Week 7 Review: Check & Mate

From Goodreads:

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life's moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory's focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she 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.

Nolan's loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What's even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But 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, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory 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...)

My Review:
Reading this book was just a delight! I would say this is a bit younger than her usual books, but I wouldn't say it's YA, it's more NA, given that both of them are over 18, and there's a decent dose of sexual content in this book. 

I don't know much about chess, and honestly I don't have much interest. I know a bit about it, but my mind doesn't retain the information needed to plot out moves and countermoves. Chess is important to these characters, but this story doesn't require more than the minimal knowledge that I have. 

One thing that seems to be a staple of Ali Hazelwood books, is that the guy falls first, and pretty madly in love, in a way that's fairly obvious to the reader, but the lady either misinterprets or deliberately doesn't understand. Which was a delight in this book, I really enjoyed Mallory and Nolan's dynamic! Especially in romances, where usually the guy has a lot of experience, and the girl has little to none, and that's reversed in this book, which was lovely to read.

That he's basically the reigning champion, and she came out of nowhere-because of what chess did to her family-and beat him, causing him to be obsessed with her? I loved it! Watching as they spent more time together, dealing with the family tensions, as well as the sexism of chess, all came together for a really entertaining story, and I just had to keep reading and see how it would all resolve! 

This was a fantastic read and I can't wait to read more by Ali Hazelwood! 

Author: Ali Hazelwood 
Read: February 13th, 2024
Source: Bought 
Reason Why: Love her writing, and it's a SAC 2024 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Published: November 7th 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars