A review by emilywemily6
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

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

2.75

Ugh. I really loved some things about this book but was bothered by so much. I liked the backdrop of chess, though I felt like while chess was a main focus of the book, it was pretty superficial throughout. I loved Nolan- he was the sweetest! But I didn’t see any reason for him to be in love with Mallory. Honestly there was no chemistry. The voice of this book was hilarious and I laughed a ton at some of the phrasing. But I despised Mallory. She carried too much burden, a lot of which was not her burden to bear, and she didn’t communicate her needs to her family. She ran away from any smidgeon of conflict and was really daft when it came to Nolan for most of the book. And the third act conflict was totally because of her misconceptions and her pouting. It was really dull to keep reading about her stupid choices outside of chess matches. Also, this book mentioned sex/spicy stuff and yet was super vague! So I still wasn’t convinced about Mallory and Nolan’s relationship. And the ending totally skipped over the final chess match which was a missed opportunity, though I liked the epilogue. I’m glad I didn’t buy this book, but my time feels a little wasted because this book went a lot of places I didn’t like.
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