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A review by spellbindingtomes
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- 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
๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ.
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Sexism, and Car accident