This was such a cute read! I really enjoyed it! A lot more than what I originally thought I would! Going to have to read more by this author!

There isn’t a story that Ali Hazelwood writes that I wouldn’t read and I was beyond excited to have the opportunity to read her debut YA book. The one thing this author excels at is her ability to create a romance while explaining a STEM subject. I learned so much about the chess world while also falling for Mallory and Nolan. As a person who recently is getting into the game herself, I found this world completely fascinating, but what I enjoyed most was that this author was able to showcase the good and bad of this world without letting the politics over shine the story as a whole.

From the laugh out loud moments to tension filled encounters, this was a delightful read from start to finish. Mallory felt authentic and genuine and from the struggles to growth she showed though this story felt real to her age. I think for a debut YA novel, it’s a stellar book filled with entertainment and life lessons for any aged reader.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the ARC

I received an advanced copy from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was cute. The main characters were people that I was rooting for, even though they had definite flaws. I'm not a chess player so some of the book went over my head, but it didn't lessen any enjoyment for me.

This book is YA, but it didn't fully feel YA to me, I guess because I didn't fully believe the ages of the characters. Also, I didn't like it as much as Ali's other books.

Ali Hazelwood has done it again! I couldn't put this down!

There were times that I laughed and times that I cried, but it was all worth it. I think this may be her best one yet, and that is quite the feat.

5 stars. Check & Mate might just be my favorite Ali Hazelwood book. And it will 100% go down as one of my favorite reads of 2023. I could not put this book down. I think a lot of readers have been asking for something different from Ali, because her first three books (I didn’t read the novellas) definitely have a signature. And, Check & Mate for sure still has that signature. But because it’s not a women in science setting, and the book is classed as YA (though to me it feels more NA, but that’s a moot point) and not adult, Check & Mate felt fresh. It took the best of what Hazelwood does as a writer, and reinvigorated it.

As with other Ali books, the heroine is in a male dominated field, and we get lots of instances of misogyny. She’s also just breaking into her field and has some financial and/or family circumstances to contend with. The male lead is large, well established, and a bit of a grump and/or misanthrope. And he falls totally head over heels for heroine. I don’t know much about chess beyond the basics, and although the book is chess heavy, I loved it. This was basically a sports romance, with the sport being chess. I think Ali did a great job crafting a Ya romance. The characters did have sex (if that bugs you, they are older than high school aged), but the scenes were closed doors. They also were a bit emotionally immature and behaved like teens in that sense. Needless to say, Ali nailed the angsty teen character. All in all, I LOVED Check & Mate. I loved the characters, loved the setting, loved the plot, and loved the writing itself. I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to Penguin Teen/ GP Putnam and Sons for young readers, Ali, and netgalley for the early eARC in exchange for me review. Clearly I loved it!

This was so cute!! I love Mallory, she is such an interesting character. I just love a girl who feels guilty and like they have to do everything for their family. Her dynamic with everyone was so different and her and Nolan were adorable. Seeing her fall back in love with chess was so nice and the fact that Nolan helped her do it is everything. That boy was obsessed with her from the beginning and it was so funny that she didn't notice it at all.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I unfortunately DNF this book. It wasn’t for me. The storyline and the cover- everything sounded great. I was excited to read this as I hadn’t read anything by this author but have heard many rave about how good her books are. Since this was marked as YA, I thought I’d give her a chance with this book. Plus it sounded so cute and the cover was cute and I HAD to read it.

I lost interest in all of the curse words. I prefer not to read books with lots of profanity, and this seemed like it was too frequent for a YA book.

I also didn’t appreciate and found the anti-Christian remarks and bashing other religions to be disrespectful and offensive.

Therefore, I drew the final line there.
As mentioned, I DNF this book and didn’t post it online or do anything else. I gave it no star ratings but in order to share my review I have to give it one, so I just marked a one star. I didn’t want to bash the book or write negatively about it, as authors put lots of time and hard work into their writing. However I didn’t want to promote this book, but I had an agreement through Penguin to receive an ARC and share my honest review.

I loved Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood! This book was precious and I was obsessed. Perfect for fans of A Brush with Love. I love seeing the main character live a double life and a rivals to lovers set up and this book delivered perfectly! This is your next read and you won’t regret it!

4.5 STARS!!!

I haven’t had such a fun time while reading a book for a long time. This is the second book I read by Ali Hazelwood and I loved this SO much more than the first one, Sorry to the others but I did not like The Love Hypothesis, so I went into this book with a biased mind and not too high expectations. But wow, this changed my view on Ali Hazelwood. First of all, I know nothing about chess, but this book made chess sounds so fun. Loved both of the main characters, Mallory and Nolan, perfect! Also loved the friendships, the sisterhood… I highly recommend this book to all of you when it comes out on 7th Nov 2023! 🤍

Chess has never been sexier. Passion and romance play a risky gambit with these two chess players who are a perfect match but ill prepared for the games they are playing with each others’ hearts.

Mallory Greenleaf isn’t anything special, at least not anymore. Once upon a time she was a child chess prodigy who could’ve accomplished great things. But chess just wasn’t meant to be. Feelings of guilt and betrayal keep her wishing she could just forget about the heartbreak chess caused her and her family. Yet by fate or happenstance, one favor for a friend to play a charity chess match leaves Mallory face to face with the world’s greatest chess player, Nolan Sawyer. The young and sexy chess champion, otherwise known as the Kingslayer, loses unexpectedly for the first time in a long time. To Mallory’s chagrin, the match goes viral. Making waves in the chess community and getting caught up in the allure of the game is the last thing she wants. Mallory doesn’t need distractions when she’s barely making enough money to support her sick mother and little sisters. However, when a job proposition comes along that offers her the chance to be paid to play chess… Mallory can’t find a good enough reason to refuse the previously forbidden fruit. Nolan Sawyer just makes matters worse, since he can’t seem to stay away. Maybe he wants revenge for losing the match? Maybe he wants to learn her secrets to playing the game? Maybe Nolan isn’t as bad as he seems? But no, Mallory does not want a relationship! Then again, its possible she’s been making a lot of wrong moves outside of chess… she just might change her mind about several things, including Nolan and her future playing the game.

Ali Hazelwood does not disappoint with "Check & Mate"! It’s another brilliantly witty romcom with her familiar sexy STEMinist flare. This new adult romance may be less explicit than some of her previous novels, but its a testament to Ali’s incredible writing that it was no less sexy! The chemistry between Mallory and Nolan is beautiful, passionate, and earnest. Their relationship is messy and not without miscommunication, but they always had me blushing, gushing, and turning the page to know what happens next. I loved every second of this book!

Unsurprisingly, I really really really definitely, urge everyone to read "Check & Mate"!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
CHECK & MATE is Ali Hazelwood's first young adult novel, and it did not disappoint! The author's humor is well suited for this genre and really shines in this story.
Mallory and Nolan's story strays away the "formula" seen in Hazelwood's adult romance novels. Aside from romance, this novel delves into complexities of young adulthood, friendship, family & self expectations, family systems, and caring for a loved one with chronic disease. (However, I didn't really love the author's portrayal of the mother's disease.) I LOVED Mallory's family. Her mother and sisters each had such distinct personalities that attributed to the family system in unique ways. I really liked how the family had open, healthy conversations about sex and sexuality (The FMC is bisexual!).
This story had my attention from the first page, despite my lack of knowledge regarding chess. It's possible to enjoy this novel without knowing much about chess (I know practically nothing, still!), but it would be even more enjoyable if you know chess basics. I do think this story would benefit from adding some info on chess basics for those of us who are newbies! Regardless, I did learn A LOT about the history of chess & chess tournaments.
Overall, this was a super cute young-adult romance that balances heavy themes with humor!

Ali Hazelwood just really knows how to write cute funny characters and I love it. Nolan is definitely different from the other male characters she’s written and I adored him. I definitely sense some neurodivergence which I always love. I don’t know if that’s intentional but you can’t deny how he’s written. Mallory was a little annoying, like you’re just yelling at her in your head for her to get out of her own ass and then Oz actually says it and it’s great. She’s a very unreliable narrator and quite relatable, in my opinion. To me, this is more NA than YA because there’s a maturity level to it that straight YA lacks, but still clean and closed door. I’m a fan of all of Ali’s work and I’m excited for what’s coming next from her.

I was curious to see what a YA novel by Ali Hazelwood would be like and I was presently surprised. This book has relatable characters that you’ll fall in love with along with great banter between them. Never has any book until this one made me want to learn chess!

- First, there is this perfect scene in this book that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Just a family dinner with a cute intruder, and it is fabulous. It is full of banter, full of conversations that in our society would be considered awkward, but instead it works, and it's just so wonderful. I smiled and laughed the whole time and read it to my boyfriend cuz I couldn't believe it. I want to reread again.
- Like, for a while, they barely see each other or speak to each other, and yet THERE IS SO MUCH CHEMISTRY.
- I need a whole book about Nolan. A whole book about him and his feelings when she runs away from him every time, and while he waits for the next time he sees her.
- This book is perfection. I still think about it and its been weeks. Ali Hazelwood keeps getting better and better.

I'm suprised that I enjoyed this book as much as I did. I typically get frustrated with YA because I'm a 40 year old woman and it sometimes feels too juvenile for me. But I Adore Ali Hazelwood and her STEM novels, so I gave this one a chance. I don't play chess, but I love the Queen's gambit, and this was a similar feel. The main characters had good chemistry and I really appreciated the more s#x positive aspects of the MFC. I loved that they were more neurospicy (like a lot of AH characters) which gave them more depth and exposed the more realistic nuances of the human experience. as always, this was a good blend of humor, romance and the "smart stuff", haha. I wish the book had not wrapped up quite as quickly, but overall a solid 4 stars.

4/5⭐️ Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for a physical and an e-ARC of this!
rep: bi MC?, RA(MC’s mom)

Starting off this review to say that I absolutely love Ali Hazelwood’s books and STEM stories, and i was so excited to receive an ARC of her newest work! While this was not my favorite of hers, i did enjoy it! This story revolves around Mal(Mallory), who used to love chess but stopped playing after her dad died, and Nolan, her new rival of sorts who’s currently one of the top players in the world. I don’t know much about chess and have not played it much, but this didn’t interfere with my enjoyment or understanding at all! I love how Ali takes a STEM topic and educates the reader on it without being too scientific or hard to understand. I also love how she address the place of women in STEM and how they are affected in certain fields, and this aspect was included in this story as well. I never thought about chess being a competitive sport, so this was interesting and enlightening to me. In terms of rep: this also had some good kinds: I believe Mallory may be either bi or pan (she’s attracted to both boys and girls in the story) and her mom has RA(rheumatoid arthritis). While this isn’t a huge aspect, I appreciated it and i think she did a good job of bringing light to how chronic illnesses can affect the household, family life, and work. The one complaint i have about this book is that it felt very all over the place to me, especially towards the beginning. I felt like there were just maybe too many plot points going on and i felt a bit confused. However, overall this was a great read, and as always I can’t wait to read whatever’s next from Ali! Thank you so much again to Penguin Teen!

Queen’s Gambit for YA. Did not realize it was YA until after I finished. I love our leading man, he is not like you would imagine as GM Chess leader. I dare say not realistic to have a drop dead gorgeous, caring, smart, intuitive, generous make of that age…. I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley, and I am always thankful. If I were 18, I would likely love this book. As a 34 year old it’s two stars.

This is quite literally my favorite thing Ali Hazelwood has ever written. I can’t begin to tell you how I felt while reading this book. Mallory is the most interesting character in Ms Hazelwood’s arsenal, and Nolan (like all of her heroes) was beautiful and sweet and caring and let the heroine’s story really shine. I feel very honored to have read this early in exchange for a Netgalley review, and I’d gladly read it again. It made me cry twice, (the last romcom to make me cry was RWaRB!) I hope it affects others the same way.

“I look up and smile sweetly. ‘I like it better when men shut their mouths and stuff their rooks up their asses, but clearly we can’t always get what we want.’”

The number of times I wanted to rip a new one into the misogynistic a-holes that are found in this book were more than I can count. I am really enjoying the books lately that have been out of the typical themes, IE this one being about chess (which I know zero about but now I’m extremely intrigued and have downloaded the [chess.com](http://chess.com) app to try and catch up). And of course, it helps that I’m already a sucker for a moody MMC and Ali keeps on delivering 🥵. After finishing up this book, I knew I had to have more chess related material so here I am, geared up to watch Gambit on Netflix which has come highly recommended.

Check and Mate is an incredible YA debut from Ali Hazelwood! I love all of her adult books, and even though I’m not generally a YA reader, I wanted to check it out!

I was instantly hooked by the premise and could not put it down. Mallory and Nolan’s connection was sweet and intriguing, and the chess aspect of the story was super interesting to me, too! The only fault I can find is that I got really frustrated with Mallory’s family and best friend, but the resolution somewhat made up for it.

Ali Hazelwood does it again! Another amazing read!