Thank you to Ali Hazelwood and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Who knew Ali Hazelwood would be the one to get me interested in chess?!

“Check & Mate” follows Mallory Greenleaf, a former chess player working as a mechanic to support her family. Eager to leave the sport and the destruction it caused in the past, she plays one last charity tournament. Only, she manages to beat Nolan Sawyer, the current world champion and bad boy of chess. What follows is the opportunity to continue playing for sorely needed cash prizes and cross pawns with her fiercely attractive competitor. That is, so long as she can protect her family from the game that wrecked it. 

I want to begin by saying that I agree reviewers that are saying that this book is new adult and NOT young adult. The characters are 18 and 20. Mature language is used. Sexual content is referenced. Please keep these factors in mind before reading. 

Considering that this is an NA debut, Hazelwood is successful in branching out into this space. I adored Mallory, Nolan, and their rivals-to-lovers romance. The pacing of their relationship contributes to the ease with which I tore through this book. I feel like Mallory and Nolan truly started out as competitors too absorbed in their rivalry to entertain the idea of a relationship before finally giving in to their attraction. I devoured every single page. 

I also really loved the depth of the characters in this book! As the eldest child in my own family, I really connected to Mallory and the pressure she feels to take on more responsibilities, set an example for her younger siblings, and step in as another parent of sorts. 

As with her other books, Hazelwood explores the ways women are treated in male-dominated spaces. In this case, she does so by putting the chess world under a microscope. Going into the book, I knew next to nothing about chess, but Hazelwood made it easy to understand and digestible. It just worked and now I feel empowered to try my hand at it.