24.2k reviews for:

Check & Mate

Ali Hazelwood

4.04 AVERAGE


My least favorite Aliverse book - still enjoyable but the characters & story were a tad too young for my personal liking
fast-paced

4.5 ⭐️
I LOVED THIS!!!! I loved the slow burn and I looooooved how much chess there was not; not all focused on the romance. However, I wish she had spent more time on the tournament that the whole book led up to :((
Also: this did not feel like a YA book so idk why it’s classified as one

3.5
emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional funny inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Lots of chess, lots of pop culture references, lots of teenage angst. Definitely wasn’t my favorite Hazelwood novel!
emotional funny lighthearted reflective relaxing tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

once i got over the (at times) borderline unbearable writing … i ate this up. honestly i was so invested once i got past the first 100 pages… 4 stars for the enjoyment of it all (like i said the writing was… interesting). but there’s just something about chess in media that rly scratches my brain. there’s ALSO something about an intelligent love interest... overall, i had so much fun with this ☝️☝️☝️

Leave it to Ali to make me care about chess