Check & Mate
In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, lifeâs 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, Malloryâs 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 âKingkillerâ Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolanâs loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. Whatâs 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 Malloryâs victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she canât 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 arenât only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligentâŚand infuriatingâŚ)
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Malloryâs 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 âKingkillerâ Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolanâs loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. Whatâs 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 Malloryâs victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she canât 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 arenât only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligentâŚand infuriatingâŚ)
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Community Reviews
I wouldnâÂÂt necessarily call this book YA? If so, itâÂÂs upper YA, borderline NA.
THAT BEING SAID. This book was cute as hell. And, of course, it wouldnâÂÂt be an Ali Hazelwood without me getting gut punched in the feelings in the third act.
THAT BEING SAID. This book was cute as hell. And, of course, it wouldnâÂÂt be an Ali Hazelwood without me getting gut punched in the feelings in the third act.
I was a little frustrated with the accuracy of the chess, in spite of knowing next to nothing about it myself. The two things that stand out are the confusion between ranking and rating and in the first game they play the male lead is surprised when she checkmates him, when the number one player in the world would surely see this coming. Also the âÂÂthere are a ton of woman GMsâ comment early in the book is factually inaccurate and bothered me a bit as well (even though later on itâÂÂs commented how rare it actually is).
I also donâÂÂt like how flat a lot of her male characters wind up being. They seem to have minimal to no flaws in contrast to the wildly developed and flawed female characters. This makes the books feel heavily weighted towards the woman in a way that undermines some of the feminist themes.
Revised to 2.5/5 because I didnâÂÂt realize this is billed as YA and I agree there is too much random sexual content for YA readers.
I also donâÂÂt like how flat a lot of her male characters wind up being. They seem to have minimal to no flaws in contrast to the wildly developed and flawed female characters. This makes the books feel heavily weighted towards the woman in a way that undermines some of the feminist themes.
Revised to 2.5/5 because I didnâÂÂt realize this is billed as YA and I agree there is too much random sexual content for YA readers.
What I liked: Having enjoyed watching The Queen's Gambit, a romance novel centered around competitive chess is a fun storyline. What I disliked: Mallory's mother, sisters, and friend Easton were all selfish ungrateful users that I despised.
I donât like chess, and it was hard to ignore the chess part. I liked the characters but I feel like the prize money from chess did a lot of heavy lifting in terms of plot occurrences.
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