Thank you very much to the publishers and Netgalley for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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…)
I was sucked into the world of Ali Hazelwood’s writing, along with a lot of people, a couple of years ago and have read everything she has released ever since. So, of course I was excited to give her YA debut a read. I thoroughly enjoyed Check & Mate and have had a desire to play chess ever since finishing it.
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. The sport led to the destruction of her family four years ago, so Mallory’s focus is on her mom, sisters and dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she agrees to play in one last charity tournament and unintentionally wipes the board with the current world champion, Nolan Sawyer. The loss shocks everyone but what is even more shocking is Nolan’s desire to cross pawns again. Mallory’s victory opens the door to well-needed cash-prized and despite everything, she can’t help but feel drawn to Nolan.
I grew to love Mallory throughout the book. At first she comes across as quite one-dimensional but actually she has a lot more depth to her and is quite complex. It is clear to see how much she cares for her family and how much she has sacrificed to keep them happy. Not only that she is extremely determined and that is obvious in the way she plays chess.
Nolan comes across as moody and bad tempered at first but as we get to know him it is clear to see how caring he is for those around him. We also get to meet a number of side characters in this book. Some I loved and others I disliked but for good reason. I loved Oz and Defne the most. Both are caring and hilarious in their own ways.
The romance between Nolan and Mallory is adorable. All their interactions are heart-warming and sweet and you can’t help but want what is best for the pair.
Ali Hazelwood is certainly an author I can rely on for a heart-warming story. She has done an excellent job at moving into the YA genre and I hope we see more YA from her in the future.
Overall, Check & Mate is a fun, refreshing and heart-warming YA romance that I thoroughly enjoyed. I would highly recommend this one especially if you are a fan of Ali Hazelwood.
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