A review by bookrecsbyjess
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

funny lighthearted
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

 Thank you to Penguin Teen and PRH Audio for the gifted ARC and ALC. All opinions are my own. 

This is my new favorite Ali Hazelwood book! I’ve read all her other books, and The Love Hypothesis was my favorite until I read this amazing book. 

It had everything I loved about her other books but in a totally new setting (outside the STEM world). 

While I don’t really care about chess all that much, I found myself very interested in it within this book. The chess competitions were fascinating to me, and I never knew how much studying and training went into being a professional chess player. 

The romance was so good in this story! Nolan is such a unique love interest, and I loved how confident he was and that he didn’t care about other people’s opinions. 

Mallory was a good protagonist because she was interesting, selfless, and just an overall cool person. 

Since I’m not a huge fan of spice, I liked that this book was geared more to young adults (although the characters are 18 and 20). 

Mallory’s sisters were such a fun aspect of the story, and I loved all their text messages and banter. They really added a lot to the book. 

I loved this book so much that I was alternating between the audio and physical copy depending on where I was because I just didn’t want to put it down. 

I enjoyed reading both formats. If you’re interested in the audiobook, I definitely recommend it. Karissa Vacker was an excellent narrator and was able to differentiate the characters’ voices really well. 

Overall, I would highly recommend it! If you’re someone who’s avoided her books in the past due to spice level, then this is definitely a good option for you. 
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