Check & Mate
Ratings194
Average rating3.9
too convenient, formulaic, and there are more subtle ways to be a martyr
first foray into a ya romance in a long. time. i should have stayed away, this one's on me
This one was a fun light-hearted read. Filled with lots of typical young adult drama, peppered with some romance.
The story is about the lead girl who happens to be a chess prodigy but has stoped playing the game due to some traumatic background story relating to her Dad and her family.
The lead guy is this unbeaten world chess champion who is described as some hot shot celebrity genius, which reminds me somewhat of Magnus Carlsen. The story begins when somehow the protagonist enters an open chess tournament with reluctance and somehow ends up beating this lead guy. This makes the lead guy fall for her and keeps on trying to "play chess with her", throughout the novel.
The plot revolves around their everyday lives, their emotional back story, family dynamics, friendships and yes, chess. Mostly chess. I enjoyed reading this book as it reminded me of my college days when I was pursuing my master's and also pursuing the love of my life, who's now my wife. We used to play chess online during covid lockdown where I used to teach her how to play and eventually she ended up mastering it and started defeating me regularly. Fun times indeed!
It's a simple read with the language and narration catering to a young audience. The dialogue sounded teensy to me but that's alright as that's how young adult romance is I guess.
The book also highlights the gender gap in chess and lack of women representation and the issues they have had to face with casual sexism. That part was interestingly eye opening.
Would like to explore more of Ali Hazelwood's works. Maybe something that's more mature.
Overall, I'lll give this 3.5 out of 5.
*more like 3.75
I was a bit unsure about wanting to read this, because it's YA and I was afraid it would feel very young and teenage-y and I was not feeling that, but I actually enjoyed it, I think it helps the characters are not super young (18&20). They're both very likeable, Mallory's relationship with her family was interesting and I liked their dynamic, I also really liked how confident/straightforward Nolan was. I also liked all the side characters, they were all fun and I would not have minded seeing more of them.
I don't know a lot about chess, so not sure how accurate that part is. It's probably a bit unrealistic how good Mallory is, but I didn't mind it personally.
Loved it! Thought about "The Queen's Gambit" the whole time, of course! But it was a nice story, and I was happy to go back into the chess universe for a short while.
Venía con las expectativas altas después de leer libros anteriores “La hipótesis”, “La Quimica” y “La Teoria”. Ya que me sorprendieron para bien y terminaron gustándome bastante. Pero este libro... Me quedó debiendo todo.
A ver, claramente Ali hizo un trabajo excelente en cuanto a la escritura y el darle voz a los distintos temas/problemas, y es asombroso, ya que nunca decepciona en esa cuestion, pero con este libro me costó mucho el conectar con la historia y empatizar con los personajes, y realmente se me hizo bastante aburrido. También siento que, a mi parecer, le falto el romance.
Más de la mitad del libro, se enfoca en la protagonista, su historia y futuro en el ajedrez (lo cual me pareció interesante, no me malinterpreten) pero por momentos se volvia tan repetitivo que no lograba disfrutarlo. Llegó un punto en el cual lo único que quería era que ya terminara de una vez.
Es el primer libro de Ali con el cual no logro conectar, y sinceramente no creo volver a releer algún día.
En fin, no es un mal libro, pero no era lo que esperaba.
(Pensaba darle 2,5 ⭐️ pero siendo sincera, no lo merece, ya que la idea es buena, y la escritura es excelente. Únicamente por eso.)
You don't need to know a lick of chess to enjoy this book and I love the two love interests.
This one met my expectations. Mostly.
Which is a kind way of saying, not bad but it could have been so much better.
Usually I like Ali Hazelwood's books, but as this was her first foray into ya, I was prepared to give it a little grace. It needed that grace and then some. There were times when I struggled to pay attention. It was never difficult to set the book down, except maybe the last 20 pages. Pretty sure that was more about me counting pages and continually reminding myself that the light at the end of the tunnel was glaringly bright.
Mallory is a fairly well written mc. She's got her good points and her flaws. I didn't necassrily like her - her childish bs and self appointed matyrdom grated on my nerves -but character wise she was fleshed out. I liked most of the chess related secondary characters, especially Oz. Who didn't I like? Nolan. The character equivalent of a wet paper towel. There was no depth to him. Chess. His grandfather. (who also played chess). And....he's a 20someyear old guy with no relationship experience who has no idea how to take care of himself when he's sick. That's it. We didn't learn anything about him that was comforting or revolutionary or even suggest that his favorite color was something other than beige. He chemistry with Mallory was miniscule at best. To the point where I didn't feel like there was really a romance at all.
My other issues would have been minor if the main story had held my attention better. But since it didn't...Mallory's mom? She was sick? I think? But no idea how she was sick. At first I thought it was depression. Then maybe recovering from cancer. But maybe it was some other kind of chronic illness? Lupus? Chronic fatigue? Arthritis? Fibromyalgia? No idea. Something was needed to explain why Mallory was playing parent even though her mom was in the other room. Mallory's sisters. Good grief. How does Mallory's 12 year old sister know that much about her sex life? Plus both girls were walking, talking Gen Z encyclopedias, practially just spewing lists of jokes and references to try to make the author appear like she knows what she writes about (Riverdale was not that good, but at least she didn't include the horrible, inexplicable Nancy Drew farce). It was all superficial.
One other point of contention: I think this book is mis-genre'd (is that a word?). Based on the ages of the main characters, where they are in life and the amount of sex talk, this should be New Adult, not YA. I wish publishers would stop trying to say something is YA, even when it's obviously not in an attempt to get those who read YA to look their direction.
Overall, 2.5 stars. I'm not feeling generous enough to round it up to 3
Listen, I love Ali Hazelwood. Reading one of her books is always a pleasure. But with Check & Mate being her first foray into the young adult genre, this definitely has a different tone than the rest of her novels. It has more of a focus on the teen “coming-of-age” plot than the romance, which I'd argue that her adult works have it the other way around. Also, I personally prefer her STEM stories over this, or Bride. Overall, though, an enjoyable read.
it was a book I read it would not recomend unless you like Ali Hazelwood, I just keep putting myself through hell and back to be able to say I have read all her books and still hate them
¿Cómo es posible que este libro para muchas personas este sea el mejor de la autora? Aunque mí me parezca una absoluta bazofia, fue aburrido me demoré un mes leyendo y es una completa babosada, no le puedo dar cero estrellas me conformo con una, no hay nada bueno en este libro (tal vez, Nolán, aunque escasamente).
Quiero mucho a la autora pero que decepción tan grande.
For my first Ali Hazelwood book, this did not disappoint. Was thinking about this book nonstop when it was not in my hands.
The characters were very methodically thought out and consistently were apart of it all. Even tied up loose ends from the beginning which was nice to see. Loved Nolan and Mallory’s relationship at every point in the book, would root for them any day.
Mallory’s sisters were lowkey the best part - they were absolute menaces.
4⭐️
This was cute and fun to follow the chess, but it seemed like he liked an IDEA of her rather than the reality of her.
Started with very cringy very clearly YA targeted writing, but as the book went on I fell more and more in love with all of the characters. Chess was a great background to set this story against as it kinda felt like what I imagine a sports romance would feel like (as of yet I have not read any). I really enjoyed this book overall, though the ending left a bit more to be desired. I wanted more in the last chapter before the epilogue!
Like queens gambit but without the drugs and orphanages. I wanted the final chapter to be comprehensive though so :/ also third act breakup boo
This book had me giggling and kicking my feet. The characters were real and had true depth to them. Their story is intricately woven together. It’s posed as an enemies to lovers but rather the game was the “enemy” all along.
mallory girl you need a good slap to the face; idk how nolan's back survived this book after carrying it from page one
Y'all I am giddy over this book! I loved it so so much! We've had a busy few days and I wanted an easy audio while I ran around with the kids and did things around the house. It did not disappoint! Check & Mate follows Mallory and Nolan. Mallory's life used to be chess until she started taking responsibility for her family's care and finances. Nolan is a professional chess player whose life revolves around chess. Their meet-cute is so cute and sweet. This is a young adult book, but it didn't feel “too young” to me so I'd say definitely upper YA. I found Nolan so precious and sweet. The way Ali Hazelwood writes is so fun and witty. I loved the representation in the book, it felt very inclusive. This was just such a breath of fresh air. Check & Mate is an upper young adult romance, 16+ for themes, language, sexual content.
4.5
Why do I wanna cry??? I knew I was going to love this book just based on the cover & it's been one of my most anticipated reads for a while & Hazelwood did not disappoint!
The relationship between Mal & Nolan was just so compelling for me & the chess rivalry really fucking worked for me man
I never thought I'd read an Ali Hazelwood novel (being prejudiced against Reylo and having the eyes to see the cover of Love Hypothesis, as well as not finding any particular appeal to Adam Driver), but this really surprised me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It might be the chess, since I don't really have an interest in the STEM subjects of her other works, but either way I loved it. I think maybe the really casual and blatant approach to sex would make me hope there's no younger teenagers reading this, but for my own age range there was nothing explicit. This novel isn't a masterpiece of modern literature by any means, but I really liked it and would definitely read it again. It's also managed to make me feel like getting even more into improving myself in chess, so thanks to this book, my next literary purchase will probably be chess related.
The author is not very good at writing. Sentence structures are repeated frequently, emphasis is shown in only a single way, and the conversations are... Stilted. Awkward. Unrealistic.
The main character, Mallory, is stupid - which is forgivable - and annoying - which is not. The love interest, Nolan, is so cookie-cutter and flat that it physically pains me. The middle sister, Sabrina, is like a parody of how teenagers are represented in media - except it's not a parody.
The romance occurs suddenly and with shallow buildup. The chess metaphors are inserted in a way that could not have been more hamfisted. Speaking of chess, this book commits countless crimes against chess. The author apologises for that, at least.
