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A review by zoekatereads
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood
5.0
"It is a stupid board game, but it's yours."
POV: you haven't played chess in forever, but when you do...you accidentally win against the current world champion. chaos ensues.
It seems I always get a new Ali Hazelwood book just as I need it. Her writing could pull me out of the deepest depths of a reading slump and I'm grateful for that. I was interested to see what a YA novel would be like from Hazelwood, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I loved it.
I like that this branched out from the typical Hazelwood formula a little (looking at you, woman in STEM + devastatingly handsome brooding very large man <3) - for me, it still hit the spot. There was the tension, the pining, the quirky fmc, the gender commentary, the general chaos. This has made me excited for her upcoming works which are also venturing away from what we've seen so far.
I really enjoyed that there was more of a focus on the plot; the chess, oldest child struggles, and I felt like we got to know our fmc a little better in this one (especially her family dynamic). This book really was written for the burnt out eldest child
POV: you haven't played chess in forever, but when you do...you accidentally win against the current world champion. chaos ensues.
It seems I always get a new Ali Hazelwood book just as I need it. Her writing could pull me out of the deepest depths of a reading slump and I'm grateful for that. I was interested to see what a YA novel would be like from Hazelwood, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I loved it.
I like that this branched out from the typical Hazelwood formula a little (looking at you, woman in STEM + devastatingly handsome brooding very large man <3) - for me, it still hit the spot. There was the tension, the pining, the quirky fmc, the gender commentary, the general chaos. This has made me excited for her upcoming works which are also venturing away from what we've seen so far.
I really enjoyed that there was more of a focus on the plot; the chess, oldest child struggles, and I felt like we got to know our fmc a little better in this one (especially her family dynamic). This book really was written for the burnt out eldest child