and emotionally compelling.
Thoughts:๐ก
I loved this book! Ali Hazelwood is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Sheโs brilliant, witty, and emotionally compelling.
This story got me in all my feels, yes there were funny and steamy moments but there was so much more to it. The family relationships broke my heart as much as they made me laugh. Then thereโs the friendships, the new ones, the old ones, and the ones that mentored, they made the story spectacular.
The plot addressed some pretty deep topics between the sexism in sports, chess specifically, and the way a parent's bad behavior can have long reaching effects into the lives of their children. Between everything happening in the story it almost feels sacrilege to call this book a romcom because as steamy and titillating as it was, it feels like the romance was only a fraction of what this story was about.
The audio was well edited with a steady volume and pace for really easy listening, but the narrator was fantastic! She delivered the best kind of performance with all the right inflections and enthusiasm. I enjoyed her work almost as much as I loved this story.
Oh, and letโs not forget the representation in this book. As someone thatโs ace but loves romance novels, I found it exciting to see an ace character represented amongst everyone else.
Fun Bits:
โ๏ธ Emotionally Impactful Siloques
โ๏ธ Chess Talk! Talk nerdy to me baby!
โ๏ธ Meaningful Family and Friendships
โ๏ธ Girl Crushing on Mallory, ngl
โ๏ธ Nolan Was Hot!
โ๏ธ Extremely Talented Narrator
โ๏ธ Positive Diverse Representation
โจNoteโจThis is a standalone
Full Content Warning:โ ๏ธ
Mentions of death and cheating, not the MCs, tackles misogyny and there is some sexual harassment from some asshats
Stats:๐
YA, but we get a fair amount of steam
Characters: ๐๐๐๐๐
Audio: ๐ง๐ง๐ง๐ง๐ง
Narrator: ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ๐๏ธ
YA Rom Com: Competitive Chess (sports romance), Coming of Age, Grief and Forgiveness, Older Siblings as a Parent, Rivals to Lovers๐
First Person, Present Tense, Single POV
Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Sexism, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Medical content
Minor: Sexual content and Car accident