𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
Mallory grew up obsessed with chess, a passion she shared with her father. That was before their family crumbled, her parents divorced and he was later killed in a car accident. Now Mallory is responsible for keeping the family afloat, working as a mechanic instead of studying. Just when things get harder, she plays a chess game and manages to create an upset beating the world champion. She’s petrified of Nolan’s temper, but he’s enchanted by her and her talent.

𝗠𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
This story is billed as being Ali Hazelwood’s debut YA novel, but the story resonates in many ways with her previous stories. An exceptionally smart female in a male dominated world, Mallory struggles with her self image, her place in the world and her family…. All while trying to figure out her feelings for the very mature Nolan. I loved reading this story, it felt like a modern day interpretation of Netflix’s Queens Gambit series. Which I also happily binged 😉

Read an eARC copy courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher
My rating 4.5/5 - ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️💫
Pub Date 7 Nov 2023

A very sweet romance novel that seems well suited to the young adult market. Although this would definitely be the upper end of the teen market.

This wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
If you’re a fan of the Queens Gambit then I would definitely give this a go!
It was very informative about chess and it spoke to how trauma can affect a family
I struggled to connect with the main characters unfortunately, I didn’t find them very like able and I didn’t really feel their connection. I think the communication was a bit too poor for me
That being said the writing was as always beautifully done and Ali has a great way of storytelling!
I think I was just a bit too past the age group for this one

Story review will be posted on the 5th of November

Since watching The Queen’s Gambit, I wondered when I’d next dip my toes into the world of chess and here I am. This was a very different experience but in the best way. I’m not sure I’d have read anyone else’s foray into chess-Lit as quickly, but I couldn’t help but devour this. Chess seems to be an interesting world!
There isn’t a huge amount else to say other than that I loved this book! Hazelwood’s writing is as engaging as ever, with so many characters who you instantly love. Mal is complex; Nolan is intriguing; Mal’s two sisters brilliant and funny, particularly Darcy; the grouchy Oz is perhaps my favourite character, and there are so many more who you get to know.
I cannot wait until the next Hazelwood is released! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Not for me! I've had a very hit and miss experience with Hazelwood's other novels and unfortunately, this one wasn't a hit. I didn't dislike it but it did nothing for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this.
Ali Hazlewood’s YA debut offers more exploration of stereotyping and this time round her focus is women in chess. As someone who doesn’t play, the chess focus was not the most enthralling. I liked the building of the environment, and the information about the world these characters inhabit, but the details of the games and the obvious in-jokes were lost on me.
Our main character is a young woman, daughter of a chess grand master, who gave up the game at 14. Thanks to the interference of her close friend, Mallory is asked to participate in a chess tournament…and finds herself winning. As if that was hard to credit, she beats the current world number one.
What follows is something of a fairy tale. Mallory is offered a dream of a job…a year’s fellowship to play chess. Much as she wants to pretend this is not something important to her, she sees it as a chance to atone for her past actions and help her family out.
During the course of the book we learn what is behind Mallory’s decision. We see the growing friendship/romance between Mallory and Nolan. We also get a lot of details about chess.
This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but it offers enough to draw you in and keep you reading (even if a lot of what you’re reading doesn’t mean anything to you).

I enjoyed reading this book. There were some good things, mainly the male main character was awesome and how he falls first is adorable. However, was difficult to connect with the female main character and with some other things. Maybe it was because the younger characters instead of more matures ones, but overall, it was a good story.

As usual, Ali Hazelwood writes a good book.

Arc generously provided via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisherand netgalley UK for a free ecopy of Check & Mate in exchange for an honest review. Having g read The Queen's Gambit already this year I was interested to see how Ali Hazelwood would approach the world of chess through the romance lens. I have to say I wasn't disappointed. This was a real page turner that kept me wanting more! I actually laughed out loud! I'll definitely read Hazelwood's back catalogue!!

Synopsis:

Mallory Greenleaf hasn’t played chess since it destroyed her family four years earlier. Now her mum is sick, doesn’t have health insurance and can’t work, and even though she’s only 18 herself Mallory takes on the role of keeping her family - especially her little sisters - going.

That is, until she’s roped into a charity chess match by her best friend and inadvertently beats world champion Nolan Sawyer.

Mallory is then offered a fellowship to study and play competitively, but she couldn’t possibly take it. She has responsibilities. She’s over chess. Or, at least, that’s what she tells herself. However, tournaments have huge cash prizes, and can she really resist the chance to earn some serious money…and to play the enigmatic Nolan Sawyer again?

My thoughts:

Friday nights look a little different in my 30s, because I spent mine staying up late to finish this cute little gem of a book. I’m not sure if it quite topples Love, Theoretically as my favourite Ali Hazelwood book, but it came close! I read it in 24 hours and couldn’t put it down.

A big shout out must go to AH’s supporting characters, who often come close to stealing the show for me - Darcy and Oz both made me laugh out loud. Nolan is the sweetest and I loved Mallory; I just wished I could shake her and make her see sense at times!

Although the world of chess is quite similar to the STEM settings we’ve seen in her other books (toxic bro culture, misogyny, industry scandals) I loved seeing her explore a new setting with a YA closed door romance. At this point I’ll read anything Ali Hazelwood writes, and can’t wait for her next book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown for the e-ARC.

Mallory Greenleaf played chess from childhood, and she was really good at it. Then she stopped playing in her mid-teens. Now she's eighteen and trying to hold her family together through any job she can get. After her best friend convinced her to enter a local tournament as a fill-in, she beats the top player and wins. Suddenly she is back in the chess world and playing chess as a job and both loving and hating it.

While this is a romance at heart, it's also about Mallory's path from child chess prodigy to family carer to chess champion and beyond. Mallory needs to learn how to live life for herself and we see her path as she finds her way. I mostly liked this book although it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as Love, Theoretically, which I read earlier this year. I thought the romance part of the story was enjoyable and also felt drawn to huge weight on Mallory's shoulders and how she goes through the ups and downs of dealing with it. The chess part didn't hold up as well. I can't speak for the technical aspects of chess, but it felt like the world of chess was amazingly small. Even with help I found the idea of Mallory advancing so high up in that world to be totally unreasonable. That said, I was onboard with the feelings of those playing chess in its all-consuming way.

Overall, this was a pretty good read and I give it 3.5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for the advanced reader copy. I have provided this feedback voluntarily.

Compared to her previous efforts this one felt really cobbled together, I'm not sure what happened, perhaps it was rushed out. Part of the issue is that the characters are very young compared to Hazelwood's previous protagonists, and they weren't convincing as characters. Hazelwood set herself a challenge by needing to make two young prodigies in the unfamiliar world of chess be relatable to the reader, but I don't think she succeeded - their motivations and personalities seemed murky for almost the entire time. Mallory especially, as the POV character, needed a lot more work doing to make me understand any decision she made. I'm all for an unlikeable heroine with flaws, but she straight up confounded me - I was adrift in the internal logic of her mind and her decisions. It also deals with heavy topics such as parent death, and I think the characters needed to be much more grounded for this to really have some emotional heft; the result is that the narrative leans too heavily on maudlin trauma digging with barely any levity to balance this out, and it all rests on the shoulders of characters that feel beyond the reader's grasp. The sibling characters provided an element of fun but really needed fleshing out, in order to prevent the story from wallowing. Overall, although a departure towards YA and a more serious tone could be a good next step for Hazelwood, the characters felt too underdeveloped to really give this novel the heart it needed.

After being a huge fan of Ali Hazelwood's books, it is great to see how she has moulded her style to suit a more young adult audience. A slice of romantic joy!

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group and Netgalley to providing me with an ARC to Ali Hazelwood‘s Check & Mate.

This is a contemporary YA romance about two prodigious chess players.

I thought this was a cute little read, Quite fast paced and generally feels really young, like the kind of language that is used and the references that are made to current pop culture and other things young people are probably currently interested in. First Ali Hazelwood novel I have read, so can‘t really comment on how this is in comparison to all other novels she has written but i did not not enjoy this. I didn‘t love it but I also didn‘t hate it. It was just kind of forgettable.

This gave a good go to making Chess sexy, like genuinely chess is just not sexy and in reality even less so (I used to be a baduk champion and travel to many baduk tournaments, so I am quite familiar with the kind of scene that goes to this and similar kind of games/tournaments). I think this was a reasonable try of making chess sexy but hey, in reality I don‘t think it‘s quite hit the mark for me.

I didn‘t particularly like the FMC, found her a bit whiny and misguided, bit naive, somehow she was some great mastermind chess prodigy but really limited in like literally anything else in life. Her family was annoying aswell, couldn‘t really emphasize with them, all the other side characters seemed like an afterthought.

All in all, it was alright, quiet fluffy, happy while reading it but to me probably utterly forgettable. Already now (after having finished this just last night) I am already starting to forget different characters names. Good if you are looking for a swift palette cleanser, love Ali Hazelwood or are a romance girlie but since I wasn‘t looking/am not any of these, this wasn‘t my favorite.

Whilst I enjoyed the overall book theme being centered around something as uncommon as chess, it took me a while to get into the story, and stay engaged.

I personally didn't understand the high stakes or emotional reaction the main character kept having towards chess, and it grew pretty tiring, as it felt repetitive and slowed the story down.

As a main character, Mallory was interesting enough, and the slow burn friendship and chemistry between her and Nolan was interesting. The family dynamics and struggles mallory faced were also interesting to read, as it felt more realistic and gave her more development as a character.

The characters were all written with the usual Ali hazelwood quirks and that worked for most of the story, but at times felt age inappropriate as it is listed as a YA debut, and some jokes felt a little too much, it didn't personally affect me, but it should definitely be considered when recommending to anyone.

I do enjoy an Ali Hazelwood story and this one had been on my tbr for sometime waiting for its release.
I think this may be the most YA Ali Hazelwood I have read and so the adjustment from expectations to reality was part of my hesitation in loving this book. I struggled with falling into Mallory’s world of family and chess and how those two parts of her life were not Co-existing, maybe that’s about the maturity level of YA fiction though. I liked that it wasn’t inst-love for our two main character and that they were building their own lives and futures for themselves not just one blindly following the other.
They were cute together and definitely a couple I could root for!

I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is Ali Hazelwood’s best piece to date. Had me kicking, screaming and giggling the entire time - a beautiful story that is just THE perfect edition to YA romance.

I loved this book!

Ali Hazelwood just has a way to make me connect with her female characters. (They are imperfect and you want to shake them, but they are relatable to me)

I really enjoyed some of the side characters... However some of them were infuriating.

I have seen some of the comments on it having too many pop culture references, I didn't mind it.

Again if Ali Hazelwood writes it I will read it!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it’s definitely another hit from Ali Hazelwood that YA fans are going to love! Mallory has had a rough few years and it’s turned her away from her passion for chess but helping out a friend leads her back to the chess board and she quickly catches the eye of the who’s who of chess with her skills but it means she has to make some decisions about her future and her family that aren’t easy. Through Mallory, we learn about the ups and downs of the world of chess and although it’s never interested me (I don’t have the patience for all the rules and strategy!), it was fascinating to experience it through Mallory and see what an inspiration she was to women globally.

It was great to see Mallory build relationships with Grand Masters and other chess players, and to see the supportiveness of the people around her in contrast to the misogyny and horrific sexism that appears to dissuade a lot of women from following their own passion for chess. Mallory’s relationship with her family is complex but her sisters have big personalities and I completely adored them but definitely couldn’t live with them. I may have shed a few tears at parts - Mal has the weight of the world on her shoulders and it brings forth some emotional conversations, so bring tissues!

This is, at its heart, a romance so I can’t leave without mentioning Nolan - her chess rival and the top ranked player in the world. He’s blunt, intense, and so casually supportive of Mal in private and public it’s impossible not to swoon a little (or a lot!) and theirs is the slowest of slow burns but with Mal in denial about their mutual connection and Nolan so obviously hooked on her, it makes for such a fantastic build up and I couldn’t get enough!

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
I give this book 4.5 stars

Mallory Greenleaf begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious 'Kingkiller' Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Mallory's victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can't help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist...
As she rockets up the ranks, she quickly realizes that the games aren't only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent... and infuriating...)

I have never played chess but it made no difference to my total enjoyment of this book and I hadn’t considered that it is a male dominated game. We join in Mallory’s coming of age/self discovery journey along with entertaining and competitive world of chess and a developing romance. The side plots woven in touch on some serious topics which give the storyline added depth and the cast of characters all played their parts to.I really loved that it felt like Mallory and Sawyers relationship mirrored the chess games they were playing.l think this is my favourite book by her despite it being NA.
With thanks to Netgalley,Ali Hazelwood and Little Brown Book Group Sphere for my chance to read and review it.

I love reading Ali Hazelwood books and yes, I know her characters are mostly the same but I do not care! So I was really excited to get my hands on this ARC!

Unfortunately, I could not get into this story. I do read YA/NA, but this was too much. I did not like Mallory at all, the tone of the story was messy and filled with pop culture references that will not age well I'm afraid. I must at least like the MC's to be involved in a story and I thought Mallory (and her family) were so annoying. She also won every game (not possible!).

Oh well, on to the next one. I am sure she will be back with better.