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melissaslibraryy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Dementia, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Sexual content
sundayfever's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Classism, Chronic illness, and Infidelity
Minor: Dementia, Car accident, and Alcoholism
withlivjones's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, and Infidelity
Minor: Car accident
reedandright's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Grief, Car accident, Infidelity, and Misogyny
Minor: Bullying
emilyferrise's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcohol, Dementia, and Infidelity
jla's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Nolan was, of course, perfect. Everything out of his mouth was swoon worthy because Ali Hazelwood knows how to write vulnerable, emotionally intelligent men. I wish she could write less annoying female leads. Her female chess player characters were so awesome. I'd read a whole book on each of them. Honestly, all the chess players, aside from the misogynists, were really great.
Graphic: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Death of parent
bookedandbusy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Alcohol, Mental illness, Grief, Infidelity, Dementia, Sexual content, and Sexism
spellbindingtomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Who would have thought I would fall in love with a chess romance!? I was skeptical at first but I really enjoyed this one.
Ali wrote such an engaging romance that had me hooked from the start. There were so many swoon worthy moments. I loved each of Mallory and Sawyer's interactions and their banter was so funny.
Their first match with each other read like an intense sports competition. I haven't played chess since I was a kid so when Mallory and Sawyer played, the writing had me feeling like I was watching a secret passionate conversation unfold between them.
I did have some issues that held me back from giving this a 5 star. For one, I wasn't a fan of the 3rd act breakup which I'm recognizing is a pattern in Ali's books. And there were times I had to remind myself that Mallory is 18 years old because she was a little frustrating.
HOWEVER, that being said, I would definitely pick this up again. Check & Mate was my third Ali Hazelwood book (I'll post my Bride review soon!) and I find her writing so fun and entertaining.
๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐บ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ค. ๐๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ.
Read if you love:
โ๏ธYA romance
โ๏ธrivals to lovers
โ๏ธhe falls harder
โ๏ธchess
โ๏ธsports romance
Graphic: Car accident, Infidelity, and Sexism
chemeducator's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Infidelity and Grief
sariefaerie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Minor: Death of parent, Car accident, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Violence, Mental illness, Addiction, and Forced institutionalization