I swear with every book I read by Ali the more in love with her I get. She has this way of infusing intellect and humor that just makes me happy and has me staying up late and shirking my responsibilities to read. I loved learning about the chess world (kind of) from this book and watching Mallory open herself up to those around her

First I would like to thank Penguin Young Readers Group for providing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the story of Mallory, part-time mechanic/full time family caretaker, who is conned into playing in a charity chess tournament where she ends up beating the Chess World Champion, Nolan Sawyer. After the win everyone wants to know who she is and how she learned to play chess that well, she is offered a fellowship at a chess club. Mallory tries to not accept the fellowship but the money she could make would help her family and she would do anything to help her family even if it means keeping it a secret from her family and remembering the past. During her year in the fellowship Mallory has to learn how to be a better chess player, deal with sexist chess players, face her history with chess and figure out her complicated feelings for Nolan.

What I Loved:
- Chess, even though I never learned how to play chess I'm fascinated by books centered around it cause it and the detail of the games and training painted a great picture of how each were played
- Sisters, Mallory has two sisters Sabrina and Darcy and they are hilarious cause they won't let Mallory get away with anything. It reminds me of my relationship with my sister cause they are brutally honest and that is what people need from family
- Nolan, this guy is attractive, smart, and will do anything for the people he cares about even when they think they don't want it. I loved how sure he was about himself and his feelings about chess and other things
- Co-workers, Mallory's team at Zugzwang Oz and Defne are great coaches but also won't let her sabotage herself. Throughout the book they both her Mallory in her journey in different ways and I appreciate that they are both very authentically themselves
- References, I've read other reviews for this book that drag the amount of pop culture references in this book but for the story I do think it adds to the overall feel of the book and Mallory being a young person in a more grown up world/sport
-Mallory/Nolan, this is an interesting pairing cause neither have seen healthy relationships but they have a connection that is undeniable also I want them to be real so I can watch them play chess against each other

If you are a fan of Ali Hazelwood, like myself, you absolutely should pick this book up. If you have been interested in reading her books but want something on the tamer side then I believe this would fit the bill. Overall this was a sweet young adult romance story that dealt with a lot of real issues and a side of the lesser known world of chess.

I find the chess world fascinating and I thoroughly enjoyed a romance taking place inside of it. Nolan is such a great character and I like Mallory and Nolan together as a couple. The family dynamic worked so well in this story and the growth they all experienced was very relatable. I liked that the story explored other topics besides just romance and I loved learning more about the game of chess. I listened to the audiobook and it was delightfully well done.

Book Report for Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Cover Story: Is This Wizard's Chess?
BFF Charm: Natalie Imbruglia
Talky Talk: Hazel-Would
Bonus Factors: Chess, Sisters
Anti-Bonus Factor: Dudes
Relationship Status: Willing to Burn

Cover Story: Is This Wizard's Chess?
It is not.

The Deal:
Mallory Greenleaf used to live and breathe chess. Until the day when her views on the world were rocked and chess became something that reminded her of a terrible truth. At 16, her best friend talks her into playing in a charity tournament, and she begrudgingly agrees. No one is more surprised than her when she beats the reigning world champion—and known bad boy—Nolan Sawyer, although she surprises him even more when she flees the scene.

At 18, Mal is struggling to keep her family afloat. When she loses her job at an auto mechanic, she has to turn to the only other thing that she's qualified to do: play chess. She tries to keep her return casual, but people quickly take note, including Sawyer, who wants nothing more than a rematch with her across the board.

BFF Charm: Natalie Imbruglia
Mal is a great person with a lot on her plate. I applaud her attempts to take care of her sisters and mom, but it's obvious that she does too much and has let their situation (her mother's rheumatoid arthritis keep her from working regularly) take over her life. Even when things get better, she struggles with letting go of the reigns and accepting help. Because of this, she keeps most people at an arm's length, never wanting to get too involved and chance being hurt. I get it, for certain, but it would be hard to be her friend because of this.

Swoonworthy Scale: 7
If you've read any of Hazelwood's adult novels, Check & Mate—her first YA—follows the formula: Small woman is in a field normally dominated by men and has an unusually large man as a rival; she thinks they hate each other, but he's got it bad; she lets herself get close, but he's done something questionable; they both get over it and end up together. That's not a knock; this formula makes for a fun and easy read. But if you're not a fan of it, you won't love the relationship between Mal and Nolan. And unlike her adult romances, the sexy scenes are very much fade-to-black moments.

Talky Talk: Hazel-Would
Like I mentioned above, Check & Mate follows the Hazelwood FormulaTM. I enjoy it (but do have to roll my eyes at the continued inclusion of a Very Large Man). This book, although labeled YA, doesn't feel any different than her adult books other than the ages of the main characters (who, technically, are not YAs) and the lack of explicit spice. Again—this is not a knock. Her stories are entertaining and the characters feel very real, with great quippy passages like so:

“Nuh-uh.” I suck on my tea. Divine. “I’ve forgotten the rules. What does the little horsie do, again?”

“Very funny.”

“No, really, which one is chess? The queen conquers Catan without passing Go—”

“I’m not asking you to do what you used to do.”

“What did I use to do?”

“You know when you were thirteen and you’d beaten all the other kids at the Paterson Chess Club, then the teenagers, then the adults? And they brought in people from New York for you to humiliate? I don’t need that.”

Bonus Factor: Chess
Chess is a game I've never gotten into, but I find it fascinating. I'm not sure I learned much about the actual game in Check & Mate—Hazelwood admits to taking liberties—but it was fun to read about in a "this is way above my head, but that's OK" kind of way, regardless.

Bonus Factor: Sisters
The Greenleaf sisters might not consider each other a Bonus Factor, but it was hilarious reading about their relationship and antics from the outside. There's a scene in which Mal, having reached her breaking point, calls each of them a "bitch" and then they're all calling each other "bitch" and things go completely off the rails. I could vividly imagine watching it as though it was a movie scene.

Bonus Factor: Dudes
No place is safe from the ravages of toxic masculinity, and the chess world is (apparently) no exception. Mal has to deal with a lot of sexist crap from her peers, and it's unbelievably frustrating while being, unfortunately, totally believable.

Relationship Status: Fling
We had a good time together, Book, but I think we can agree that this is a casual thing. If we meet up again in the future, great, but no real need to keep in touch. We'll always have the memories!

I never feel smarter than when I am reading an Ali Hazzlewood book. Her characters must give me intelligence through like osmosis or something because I walk away thinking I know everything about everything. This was no different. I am begging her to make her characters less cringy millennial coded though.

Ali Hazelwood is truly unmatched in her ability to capture romance at all age groups. She manages to make every story adorable yet unique. This was such a fun read!

Cute YA debut novel for Ali Hazelwood. I am a huge fan of her NA STEM novels, so I was excited to read this one!

This book is definitely geared towards the Gen Z's of the world with all of the celebrity and social media references, however, I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Looking forward to reading what Ali has in store for us next!

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood ♟️

This is my first book from Ali that isn't a 5 star read. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it... it just didn't have that same Ali magic for me. I was a bit torn on it being called a young adult romance where I would be inclined to call it a new adult one. The FMC is 18 years old while the MMC is 20 years old. There were moments where they acted that age and then moments where they acted much younger, at least in my opinion.

I was hooked to the story having read it in one sitting. It focuses a lot on Mallory's character growth versus the romance. She used to be a very talented chess player but due to family reasons decided to quit the competitions. After she gets dragged to a charity competition by her friend, where she ends up beating the number one chess player in the world - Nolan, she gets an offer for a scholarship of sorts to work on getting back into the chess competitive scene. The offer is too good to resist given she just got fired from her job and needs money to help her mom.

Mallory's character growth was well done. I felt like she definitely need some growing up of sorts to do from the start but she also stay realistic to the decisions I would expect from an 18 year old. It is a slow build to get to the romance between her and Nolan and I admittedly wasn't really hooked until we got those little sprinkles. I do get what the aim was though building up Mallory's character and why she is so hesitant to return to the chess world. The second half of the book was much more enjoyable for me with how things were happening and flowing. Plus there were so many pop culture references I worry it will cause the book to become dated quickly (and honestly it already does).

I would have loved to learned more about Nolan or even a chapter or two from his POV because I found him to be a really interesting character.

I didn't include my typical trope list on this one cause I was having a hard time coming up with them. There's a hint of enemies to lovers but I felt it to be one sided from the start so I wouldn't call it that. Rivals to lovers though? I'd agree with that.

single POV
4/5 stars ⭐️

Ali Hazlewood's tradition of likeable characters, strong women, and a deeply engaging storyline continues with her YA debut. This is a great option for people who liked "The Queen's Gambit" and, while it's labeled YA, I think it has broad audience appeal for teens and adults alike.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Opinion is my own.

Oh my gosh I ADORED this book!!!! I am a chess girlie and this did not disappoint. It was so unique and I’ve never read anything like it. Super fast paced, great characters, and we LOVE female rep in a male-dominated sport! 5/5, highly recommend this great YA!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC. This is my honest review.

I am probably in the minority of people who didn't like Hazelwood's breakout book "The Love Hypothesis." I wanted to give the author another try so I requested this book, curious to see if a YA was more appealing.

I have to admit I'm disappointed. The story had an interesting premise–the whole idea of chess prodigies and the world they inhabit, at sometimes such a young age, and how they navigate it.

While the premise was interesting the execution and pacing felt off to me. I wasn't terribly invested in Mallory. I wish we had gotten more of Nolan and his motivations, frustrations and expectations. He sounds like a fascinating guy but we only got glimpses and at the glimpses we got felt incomplete. He's the bad boy of chess, grumpy and distant but appears to fall into insta-love with Mallory in a way that didn't really click for me. Where the why--she's pretty and has a great chess game? Ok that might be an intriguing start but there were hints to me of burnout, of boredom, of not being happy or challenged by the game and Mallory and her play seemed to spark something in him. But that's all me inferring and superimposing what I wanted to see on it--it wasn't spelled out well in the story.

The secondary characters all felt flat. Mallory's mom is a cipher to be honest and Mallory's sisters felt like caricatures. It made it hard to care for them. Nolan's friends sparked a bit of interest when they appeared but they kind of faded to grey background shadows, without much to really identify them other than "cool young chess player" and "cool young chess player who is female" Defne and Oz were the most interesting of the side characters and they got completely relegated to the sidelines half way through the book.

Overall I found this uneven, not well paced, not well characterized, and with characters who really didn't engage me. I wish I could say I loved it or liked it. I wanted to.

I finished the book because I wanted to know how it all ended but I wasn't as engaged as I hoped. The big, huge guy and tiny girl trope that was evident in Hazelwood's previous book was here again and I am honestly not a fan. It's annoying. How many times can we hear about his large hands? Too many as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps these books and author are not for me.

The other thing that bothered me a bit is the parallels to Magnus Carlsen and Anna Cramling, just without the age gap. It just felt kind of off.

Your mileage may vary on this book. For me, it just didn't work.

This is a really cute young adult romance that centers around the game of chess (which to be perfectly honest I do not really care about chess at all), but this was a pretty sweet story that I know Ali Hazewood fans are sure to love.

As a fan of Ali Hazelwood's adult romances, I knew I just had to get my hands on her debut Young Adult novel, and let me tell you, this book does not disappoint. Check & Mate delivered everything I love and expect from Young Adult Romance. The characters are easy to relate to and perfectly flawed. Their story will pull you in and leave you devouring each and every word.

I'm so glad I decided to check this book out. Not only is this book swoon-worthy with just the right amount of angst, but it left me wanting to learn more about chess.

It's Ali Hazelwood. It's YA. Nothing else to add to this review 🤣

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing team for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Oh my... this book. I don't have much interest in chess... but this book... I'd love to play a game against Nolan or Mallory.
This story is so interesting and addictive, and has all the angst! I can't even form proper sentences right now. I think this may be my favorite Ali Hazelwood book to date.
Every character is magical. They're described so well, you know the personalities of each one.
Dialogue is savvy, and the plot is 5 star.
I couldn't find a single flaw, besides it ending before I wanted it to.

Ali Hazelwood can do YA!!! It had the typical themes I have come to expect and live in her books- Aka a woman in a stereotypical male dominated field. I enjoyed getting to know both the main characters and side characters in the story. I wish we could have had a little more storyline with the sisters towards the end. Unlike a typical Hazelwood read, this one is a closed door YA romance. Still very sex positive, but not steamy like her adult reads. This story made me want to learn chess, and of course, continue to read more of her books!

This was a really fun adventure into YA for Ali Hazelwood. I have read and really enjoyed a few of her other books.
This book revolves around chess and romance. I know how to play chess, but I literally just know how the pieces move and wing it. After reading The Queen's Gambit, I learned how much really goes into professional chess games. I didn't understand any of it, but to read this book, you don't have to. Everything necessary was explained enough for us chess peasants to understand and anything I didn't really understand, it wasn't necessary to the plot or anything to understand it.
While overall I did like the characters, I didn't like them all the time. Especially Mallory the main character. She has blamed herself for every single thing that has gone wrong in her whole family's lives and truly believes that she deserves nothing in life. It was a little bit not believable that someone would think that, and kind of annoying. I feel like she didn't allow anyone in her family to communicate with her and her mother and sisters would have rather just let everything be how it was rather than telling Mallory what they do and do not want her to do. I did enjoy Nolan all of the time. He was very passionate and calm.
I was intrigued throughout the book. This was an easy book to read. The story flowed well, everything that happened made sense and one thing lead to another seamlessly. There was one part where one character had a speech and I was living for it. I absolutely loved it.
Overall, this was a really fun romance with (mostly) loveable characters and a really fun chess plot.

Thank you Netgalley for my early copy of Check & Mate, I absolutely adored it and think it’s my favorite Ali Hazelwood book yet!! This is considered Ali’s “debut” young adult novel I believe, but I think it’s definitely a more mature take so I’d consider it “New Adult.”

I love the topic of the book and find any content about the game of chess interesting, even though I have no idea how it’s played and I don’t think I’d do well in strategy games. But nonetheless, I enjoy books with banter and characters that challenge each other and this book definitely had that!!

I adore Nolan and Mallory and I think they become better at owning up to their mistakes and being honest with themselves and each other (and their families) throughout the novel.

They had just enough banter and “spice” without actually ever having sex on the page and yet it was still so good. Nolan and Mal were just so good together.

I love how Mallory played the role of protective older sister and gradually learned that her mother had healed well enough to take care of her and her two younger sisters and with proper communication in the last quarter or so of the book, their sisterly bonding really grew into something healthy. I’m also glad that she and her best friend Easton worked out their lack of communication and that we were able to see Easton come support her at the championship game.

I just really adored this story and the cast of characters and hope to see Ali write more like this in the future.

don’t know much about chess, so I was a little concerned I wouldn’t understand the bulk of this story. But it actually was a non-issue; I think the author did an excellent job at making this specific topic accessible to a larger audience.

ALSO - who doesn’t love the ‘he falls first’ trope? Nolan was so sweet and patient and nerdy; Mallory’s tough exterior didn’t stand a chance at not falling for him.

The beginning was a bit of a slow start, but once it picked up, I couldn’t stop - I read it in one sitting while on a plane. And while it does touch on some heavier topics (death of a loved one, grief, infidelity), this YA romance has the perfect balance of sweetness & angst.

I would recommend to fans of...
-rivals to lovers
-he falls first
-sibling relationships
-found family elements
-cute & nerdy boys
-succeeding as a girl in a male-dominated field
-learning to chase your dreams

A broody chess player and a girl who is fighting her passion come together to make some sparks in the chess community. Mallory is trying to live, making it day by day, being the families breadwinner at 18. She quit chess when she was younger, determined not to go back down that rabbithole. When her best friend asks her to be in a charity tournament, she can't turn her down.
Nolan is the number 1 chess player in the world. She's been following his career for years and knows his reputation, so when he sits down in the chair across from her, she is visibly shaken; but when she wins, she knows it's time to leave. Nolan is never beat, and not by an unnumbered player, so when he gets taken down by Mallory, he needs to know more about her.
Mallory is offered a fellowship for a year to play in chess tournaments and make money doing so. After losing her job, she decides she has to take it, she can always quit after the year. As she begins breaking into the world of chess again, she realizes that she is really "that good" and Nolan is right there with her every step of the way. Being infuriating.
When I tell you that I loved Nolan and could see right through his prickly exterior, I can't stress this enough. I loved the challenges that they go through, especially with family and it felt very relatable to how I would have handled things at that age. I thought this older YA novel was done so well and I can't wait to read more!
Thanks to Penguin, Netgalley and Ali Hazelwood for an early copy.