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CHECK & MATE


ALI HAZELWOOD

4.06
61,072 ratings11,921 reviews
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Goodreads Choice Award
Winner for Best Young Adult Fiction (2023)
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...)
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GenresRomanceYoung AdultContemporaryFictionContemporary RomanceAudiobookNew
Adult

...more

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2023

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5,826 people are currently reading
233k people want to read

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ALI HAZELWOOD

12 books86.8k followers
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I'm Ali, and I write contemporary romcom novels about women in STEM and
academia. I love cats, Nutella, and side ponytails. I'm also currently learning
to crochet, so as you can tell I'm a super busy gal with an intense and exciting
life!

I only use Goodreads as a reader, to review and hype books that I've loved (many
of these book are ARCs received from fellow authors).
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

4.06
61,072 ratings11,921 reviews
5 stars

20,677 (33%)
4 stars

26,735 (43%)
3 stars

11,137 (18%)
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1 star

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 11,922 reviews
Ayman
237 reviews99.2k followers
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November 3, 2023
when you haven’t played chess in years, randomly play a tournament for your
friend, accidentally beat the #1 champion in the world, and now he’s obsessed
with you 🤩

i don’t even like chess but now i wanna play (to fall in love with my tall,
dark, and handsome rival) 🫣

ughh the souls of these main characters are cosmically intertwined and are
forever bound to be with one another in any universe‼️

if you are the burnt out older sibling, this book is for you 🫵🏽 mallory is
such a relatable character. at some points i was asking myself “is the author
writing for me? or about ME?!” ⁉️

nolan GOODNESS GRACIOUS! romance is ALIVE! he is so effortlessly down BAD for
mallory. wants to study her. wants the world for her. wants her to be his 🫴🏽
this man would move mountains for his girl before she was even his girl. 🧎🏻‍♀️

my favorite scene is when she takes care of him when he’s sick because he’s so
delirious thinking that he’s in a dream and there’s no possible way that the
girl of his dreams is nursing him back to life. my lord it was too cute and
romantic. 😭


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Maditales
600 reviews26.8k followers
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May 20, 2023
Dear authors, please stop talking about Tiktok, AO3, Riverdale, Cole Sprouse and
Timothée Chalamet in your books. Thank you.

Update:
Just found out this book is the story of Anna Cramling and Magnus Carlsen but
with romance? Idk how I feel


1,377 likes
31 comments
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Ava
241 reviews246 followers
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April 6, 2022
The simple truth is that Ali Hazelwood writes a book, and I read it, and that's
that


1,196 likes
4 comments
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Haley pham
78 reviews124k followers
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August 25, 2023
4.5 babyyyyy


1,975 likes
1 comment
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ash ౨ৎ
322 reviews1,189 followers
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December 21, 2023
1.5 ⭐️ 's. tdlr if the queen's gambit was made for y/n by a millennial

mentioning ao3, tumblr, percy jackson gifs, jungkook, zendaya, harry styles,
billie eilish, bts, paris hilton, dragon age, timothee chalomet, malala, candy
crush, taylor swift ca. 2016, thanos, the hunger games, lilo & stitch, you (the
tv show), riverdale, jughead/cole sprouse, jeff bezos, twitter, snapchat,
michelle obama, tinder, michael phelps, donna tartt, tony stark, christian dior
(savage), discord, bruce wayne, corpse bride, bob ross, scalp massage asmr is
not hot

(pls appreciate the time i took screenshotting each page with a reference to
include here 😘)
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age-new-adult-or-adult arc genre-realistic-fiction

...more

497 likes
32 comments
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Claudia Lomelí
Author 8 books78.1k followers
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April 18, 2023
AWWW, this was cute.

Gracias a BookUp por la copia avanzada. Ali Hazelwood nuevamente me demuestra
que escribe a mis novios literarios perfectos, me enamoré de Nolan Sawyer. No
diré mucho, tendrán reseña (obvio sin spoilers) en mi wrap up :).

2023


493 likes
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Ali Goodwin
197 reviews21.6k followers
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November 26, 2023
3.5 stars! I’ve loved Ali Hazelwoods past books & was so excited to read a young
adult book by her! It was so fun getting immersed in the world of chess!! A
career/sport that I knew little about.

I love that the characters felt like complex characters outside of just their
romance plot. Mallory’s got a tough family backstory and home life and two very
fun little sisters. I also loved Nolan! He’s a chess god, incredibly handsome,
and so sweet 🥹 🫶🏻

BUT I had 2 big complaints. Mal definitely had some self destructive tendencies
which felt similar to the miss communication trope to me (in that it was very
frustrating & I feel like there are way more interesting conflicts out there).
And secondly! The ending ended so SO so abruptly. I was so disappointed. I
wanted more from the romance and chess tournament in the end. Even a better
epilogue would’ve worked for me.

Overall a cute chess filled young adult romance ♟️ 💗
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434 likes
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Heather Mclarry
223 reviews20.5k followers
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November 14, 2023
3.5⭐️ Definitely had fun reading this but it’s not my fav. Nolan is a cutie pie
and deserves the world. Also I’m confused on what qualifies a book as YA LOL


406 likes
14 comments
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♡ alexa raye ♡
18 reviews9,557 followers
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December 21, 2023
ARE. YOU. KIDDING.??? This was perfection. 🥹 I grew up playing chess
religiously so naturally, I ATE THIS UP. Ali is a queen & will forever be one of
my favorite authors 🥰


362 likes
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Kristan
86 reviews14 followers
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December 19, 2023
3.75 stars rounded up.

If you know nothing about chess but enjoyed watching The Queen’s Gambit and want
something far less tragic, you would probably like Check & Mate.

Overall, I really enjoyed the storyline and setting of this book. Though, if you
are familiar with the pattern followed in Ali Hazelwood’s other books, you can
probably guess the “twist” that comes towards the end.

The character dynamics among the MC’s family felt really interesting and made
Mallory feel much more like a real person. It made me wish we had gotten more of
the same with Sawyer’s found family outside of the interactions with Mallory so
I could see him as more than an obscenely tall, love interest and chess machine.

In case you are wondering if there is any variety in the character descriptions
from her other books, I feel I should point out that Ms. Hazelwood remains
consistent in her writing. Paraphrased examples: “His hands are massive” and “I
couldn’t miss him because he stands a head everyone else in the room”

I will likely continue to read her books because they’re fun, typically light
reads, but I wish she would mix up her character body types. Give us some
variety to match the real world, please!

Edit 1: we’ve got a cover, description and a release date, November 7, 2023!

Original: No description, no release date, no question about whether or not I’ll
read this book. 💕
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Mel
119 reviews11.2k followers
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November 12, 2023
perfect, perfect, perfect


284 likes
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s.penkevich
1,051 reviews7,842 followers
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December 18, 2023
I think Ali Hazelwood would like me to begin by reminding you the love interest
in this book is quite hulking and fit. It’ll come up a lot. Like massive arms
and massive hands, which is how you know he is packing a massive…rook to knight
combo. That’s how chess works, right? I’m not really sure but that is what is so
great about Check & Mate because even if you previously had no interest in chess
this book is so charming and energetic about the game that you’ll have a great
time no matter what. I am absolute dog shit at chess—my phone app has beaten me
enough to accept this—but I am delighted that Hazelwood said “you know what
should be sexy? CHESS!” Hazelwood has made a name for herself with a wildly
successful series of spicy adult novels featuring young women navigating fields
typically gatekept by men and finding romance and here she enters the realm of
YA where 18 year old Mallory returns to the world of chess, rusty from a long
hiatus inflicted by shame and keeping her family afloat. Now she must face-off
against misogynistic expectations and chess world champion slash thirst trap
icon Nolan “I swear I’m not an Adam Driver Insert” Sawyer. The “Kingkiller”. The
man with the big, meaty, sexy hands (remember this). But also the man she
embarrassed by defeating in her first match, making her the new, hot topic about
Chess World. Hazelwood writes with bubbly wit and while the constant corporate
branding name drops might make one wonder if this book is collecting ad revenue,
it's a fresh and fun rom-com that deals with themes of teen parentification,
friendship anxieties and being thrust into a judgemental spotlight where the
personal life you can barely keep from falling apart is suddenly the topic of
social media speculation. Check & Mate is as corny as it is horny but, honestly,
it's also just a good time that knows its audience well.

‘His movements, when he touches the pieces, are precise, economical, strong. I
hate myself for noticing that.’

Girl, trust me, we all noticed that. Anyways, I found the premise of this to be
quite promising and it lives up to it. It’s almost interesting enough to uphold
the reluctant rivals to lovers engine that drives the story. While most
realistic-fiction YA tends towards a high school setting, it was refreshing to
see this being set in chess tournaments and libraries (‘God bless libraries.’
Agreed). Part of the premise is that chess is now the Big Thing thanks to Tiktok
and Sawyer, the bad boy of chess, for inspiring a lot of content around his
looks and temper tantrums (Kylo Ren behavior…), which, sure, I could believe
that happening in this post-The Queen’s Gambit-fame, social media influenced
world. And the youth getting really into chess is a super cool idea, I’d love
that to happen. It also helps raise the stakes in this book because chess
matches are covered like they are the Super Bowl and the cash prize is enormous.
And so are Sawyer’s arms.

The financial opportunities are key to our gal Mal’s motivations, and shd has
more or less vanished from her own life in order to raise her aggressively-tween
sisters and care for her sick mother. Hazelwood presents the hardships of a
parentified teen who feels cornered by her own life that has been bent towards
constant service of others to the point that taking time for herself is
guilt-inducing. But all of chess is cloaked in a sense of shame for her and she
hadn’t played in years, though the reason behind this is something Hazelwood
only teases until the big reveal late in the novel (though its so hinted at I
doubt the reason will come as a surprise to anyone after the first 20 pages).
Hazelwood captures being burnt out and frustrated well while also making
detangling all her insecurities a coming-of-age narrative nestled into the
overall plot.


> ‘There’s lots to consider. My feelings about chess, for one, which I cannot
> disentangle from my feelings for Dad. They are twisted, knotted together.
> There’s pain. Regret. Nostalgia. Guilt. Hate. Above all, there’s anger. So
> much anger inside me. Mountains of it, entire blasing landscapes without a
> single furyless corner in them.’


The YA genre suits Hazelwood well, being able to turn on the firehose of
emotions and make the more immature or quippy moments read as more age
appropriate as it does in some of the adult novels Hazelwood often gets compared
with. I enjoyed that the characters are older than most YA, being in that sort
of anxiety-ridden purgatory between high school and “being an adult”. A great
example of this is Mallory’s friendship with Easton and the interplay of Mallory
feeling FOMO as Easton goes off to college while Easton worries she is being
similarly phased out due to Mallory’s rising-star adventures. While Hazelwood is
known for being pretty spicy she tones it back a lot here to suit a YA audience
in ways that never feel like self-censorship. There’s still a lot of waistband
grabbing (those big, manly hands…) and brief steamy moments though its mostly
fade-to-black. Perhaps the lack of sex in the book also helped focus on ensuring
the plot held up and was engaging. Truthfully, I couldn’t put this down.

Still, I liked these characters—the dialog is fun and snarky without feeling
like it needs to only be one-liners to the point of absurdity—and while Mal and
Sawyer’s relationship sometimes seems to conveniently progress despite them
really only talking about chess its all pretty cute. Sawyer’s character works
well as an example of misconstrued perceptions on a person and behind the
mystique he is actually quite a lovable person who treats Mallory well. He’s
also possibly an Adam Driver-cast insert as both Driver and Star Wars get a
call-out in text. This seems to be Hazelwood’s thing and The Love Hypothesis
began as Star Wars Reylo fanfiction in a STEM field and minus Kylo Ren’s
penchant for war crimes. Plus we have the whole Mallory as a sort of “chosen
one” who defeats temper tantrum boy who has trained for years which isn’t NOT
the plot of Force Awakens if you squint at it. Though Sawyer’s grandfather and
his mental health issues come up, thankfully he wasn’t notable for having
committed a genocide. Have I mentioned that this guy is hulking?

‘Most women in chess decide to skip these events and complete in women-only
tournaments. I bet you’re wondering why.’

While Sawyer is supportive and sweet, the rest of the chess world is a minefield
of misogyny for Mallory to navigate. Journalists love to ask her ‘how does it
feel to be a women in chess?’ and her first experience with Koch—essentially the
villain of the book—is him asking if she beat Sawyer by dressing evocatively.
Good on Hazelwood for addressing the extra pressures and judgment on a woman in
male-coded fields while inspiring young women to embrace their hobbies and
strengths and achieve in whatever they want to do. But also good on her for
making Koch so fun to hate. I mean, this guy is basically some teenage Ben
Shapiro character twiddling his evil mustache (okay Koch doesn’t have a mustache
but you get the idea) and being insufferable to everyone. You’ll want to punch
him. A few times.

There are a lot of complaints online about the use of slang and pop culture
references here, which is whatever. Does it seem like a sort of eye rolling
technique to be “this is how teens talk right?”, sure. But I do want to start a
conspiracy theory that books will have product inserts as the new form of tv
commercials because Hazelwood name-checks so many corporate brands and
highly-specific product names that it feels weird. It’s like when the kid is
sleep-talking brands in White Noise and I kept joking that this book is
generating ad revenue to keep the publishing industry rolling.

After having read Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry this year, I figured I should
complete the trifecta and read an Ali Hazelwood and I’m pretty glad I did.
Overall, this was pretty fun. It moves at a quick pace (shocking for a story
about chess games, I know) and has some pretty fun ups-and-downs while following
a fairly formulaic romance plotline. Sure I could probably nitpick stuff about
plot holes or whatever, but at the end of the day that seems beside the point to
me. I’m judging this based on my rule I’ve just now invented called the A
Knights Tale Rule: believability is beside the point when you came to laugh
along to a story about Heath Ledger looking great on a horse. This is fun and
cute and I had a pleasant time reading it. It also achieves its main goal:
making chess seem sexy. So excuse me, I’m going to go get my ass kicked by my
chess app again and pretend I’m Gary Kasparov playing against Deep Blue.

3.5/5

“Chess is a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Look where it got me.”
“It got you here. To me.”
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chess lgbtq romance

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Holly
32 reviews10 followers
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April 25, 2022
There is zero information about this book but you can bet your ass I’ll be
reading it


255 likes
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mitra
52 reviews527 followers
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December 23, 2023
i never want to look at anything chess-related ever again. for context, please
read the quotes below: i'm so sorry in advance

"unclench your butthole, mallory. WE DID NOT DESERVE TO READ THAT.

"his hands dwarf my hands, and he smiles at the sight." NO WE GET IT, HE'S TALL.
LET IT GO. if ali mentions one more time in her books that the mmc has large
hands, i am actually going to lose it.

"explicit fanfiction of him and percy jackson.." no because i do apologize that
you had to see that sentence, but if i had to go through 350 pages of this, so
do you.

"no more timothée chalamet posters staring creepily at me from the walls."

this was kinda okay because i hated reading it, and that's what i wanted. and
also i finally completed my reading challenge with check & mate. but at least it
was funny?

bottom line: if you like to read the word tiktok approximately 100 times per
sentence, this book is for you!
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2-star-reads please-burn-it romance

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manju ♡
141 reviews496 followers
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November 23, 2023
not particularly good, not horrible. just average. middling, if you will. but
you know what — i enjoyed it. the only other book i’ve read by ali hazelwood is
the love hypothesis, which i liked but found especially forgettable. the
characters were flat and didn’t have much personality, the ethics of the
relationship were questionable, the smut was truly some of the worst i have ever
read, etc.

this one is far better for several reasons, but unfortunately, it still falls
short.

mallory greenleaf: i love her. she’s a three dimensional character with clearly
defined interests, motives, fears, and desires, and she is incredibly easy to
root for. selfless to the point of being self sacrificing, she puts her family
above all else. she fits the classic older sister archetype who shoulders the
weight of the world and assumes the family responsibilities because if she
doesn’t, everything will fall apart. my heart ached for her throughout the
entire book. i just wanted her to be a kid for a second. to enjoy her youth and
pursue what she loved, even though it may not have been the most practical thing
for someone in her situation. i loved her character development too. seeing her
go from hesitant and fearful of playing chess again bc of the memories to
embracing her love for it was so heartwarming 🥹 that being said, she was a bit
dense at times and made some (very) questionable decisions. the whole third act
breakup?? SO unnecessary. i was so frustrated with her bc how are you going to
get mad about that?? it didn’t even make sense 😭😭

nolan sawyer: this man. THIS man 😩😩😩 i love him. he was amazing. i don’t have
much to say bc that’s all that needs to be said.

the romance: so cute. so wholesome. so pure 🥹 i don’t know what it is about
young adult romance that gets me — perhaps it’s because i never got to
experience that kind of love and part of me is still a little bitter about it
they’re young and naive and unsure of themselves but somehow still full of hope.
this book reminded me why i love this genre so much and why i will continue to
love it, even as i enter my twenties.

the plot: i know very little about chess. did i have any idea what anyone was
talking about? no. did i still enjoy it? you bet i did. i was thoroughly
invested from the very first page to the last. the chess competitions were so
fun to read about, and i loved seeing mallory do what she’s best at.

the gen z references: no. cut them out. get an editor, preferably someone who
understands that adding pop culture references in every sentence just makes for
a tedious, infuriating read. it would have been so much better without them.

”i’m tiny and he’s huge 🥺”: we get it. she’s so small she’s practically
nonexistent and he’s the biggest creature to ever roam the earth. this shit
drove me insane — i was about to claw my eyeballs out and bang my head against a
wall and set the book on fire. i’m done. i’m DONE.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

a man who doesn’t feel emasculated when a woman beats him at something and
instead admires her for it and even falls in love with her?? where can i find
one 😩😩

rtc! but go read maya’s stunning review <3

i never know if these links work so i apologize if they don’t 😔

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

putting my crs on hold for this it better deliver
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₊
89 reviews276 followers
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December 1, 2023
i should've spent my time playing chess instead bc i would've enjoyed it more
than this


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Cara
333 reviews734 followers
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November 28, 2023
Check & Mate written by Ali Hazelwood was just the book I needed. This was such
a light and fluffy YA novel with heart breaking moments, but it made me laugh so
much, I had tears streaming down my face. Okay, y'all, don't come for me. I know
many people didn't love this book, but I absolutely adored it for many reasons.
I know absolutely NOTHING about chess, but that's okay because Check & Mate
teaches you so much about the sport. I've heard from many people that Ali
Hazelwood writes very cringe smutty scenes, but I had never read her books
before this one, but let me tell you, this book had no smut. If i'm going to be
honest, I went into this book completely blind, which I think made me love it
even more. I couldn't stop laughing the entire time, the characters had the best
banter, the Gen-Z references had me cackling so much. The gorgeous pink cover is
so gorgeous and I just fell in love. For my first time reading a book written by
Ali Hazelwood, I can finally say I had the best experience. I laughed so much my
stomach hurt, I had tears streaming down my face from all the laughing. I truly
loved this book so much, it was cute, fluffy, fun, hilarious, and just so good.
For those of you that haven't read this book yet, do yourself a huge favor and
pick it up immediately, I can't recommend it enough.

GEN-Z REFERENCES
*Snapchat
*BTS
*OnlyFans
*Twitter
*Tiktok
*Taylor Swift
*Billie Eilish
*Ed Sheeran body pillow (WHAT?)
*Candy Crush
*This is just the basic list, but there's plenty more.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. The destruction of chess destroyed her
family for the worst. During a tournament, Mallory caught her father kissing
another woman, meanwhile he had a family of his own. Since then, Mallory's
father has unexpectedly passed away. After the sport of chess led to the
destruction of her family four year earlier, Mallory's focus is now on her mom,
her sisters, paying the bills, and her dead end job as a car mechanic to keep
the lights on. Mallory is the oldest of three daughters, she plays surrogate
mother as her mother is sick and can't really move, let alone take care of her
other two daughters. Mallory's sister, Sabrina, drove me insane. Sabrina was
totally ungrateful and only cared about herself. As Mallory was working her butt
of trying to make ends meet, all Sabrina cared about was getting her derby bills
paid. I couldn't help but cheer and love Mallory, I just wanted to reach into my
kindle and give her the biggest hug ever, with no words. Mallory's main focus is
on her mom and sisters, but that is until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one
last charity tournament and wipes the board clean against Nolan Sawyer. Nolan is
completely shocked that Mallory beat him, but he wants to keep playing her over
and over again.

Okay, how did Mallory and Nolan play a game for seven hours straight? The only
thing I can do for seven hours is read and sleep. Nolan Sawyer is known as the
"Kingkiller" of chess, currently the world champion and reigning bad boy of
chess. Nolan is a tall, grumpy, and temperamental chess player on the outside,
but on the inside he is a soft, sugary cinnamon roll. The only thing I had a
issue with is that Ali Hazelwood would always talk about how tall Nolan was,
like okay, I get it, Nolan is tall as fuck. Nolan was a sweetheart, he might be
the bad boy of chess and the world champion, but he wanted to keep playing
Mallory over and over to secretly help her become the best female chess player
in the world. The things Nolan did for Mallory just warmed my heart so much.
Cinnamon roll sweetheart, Nolan Sawyer, had my heart in a choke hold. I couldn't
help but love Mallory and Nolan , they were just two precious souls. Nolan was
very sarcastic and very blunt during press interviews, he was never afraid to
speak what was on his mind. Despite Mallory being back in her chess world, she
wants to keep her family out of it, but that's kind of hard when there's
tabloids of Mallory and Nolan going around. Mallory and Nolan were just have a
conversation, but people made the picture of them together go viral like Mallory
and Nolan were dating.
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saffiyah♡ (semi-hiatus)
60 reviews243 followers
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December 27, 2023
guess who's back

back again.

saffiyah's back

with an updated 1 star rating.

yes i still have not finished this review, which means that every time this pops
up for you, it will be slightly different than the last time you saw it.



> "Until you work up the courage, it’s Schrödinger’s fucking."



2.5 stars⭐ - was i high when i gave this book 2.5 star rating? it gets 1.5 stars
thank you very much.

warning: there may be spoilers in this review, i say ‘may’ because i can't be
bothered to go make sure that there aren't. it shouldn't matter unless you plan
on reading this book (which you won't after reading this review) but this review
also may convince you to hate-read it (which is honestly totally understandable)
and if you plan to hate-read, then go into the book equipped with the knowledge
that this review will bring you (i say "knowledge" like i don't already have a
lack of it) and i also hope that you laugh at my misery because what else am i
here for?

yes i did get rejected for this arc, and no i am not still salty about it.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
mwahahaha i'm back for the characters with less than 5000 characters - enjoy my
incredibly detailed thoughts all chucked into one paragraph

*deep breath* with mallory, i didn't feel connected to her despite also being
the oldest child (but her commitment issues were REAL) nolan was adam carlsen
2.0 and came to me with a side of
"all-i-want-for-christmas-is-a-restraining-order-now". oz=hilarious. i want to
live, breathe and for my personality to scream "defne". sabrina was such a bitch
istg she would not last a day with my indian mother, her only redeeming quality
was the Schrodinger joke she made above. the blabbermouth sister was okay but
forgettable considering i don't even remember her name. and ew koch that
misogynistic asshole can die. i might be dumb but i guessed that twist with him
AND the solution to that twist miles away, lmao saffiyah 1 book 0 (although i
bought and didn't dnf this shit so who's to say who's winning - although it is
definitely unfortunately the book). and with easton i don't get it, why was she
absent for like half the book? when she was first introduced i thought we would
actually see their friendship and then she just ghosted her when she went to
uni, girl what was the point of that? and there were more characters that i just
could not care less about *exhales*
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

someone told me that they love the lists in my reviews, and i crave validation
so here we are with all the things i hated:

1. large hands...

•"taking his hand. It completely engulfs mine."

•"i’m wearing his gloves, because it’s freezing and i forgot to bring mine. they
dwarf my hands, and nolan smiles at the sight." her search history rn: "10
different ways to tell your readers that a guy has big hands"

• "the purposeful way his large hands close around the chess pieces"

• "large hands wrapped around my queen" - no i will not be providing context

2. he's tall, dark-haired and sarcastic, and he might as well be adam carson
with a new name- oh wait...

3. yes, there is no smut, but anytime sex was mentioned it was just incredibly
cringey and awkward - wait, scratch that, this entire book was cringey and
awkward.

4. that ending was so rushed and so stupid because she just summarised the most
exhilarating part of the book IN A NEWS ARTICLE aka the most boring form of
literature ever

5. incredibly weird dialogue. there was a whole page and a half about her
sister's farting. and if you don't believe me yet, screw you and read this.

• “yes, mallory. Unclench your butthole.”
• “i haven’t used the c-word in three years”
• “you are a chess child. an infant. i could shove my nipple in your mouth and
you wouldn’t be able to latch on to it.”
• “rooks, amirite?”
• “when he swallows, his throat bobs, a strong, mesmerizing movement that i
notice because . . . i’m going bananapants?”
• "oh, fuck. no no no. oh, fuckity fuck fuck."
• "do they have a manager I can pull a Karen with?"

hon, if there is another reference, then i'll be throwing my phone as far as i
give a flying fuckity fuck fuck about whether or not your fugly sisters farted
on your face. (you guys really need to appreciate my alliteration more)

my attempt at an actual review (spoiler: it's not good):

so do i actually remember the plot? was there even a plot? no and no. but what i
do remember is that these things were mentioned in the first 2 pages:
• “i am reliably informed that you’re a Gen Z sex symbol.” first sentence btw
• "probably reading Bill Nye erotic fanfiction"
• "i am expecting to see Zendaya. Harry Styles. Billie Eilish. The entirety of
BTS, crammed on the couch of whatever late-night show the YouTube autoplay
algorithm decided to feed me after the pH experiment tutorial ended."
• "They went viral on TikTok"
• "ChessTok"

and i remember telling myself to dnf right there, but continuing to read because
it is free of that cringe shit we call smut that is heavily featured in every AH
book apart from this one.

now, you may ask "why saffiyah, why do you continue to torture yourself with the
shittiest books ever to be crafted by authors at 2 am with an empty head and no
thoughts?"

and to that i say, because why not?

why not be a masochist reading the worst books ever written just to write an
even crappier rant review in the hopes that someone might laugh at my pain? why
not? give me one good reason as to why i shouldn't...

i'm going to ignore that perfectly reasonable reason.

see i may have pulled out my hair, and i may have grown some grey hairs at my
very ripe age of - wait i'm not telling you how old i am - whilst waiting in
agony for the book to finally come to an incredibly unsatisfying end but that is
okay.

"why?" you ask in tears because of my pain, "why is it okay for you to suffer
through a literary atrocity just for us?"

well to that, i say because know nothing will ever come close to the standards i
have set for books, for the standards i have set for book boyfriends, for the
standards that i have set for female friendships and sistership in books, and so
far, only a select few have been able to dig their way into my stone cold heart,
but mainly because i find happiness in complaining because it is fun.

and i know that 2 out of the current 922 friends that i have (when the hell did
i get 922 friends?) will enjoy reading this review, and read this review in it's
entirety (yes i might be underestimating your attention spans) and for that i
will persevere through book hell. (okay now i have 1024 friends - WOW)

anyway you just read some random paragraphs that i wrote as an excuse because i
have no review and because i have no proper recollection of this book. so to
reward you for reading up to here and not throwing your electronic in
frustration (although i can't be too sure about that), here are some cringey
references that i found whilst suffering through 3 literary monstrosities (all
of which i have written a review on and all reviews have received less than 100
likes each and yes i get mad about that so if you find them, like them, comment
on them, and send them to your mother)

here is what you were waiting for:

• "sabrina has fully embraced the VSCO aesthetic"
• "i’ve never not seen her once a week to play Dragon Age, or talk about Dragon
Age, or watch Dragon Age playthroughs. maybe we need new hobbies."

• “Guys.” Zach comes up to us from behind. “Don’t freak out, but I’ve spotted
some preeetty big names walking around. I’m talking international.”
Easton lets out an exaggerated gasp. “Harry Styles?”
“What? No.”
“Malala?”
“No.”
“Oh my God, Michelle Obama? Do you think she’ll sign my pocket constitution?”

• "No more Timothée Chalamet posters staring creepily at me from the walls."
• "Ed Sheeran body pillow"
• "Leninist Marxism, or having a foursome with her dorm RA who happens to be a
sapiosexual furry."
• "It’s like that time I accidentally sexted Mom."

• They make it sound like Sawyer’s Thanos and Koch’s Tony Stark.”... “Obviously,
they’re both Thanos.”

• "The Hunger Games"
• "Fast & Furious movie"
• "It is I, Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars."

• “What is this, OnlyFans?"
• "I have a secret writing career in furry erotica."

• "Veronica Mars"
• "At the start, I’m almost pumped. Reading about chess without playing has been
some serious edging, a little like having a carrot dangled in front of me. Now I
get to eat, and it’s going to be so damn good. Right?"

• "paparazzi on Taylor Swift ca. 2016."

• "going to the Krispy Kreme drive-through in my PJs to purchase my weight in
donuts, then eating 90 percent of them with Mom while we watch Hoarders on
YouTube."
• "fanfiction on AO3"
• "Sabrina the Teenage Bitch"
• “that chess guy in all the TikToks.”
• "like he’s Justin Bieber or something."
• "Candy Crush"
• “I do get several angsty late- night phone calls asking why Tanu just liked
the shirtless picture of some Stanford swimmer on Instagram, or who’s the skank
who keeps dueting Emil on TikTok.”

• “I’d be better at it if I knew what the hell a TikTok duet is.”
• "We don’t quite kick Russia’s ass, but we spank it a little bit."

• "Goodreads"
• "Vanity Fair!"
• "Jeff Bezos"
• "That’s the Washington Post and USE INCOGNITO MODE jeez what’s wrong with you.
Boomer."

• "I have to comb through more results than anyone who’s barely twenty years old
should have, including a Tumblr of him as a cat, and explicit erotic fanfiction
of him and Percy Jackson sixty- nining on a hippocampus.

• "I’m Mother Teresa."
• "Amazon review."
• "Today show"
• "Fracking, or the sustainable terraforming of Mars, or Malala’s book club?”
• "Maybe if I pull a Lindsay Lohan?"

• "he might as well be fracking on Jupiter."
• “we had to put up with his cologne phase.”
“Sauvage by Christian Dior. Jesus.”
“He bathed in it.”
“I’m pretty sure he drank it.”
• "Discord"
• "Signs up Goliath for Piggie-Tinder.”
• "My sisters are as happy to see him as they’d be Jungkook."
• I laugh. “Hot girl shit. You should really try to be online” Most of the other
top-ten players have Twitch and YouTube channels. Nolan: Twitter and Instagram—
both with NOT DIRECTLY MANAGED BY NOLAN SAWYER written in all caps in the bio. I
bet his social media guy got sick of people DMing him nudes."
• “Some tech industry person,” he tells me, and then into the speaker again, “Is
it Bill Gates again? Elle, he’s bad at chess.”
• “Right. Do you and Nolan fall asleep together to scalp massage ASMR like
Twitter says?”



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A Paragraph of Random Sh-t that I Found:

Bill Nye erotic fanfiction, Zendaya, Harry Styles(x2), Billie Eilish, BTS, viral
on TikTok, ChessTok, VSCO aesthetic, Dragon Age, Malala, Michelle Obama signing
pocket constitutions, Timothée Chalamet, Ed Sheeran body pillows, Leninist
Marxism, foursomes with sapiosexual furries, sexting mothers, Thanos, Tony
Stark, The Hunger Games, Fast & Furious movie, Taylor Swift ca. 2016, Jennifer
Lawrence at the Oscars, puking all over oneself, OnlyFans, secret writing
careers in furry erotica, boba, Veronica Mars, some rooks pun, some chess sex
pun, Taylor Swift ca. 2016, Krispy Kremes, watching Hoarders on YouTube, reading
fanfiction on AO3, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Justin Bieber, Candy Crush,
dueting on TikTok, spanking Russia's ass, Goodreads, Vanity Fair, Jeff Bezos,
the Washington Post, pulling a Karen, Tumblr, a Tumblr of someone as a cat, an
explicit erotic fanfiction someone and Percy Jackson sixty-nining on a
hippocampus, Mother Teresa, Amazon reviews, the Today show, fracking, the
sustainable terraforming of Mars, Malala’s book club, California wildfires being
started by space lasers, pulling a Lindsay Lohan, fracking on Jupiter, Sauvage
by Christian Dior, Discord, Piggie-Tinder, Jungkook, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram,
DMing nudes, Bill Gates being bad at chess, falling asleep to scalp massage
ASMR, The Little Mermaid and many more that I have definitely missed out on

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now lets laugh at what my thoughts were at the beginning of the book. Look at
how stupid and simple-minded I was! look at how i believe that this book may
become better (it seriously doesn't, but it is fun to be delusional.)

pre-review: (all the new stuff is in italics for clarity)

Do I have enough time to read another book right now?
No. (yeah bitch you didn't, and on top of that you read 3 terrible books at the
same time)

Do I have the sanity/patience to read yet another Ali Hazelwood?
No. (yeah bitch, you will never have the sanity to read an AH novel - you're a
mad woman if you think you do)

Do I love chess?
No. (yeah bitch, you literally hate chess, and have suffered from a lack of
sufficient brain cells to actually learn any of the rules)

Will there be cringey smut in sight?
... wait ... no (yeah bitch, hi its me from the future, um well - its still
going to be cringey)

So have I already read the first chapter?

...

ʸᵉˢ (well bitch that was dumb, wasn't it? you should have looked at the first
page and burnt every copy of this book to the ground with those incredibly
uncomfortable heels you always say you're going to get rid of, but never do
because it was expensive af.)

-----------
📢TO SUM UP📢

- i'm hilarious despite all evidence proving contrary
- as of late, i have realized my affinity for parentheses
- i love adding gifs into my reviews because they take up a bunch of space
- i should get better at reading blurbs and deciding not to read them because
"reigning bad boy of chess" was a red flag flying in my face...
- i will continue to read every AH novel just because
- i'm also going to reread them next year
- i'm very dumb
- learn from my mistakes

the bottom line: Ms Hazelwood saw the assignment and then went out of her way to
dodge it - you are all very welcome for my suffering...
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1-and-a-half-stars bin-it-burn-it-this-is-bull-shit genre_romance

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Ri ♡
232 reviews580 followers
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November 29, 2023
“When I’m with you, Mallory, everything is different. When I’m with you, I want
to play more than I want to win.”

It feels like I've been deceived by Ali and this book. My first anticipated read
of this month and this book definitely wasn't what I expected. I was so excited
to read it because it is written by Ali and she said it's an angsty rivals to
lovers story in chess world but it was more about chess tournaments and chess
championships than Mallory and Nolan and their rivals to lovers romance. The
plot had so much potential but the execution of it was a bit off and
unsatisfactory. How can you expect me to read 350 pages about the never ending
chess tournaments and how FIDE and all the things worked in chess world. There
was just too much info dumping about it. I wanted more focus on character's
development and romantic part of the story.



> “He leans toward me over the table, dark eyes earnest, stars traveling on his
> skin. “Do you know how incredible you are?”




Ali seriously need to stop using Gen Z references like TikTok, OnlyFans,
Riverdale, AO3, Discord, Jeff Bezos, Timothée Chalamet and Cole Sprouse in her
books. I was so close to dnf this book because of these refrences. Honestly I
never had any problem with Gen Z refrences in books but the way Ali tried to put
these in almot every sentence and conversation between the characters made this
book a bit cringe. My favourite things in this book were Nolan Sawyer, the
romance part and Mallory's little sister Darcy. She was so adorably hilarious.



> “Why would you keep something that makes you think of me?” I feel him shrug.
> “Because I think of you anyway, Mallory.”




The romance was cute and adorable. It was young love and even swoon-worthy but
there wasn't much rivalry between Mallory and Nolan like the way Ali promoted
it. There were some cute amd funny moments which I absolutely adored but I did
not like the way Mallory treated him sometimes. The way Nolan cared for her and
made sure she got the fellowship in chess was just so precious. He wanted to
play chess with her and she denied him every single time and I understand her
reasons but Nolan did everything he could to earn her trust. Nolan deserves so
much better. Also I hated how he was more like a side character in this book
than the "actual" side characters which is the worst that could happen to a mmc.



> He turns us around and then we’re on the unmade bed, the twisted sheets
> digging into my spine. “You’ll be playing the most beautiful chess I’ve ever
> seen, and I dream about having you under me. It’s fucking confusing.”




➸ Nolan Sawyer

Nolan the 20 year old number one world chess player, is a millionaire, the quiet
and moody boy who is secretly a cinnamon roll for Mallory, was obsessed with
Mallory because he lost a match to her and wanted her and did everything to have
her, wanted to play a chess match with her and even begged her for a match
because only she made him feel alive, spends time with Mallory's family and
treats them like his own, knows how to complement and treats a woman. He is a
perfect man.



> “Are you real?” The air between us swells, overflows. “Sometimes I’m scared
> that I imagined you. Sometimes I think you’re only in my head.”




➸ Mallory Greenleaf

The oldest sibling in her family who had to take care of her two younger sisters
and her mother so I'm sure you know what I'm trying to tell you about her here.
She had family issues and mostly daddy issues and on top of that commitment
issues and it took her years to finally talk about them with her family and stop
hating herself for them. I didn't like her but I also feel like she never
deserves any of the shit she went through for years.



> “He studies me for longer than is comfortable. Galaxies pass through his black
> eyes, and I wonder whether this second could last a century. Whether the
> universe could be just me and him, understanding each other on a forever
> loop.”




The ending was a "typical Ali Hazelwood ending" with a third act breakup over a
misunderstanding which can be cleared by talking but as usual the Fmc is too
tired, too betrayed to even listen what mmc have to say in his defense. But then
she realises she made a mistake and goes back to the mmc. I already knew what
was about to happen in the end.

Overall this book was fine and even enjoyable sometimes. I liked how Ali tried
to step out of her usual "women in stem" books and tried something different.
You might love this more than me if you are able to ignore all the Gen Z
refrences and all the never ending chess tournaments.




> “Chess is a bad idea.”
> “Why?”
> “Look where it got me.”
> “It got you here. To me.”

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aleksandra
463 reviews1,461 followers
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November 13, 2023
3.5/5

Listen, was it perfect? No. Did this book have too many Gen Z references,
including TikTok, OnlyFans, Riverdale, AO3, Discord, and some people I don't
want to hear about in my romance books, like Jeff Bezos, Timothée Chalamet and
Cole Sprouse? Yes. Especially at the beginning, when I thought I would literally
put this book down because of this. Didn't I particularly like the heroine? Also
yes.

But, did this book have Nolan Sawyer, the number one chess player in the world
at only twenty years old, who was rich, the quiet and intimidating one who was
obsessed with the heroine and was able to do anything for her. Yes. Nolan
Sawyer, my new type and dream man? Yes, yes and yes.



> "He turns us around and then we’re on the unmade bed, the twisted sheets
> digging into my spine. “You’ll be playing the most beautiful chess I’ve ever
> seen, and I dream about having you under me. It’s fucking confusing.”



I just feel to my knees.



> "His full lips tremble for the barest second. “Are you real?” The air between
> us swells, overflows. “Sometimes I’m scared that I imagined you. Sometimes I
> think you’re only in my head.”



I was pretty much crying there.



> “Why would you keep something that makes you think of me?” I feel him shrug.
> “Because I think of you anyway, Mallory.”



I just feel to my knees. Again.



> “Chess is a bad idea.”
> “Why?”
> “Look where it got me.”
> “It got you here. To me.”



I literally blushed and screamed into my pillow. I don't remember the last time
this happened.



> "I roll my eyes. “No follow-up questions.”
> He leans toward me over the table, dark eyes earnest, stars traveling on his
> skin. “Do you know how incredible you are?”



If someone told me that, I would start crying.


In overall this book was worth reading for one person. Nolan Sawyer, aka my new
husband. That’s it.
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Lilyya ♡
270 reviews1,497 followers
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November 20, 2023
i have a feeling; imma love this book..
——
okay, I think she understood the assignment. THIS COVER IS GORGEOUS !

most-anticipated


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Zoe
335 reviews1,640 followers
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December 23, 2023
an incomplete list of all the pop culture referances in Check & Mate

zendaya, harry styles, billie eilish, BTS, youtube, latenight shows, james
corden/jimmy kimmel, tiktok, chess.com, riverdale (what feels like thousands of
times), lara jean, all the boys ive loved before, fanfiction, AO3, tumblr, percy
jackson, jungkook, taylor swift, ari aster, hobbits, meghan markle, and many
more i am sure i did not notice.

while i dont hugely mind pop culture referance it definitely dates your book,
when all these things are no longer relevent people most likely will not read
this book because of that fact, therefore it is always wise to leave out pop
culture referances so it will be timeless.

the relationship itself was cute, but it also felt so rushed imo, i dont know if
that because i read it quite fast or not but to me I felt that the characters
could have been fleshed out a little bit more before they started to have their
wee romance.

I did like both characters, Sawyer was adorbale and the he falls first & harder
trope is always good and I love where the character at the top of his field gets
challenged by someone. However I feel like i didn't reallyknow them, but got
illuded to trauma both had.

sadly, i wish i enjoyed this more, the more i think about it the more i dislike
it so im going to stop here. i'll keep my happy memories. ali ill be back for
the next one 🫡






previous review
anyways here is my message to Ali Hazelwood on book ideas she could use while
still staying in the relm of science.

number one: two reaserches that are best friends (shocker right they are not
eniemes that have a missunderstanding) are reaserching nuclear fusion lets say
(because we just had a big advancement in that how exciting 😍) okay and get
this the two friends both have feelings for each other but hide it to protect
there friendship and through there reaserch they are around each other more and
so it becomes harder to repress there feelings and suddenly one of them lets
slip and they get together, all slowburn so no need for misscommuniaction or
anything, you have smut, science, AND slowburn. throw that alliteration in too
and your english teacher will be as happy as a clam.

numer two: instead of enemies lets have academic rivals, the begruding respect
but wanting to be better the tension😍 oh its so perfect, and lets say they are
in collage/university (whatever you call it) and lets have them be in a really
hard degree like mathematics or enginering or biochemistry. And they both have
academic validation so they NEED to get top scores and be at the top of the
class and its one or the other one week is him then its her ugh iconic. THEN
they get paired up together for an assessment that is like half there grade and
its SUPER important and so they have to work together on a engineering
project/mathmatical problem/ biochemistry reaserch paper. and slowly they get to
know eachother more than just this person i need to beat and they fall in love,
and while in that relationship they still have that respectful rivaly and banter
we all love

number three: something like the love on the brain where they are in a company
building setting where a bunch of different academics are creating something
amazing and groubdbreaking in science, the two main characters are two completly
different people, one a biologist that looks at the evolution of animals and why
creatures adapted due to enviromental changes. and a mechanical engineer, the
biologist (lets make him a man because hey! lets break these gender norms) and
hes there to help with something idk yet this is an idea not a story dont judge
me im a humble reviewer, and the womans the mechanical engineer thats there to
bring the entire thing to life. they are opposites in everyway, hes all nature
and the evolution of life and shes the numbers, but it works somehow they get
close and together. i dont know not my best idea but i like the number three so
we are running with it.

why not add in more than science? sprinkle some computor coders, they deserve a
love story because coding is hard, add some teachnology, people discovering ai,
mathematics is always fun (said no one but me ever) that would always be so fun
to look at.

and while your at it add in some queer rep made two women in stem fall in love,
now that would be iconic. 💅

oh and in all of them please no galexy leggins, unicorn socks or cat hoodies
please our main character is meant to be smart and sophisticated not a crazy
millenial cat lady she has more important things to be doing like discovering so
many new things. 💪💪

as a women in science i love what you are doing, but honestly, i think you have
the ability, skill and popularity to go above and beyond with your message.
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maya
83 reviews514 followers
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November 14, 2023
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ ♟️ about my first impression ♟️ ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

before we dive into it, i think i need to be honest with all of you, my loves,
unfortunately, i cannot be considered a reliable source in this review since my
obsession with everything that ali hazelwood writes is all over the place
(please don't cry, nor grieve for me) - even though, her books are not that good
(yes, i’m talking about the random little novellas she has published recently -
shrugs and sights deeply). like i was saying, although she's not the most
creative and innovative person i’ve ever seen in my whole life, her books never
fail to miss with me (i'm talking dead serious with you rn) bc they're always
able to get me out of the ugliest and most disturbing reading slumps - and thank
fck for that (cheers). and i don't really know what’s the secret ingredient to
her stories, but they’re always so lighthearted, fluffy, cute and witty - the
time flies by without you noticing stg. we know - from her extremely subtle
hints - that she has a huge fetish (and I mean huuuuge) for giants (bigfoot
style) and polly pocket dolls, but, i don't know, there are people out there who
get off on feet photos, so you know, it could be worse, guys - but could also be
better ngl. that being said, the moment i found out that she would be writing a
book considered to be outside of her comfort zone (insert STEM universe here), i
NEEDED to buy this work of art and read it immediately and viscerally cause i
really wanted to know what she would come up with in a different trope and in a
different universe, especially with characters that were younger than the ones
she was used to write. and on top of that (!!) chess was involved? take my card
and do what you want with it. however, i think everyone heard that ali decided
to incorporate a dictionary of references that she thought were young, funny and
cool (stop that, mom), invoking timothee chalamet's name more times than the
main character's ginormous hands around that small tiny coffee mug. i kept
thinking to myself that this would shred my reading to pieces, but you kind of
get used to it (exposure therapy maybe? idk) and the story becomes engaging
enough to make you forget that nolan is considered the sexiest boy of our
generation and that there are several edits of him on tiktok - and it’s probably
playing end game by taylor swift as a background audio.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ 🎀 about the characters 🎀 ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

mallory greenleaf. our main character. our chess prodigy that no longer plays.
our child playing the mother role for her bratty sisters. our daughter with
daddy issues and, therefore, commitment issues (go get that therapy, pet). mal
is sweet, smart, funny, kind, hardworking and extremely down to earth - in
another words, it’s a very hard and difficult task not to adore her and cheer
for her throughout the book - which sometimes makes you want to smack her head
on the table so hard that she would maybe stop being so dense and selfless -
PLEASE for once in your life be a spoiled, bitchy and ego centrical teenage girl
that only thinks of herself (breathes in and out to calm herself down). once you
get through that, her unconditional love for her family is, indeed, really
admirable and cute, the things she gave up for them and the shitty jobs she took
for them, all of her sacrifices will make your heart ache and break a little.
and that’s the reason why we love to see her finding herself once again in chess
- this is not a spoiler because it is painfully obvious that she will play again
eventually - like it’s a chess book, someone has to play at some point, right?
and about that, don’t be afraid of not understanding shit, ali actually makes a
great job in this part - as she did with stem terms in her previous books.

nolan sawyer. our second main character. our timothee chalamet goodbye, goodbye,
goodbye, adam driver, you were bigger than the whole sky of chess. our
supposedly moody and bad tempered privileged boy that is secretly (but not so
secretly) mal’s great admirer (god bless his tormented soul). nolan is
unapologetic himself, confident, smart, sarcastic, a bit closed off but,
nonetheless, a great friend to his loved ones- and did i mention that he’s the
tallest man ever with this huge hands? cause he is - just so you know. this poor
boy has had it enough, he’s tired, he’s bored, he’s almost entering an
existencial mid life crisis in his teenage years - like can you imagine being so
intelligent and gifted that playing chess with other grandmasters (they’re like
the cool and talented kids of chess) put’s you into a sleeping coma since their
moves are so predictable to you. enters mallory. who manages to wipe the floor
with him (her words, not mine) during a match. the boy is whipped and he knows
it. - she rizzed him up with a checkmate, who knows.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ ♟️ about the romance ♟️ ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

it’s cute. it’s sweet. it’s swoon worthy. it’s young love. it’s legs being
kicked. it’s giggles being smothered. it’s cheeks being painted crimson and
scarlet red. and it’s PG 13 - don’t you go crying and booing in my doorstep,
now, please, because their interactions and affectionate moments and late night
conversations and “can’t keep my hands/eyes to myself” are, indeed very lovable
and heartwarming and - color me surprised - enough to make you love love love
the romance. do we have a third act breakup? do we have a fall out? and does it
happens in the last few pages? does she run away? can’t tell you that since,
duh, spoilers, but what i’ll say is that whatever happened in the end didn’t
bother me and it was actually necessary for mal’s growth - so there you have it,
my little spoiler munchkin.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ 🎀 about my final thoughts 🎀 ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

as you know, it was a four stars rating for me (clap your hands and make noise)
since i truly loved and enjoyed it every second of it (there were some moments
though that his hands wer- never mind i got distracted) and devoured the book
like i haven’t been fed in ages - almost like a small victorian child going
through the bubonic plague in the mid 1300s, but it was just me in a reading
slump. but, maya, the references were so annoying and uncalled for - someone
whined in the crowd (plot twist: it was me whining), now, don’t you worry my
child, like i said in the beginning, you really get used to it and start to
brush it off eventually, promise you (and cross my heart). and i think it’s
pretty obvious that i’ll be recommending this gorgeous book to my lovely gals
out here, but just for the ones that tend to enjoy this cutesy type of book, the
ones that love wes bennett you know - if you only like dark romance, this shit
is not for you, bub, however, if you go both ways, then you should definitely
give it a shot, it’s no
”i’m-going-to-make-your-life-miserable-and-spit-on-you-and-humillate-you-but-you-must-know-that-i-love-you-secretly”
(which i vouch for, as a matter of fact, and am very into it also - will always
love you darius) but more of a
“i-know-that-i’m-staring-at-you-like-i-hate-you-but-in-reality-i-love-everything-you-do”
kind of thing.

no and who tf is the girl with the “i heart rome” shirt talking to mal in the
end? she has to be important - as in another character of the ali universe - i
need to know

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ ♟️ about my favorite quotes ♟️ ⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

he leans forward, obviously charmed by this young man who's built like an
athlete, thinks like a theoretical physicist, and has the net worth of a silicon
valley entrepreneur. an unusual, handsome prodigy who won't admit to being
special.

”i..checkmate." that's when he lifts his eyes to mine for the first time. they
are dark, and clear, and serious. and they remind me of a few important,
long-forgotten things.

he leans in. his face is just a few inches from mine. “i want to play chess with
you," he repeats. his voice is lower. Closer. deeper. “please, mallory.”

”i am serious. do you realize how exceptional you are, mallory?" “what are you—"
“i have never seen anything like what you do with chess. never.

i smile, close my eyes, and win without ever being in jeopardy. it takes me
eighteen moves. “she was a million miles ahead of me," thagard-vork says at the
post-game analysis press conference.

”i’m afraid that i always forget to tell you," mom says in the end, "but i love
you. and i couldn't be prouder of you." i want to say it back, how much i love
her and miss her, not only having her near, but ... being someone's daughter,
taken care of, protected. having someone standing between me and the world.

”chess is a bad idea." “why?" “look where it got me." “it got you here. to me."

my heart revs up to a million. nearly beats out of my chest with everything that
i’m feeling for him. i don't want to leave. i want to be with him. i want to
sleep with him in this bed. i want to wake up to him pulling me into himself. i
want to eat the overcooked pasta he makes and share his toothpaste and know...

𓏲 . ˙ ˖ 🎀 ꒱ pre-review 𓏲 . ˙ ˖ 🎀 ꒱

no bc i loved it - despite the bizarre amount of references (pack it up next
time, ali) - since obsessing over silly little romance books is my whole
personality 🧚🏼‍♀️🍭✨

rtc

𓏲 . ˙ ˖ ♟️ ꒱ pre-reading 𓏲 . ˙ ˖ ♟️꒱

it is truly wild to see the (!) ali hazelwood out of her habitat 🗣️ navigating
this with low expectations to avoid disappointments 🫰🏼
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tanya ⋆☽˚
91 reviews187 followers
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November 15, 2023
3.5 stars 💫

This was my first Ali Hazelwood book, and it was… an experience.

Let’s start with the obvious. The references.
For me, I don’t mind the occasional reference to the real world, it’s not
something that bothers me a lot. But when it’s shoved into every other sentence,
I go from unbothered to annoyed. BUT you do end up getting more used to it? I
see reviews hating on the references way more than needed. It’s not like I
absolutely despise the references enough to write a five-paragraph essay on it,
I don’t think it deducts a huge amount from the book, I think people could truly
enjoy reading it.
I definitely enjoyed reading, I was giggling and kicking my feet and screaming
into my pillow. I’ll talk more about that in the romance section, but this was a
really CUTE book.

All that being said- TikTok, AO3, OnlyFans, Timothee Chalamet, BTS, Billie
Eilish, Jeff Bezos, Discord, Taylor Swift, Cole Sprouse, “Do they have a manager
I can pull a Karen with?”, Jungkook, Zendaya, Harry Styles, You (the Netflix TV
show), Twitter, Snapchat, Tinder, Bob Ross, Tumblr, Malala, Candy Crush, Thanos,
The Hunger Games, Lilo & Stitch, Michelle Obama, Michael Phelps, Tony Stark,
Christian Dior, Corpse Bride, Bruce Wayne, Paris Hilton, Dragon Age, Ed Sheeran
(body pillow), and “brain massage ASMR” is a CONCERNING amount of references.
Not to mention that cursed sentence on page 181 I probably shouldn’t have
updated y’all with.
It’s worth mentioning that Mallory (fmc)’s inner monologue once included the
sentence “Because they’re cute AF.” Ali, I can confidently say that no one, not
even Gen Z kids 😲, thinks like that.

Also, a lot of this book didn’t feel.. Original. It felt like it had been done
before, like the third act break-up (misunderstanding ofc it was) and the
not-really-rivals-to-lovers. I did like the chess aspect of this. I’ve never
read any books about chess competitions or anything of the sort and it’s
mind-blowing to learn things like people play chess for 7 HOURS STRAIGHT (I’ve
literally never done anything for 7 hours except sleep), so that was cool. I
know that Ali’s only ever written STEM-themed books, so I appreciate how she
stepped out of the normal for her YA debut.
The other thing is I didn’t really see the rivals aspect to this. At no point in
this book did I ever feel that the two were rivals. It was obvious from the
beginning there was never any animosity between the two. And that is my only
complaint about their relationship!

Mallory Greenleaf is the eldest of three daughters, acting as a surrogate mother
to her sisters seeing as her mother is sick and her dad is out of the picture
(she has daddy issues and commitment issues). I was so mad at her sister Sabrina
literally the whole book. That child is an INGRATE, my Asian ass would’ve
whooped her, Mallory has more patience than me. My heart ached for Mal when I
read about every single sacrifice she made to support her family just for
Sabrina to whirl around and scream at her to pay her derby bills. Mallory’s love
for her family is unwavering and steadfast, she is SUCH a hard worker. I admire
Ali Hazelwood’s ability to create a main character that the reader can’t help
but root for, laying out her inner turmoil for us to see so that we feel so much
when we see her going back to chess, going back to doing what she wants to do.
Mal is terribly selfless, I was happy when she was finally happy.

Nolan Sawyer is a nine-foot-tall, large-handed, grumpy, and temperamental nepo
baby. I’m kidding, only half of that is true. At least, that’s what Ali
Hazelwood wrote, when she decided to mention his HEIGHT and his HANDS way more
than needed. The amount of times she had to reinforce how tall he was and how
large his hands were like omg please stop 😭
ANYway… yessssss I DID like him. Note that I shelved this as ‘marry me’, so ofc
he delivered. I loved Nolan’s sarcasm and his bluntness, how he was unafraid to
say the first thing that came to mind, even during public/press interviews, it
made for some very funny lines 🤭 He initially seemed closed-off and cold, but
he’s a total pushover for Mallory. He falls first, he falls HARDER.
Honestly don’t even blame him bc imagine being so good at something it’s gotten
boring, monotonous even, and then this mysterious girl comes along and DESTROYS
you at your own game. I would be obsessed with her as well ;)

Nolan and Mallory. Ah, young love I say that as someone who literally has no
experience in the realm of dating! They’re adorable. Expect secret smiles,
inside jokes, affectionate words, intimate touches, late-night talking, and
all-night cuddling.

Honorable mention to Oz, who by far had the most iconic lines in this entire
book. Also to Defne Bubikoglu (omg the way I actually tried to pronounce it),
Mallory’s fierce manager, advisor, friend. And to Darcy, the sassiest, wittiest,
funniest sister ever. I obv can’t forget Emil and Tanu, or should I say Tanil?
Ali included a ship name for them because ofc she did 😃

The ending gave rom-com, I knew they would kiss and make up. I feel like I
would’ve appreciated a better wrap-up? It was your usual timeskip sort of thing,
which I guess I’m not mad about, but it was definitely not memorable in any way.
I need an extended epilogue, give me another 60 pages, tell me more about what
happened after! The “long hug” they gave each other after tieing 11 times and
Mal winning the last game was super cute, tho, I adore them.

fav quotes:

"Chess is a bad idea."
"Why?"
"Look where it got me."
"It got you here. To me."

"He leans toward me over the table, dark eyes earnest, stars traveling on his
skin. 'Do you know how incredible you are?'"

"But I’m hungry.”
“Then starve.”
“But it’s my emotional support sandwich!”
“Then have a mental breakdown.”

"You two must work very closely together."
"Not nearly as much as I'd like."

"I am a motherfucking delight, Greenleaf. And for the record, you and I are
equally hot.

LMFAO that sounds really weird out of context, but I promise it’s funny

To sum it up in one sentence, it was overall a sweet book!



pre-review:
very mixed feelings. still not over the percy jackson hippocampus thing. rtc!

i've heard of the gen z references and am ready 🤭
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giggling just-kiss-already marry-me

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Lyra (Cardan's tail's version)
310 reviews582 followers
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December 10, 2023
—♟ 4.5 stars ♟—

“Because when I’m with you, Mallory, everything is different. When I’m with you,
I want to play more than I want to win.”

————about the book————

Age: YA
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Writing: 8/10
Quotes: 8/10
World building: n/a
Characters: 9/10
Romance: 9/10
My rating: 9/10

trigger warnings: Cheating (Parent), Death of a Father, Car Accident, Death of a
Grandfather, etc.

———my thoughts———

Ali Hazelwood’s writing, books and characters aren’t for everyone.
But I love them.
As her first YA release (also her first non-STEM release), I was initially a
little worried and curious to see how she’d adapt her writing and characters.
Honestly? I think she did it well.
Yes, there’s innumerable references to everything popular right now, but I don’t
think anything actually made me cringe.
The chess part of the plot (as someone who knows less than nothing about chess)
was interesting. I may not have understood all the terminology (what IS the
Grünfeld) but I got the gist of it.
The actual plot itself felt very cozy to me. Not a lot happened, there were more
thoughts and feelings than anything else, and it was just really sweet.
Ali’s books always tend to be quick reads, but I almost didn’t want to put this
down, and if I haven’t had things to do...I definitely would have finished it in
just a few hours.
The characters were quite easily my favourite part, even though I did want to
slap a particular sister once or twice.
Mallory, the protagonist, felt very relatable to me. Maybe it’s because we’re
both the oldest sister, maybe it’s because she (like me) has the unfortunate
habit of trying to do everything herself, but all I know is that I really
enjoyed her perspective.
The only thing that could have made this book better is Nolan having a POV.
Tall, sarcastic men who don’t know how to function in society are always my
favourites, so it’s no surprise I loved him.
Emil and Tanu were good side characters, and (if a little annoying at times)
quite sweet.
And Oz? I lost count of the times he made me laugh, with his threats and general
grouchiness.
All together, they’re the cast for a book I can only describe as adorable.

————quotes————

“Why would you keep something that makes you think of me?”
“Because I think of you anyway, Mallory.”

“He told me once that sometimes, with some people, it's not about winning or
losing, That with some people, it's just about playing. Though for the longest
time, I didn't really believe him.”

“He’s tireless, unshakable. Driven in an indomitable, near- obsessive way. This
iron- hard tenacity of his is an oddly attractive quality.”

“I feel protected from attacks from all sides. Like the king during good chess.”

“Even the good ones, they don’t know how it feels. They don’t know what it’s
like, being told that you’re inherently destined to be second best.”

“I resign. You win. Can I kiss you?”

“I fall asleep mid game—for the second time in my life held by someone, for the
second time in my life held by Nolan Sawyer.”

“I’m going to fall over. Or I’ll be fine, here in his lap.”

———random extra thoughts———

I literally keep staring at the cover 😭 it’s so pink and cute

Thanks for reading! ❤️
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9s contemporary contemporary-romance

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Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell
Author 52 books18.9k followers
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Shelved as 'wishlist'
July 29, 2023
Update: Seething with jealousy at the people getting ARCs right now. *cut to me
standing outside G.P. Putnam's office blasting a boombox playing "Why Can't We
Be Friends?"*

A BOOK ABOUT CHESS????

I LOVE CHESS


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Avery (Taylor's version)
231 reviews640 followers
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December 27, 2023
“God bless libraries.”

I haven't been to a library in so long because the closest one is so far, and it
makes me so sad because I love them 😭

Anyways, this is my second Ali Hazelwood book, the first being The Love
Hypothesis, which I adored. I really want to read Love, Theoretically, but I
haven't gotten around to it, but I will someday. I am honestly pretty
disappointed in this, since I've been expecting this book since it first was
announced, and since the cover was first revealed, and I was so excited!

But alas

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ
Plot

I'm usually pretty good at reading contemporaries or romances because the plot
is super easy to follow, and that's exactly what this was.

Except for all that chess lingo. I haven't played chess a day in my life, and I
never intend to after learning what I have in this book. The game can go on for
over six hours?? That's not happening, I think I'll stick to my little checkers
board thank you very much.

Anyways, back to the plot, I thought it was nice and simple, and great for a
quick read.

Now, my complaint is the fact that sometimes, authors write YA as if it's a
middle grade novel. This book borders on the edge of YA and New adult or adult,
because while it's advertised as YA, and the main character is 18, some of the
jokes and scenes weren't very YA-ish. The only thing that stopped it from being
new adult was the fade to black scene. I don't really care, because I can't lie,
I was disappointed when I found out this book was YA. It probably would've been
better if it was adult, because some of those stupid childish jokes would've
been cut out. I don't know why people think that YA is geared towards more
childish jokes, YA is not only being read by children.

Here are some examples! I'm sorry.

“This morning my roommate repeatedly farted on my pillow because I dared to ask
her not to practice her xylophone at 5:30 am.”

this one legitimately made me close my eyes, close my book, and take a deep,
long breath. Fart jokes became old in elementary school, and even then, I
despised them.

“Unclench your butthole, Mallory.”

shut up

“When he swallows, his throat bobs, a strong, mesmerizing movement that I notice
because . . . I’m going bananapants?”

actually shut up

welcome back to elementary school kids! I hope you have a FABULOUS VISIT

there were too many fart jokes to count in one scene, and it made me want to
walk all the way to the lake outside my house and chuck the book into it.

and want to see one of the first sentences in the book?

“Mrs. Agarwal is at her desk, pretending to grade papers but probably reading
Bill Nye erotic fanfiction.”

well then !

I will admit....some scenes made me laugh. The book did get better as it
progressed, which is the reason it has 3 stars instead of 2 ☺

Oh, and I know Ali Hazelwood gets talked about for always making her male
characters huge and her female characters tiny, so I tallied out how many times
Nolan was described in any way as "big" or big compared to the main character,
and I have concluded that it was around 13. Take that information and do what
you will.

Also, there were so many pop culture references in this that it was crazy.
TikTok was mentioned a few times, and I didn't really care, which was
surprising, but it got annoying to an extent, and then Taylor Swift was
mentioned, but of course I didn't mind that, have you seen the Taylor's Version
in my name? There were a lot of other bands and modern stuff, and this is why I
stick to fantasy, where none of this is ever mentioned 😌 (I will admit, I liked
the talk about Timothée Chalamet, only because I had his statistics song stuck
in my head.)

do not get me started on the Percy Jackson reference, I'm trying to wipe it from
my memory please and THANK YOU. I don't remember it all, but there's some about
reading erotic Percy Jackson fanfics and having him and someone sixty-nine. I'm
not ok at the moment, save Percy.

I don't remember who he's doing that with, I'd rather not know anyways

“because when I asked myself if I had the right to those tears, the answer was
always no, and it was easy to stop myself.”

shut the hell up

Sorry if I run out of quotes halfway through the review, there's like none in
the quotes section and I don't want to go back into the book.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ
The Characters

I hated Mallory so much in the beginning of the book. She was getting on my
nerves with her stupid attitude. I get that she was going through a lot, and I
understand that, but she was so negative that even I, the queen of negativity,
was flabbergasted. She believed the worst of everyone and everything, and it
happened so often that I wanted to scream. Thankfully, she got better, like way
better, and the end of the book. We love a good character development.

Now Nolan's situation is complicated for me, because I'd easily fall in love
with him, BUT, that is also the name of a close family member to me 😃 so let me
tell you, my inner conflict was going crazy during certain parts of the story,
because I loved him as a character, I love the tall, dark, and handsomes,
especially when they're mysterious and cold, but I just couldn't get past that
his name was someone I was related to! For this reason, he will not be added to
my list of book boyfriends.

I really liked the side characters, and Oz was the best character hands down.
When he told Mallory off, I was grinning so hard because he was just saying
facts and putting that girl in her place, and it was so satisfying.

SABRINA WAS A BITCH THOUGH. I don't care if she's fourteen years old and some
fourteen year olds are bitches, but she was so rude, I couldn't stand it.

“I think about a deserted chessboard. Only the white king on it, standing on the
home square. Alone, untethered, safe from threats. Free to roam.”

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ
The Romance

I will admit, I did find the romance quite cute. A tad unrealistic, a tad fast,
but it'd make me boring if I nit-picked based on just those two things, so I'll
let it slide. The tension between them was pretty well created, and some of
their scenes actually made me giggle, which is the best thing ever in a romance
book.

Of course, this book also came with the good ol' second act drama. I think it
was kind of a miscommunication, but Mallory also really overreacted, because
based on her need for money at the time, I don't see why she would've gotten
upset, or maybe I'm just not that kind of person 😭

I'm also quite annoyed at the fact that we didn't get a solid reunion at the
end. I had to read a "two years later" epilogue written in NEWSPAPER FORM. I
DON'T CARE I WANT TO SEE THEM INTERACTING AS AN ACTUAL COUPLE.

｡ﾟ•┈୨♡୧┈• ｡ﾟ
overall, unless you love YA that's on the way way upper side of YA but also has
a ton of elementary school jokes that will make you want to throw the book into
a lake and has a main character that you want to throw in the lake with said
book, I'd recommend skipping on this one.

save yourself

this review made me angry, so I'm deducting my rating to 2.5 stars

2.5 stars

Instead of putting a quote, I will be putting all of the pop culture references
I found while flipping through again! I definitely missed some, but trust me,
there's a lot. Enjoy because I certainly didn't: Bill Nye erotic fanfic,
Zendaya, Harry Styles (x2), Billie Eilish, BTS (x2), TikTok (x14), ChessTok,
(all of this was in the PROLOGUE y'all), Dragon Age (mentioned numerous times),
Paris Hilton, Timothée Chalamet (x3), VSCO, the Avengers, Michelle Obama, Malala
(x2), tentacle porn (um), Veronica Mars (x2), Candy Crush (x5), Jane Goodall,
something about having a foursome with a sapoisexual furry, Thanos and Tony
Stark, The Hunger Games, Spider-Man, Fast & Furious, the Jennifer Lawrence
Oscars mishap, Lilo & Stitch, Krispy Kreme, the Powerball, Homeland Security,
Riverdale (multiple times), details about Riverdale, Cole Sprouse, Lara Jean
(referring To All the Boys I've Loved Before), Jeff Bezos (x2), AO3, Snapchat,
Tinder, Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber, Michael Phelps, Goodreads (wow), Vanity Fair
(multiple), Mother Theresa, IHOP (a few times), Etsy, Suavage by Christian Dior,
Discord, Corpse Bride (x2), Doom Patrol, Jungkook, Piggie-Tinder, Photoshop,
Bill Gates, an Adam Driver meme (how funny), PS5, ASMR, Taylor Swift (x2),
Meghan Markle, Percy Jackson

I think I just blacked out.

<><><><><><>
alright, i guess i need to read another book to make sure i don't end the year
with a mediocre rating.

i've been talking a lot of crap on this book, but i will say, despite everything
i've said, i liked mallory's character development.

though i will also say, this book does not deserve to be the winner of the
awards this year

rtc

<><><><><><>
pre-read: oh my gosh COVER! it's actually so cute, I love the background colors
Show more
2023-releases contemporary cute-romance

...more

129 likes
8 comments
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deniz(semi-hiatus)
41 reviews491 followers
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December 3, 2023
3,25 star

So..this was my first chess orientated book.And true to Hazelwood's style, the
characters were inherently likable, weaving an engaging tale that draws readers
into the magnetic chemistry and dynamic of the main lead relationship.Their
interplay serves as a compelling force that keeps the narrative pulsating with
energy.
It was more character focused, really following Mallory's personal journey.I was
giggling when she mentioned she is bi too.
Apart from it,i did enjoyed Nolan’s playful personality so much although the
amount of gen z references gave me the ick countless times😭The tv show/tiktok
references felt a little forced.But that didn’t changed the way i ended up
adoring this book and fell in love with Nolan my loverboy.
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34 comments
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Purrfect Novels
60 reviews30 followers
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December 12, 2023
5 ⭐️

This book makes me want to play chess! ♟️

Check & Mate is in YA category and is based in 2023. Even though it was fiction,
references from pop culture were expected. I'm not a huge fan of these
references either, but at least it wasn't as cringeworthy like in other books
that I have read in the past. These girls were 18 and under, so it wasn't that
bad. I've read some books where FMC/MMC talks about TikTok and/or says childish
things, and believe me this book was nothing like that! And if you don't want to
come across pop culture references, you should probably read books published
before 2019.

Nonetheless, Ali Hazelwood did another fantastic job and I can't wait to read
her next book! 💜
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116 likes
5 comments
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mimi (taylor’s version)
389 reviews294 followers
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November 19, 2023
My girl did it again: making me cry for the lack of love in my life, with the
adjunct of a hot and heartwarming fictional man with a boring job.

Every time the public attention is focused on Ali Hazelwood I feel the need to
protect her from the haters who haven't yet understood that yes, we know her
books are all about the same man and woman in different fonts and no, we do not
care.
He's tall, broad, rich, could kill you with a look and doesn't speak his
feelings, or anything else for that matter; she's short and doesn't know how
pretty and extraordinary she is, usually can't even afford her coffee and never
had a serious relationship because who’d ever wanted to date her, she's so
annoying.
But the science stuff is real and the chess stuff in this one is real, and I be
damned if I can't even enjoy a man losing his shit for a woman who has just
insulted him in peace.

There are some differences, tho.
First of all, SHE’S BI (all in capital letters because this information has the
right to be screamed). The way her sexuality is spoken about reflects how young
people speak about theirs: not as a thing that needs to be specified, but as a
part of their personality as much as their natural hair colour. And I like to
point this out because it's not always like this, it's not like this at all in
real life.
Secondly, I agree that the pop culture references were a little too much. I
don't think people speak like that, or if they do it’s not so forced. Like, I
get the Timothèe Chalamet’s posters but why bring Taylor Swift when speaking
about paparazzi?
And the final big difference, impossible to miss, is the
old-school-romance-without-sex. This story is labelled as YA - which I don't
agree with since Mallory has found the love of her life at the bare age of 18 -,
but the lack of sex scenes mostly reminded me of 2000s rom-coms. Which way you
choose to look at it, it's a funny and sweet romance.

Everything else screams Ali Hazelwood’s style, from describing matches as if
they were the Hunger Games to writing sad background stories for her characters,
not forgetting the social complain about gender inequality, finishing off with
rushed apologies that don't feel real apologies to me.

At the end of the day, her books have the power to high your expectations and
make you believe that you can have what they have too.
The loneliness you feel in the meantime is just part of the process.

�� 4 stars
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2 comments
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