When Ali Hazelwood writes a book I will ABSOLUTELY run to read it!!!!! I’m not a chess player but Nolan can fully play with my heart!! This book made me want to start playing chess??? A few too many gen Z references that I still understood but just a little obvious! Would suggest!!

Check & Mate is a great first young adult book by Ali Hazelwood. I’ve always thought she would do well in this genre, and I'm so glad it‘s so much better than I anticipated. This book has a good balance of seriousness and humor, and the characters (except one iykyk) are so endearing. I think why the author’s books are a hit or miss for me are her main protagonists. Check & Mate’s 𝗠𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗼𝗿𝘆 is a wonderful character, with thoughts and actions so befitting to her age and circumstances that you can’t help but feel sympathetic and root for her.

While the romance felt secondary to Mal’s plight, it doesn’t feel lacking. Rather, it brings warmth to the story as Mal and Nolan discover each other through competition and outside it. Even though the book is written from Mal's POV, Nolan's character doesn't feel one-dimensional and missing key background or intentions. This book also has a wonderful mix of characters that helps keep the chess story and the romance engaging, even for a reader with no chess knowledge. And while I have issues with Mal's mother, I really like the book overall and enjoyed reading it.

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

This book was so great. I read the book and followed along with the audio book. The characters were so easy to fall in love with and the chemistry that they had was great. I read the entire thing in one sitting.

Mmm I kind of forgot this was YA because it didn’t feel YA to me, but it was still cute.

I liked how Mallory and Nolan bonded over chess and how they genuinely respected each other in regards to that. Mallory ends up getting sucked back into the world of chess after swearing she was done with it for what it did to her family. She starts working and is quickly moving up the ranks behind her family's back as she gets closer to Nolan, the Kingkiller. They're totally drawn to one another even though Mallory beat Nolan at a charity tournament.

It was a cute story with closed-door romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Ali Hazelwood has written a sweet, fun, quirky, YA romance in Check & Mate. A slightly different than normal plot for a YA romance with a number of tropes that we all know and love: enemies to lovers (a tame version), teen romance, he falls first. The writing is superb of course.

Mallory has stopped playing chess due to the destruction it caused her family however she was given the opportunity to play in a charity tournament so she agreed. She is considered a novice player by all standards. And who is her partner, Nolan Sawyer notoriously known as Kingkiller for his expert chess moves. He is the current world champ. He is also beaten, easily, by Mallory. And Mallory knows who Nolan is by his reputation as a "lady killer" off the chessboard. She thinks him rather annoying but he finds her fascinating when he meets her.

Read this interesting, Queens Gambit of sorts YA romance novel that takes the reader on the story that they may not expect but that they will enjoy. A top read of 2023 for sure!

Mallory and Nolan story is one of my favorites. Aly Hazelwood has written a lovely story with well develop characters. Mallorys has a gift thy was cultivate as a child but when her family life changes she is forced to abandon to keep her family afloat Her best friend enrolls her into a chess match, she is reluctant to compete and unbeknownst to her the opponent she just beat is a prodigy master, Nolan the kingkiller. It’s a
Great book and I encourage you to read it. Nolan becomes my favorite character I can’t help but to root for the two.

A good book overall, but definitely not YA. New adult, absolutely. But there's a good amount of sex/sexual references, and it just didn't feel YA to me. Also, one of my biggest issues with this book was that the male main character seemed sort of ace-coded, but then had the whole "I didn't want to have sex until I met you" arc, and I didn't really like that. We need more actual ace representation! Still, I did enjoy the book for the most part, and it definitely got me more interested in chess than I've been in my life thus far!

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change upon final publication.)

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin for this ARC of Check & Mate. I love Ali Hazelwood's books and upon seeing that she would be dipping her toes into the YA sphere, I had to give this a read immediately. Ali's writing translates well to YA, and she brings a fresh perspective to her characters, typically broaching on topics and humor that your usual popular YA authors are afraid to glance at, much less touch. I'm not sure how she does that but also manages to infuse millennial cringe mixed with more pop culture references than you can count all into one really short book. It was fun, it was surprisingly relatable, and it leaned more on the technical side of chess than romance, which I found fun.

I don’t know how Ali Hazelwood did it. I thought I didn’t like cheesy romance stories but I’m always sucked into Ali Hazelwood’s books right away and grinning like an idiot.

So yea this book is like rom-com version of Queen’s Gambit if you couldn’t tell from the cover. I know this is Ali’s YA book, but it definitely read like an adult book, I’ll probably put this more NA than YA. Both characters Mallory and Nolan were pretty mature in the story, even though I couldn’t stand Mallory’s tantrums toward the end. Like Ali’s other books, Nolan’s just the perfect book boyfriend.

I feel like Check & Mate focused a bit less on romance and less heartburn moments for me compared to her other books, but still highly recommend it to all Ali fans and romance readers. And the audiobook is excellent.

4 ⭐️

Ali Hazelwood the woman that you are. This book has all the swoon, all the banter, all the heart eyes. If I knew this would be the trajectory of my life if I took up chess I would immediately quit my job and run to my neighborhood Target for a starter set. I cannot adequately emphasize enough how much I loved the dynamic between Mallory and Nolan--two perfect characters who found each other despite both being really pretty terrible at communication! Ali Hazelwood writes books that are nonstop fun, and her YA debut was no different. I've already texted several friends to remind them it's now out and they better pick this one up immediately. Can't wait to see what YA Ali releases next!

This review is a little hard for me to write not because the book was bad - it was a very cute ya romance with chess and pop culture references sprinkled throughout - but because it was just fine. I don't have anything really good or bad to say about it.

Check & Mate is narrated by Mallory Greenleaf former chess prodigy who gave it all up for reasons unclear but probably has something to do with her dad who is absent from the story. Mallory is only eighteen but has taken on a bunch of responsibility to keep her family afloat and is basically Cinderella (without the evil stepmother or stepsisters). After her bff convinces Mallory to play in a chess tournament for charity, Mallory comes face to face with Nolan Sawyer, current world chess champion. And then she beats him setting off a chain events that draws Mallory back into the world of chess and into a weird love-hate relationship with Nolan.

Mallory is smart and feisty and doesn't want help from anyone and is the younger version of every female mc Hazelwood has ever written. Nolan is quiet and brooding and way more into Mallory from the beginning which is also basically the same as all of Hazelwood's male mcs. They're a cute couple and all the side characters from Mallory's sisters, to her chess mentor, to Nolan's friends all add to the story. Hazelwood slowly reveals Mallory's tragic backstory and the eventual HEA feels deserved.

But I don't feel super connected to the characters, I don't need or want to know more once the story ended. This is a fun, fast read and I would recommend to existing fans of Hazelwood's work but for readers who are just starting I'd recommend one of science romance novels instead.

I was provided a free copy of this book through NetGalley.

What a great YA debut! Ali Hazelwood has become a favorite so I was very excited to read this.

This is definitely a lighter/quirkier queen’s gambit. I was here for it. You don’t have to know literally anything about chess to be emotionally invested in this book.

Tropes—
♟️rivals to lovers
♟️tall tall man and small small girl
♟️he falls first
♟️forced proximity

I listened to this and read it and could NOT get enough. I really really enjoyed it. This was a big case of why didn’t I read it sooner!?!?

5/5

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Let me preface this by saying that I know absolutely nothing about chess... I requested this one purely because it's Ali Hazelwood.

Did I enjoy Check n Mate? Yes...?
I thought it was a cute YA debut, but I just didn't feel that it contributed anything new to the YA genre apart from the chess approach, which I applauded because it all sounded very fancy to my brain 😂
I've seen snippets of The Queen's Gambit on TikTok, and I could see why people would compare/give the same vibe between the two.

Speaking of TikTok...something I simply do not care for is the overuse of modern entertainment whether it be celebrities (timothée chalamet, bts, harry styles, etc) or apps (ao3, tumblr, tiktok, etc). We get quite a bit of this, but yet again, this is just a personal issue, lol

The mc's have some complex family/home life situations that make the story a bit more authentic outside of it just going for the romance and chess topic.
I felt quite bad for Mallory and her tough family backstory and how she took on everything by herself but also really adored her relationship with her mother and sisters (even though they were so ungrateful).
Nolan had this whole quiet, bad boy vibes, and I liked how he was subtly intrigued by Mal, but unfortunately, the romance took wayyy too long for me to find interest in that category. They were still very sweet together, I would've just liked something a bit more to grasp onto.

Read if you like:
♟️rivals to lovers
♟️YA romance
♟️found family
♟️closed door
♟️witty banter
♟️opposites attract
♟️forced proximity

*𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤 𝘪𝘯-𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸*

ali hazelwood is a GOD. simply she can write anything. who whoever thought i’d enjoy a book on chess? surely not me! but wow i was obsessed with it the whole time

♟️𝗣𝗨𝗕 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪♟️

📖𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 & 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲
✍️Ali Hazelwood
🗓️11.7.23
💘New Adult Romance
★★★★½

💭𝗠𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦
I absolutely devoured this sweet YA romance like it was candy. @alihazelwood has brought all the magic I’ve come to love from her adult romance books to the new adult world, and somehow managed to make me a fan of chess, which I previously knew nothing about.

The story follows Mallory, a chess prodigy, through a high stakes chess competition, where she comes face to face with rival Nolan “Kingkiller” Sawyer.

Pairing a coming-of-age story with themes of family relationships and grief, Mallory has taken on the responsibilities of helping her Mom and two younger sisters, while giving up chess and the life she thought she was destined for. I loved that we get to see Mallory heal and truly find herself again.

🎧I loved the audiobook format so much, narrated by @karissavacker who really nailed the loveable characters and kept me so engaged with the story.

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Hazelwood is a hit or miss author for me, and this one was unfortunately a miss. I went into this book with no expectation and yet still felt let down with the enormous amount of Gen Z references. I get it, it’s young adult, but it kind of killed the vibe for me. Other than that, it was a cute story, nothing particularly interesting to stand out for me.

I loved this book from beginning to end, the character developments, the relationships, friends and romances felt so real, genuine and honest.

Received an eArc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

After her father tainted her love of chess, Mallory has been doing her best to avoid it. That is until a series of life events land her a chess fellowship too good to pass up and multiple chance encounters with Nolan Sawyer, the world’s #1 chess player.

Ali Hazelwood’s debut follows much of the standard tropes in her adult work. Very tall, muscular man who is never seen to work out or talk about working out but yet is a brick wall of muscle. Said man falls in love with the heroine on a chance encounter, but heroine believes her hates her, nay wants to destroy her, for most of the story. Mustache twirling villain that tries to destroy the main heroine. And yet each of her books is a fun romp. This is the lowest rated one for me so far (only a 3 star), but I think that may have had to do with my inability to suspend my disbelief that someone who hadn’t played chess in 4 years could study for a few months and then manage to be one of the number 1 players in the world. I don’t know much about chess, but any story where someone makes that big of leap is hard for me to follow.

This book would be fine for upper high schoolers in my opinion. The main character talks about hook ups and her opinions on casual sex and the love interest is a virgin. There is a fade-to-black scene as well and condom use is mentioned.