Thank you to Penguin Teen for the copy of Check and Mate by Ali Hazelwood ARC!
This is one of my most anticipated reads of this year. Ali Hazelwood cannot miss.
I loved the Love Hypothesis. And I loved this!
This is Hazelwood’s debut YA novel which was a little nerve-wracking for me. I couldn’t see how Hazelwood could go from removing galaxy-tights-during-adult-times to anything without “adult” topics.
She does it though.
The book keeps her witty charm and does have some more “raunchy” scenes while also staying true to a YA plot.
The romance is sweet and empowering. It has that male character that Hazelwood is known for with rivals-to-lovers.
The plot revolves around chess, which I believe in the acknowledgments Hazelwood addresses that she took some creative liberties, (I am not sure about the game itself or rules or tournament lingo), so for the more chess-inclined, just relax and enjoy the book.
While it is a romance book, it addresses sexism in the chess world in true Hazelwood fashion. I always appreciate her books showing the sexism in the fields she covers. Also, I love her science-field-based books, but goodness I wanted her to write more chess books. This book was so cute, divine, adorable, and a million other synonyms.
One disclaimer, the book is riddled with “cringey” stuff like talking about TikTok and slang, and I am warning you now because when it comes out I don’t want to see anyone complaining about it. It’s normal to write like that so please just let people breathe.
As always I am giving her book a five out of five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed it. No, I DEVOURED this book.
This book will be out in November, so pick up your copy.
Thanks for reading!!
Star Rating: 5