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keeperofthetrees 's review for:
Check & Mate
by Ali Hazelwood
gen z sex symbol, bill nye erotic fanfiction, zendaya, harry styles (x2), billie eilish, BTS, tiktok (so so SO many times), VSCO aesthetics, how to get away with murder, michelle obama, thanos/tony stark, riverdale, timothee chalamet, justin bieber, taylor swift, dragon age ot whatever that is are some of the pop culture references mentioned in this book and there's probably some that i don't know and that flew over my head.
and it's infuriating !!!! genuinely so. because i had fun reading this book ! a lot, actually?? i always liked chess and found it interesting, and it was like this here too, though maybe some parts weren't factually correct (though!! obviously, some research was done on it by the author, too.
mal and nolan were actually so so cute, and im always for the man being utterly in love and obsessed with the girl. and there was bisexual and demisexual representation from the main characters, too. the disagreement or third arc break up was kinda stupid and, of course, could have been solved with just talking, but im used to that shit anyway.
back to the point! it's infuriating bc the the book could have been so fucking nice if the author didn't decide to use every possible pop culture reference in the history of universe every 4th sentece.
the author has written books with women in STEM, and I, as one, am always happy to see it and read about it. and from the books I've read from Ali, she obviously does research on things she writes, and she does make that part of the book interesting. but !!! it's sooooo frustrating how little shit like overbearing pop culture reference, can ruin it to some degree. bc this could have easily been a solid 4 star or even 5 star read for me bc i genuinely found it good and funny at times. but some things just take away from it. (At least in this book, the FMC didn't mention gazillion times for MMC was bigger than her)
and it's infuriating !!!! genuinely so. because i had fun reading this book ! a lot, actually?? i always liked chess and found it interesting, and it was like this here too, though maybe some parts weren't factually correct (though!! obviously, some research was done on it by the author, too.
mal and nolan were actually so so cute, and im always for the man being utterly in love and obsessed with the girl. and there was bisexual and demisexual representation from the main characters, too. the disagreement or third arc break up was kinda stupid and, of course, could have been solved with just talking, but im used to that shit anyway.
back to the point! it's infuriating bc the the book could have been so fucking nice if the author didn't decide to use every possible pop culture reference in the history of universe every 4th sentece.
the author has written books with women in STEM, and I, as one, am always happy to see it and read about it. and from the books I've read from Ali, she obviously does research on things she writes, and she does make that part of the book interesting. but !!! it's sooooo frustrating how little shit like overbearing pop culture reference, can ruin it to some degree. bc this could have easily been a solid 4 star or even 5 star read for me bc i genuinely found it good and funny at times. but some things just take away from it. (At least in this book, the FMC didn't mention gazillion times for MMC was bigger than her)