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lnmarlow2's review against another edition
5.0
If Bride didn’t exist, this would be Ali Hazelwood’s best book bar none. I didn’t care about the pop culture references because I had sooooo much fun. So fluffy and slow burn-y and I absolutely adored every single part of it. My only gripe was that we veered dangerously close to my most-hated miscommunication trope toward the end, and I felt it ended wayyyyy too abruptly. I wanted MORE once things were resolved.
adridee's review against another edition
4.0
Probably the funniest of Ali Hazelwood’s books. And just like her other work, the romance is a combination of sweet, endearing, quirky, sassy, and feel-good.
The characters in this book were a bit more fleshed out than in her other ones. However, that only allowed me to get more upset than her previous characters. I have beef with 3 of the characters.
Similar to Hazelwood’s other novels, this FMC has crappy parents. Because Mallory is still a kid (while legally an adult), she doesn’t see how crappy of a parent her mother is. Viewing this in the lens of an adult and someone who grew up around first-generation families, Mallory is forced into a parental role due to her siblings’ need for stability. Her mother was upsetting the entire time when she “allowed” her daughter to not only give up on her dreams, but take on the financial responsibility of the family at age 17/18yo and could not “control” her other daughters’ rudeness towards Mallory. I don’t fault Mallory’s kid sisters for acting…like *kids* but it was disappointing to see the amount of times they were being rude/mean to Mallory and all Mom did was chide at them by simply saying their name. It was because of her crappy job as a parent why Mallory reached her breaking point. While Mallory is a legal adult, HER brain also has not fully developed and needs the guidance and support of her mother, yet when she snaps—for the first and only time—her mother is quick to scold her. Like, bitch—it’s *your* fault. Your other daughter was behaving like a brat and you didn’t handle it.
I work with kids. An easy, “You want to act ungrateful and disrespect your sister—who is the one *paying* for your sport—then you won’t be getting that luxury anymore” would have fixed it.
The best friend? Either Hazelwood forgot to add some key moments in the story of her best friend actually answering Mallory’s texts or attempting to call Mallory or the best friend totally gas-lit Mallory at the end of the book. Throughout the novel, Mallory mentions the times she’s trying to reach out to her bestie and how her bestie keeps her on Read. When she finally comes at a heads with her bestie (I forgot her name) and mentions this, Bestie never apologizes and turns things around, making it seem as if it’s *Mallory* who hasn’t reached out to her. I’m confused. So, HAS the best friend reached out to Mallory? I’ve reread the book 3x and never does she say she has. All she says is that Mallory has decided to kick her out of her life but makes no mention that she (Bestie) has messaged/text/called Mallory but Mallory hasn’t replied.
Both Mom and Bestie only seem to resolve their issues with Mallory bc of *Mallory’s* income. Because Mallory has paid all the bills and the new medication, her mother was able to get healthier and continue with her job. She (somewhat) recognized her mistake and apologized (a bit). Honestly, bitch should have *groveled*. Also, we find out during that whole conversation she has with Mallory at the end that she’s ALWAYS been a faulty parent. She *chose* to be with an alcoholic who had gotten multiple DUIs AND was a serial cheater. Only reason why she decided to finally divorce his sorry ass was bc MALLORY caught them. Again, she should have GROVELED at the end.
Bestie also only flew to Italy?/France? for the tournament bc bitch didn’t have to pay for it. She got a free vacation out of it. Shitty friend.
Then there’s Oz. Ugh. Oz was a dick. Yeah, he was funny, but a grown-ass man in his 30s? going over to an EIGHTEEN-year-old’s house and calling her a “bitch” and never apologizing for it nor looking regretful of it screams “asshole”. I’ve reread the book 3x and that scene has stayed with me so I don’t fully enjoy Oz anymore.
Everyone else, I loved. Especially Nolan. In my mind, her and Bestie fell out of touch and through seeing how amazing Nolan and his two friends are, she decided to keep only positive people in her life. Her sisters managed to become better humans, and Mallory went into counseling to help her cope with the damage both her shitty parents did to her. And in my mind, she spoke honestly to her mother, which her mother totally broke down and felt like a cockroach for a good solid 12 years. She slowly crawled out of her hole with nothing but acts of kindness to Mallory.
Ok. I think I let it all out.
The characters in this book were a bit more fleshed out than in her other ones. However, that only allowed me to get more upset than her previous characters. I have beef with 3 of the characters.
Similar to Hazelwood’s other novels, this FMC has crappy parents. Because Mallory is still a kid (while legally an adult), she doesn’t see how crappy of a parent her mother is. Viewing this in the lens of an adult and someone who grew up around first-generation families, Mallory is forced into a parental role due to her siblings’ need for stability. Her mother was upsetting the entire time when she “allowed” her daughter to not only give up on her dreams, but take on the financial responsibility of the family at age 17/18yo and could not “control” her other daughters’ rudeness towards Mallory. I don’t fault Mallory’s kid sisters for acting…like *kids* but it was disappointing to see the amount of times they were being rude/mean to Mallory and all Mom did was chide at them by simply saying their name. It was because of her crappy job as a parent why Mallory reached her breaking point. While Mallory is a legal adult, HER brain also has not fully developed and needs the guidance and support of her mother, yet when she snaps—for the first and only time—her mother is quick to scold her. Like, bitch—it’s *your* fault. Your other daughter was behaving like a brat and you didn’t handle it.
I work with kids. An easy, “You want to act ungrateful and disrespect your sister—who is the one *paying* for your sport—then you won’t be getting that luxury anymore” would have fixed it.
The best friend? Either Hazelwood forgot to add some key moments in the story of her best friend actually answering Mallory’s texts or attempting to call Mallory or the best friend totally gas-lit Mallory at the end of the book. Throughout the novel, Mallory mentions the times she’s trying to reach out to her bestie and how her bestie keeps her on Read. When she finally comes at a heads with her bestie (I forgot her name) and mentions this, Bestie never apologizes and turns things around, making it seem as if it’s *Mallory* who hasn’t reached out to her. I’m confused. So, HAS the best friend reached out to Mallory? I’ve reread the book 3x and never does she say she has. All she says is that Mallory has decided to kick her out of her life but makes no mention that she (Bestie) has messaged/text/called Mallory but Mallory hasn’t replied.
Both Mom and Bestie only seem to resolve their issues with Mallory bc of *Mallory’s* income. Because Mallory has paid all the bills and the new medication, her mother was able to get healthier and continue with her job. She (somewhat) recognized her mistake and apologized (a bit). Honestly, bitch should have *groveled*. Also, we find out during that whole conversation she has with Mallory at the end that she’s ALWAYS been a faulty parent. She *chose* to be with an alcoholic who had gotten multiple DUIs AND was a serial cheater. Only reason why she decided to finally divorce his sorry ass was bc MALLORY caught them. Again, she should have GROVELED at the end.
Bestie also only flew to Italy?/France? for the tournament bc bitch didn’t have to pay for it. She got a free vacation out of it. Shitty friend.
Then there’s Oz. Ugh. Oz was a dick. Yeah, he was funny, but a grown-ass man in his 30s? going over to an EIGHTEEN-year-old’s house and calling her a “bitch” and never apologizing for it nor looking regretful of it screams “asshole”. I’ve reread the book 3x and that scene has stayed with me so I don’t fully enjoy Oz anymore.
Everyone else, I loved. Especially Nolan. In my mind, her and Bestie fell out of touch and through seeing how amazing Nolan and his two friends are, she decided to keep only positive people in her life. Her sisters managed to become better humans, and Mallory went into counseling to help her cope with the damage both her shitty parents did to her. And in my mind, she spoke honestly to her mother, which her mother totally broke down and felt like a cockroach for a good solid 12 years. She slowly crawled out of her hole with nothing but acts of kindness to Mallory.
Ok. I think I let it all out.
hanihwang's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
alexiareviews's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed “Check & Mate”! The romance was done well; a true slow burn. Nolan is the perfect book boyfriend. Mallory took a little while to grow on me. The beginning was a bit rocky but I feel like her character evolved. I loved that the romance was clean for the most part and focused more on the building of their relationship. The chess tournaments kept me interested and engaged. I do want to point out that this is not YA. “Check & Mate” should be considered as NA. Whatever Ali Hazelwood did while writing this book I hope she continues to do so for her next projects.
tmdav_'s review against another edition
5.0
I'm no chess expert but I truly enjoyed this. It was fun, real, anc clever. I appreciated that the characters were able to show growth and strengthen relationships and that the author highlighted real stats on gender bias, while writing in a strong FMC! It wasn't really an emotional story but by the end I felt attached and almost teared up for the ending lol
emilyakers11821's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so fun and addictive. I’ve read Ali hazelwoods typical books but haven’t branched yet to her different genres. While I prob would have liked this more if it wasn’t YA it was still so cute to read. I never thought I would be so interested in chess as I was when reading this.